Finnish Lakeland (Järvi-Suomi) comprises the eastern and central parts of the country. Finland is known as the country of a thousand lakes (actually more than a hundred thousand), and this is the region where most of them are located.
The Finnish Lakeland is divided into five regions.
North Savonia is the home of many events from a strawberry festival to the wife carrying world championship. Other points of fame are the signature dish kalakukko (a loaf of bread stuffed with fried fish) and its recognisable dialect.
The culture of Finland's easternmost region carries influences of the Eastern Orthodox faith. If you want to see a bear or a wolf in its natural habitat, this is probably the destination to go.
Central Finland is remarkably hilly and you can experience some quite scenic drives on the smaller roads.
South Savonia is really the heart of the Lakeland - you are never far from a body of water. The most important sights here are the medieval castle Olavinlinna in the city of Savonlinna and the Punkaharju ridge that almost cuts through Lake Saimaa.
Pirkanmaa is usually seen as the heartland of Finnish heavy industry, and the city of Tampere has been called the "Finnish Manchester". However there are plenty to see and do in the city for the traveler — from museums and theatres to the amusement park Särkänniemi.
As the name reveals it is a land of lakes: seen from above, the region consists of an endless patchwork of lakes and low rolling hills, originally gouged out by sheets of ice during the Ice Age. This also makes it Finland's top destination for summer cottages, and there are countless spots to indulge in the Finnish national obsession for sauna, sausages and a dip in the lake.
There are several large lake systems with cruises (often on old steamers or former steamers) and possibilities for sailing with a yacht or daysailor, other kinds of boating and canoeing, for days or weeks if you like. Also on the smaller lakes you will often have access at least to a rowing boat.
The region is unilingually Finnish. Culturally, Eastern Finland is the home of the Savo people and their close cousins the Karelians. Much of Karelia has "always" belonged to Russia, and the Karelian-speaking areas that belonged to Finland were lost to the Soviet Union in World War II, with their inhabitants resettled across Finland. Most Karelians in Finland speak a dialect closer to mainstream Finnish, or just plain Finnish. Likewise, Savonian is just a dialect, although a famous one.
The border between western and eastern Finnish dialects roughly follows the western border of Central Finland and South Savo. At Pirkanmaa people speak North Tavastian dialects of the western group. The rest speak Savo dialects which are wordy and stretched out, with consonants doubling and diphthongs mutating in various ways. According to the stereotype, Savonians talk much more than the average taciturn Finn, yet despite this <small>(whisper it quietly)</small> almost Russian habit for speeches and gesticulation, they're also masters of the vague non-reply. Indeed, the canonical Savo response to any question is suattaapi olla, vuan suattaapi olla olemattannii, or "it might be, but it might also be that it's not".
Joensuu, Jyväskylä, Kuopio and Savonlinna have small airports with limited service from Helsinki only. Tampere is the Finnish hub for Ryanair and serves a handful of European destinations.
All main cities in the region are served by train. Trains are usually faster and slightly cheaper than the bus, but on some routes bus schedules may be more convenient.
Buses fill in the gaps where trains don't go.
The Saimaa Canal provides access from the sea to Saimaa and connected waterways, covering most of the eastern part of the Lakeland, up to Iisalmi and Kiuruvesi in the north-west, Koli and Nurmes in the north-east and Mikkeli in the west. The Päijänne and Näsijärvi waterways are cut off from the sea by dams.
Distances are long and while the coach network covers most of the region, public transport outside the main cities and thoroughfares varies between limited and non-existent. If you're planning on staying at a cottage, having your own car is pretty much obligatory, unless in biking distance from services (whatever that means to you).
Most of the waterways in the eastern half of the region are connected to the lake Saimaa. Around Jyväskylä there are the Vesijärvi–Päijänne–Keitele waterways and around Tampere the Näsijärvi–Ruovesi and Längelmävesi–Vanajavesi waterways. Although a boat is seldom a time-efficient means to cover large distances, it is a very good means to explore some aspects of the Lakeland. Many of the lakes are big enough for nice sailing, the Saimaa complex for weeks even with a big yacht. For other areas a small boat or canoe is the ideal means.
As the lakeside area and one of the most rural areas in Finland after Lapland, Eastern Finland has a lot to explore. There are a dozen national parks in the region, of which scenery of Koli National Park is one of Finland's national landscapes.
In Finland, Savo and Karelia are famous for their cuisine, which has distinctive eastern trait. There are a couple of eastern Finnish specialties definitely worth sampling:
There are nice spa hotels in Imatra, Kuopio and Savonlinna. The room price isn't much more expensive than in normal hotels but it includes a free use of large swimming pool departments with jacuzzis, saunas etc.
In summer, an excellent option is to stay at a cottage (mökki), thousands of which dot the lake shores. See the main Finland article for tips and the city articles for listings.