Eastern Europe
Russia
NW Russia

Karelia

Karelia is a region in , known as the country of lakes. It has a strong cultural connection with , with the ethnic Karelians closely related to the Finns. Much of the Finnish national epic Kalevala was collected here.
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Photo: Yuriy Stolypin, CC BY 4.0.
Photo: Semenov.m7, CC BY-SA 3.0.

Essential Destinations

Top destinations include Petrozavodsk and Sortavala.

Photo: Lion10, CC BY-SA 4.0.
is the capital city of the Republic of Karelia, , which stretches along the western shore of for some 27 kilometers. The population of the city is 280,890 as of 2022.

Photo: Ludvig14, CC BY-SA 4.0.
is a small town along the northern shores of Lake Ladoga in Karelia. It is a popular starting point for those heading out into the Karelian wilderness. This article also covers the neighbouring municipality of Ruskeala.

Photo: NiaPol, CC BY-SA 4.0.
is an island in Karelia, . It is part of the Silver Ring of cultural and historical centers of Northwestern Russia.

Destinations to Discover

Explore places such as Kostomuksha and Valaam.

Photo: Höyhens, CC BY-SA 4.0.
is a town in the northwest of the Republic of Karelia, , located 30 kilometers from the border with Finland, on the shore of Lake Kontoki. Population: 29,746 ; 30,432 .

Photo: Ludvig14, CC BY-SA 4.0.
is an island and archipelago in Ladoga, Russian Karelia. It has a special nature and is famous for the monastery from the 14th century. It is part of the Silver Ring of cultural and historical centers of Northwestern Russia.

Photo: Tommi Nummelin, CC BY-SA 4.0.
is a picturesque historical village on the northern shore of Lake Sredneye Kuyto, at the mouth of the Ukhta River, in Karelia in northwestern . in 2023, it was home to 3,400 people.

Photo: Куликов Семен, CC BY-SA 4.0.
is in Karelia, by the Finnish border. It is largely wilderness, with rich wildlife and beautiful landscapes.

Photo: Красный, CC BY-SA 4.0.
is a rural locality in the Republic of Karelia, , located at the northern tip of near the border, about 200 kilometres west of , the capital city of the Republic of Karelia.
Photo: Pretenderrs, CC BY-SA 3.0.

Karelia

Latitude of center
62.6194° or 62° 37′ 10″ north
Longitude of center
33.492° or 33° 29′ 31″ east
Population
533,000
Elevation
203 metres (666 feet)
Open­Street­Map ID
node 567535537
Open­Street­Map feature
place=­state
Geo­Names ID
552548
Wiki­data ID
Q1914
This page is based on OpenStreetMap, GeoNames, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons, and Wikivoyage.
We’d love your help improving our open data sources. Thank you for contributing.

Satellite Map

Discover Karelia from above in high-definition satellite imagery.
© Stadia Maps, Airbus DS, CNES, PlanetObserver, and Copernicus

In Other Languages

From Achinese to Zaza—“Karelia” goes by many names.
  • Achinese: “Republik Karelia”
  • Afrikaans: “Republiek van Karelië”
  • Albanian: “Karelia”
  • Albanian: “Republika e Karelisë”
  • Amharic: “የካሬሊያ ሪፐብሊክ”
  • Arabic: “جمهورية كاريليا”
  • Aragonese: “Carelia”
  • Aragonese: “Republica de Carelia”
  • Armenian: “Կարելիա”
  • Armenian: “Կարելիայի Հանրապետություն”
  • Asturian: “Carelia”
  • Asturian: “República de Carelia”
  • Awadhi: “कारेलिया गणतंत्र”
  • Azerbaijani: “Kareliya Respublikası”
  • Bashkir: “Карелия Республикаһы”
  • Bashkir: “Карелия”
  • Bashkir: “Карьяла”
  • Basque: “Karelia”
  • Basque: “Kareliako Errepublika”
  • Belarusian: “Кар’яла”
  • Belarusian: “Карэлія”
  • Belarusian: “Рэспубліка Карэлія”
  • Bengali: “কারেলিয়া প্রজাতন্ত্র”
  • Bosnian: “Karelija”
  • Bosnian: “Republika Karelija”
  • Breton: “Republik Karelia”
  • Bulgarian: “Republik Karelia”
  • Bulgarian: “Република Карелия”
  • Buriat: “Карели Улас”
  • Catalan: “Carèlia”
  • Catalan: “Karelia”
  • Catalan: “República de Carèlia”
  • Cebuano: “Respublika Kareliya”
  • Chechen: “Карели”
  • Chechen: “Карелийн Республика”
  • Chechen: “Карьяла”
  • Chinese: “Karelia Kiōng-hô-kok”
  • Chinese: “卡累利阿”
  • Chinese: “卡累利阿共和国”
  • Church Slavic: “Карꙗла Димократїꙗ”
  • Chuvash: “Карел Республики”
  • Chuvash: “Карели Республики”
  • Crimean Tatar: “Kareliya”
  • Croatian: “Karelija”
  • Croatian: “Republika Karelija”
  • Czech: “Karélie”
  • Czech: “Karelská republika”
  • Czech: “Republika Karélie”
  • Danish: “Karelen”
  • Danish: “Republikken Karelija”
  • Dimli (individual language): “Cumhuriyetê Kareliya”
  • Dimli (individual language): “Karelya”
  • Dutch: “Karelië”
  • Dutch: “Republiek Karelië”
  • Eastern Mari: “Карелий Республик”
  • Eastern Mari: “Карелий”
  • Egyptian Arabic: “جمهورية كاريليا”
  • Egyptian Arabic: “كاريليا”
  • Erzya: “Карелэнь Республикась”
  • Esperanto: “Karelio”
  • Esperanto: “Respubliko Karelio”
  • Estonian: “Karjala Vabariik”
  • Faroese: “Lýðveldið Karelia”
  • Fiji Hindi: “Republic of Karelia”
  • Finnish: “Karjala”
  • Finnish: “Karjalan tasavalta”
  • Finnish: “Karjalan tazavalda”
  • Finnish: “Karjalan Tazovaldkund”
  • Finnish: “Respublika Karelija”
  • Finnish: “Respublika Kareliya”
  • Finnish: “Респу́блика Каре́лия”
  • French: “Carélie (Russie)‏”
  • French: “Carélie”
  • French: “Karelia”
  • French: “république de Carélie”
  • French: “République de Carélie”
  • Gagauz: “Kareliya”
  • Galician: “República de Carelia”
  • Georgian: “კარელიის რესპუბლიკა”
  • German: “Karelien”
  • German: “Republik Karelien”
  • Greek: “Δημοκρατία της Καρελίας”
  • Greek: “Καρελία”
  • Gujarati: “કરેલિયા રિપબ્લિક”
  • Hakka Chinese: “Karelia Khiung-fò-koet”
  • Hausa: “Karelia”
  • Hebrew: “קריאלה”
  • Hebrew: “קרליה”
  • Hebrew: “רפובליקת קרליה”
  • Hindi: “कारेलिया गणतंत्र”
  • Hindi: “केरलिया गणराज्य”
  • Hungarian: “Karél Köztársaság”
  • Hungarian: “Karélia”
  • Ido: “Republiko di Karelia”
  • Ido: “Republiko Karelia”
  • Inari Sami: “Kärjil täsiväldi”
  • Indonesian: “Republik Karelia”
  • Interlingue: “Republica de Karelia”
  • Inupiaq: “Kareliiq”
  • Inupiaq: “Karialia”
  • Irish: “an Chairéil”
  • Irish: “Poblacht na Cairéile”
  • Italian: “Carelia”
  • Italian: “Repubblica di Carelia”
  • Japanese: “arjalan Tazavaldu”
  • Japanese: “Karjalan tasavalta”
  • Japanese: “Республика Карелия”
  • Japanese: “カレリア共和国”
  • Kabardian: “Карел республикэ”
  • Kalmyk: “Карелуд таңһч”
  • Kannada: “ಕರೀಲಿಯಾ”
  • Kara-Kalpak: “Kareliya”
  • Karelian: “Karjal”
  • Karelian: “Karjala”
  • Karelian: “Karjalan tašavalta”
  • Kazakh: “Карелия Республикасы”
  • Kazakh: “Карелия”
  • Kazakh: “Карьяла”
  • Kildin Sami: “Коа̄рьял Республика”
  • Kildin Sami: “Коа̄рьял”
  • Kirghiz: “Карилия”
  • Komi-Permyak: “Карьяла”
  • Komi-Permyak: “Республика Карьяла”
  • Komi: “Карелия”
  • Korean: “카렐리야 공화국”
  • Latin: “Carelia”
  • Latin: “Res Publica Carelia”
  • Latvian: “Karēlijas Republika”
  • Lezghian: “Карелия”
  • Lezghian: “Республика Карелия”
  • Lithuanian: “Karelija”
  • Lithuanian: “Karelijos Respublika”
  • Livvi: “Karjal”
  • Livvi: “Karjalan tazavaldu”
  • Lombard: “Republega de Carelia”
  • Macedonian: “Карелија”
  • Macedonian: “Република Карелија”
  • Malay: “Republik Karelia”
  • Marathi: “कॅरेलिया प्रजासत्ताक”
  • Marathi: “कॅरेलिया”
  • Mazanderani: “کارلیا جمهوری”
  • Min Dong Chinese: “Karelia”
  • Min Nan Chinese: “Karelia Kiōng-hô-kok”
  • Mingrelian: “კარელიაშ რესპუბლიკა”
  • Mongolian: “Бүгд Найрамдах Карель Улс”
  • Northern Frisian: “Kareelien (Republiik)”
  • Northern Frisian: “Kareelien”
  • Northern Sami: “Gárjil”
  • Northern Sami: “Gárjila dásseváldi”
  • Norwegian Bokmål: “Karelia”
  • Norwegian Bokmål: “Republikken Karelia”
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: “Karelia”
  • Norwegian: “Karelia”
  • Norwegian: “Republikken Karelia”
  • Occitan (post 1500): “Republica de Carèlia”
  • Ossetian: “Карели”
  • Ossetian: “Карелийы Республикæ”
  • Ossetian: “Республикæ Карели”
  • Persian: “جمهوری کارلیا”
  • Polish: “Karelia”
  • Polish: “Karjala”
  • Polish: “Republika Karelii”
  • Portuguese: “Carélia”
  • Portuguese: “República da Carélia”
  • Pushto: “کارېليا جمهوريت”
  • Romanian: “Carelia”
  • Romanian: “Karelia”
  • Romanian: “Republica Carelă”
  • Romanian: “Republica Carelia”
  • Russia Buriat: “Карели Улас”
  • Russia Buriat: “Кареэл Республика”
  • Russian: “Карелия”
  • Russian: “Карельская республика”
  • Russian: “Карьяла”
  • Russian: “Республика Карелия”
  • Russian: “РК”
  • Scots: “Republic o Karelie”
  • Serbian: “Карелија”
  • Serbian: “Република Карелија”
  • Serbo-Croatian: “Karelija”
  • Serbo-Croatian: “Republika Karelija”
  • Sinhala: “කරෙලියා ජනරජය”
  • Skolt Sami: “Kaʹrjjel tääʹssväʹldd”
  • Slovak: “Karelsko”
  • Slovenian: “Karelija”
  • Slovenian: “Republika Karelija”
  • South Azerbaijani: “کارلیا جومهوریتی”
  • Spanish: “Carelia”
  • Spanish: “República de Carelia”
  • Spanish: “República de Karelia”
  • Sundanese: “Républik Karélia”
  • Swahili: “Karelia”
  • Swedish: “Karelska republiken”
  • Tagalog: “Karelia”
  • Tagalog: “Republika ng Karelia”
  • Tajik: “Карелия”
  • Talysh: “Karelija Respublikə”
  • Tamil: “கரேலிய குடியரசு”
  • Tamil: “கரேலியா”
  • Tamil: “குடியரசு ஆப் கரேலியா”
  • Tatar: “Kareliä Cömhüriäte”
  • Tatar: “Kareliä”
  • Tatar: “Karjala”
  • Tatar: “Карелия”
  • Telugu: “రిపబ్లిక్ ఆఫ్ కారేలియా”
  • Thai: “คาเรเลีย”
  • Thai: “สาธารณรัฐคาเรลียา”
  • Thai: “สาธารณรัฐคาเรเลีย”
  • Turkish: “Karelya Cumhuriyeti”
  • Udmurt: “Карелия”
  • Uighur: “كارېلىيە”
  • Ukrainian: “Карелія”
  • Ukrainian: “Республіка Карелія”
  • Upper Sorbian: “Karelska”
  • Upper Sorbian: “Republika Karelska”
  • Urdu: “جمہوریہ کاریلیا”
  • Urdu: “جمہوریہ کریلیا”
  • Uzbek: “Kareliya Respublikasi”
  • Uzbek: “Kareliya”
  • Veps: “Karjal”
  • Veps: “Karjalan Tazovaldkund”
  • Veps: “Venäman Karjal”
  • Vietnamese: “Cộng hòa Karelia”
  • Vietnamese: “Cộng hòa Kareliya”
  • Võro: “Kar’ala Vabariik”
  • Waray (Philippines): “Republika han Karelia”
  • Western Frisian: “Kareelje (republyk)”
  • Western Frisian: “Kareelje”
  • Western Mari: “Карели Республика”
  • Western Panjabi: “کریلیا”
  • Wu Chinese: “卡累利阿共和国”
  • Yakut: “Карелия Өрөспүүбүлүкэтэ”
  • Yakut: “Карелия Республиката”
  • Yue Chinese: “卡累利阿”
  • Zaza: “Cumhuriyetê Kareliya”
  • Zaza: “Cumhuriyetê Karelya”
  • Zaza: “Karelya”
  • “Kar’ala Vabariik”
  • “ma Kalijala”

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About Mapcarta. Data © OpenStreetMap contributors and available under the Open Database License". Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license, except for photos, directions, and the map. Description text is based on the Wikivoyage page “Karelia”. Photo: Semenov.m7, CC BY-SA 3.0.