South Karelia

Finnish. As elsewhere in Finland, most younger people and those who regularly communicate with travelers can speak English. As the area receives many visitors from Russia, service in Russian is also available in some places, especially in Lappeenranta.

There is a small airport in Lappeenranta (LPP) with a couple of international flights operated by Ryanair. Trains from Helsinki towards Russia and Joensuu pass through the region. Lappeenranta and Imatra are connected by bus to major cities in eastern Finland as well as Helsinki, and as with most of rural Finland, car is always an option.

Trains of national operator VR are possible to use for travelling inside province.
Matkahuolto has a dense bus network covering most of the province.
Onnibus offers discount bus service by few routes.

• Imatra rapids and Vuoksi river
• Kotkaniemi in Luumäki, home to P.E. Svinhufvud, president of Finland in the 1930s.
• Taavetti fortress in Luumäki

• Cruises to Lake Saimaa.
• Cruises along the Saimaa Canal.
• Indoor water amusement park in the Imatra Spa.

Festivals

Small coffee booths at the harbour and the market place (Kauppatori) of Lappeenranta offer traditional meat pies called vety (Eng. "hydrogen") and atomi (Eng. "atom"). Vety consists of a meat pie, ham, boiled egg and condiments. Atomi has either ham or egg, but not both.