There’s so much to see and explore in Finland that we can hardly fit it all in this post! Let’s start with a fun fact though, did you know that Santa Claus comes from Finland? Here he is in his home in Rovaniemi where you can visit him all year long.

Below are more amazing facts that Alexander Kuznetsov, of Hello Lapland, shared with us about his home country. He was also kind enough to send us the photo he took of Santa, his time lapse video of the Northern Lights and the picture of them in the header.

• Finns enjoy everyman’s right, meaning they can roam freely in nature, even on private land. They even have the right to pick berries, mushrooms and fish as they wander. As a result they have the duty to protect nature and they take this task very seriously.
• A great way to explore Finland is through its cuisine including: fresh whitefish from local lakes, mushroom soups and bread cheese, or leipäjuusto, for dessert.
• There are more reindeer in Finnish Lapland than people.
• Helsinki, with its wide range of cultural activities and events, is one of the most interesting places to live in Finland.
• Finns are quite shy and often keep to themselves but are still very accommodating and warm people. Meet some of them below!

Sami Inkinen is on a boat right now. He’s rowing, unsupported, across the Pacific Ocean from San Francisco to Hawaii.

 To see more of her amazing photography, check out Jenni Laaksonen‘s flickr feed.

 We love Antti Poikola‘s photo which shows off his passion for cycling!

 Mervi Eskelinen is a craftswoman and cat lover who blogs about blogging. Very meta.

Petri Viitala is a musician, theater technician and avid mushroom hunter!

A nonfiction writer and mother, Katleena Kortesuo loves rocking those dreadlocks.

Kristian Linnoinen must be quite the swimming enthusiast as the COO of a swim school and CEO of an aquatic exercise company.

Passionate about clean tech, Kaisa Hernberg is working to make the world a cleaner and greener place.

Antti Virolainen won a grant from the Chilean government to work on his startup there and is now back in Helsinki to continue developing ShareTribe

Thanks again for coming along for our world-traveling adventure, stay tuned for our next destination! If you have a suggestion of where we should visit next, please tell us about it in our comment section.