thisisFINLAND

Natural attraction: Finland’s national parks draw people to popular peaks and hidden gems

The dozens of national parks spread across Finland receive about 3.5 million visitors annually, but the numbers are unevenly distributed. While the quieter parks are farther off the beaten track, that only increases their charm.

Life & society Education

Teens in Finland learn life skills in home economics class

Mouthwatering aromas fill the air as a class of seventh-graders dig into today’s lesson: cooking a complete meal. (This article includes a couple of their dessert recipes.)

Arts & culture Dance

Dance House Helsinki provides an inspiring haven for performers and audiences

Once just a dream, Finland’s new dance centre, Dance House Helsinki, has lived up to its promise since opening in February 2022. The long-awaited venue brings the dance community together, and also features contemporary circus and other performing arts.

Business & innovation Business

Filming in photogenic Finland

Finland offers a stunning stage for movies, documentaries and series, no matter what kind of setting is required – from cityscapes to wilderness, and from lakes to archipelagos. In recent movies, Finnish cities have even played the roles of Paris and Seattle.

Arts & culture Film

Kaurismäki in Karkkila: How Finland’s most famous film director and a writer started a small-town cinema

One year when the acclaimed film director Aki Kaurismäki made his annual return to Finland from his winter home in Portugal, he wound up creating a cinema in a disused industrial building.

Life & society Social Services

Oodi Library acts as Helsinki’s urban living room

The Finnish government built the flagship library Oodi as a present to its citizens after the country celebrated 100 years of independence in 2017. It is a clear indication of how important reading and education are to Finns.

Life & society Quality of life

We asked people in Finland what makes them happy

In honour of the International Day of Happiness, which takes place every year on March 20, we visit Oodi, Helsinki’s grand central library, to talk with people about what makes them happy. In our video, they tell you in their own words.

Life & society Society

Citizens’ initiatives prove popular in Finland as an expression of democracy

More than a decade of experience shows how citizens’ initiatives, in which ordinary voters ask the legislature to create or alter a law, have become a popular expression of democracy in Finland – particularly for young people.

Life & society Winter

Icy resolve: Creating the world’s widest ice carousel on a Finnish lake

Janne Käpylehto’s newest project – making the largest ice carousel in the world – amounts to a masterclass in sisu, the untranslatable Finnish word that signifies courage and endurance. And we’ve got it on video.

Arts & culture Performing arts

For Finnish Culture Day, six videos transport you to festivals and arts events across Finland

We celebrate Finnish Culture Day, February 28, with six videos that invite you to experience cultural events – mostly music festivals, but we also throw in some dance and architecture.

Business & innovation Work

CEO of Finland’s Supercell believes in work-life balance and an international workforce

Mobile game developer Supercell, headquartered in Helsinki, is known for its emphasis on employee wellbeing. Cofounder and CEO Ilkka Paananen shares his ideas about the work environments of the future.

Arts & culture Architecture

Creating architecture and art from ice and snow in the Finnish far north

A rare, fascinating kind of construction expertise is on display in the wintery landscape of Finnish Lapland. We head north for a look at buildings made out of snow and ice.

Business & innovation Technology

Finnish space sector maintains upward trajectory

Finland’s strengths in research, technology and cocreation make it fertile earth for space innovations. And did you know that sustainability is a thing in space, too?

Arts & culture Cuisine

Michelin-starred Finnish chef gets creative with plant-based food

Chef Kim Mikkola and his team achieved a Michelin star at their Helsinki restaurant, Inari, with vegetarian dishes accounting for 95 percent of the menu. (Article includes recipe.)

Arts & culture Music

Finnish ambient music nourishes the soul in restless times

From railway stations to festivals to yoga studios, Finnish ambient music and sound art provide a meditative soundtrack for life.

Arts & culture Food

Baking batches of biscuits: A Finnish collection of cookie recipes

Once upon a time, cookies had nothing to do with computers. Chef Timo Lepistö presents a list of cookies that people in Finland like to bake. You can always find room for just one more cookie.

Life & society Family

For more than 100 years, Finnish “neuvola” clinics have given families a healthy start

Founded in Helsinki in 1922, a nationwide system of maternity and child health clinics has benefited and helped shape Finnish society over a period that now spans more than a century. They provide everything from prenatal healthcare to postnatal support for parents.