Travel Guide: Finland - Europe

Olavinlinna castle in January 2004
photo by: Antti Vilpponen

With an area of 338,000 square kilometers, Finland is the seventh largest country in Europe, located between Sweden and Russia. The Gulf of Finland separates southern Finland from Estonia and in the north Norway isolates Finland from the Barents Sea.

Finnish language is different from the Indo-European languages; it belongs to the Finno-Ugric group of languages together with Estonian and Hungarian. Language is not much of a problem in Finland, however, because most Finns know some foreign language and many of them speak several. English is the most widespread foreign language and Swedish has the special status of being the country's second official language, German, French and Russian are not uncommon at the bigger towns and tourist centers. The five million Finns themselves may appear reserved at first, but they'll show the friendly face soon after first contact, especially if you show interest in the local culture like sauna.

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