Welcome to Lappeenranta!
The City of Lappeenranta (population 70,000) is the economic and cultural center of southeast Finland near the border of Russia and at the southern edge of the Saimaa, the largest lake (system) of Finland. Its culture and dialects are strongly part of Eastern Finland, although it administratively belongs to the Province of Southern Finland. Also known as Villmanstrand (its Swedish name and previous English name), Lappeenranta has a colorful, 360-year history influenced by its location on the border dividing western and eastern cultures.
Lappeenranta (Swedish: Villmanstrand) is a city and municipality in the region of South Karelia, about 30 kilometers (19 miles) from the Russian border and 64 kilometers (40 mi) from the town of Vyborg (Viipuri). It is situated on the shore of Lake Saimaa in southeastern Finland, and because of that, it is also one of the most significant urban centers in the whole Saimaa region, along with the towns of Imatra, Mikkeli, and Savonlinna. With approximately 73,000 inhabitants (31 March 2021) Lappeenranta is the 13th largest city in Finland, after incorporating the previous municipalities of Lappee and Lauritsala in 1967, Nuijamaa in 1989, Joutseno in 2009, and Ylämaa in 2010. Today, Lappeenranta's neighboring municipalities on the Finnish side are Imatra, Lemi, Luumäki, Miehikkälä, Ruokolahti, and Taipalsaari, and on the Russian side, the neighbors are Seleznjovo, Svetogorsk and Kamennogorsk.
Lappeenranta is known as an international university city in Finland with Lappeenranta University of Technology and Saimaa University of Applied Sciences which together have approximately 13,000 students from 68 countries. Lappeenranta is also a commercial center of South-East Finland and the meeting point of the EU and Russia, 215 kilometers (134 mi) from both Helsinki and St. Petersburg. Location on the southern shore of Lake Saimaa makes the city the region's center for tourism, Lappeenranta is the second most visited city by Russian tourists in Finland after Helsinki and it competes with Helsinki for the largest share of tax-free sales in Finland. Lappeenranta is a model for renewable energies and a clean living environment. Lappeenranta was the only Finnish city among the 14 finalists in the international Earth Hour City Challenge 2014, organized by WWF. In 2009, Lappeenranta was rated the fourth best in the comparison of the largest Finnish cities, while in the 2008 survey Lappeenranta was ranked fifth. In a survey conducted in 2011 for business representatives, Lappeenranta ranked 17th among Finnish cities in terms of image. Opened in 1918, Lappeenranta Airport, located in the center of the city, is the oldest airport still in operation in Finland.