Olavinlinna Castle

An eighteenth-century sea fortress spread over six islands, reached by public ferry, with ramparts, tunnels and a resident community.

A church quarried directly into bedrock in 1969, with rough rock walls, a copper dome and acoustics used for concerts.

Rovaniemi sits on the Arctic Circle at the meeting of two rivers and is Lapland's transport hub, rebuilt after 1944 to a plan by Alvar Aalto. In winter it is the base for husky sledding, reindeer farms, snowmobiling and aurora watching; in summer the same forests are used for river trips and midnight-sun hiking. Flights and overnight trains arrive from Helsinki.

A museum and science centre under a long glass tube reaching towards the river, covering Arctic nature, Sami culture and Lapland's history.

Saimaa is a maze of interconnected lakes, channels and some 14,000 islands filling much of south-eastern Finland. Cottages, saunas and small boats define the summer here, and kayaking between islands is straightforward for beginners. The lake is the only habitat of the endangered Saimaa ringed seal, of which a few hundred remain.