te-tris wrote:I hope I don't seem just plain lazy with me asking all those questions here instead of searching the web but I believe that first hand information from 'the natives' is not even closely comparable to anything I could find on touristic offers so please forgive me the inquisitive nature and give all advice you can
Oh, I don't know...I found lots of interesting stuff on the web to check out on my recent trip to Finland....
....some of it you encounter when you're looking for something else.... Like this:
Patsas puisto
...near Parikkala [Edit: NORTH] of Lappeenranta....as far east as you can go...the Russian border is about 200 or 300 metres further east.... It's a weird place, but fascinating too...the guy spend forty years working on it ...and died a couple of years ago...
Or this beautiful place...
Petkeljärvi National Park ....lakes, ponds, swamps and
harjut (eskers)....pine forests everywhere....and the mosquitoes make sure you keep moving and don't loiter...
In eastern Finland...near Ilomantsi....
Another place:
Valamon luostari....you don't have to be religious to wander around here and appreciate the beauty...manmade and natural....and lakes and pine forests are everywhere around here... Somewhere in deepest,darkest Savo...
...and nearby was this place below which for some reason fascinated me:
Varistaipale ....the largest lock system in Finland....maybe mechanical stuff doesn't interest you...
And on rainy days what's wrong with museums....I found the Finnish ones really well organized and comprehensive.... Finnish tetrapyloctomy, no doubt....
The Bank of Finland
Rahamuseo ..."Money Musem" in Helsinki on Snellmaninkatu....excellent and extensive...I could hardly be dragged out of there...and it wasn't even a rainy day...
Then there are the following:...you can google them...all were excellent:
Finnish Museum of Natural History...Helsinki...and the "test" for me, anyway, were the displays on stuff from my part of the world..western Canada....and it was all accurate...so, of course, I would naturally then make the assumption that the stuff on Finland would be accurate, as well...
University of Helsinki Museum...I liked the dentistry and veterinary sections, but there was lots of interesting stuff
The Railway Museum in Hyvinkää...if you like looking at old railway engines and cars....I found the Tsar's train fascinating...Alexander II's imperial train, built in the 1870s, more or less, for his trips in Finland....and I seem to remember reading it went as far as Copenhagen....maybe on a train ferry???...
Someone has already mentioned
Suomenlinna....and there is the other famous
linna...
Olavinlinna at Savonlinna.....this was once the border between the Swedish empire and whatever they called the Russian empire at that time...
Lots of interesting stuff...and I did hear about a lot of things by "word-of-mouth" as well.....
[Edit: Oh yes...and
Loviisa..which I had remembered vaguely after reading something on the web...It's on the south coast east of Helsinki.... The old part of the town ...lots of old wooden houses...was mainly built in the late 1700s to replace the town of Hamina, further to the east, which was lost in one of the Russo-Swedish wars.... It's a boating area now and quite pleasant. the old border crossing has a bit of stuff...not much...and there is now a hydro-electric power plant which you can see from the highway...on the old border river. But pick your times...we were there on a Sunday and the traffic heading back towards Helsinki was nightmarish....returning from a weekend in St. Petersburg, I guess...and I can only guess what state some of the drivers would have been in ...
And there was lots of Russian truck traffic as well...
]
[Edit2: And I almost forgot this place:
Finnish Forest Museum at Punkaharju....in the very eastern part of Savo....Fascinating museum, and the natural setting doesn't get much nicer....lakes, harjut and forest all around. And if you wonder why Finns are the way they are....this Museum will help with your "cultural" education....
I didn't spend enough time here, and will likely be back again someday...]
I'll probably visit Helsinki too, as there is going to be a concert of my girlfriend's favourite band [this is actually the main purpose of the visit] but except that I'm not really into walking around cities and visiting all the museums, etc. if you know what I mean. I would like to see the landscapes, the nature of Finland. I've read about the lakeland and I believe it to be just the right place for this... unless I'm wrong and there's a better place to see? Anyhow, it would be great if you could recommend some places particularly worth visiting there and possibly some best kinds of accommodation- but mind you- I'm not particularly well-off so I'm looking for a rather cheap but comfortable place to stay 
