GATE TO EAST AND WEST
The region of Päijät-Häme is always open to the world not only when important sport competitions or festivals reach an international audience. Since Finland joined the European Union in 1995, centuries-old European connections are undergoing a permanent intensification. People in Päijät- Häme understand this as a chance to present one´s potentials to an international audience and to utilise one´s particularities for regional marketing. New influences are welcomed just as much as old traditions are still maintained.
The favourable geographical position is a decisive potential of the region of Päijät-Häme. Due to its central location between East and West, it was already known as a focal point for busy trade in the Middle Ages. Since the last century, traffic connections have been greatly extended, turning Päijät Häme into a "Gate to the East". The railway from Helsinki to St. Petersburg via Lahti, which was completed already in the 1870, also provides important impulses. Today Lahti can be reached from the international airport Helsinki-Vantaa by bus or Helsinki City Centre by train in just 60 minutes. New fast railway connection to St. Petersburg will be opened in the near future.
