Finland is the land of tranquility, of unspoilt nature, of a thousand lakes, of reindeer, of moose and of the northern lights. Steer along the thousand lakes like the famous rally drivers do in their rally cars.
Endless long days in the summer, so enjoy the midnight sun. During this tour you will discover the Finnish Lake District, the largest lake district in Europe! The blue lakes and green islands are interspersed with forests, hills, rivers and canals.
In any case, take things with you to repel the mosquitoes, because there are plenty of them, and what will always remain are the moose that just walk up the road from the woods, so pay attention!

You will mostly drive this trip on good roads, but keep in mind that it will often be gravel-covered roads. The routes in this collection through the untouched nature of Finland, let you enjoy every bend and countless lakes.

The Finnish road network was developed relatively late. Until the 1960s, many through-valatite were still unpaved or a gravel road. In 1938 the Finnish road network was numbered for the first time. Since many roads were still gravel roads for a long time, the main roads have often been built over a new route, so that Finnish main roads often have a more optimal alignment compared to other European countries, where they follow historical routes. In 1952 the Olympic Games were held in Helsinki. At that time, the country had almost no through asphalt roads. In 1962, Finland's first highway, the Valatie 1 between Helsinki and Espoo, opened. In the 1960s, only a few short highway routes were built around the major cities. It was not until the 1990s that longer stretches of motorway between the Finnish cities were completed.

Finland has a limited network of highways, called moottoritite, with 4 longer radial highways from Helsinki to Turku, Tampere, Heinola and towards the Russian border. In addition, there are a number of shorter highways around the largest cities, such as Oulu, Vaasa, Imatra and Kuopio. Finland also has the northernmost highway in the world, the Valatie 29 between Kemi and Tornio. The motorway network is being expanded on a limited scale, mainly because the traffic volumes are low. Roads from 15,000 vehicles are often widened to a motorway every 24 hours. The priority is the construction of the Valtation 7 to the border with Russia. There are 3 ring roads around Helsinki, the Kehä I to III, although Kehä II is barely a ring. These have not (yet) been classified as motorcycles.

A Moottoritie (plural: Moottoritiet) is the term for a motorway in Finland. The country has a relatively small network, connecting most major cities in the south. The Moottoritie is a status, Moottoritiet often runs on the main roads, called Valtation. European roads can also be part of this. The Finnish highway network is 995 kilometers long.

Best travel period
The best time to visit Finland is in the months of June, July, August and September. In these months the chance of precipitation is lowest and the chance of good weather is greatest.

Blow off steam in one of the many Finnish saunas
Finland is really a sauna country. Every Finnish family has at least one sauna on average. For the Finns it is the way to relax, and it is very different than in the Netherlands.
What to do? First you have to take a short, cold shower after which you are only allowed to enter the sauna after having dried up. You also get a bunch of branches, also called a Vihta, with which you can hit your skin (ouch!) to increase blood circulation. After this, you dive into a cold water bath to cool off. (The real diehards also rub themselves with snow!) Afterwards you can enter the sauna again.
It takes some getting used to, but once you've done this a few times and feel the difference between hot and cold, you'll feel completely relaxed.

Hyva matka!