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===From/to Russia===
'''Note'''
There is no walking or cycling on any of existing crossing points.
Russian visa is not issued on the border
The most important crossings to Russia (St Petersburg region) are ''Vaalimaa - Torfianovka'' one the road E18/7 Helsinki-St-Petersburg and ''Nuijamaa - Brusnichnoe'' near Lappeenranta.
The first one is always animated, 7/7 and almost 24h/24. There's lots of through traffic as well as lots of locals from both sides of the border, with Russians coming to buy goods, finnish people going to the other side to buy alcohol, cigarette and fuel and all sort of traffickers. On finnish side they are crowding on the first gas station, just before the customs zone. You can alternate asking drivers on the parking and those queueing to the terminal. A ride to Torfianovka is enough - there's lots of transport going to [[Vyborg]] and [[St-Petersburg]] from there, that don't necessarily cross the border. No use to try to get into Russia with trucks - freight terminal is separate, and sometimes you wait hours, sometimes - days. Russia - Finland Seems faster. To get back from Russia to Finland the best way is to ask on the parking of one of the supermarkets around.
The other one is on the road 13 going south from Lappeenranta and bypassing the village of Niirala on the north. There is less traffic here, but the route is more scenic, going along the Saimaa canal (Russian: Сайменский канал; Finnish: Saimaan kanava)
Next crossing point north from there is ''Niirala-Värtsilä'', on the road 70 south of [[Joensuu]]. The trafic is low, from there a road goes to Sortavala, from where it is possible to reach St-Petersburg by the south shore of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Ladoga lake Ladoga], with a portion of unpaved road, or [[Petrozavodsk]] via north shore.
==Where to stay?==
