Finland is bordered to the west by Sweden, north by Norway, east by Russia and south by Estonia. Finland is a country with thousands of lakes and islands of which 187.888 are lakes and 179 584 are islands. Saimaa is the largest lake in the country and holds fourth place in Europe. Finnish landscape is mostly flat with few hills, and the highest point, Halt (1324 meters), lies in the extreme north of Lapland at the border between Finland and Norway. The landscape is covered mostly by forests of taiga, coniferous and marshes, with little arable land and the most common type of rock is granite.
Finland has a semi-wet and cool continental climate. In Southern Finland the climate is temperate. Southern Finland winters (average temperature is below 0 ° C day) are usually four months long, and keep snow from mid December to April at the earliest. In the south coast, snow may melt several times in early winter and then comes back. Cold winter days in southern Finland are usually below -20 ° C and the warmest days of July and early August can be over 30 ° C. Summers last four months, from mid May to mid September. In northern Finland, especially in Lapland, there is a subarctic climate characterized by relatively warm winters and short summers. Winters here hold almost 7 months and snow lasts for about 6 months from October until the beginning of the year. Summers in the north are quite short, only 2-3 months. The highest temperature in the warmest summer days in July, are rarely more than 20-25 ° C.
Finland is close enough to the Atlantic Ocean to be continuously warmed by the Gulf Stream, which explains the unusual climate. Finland's fauna consists of reindeer, polar foxes, migratory birds and freshwater seal, which is protected in more than 1,000 nature reservations and forest areas.