South Karelia

The Karelians were a significant Fennic people, on the border between the Russian and Swedish realms. The Finnish part of Karelia is mostly in the regions of South Karelia and North Karelia. Most of Karelia is in Russia, mainly in the Republic of Karelia and on the Karelian Isthmus. Karelians in Finland speak Finnish and most inhabitants of the Russian Karelia are Russians who immigrated there in the 20th century. Karelian, mutually intelligible with Finnish to some degree, is still spoken by a minority; the Finnish broadcasting company sends news also in Karelian and Russian newspapers in Karelian can be found in some libraries. Much of the Finnish national epic Kalevala was collected in what is now the Republic of Karelia.

Large parts of what was the Finnish part of Karelia was ceded to the Soviet Union after World War II and the inhabitants resettled in the rest of Finland. Thus people with Karelian roots are found all over the country. There is a widespread nostalgia for the lost Karelia.

After the fall of the Soviet Union, tourists from Russia gave a much needed surge to the local businesses, especially in Lappeenranta. However, in 2022 relations between EU and Russia deteriorated and Russians are no more allowed to cross the border to EU without a "valid reason".

The region lies along the southern shores of the labyrinthine lake Saimaa, Finland's largest and Europe's fifth largest lake, with waterways covering more or less one third of the Finnish Lakeland. There are thousands of summer cottages along it shores and on its (thousands) islands.

Lappeenranta airport (LPP IATA) is Ryanair's hub in Finland so there are a couple of direct flights to odd airports in Europe. Trains from Helsinki towards Russia (Saint Petersburg and Moscow) and Joensuu pass through the region. Bus routes from Russia are available, for example from Saint Petersburg and Vyborg. Lappeenranta and Imatra are connected by bus to major cities in eastern Finland as well as Helsinki, and as with most of rural Finland, car is always an option.

The following OnniBus.com route serves the province:

M6 (Helsinki—Kouvola—Lappeenranta—Imatra—Joensuu)

Saimaa is reachable from the sea by the Saimaa Canal, and much of the region is along this lake and connected waterways. There are cruises from Lappeenranta to Vyborg, which you may be able to use also for getting in.