Vaasa

This bilingual Finnish city on the Gulf of Bothnia, Vaasa has a walkable centre with a dense food-and-drink scene and a concentration of historic churches. Chartered in 1611 by King Charles IX of Sweden and named after the Swedish royal House of Vasa, it briefly served as the capital of White Finland during the 1918 Civil War. Today it is the main cultural centre for Swedish-speaking Finns and home to several universities, including the University of Vaasa and faculties of Åbo Akademi and the University of Helsinki.

• Population69,819
• Nearest water from center1.4 km
• Nearest mountain from center1.7 km
• UNESCO within 50 km2