Iitti

Iitti lies by the Kymijoki river in Päijänne Tavastia, in Southern Finland. Its parish village was once voted to be the most beautiful in Finland.

Understand
The municipal centre of Iitti is Kausala, by the railway and national road 12, while the Iitti parish village (Iitin kirkonkylä) lies 7.5 km to the north, surrounded by lakes.

Iitti became a parish 1539. The railroad between Riihimäki and Saint Petersburg was built in the 1960s, and Kausala became the effective centre. 1872 a paper mill was built in Kuusankoski. 1921 Kuusankoski became an independent municipality and Iitti lost most of its industry.

The section of Kymijoki between the lake Konnivesi in the north and Pyhäjärvi by the parish village has hydroelectric plants (Vuolenkoski and Mankala). These (and the former rapids) are bypassed by the Kimola canal, formerly used for timber floating, but in the 2010s upgraded for river tour boats and leisure vessels.

The racetrack Kymi Ring is in Iitti. The track itself was finished in 2019 and there were plans to host a MotoGP motorcycle race in 2020 and Kymi Ring was to apply for a FIA Grade 1 license meaning it could function as a venue even for Formula 1 races. But the COVID-19 pandemic postponed both the event multiple times, as well as construction of surrounding buildings. As there have been no events on the track to bring in money, the company owning the track went bankrupt in 2023. Iitti didn't become the Finnish capital of motorsports, at least as of now.

Get in
Trains between Helsinki and Kouvola stop at Kausala.

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By bus
Iitti has direct buses from Lahti, Kouvola, Kotka, Tampere and Lappeenranta.

By boat
Boating routes on Pyhäjärvi of Iitti (there are many Pyhäjärvi in Finland; max draught 1.5 m) connect Iitti parish village with Kouvola (marinas just upstream of the Kuusankoski rapids) and the Kimola canal, giving access to Konnivesi and Heinola, in turn with access to Päijänne.

Get around
Service traffic (palveluliikenne) offers dial-a-ride service.

By taxi
See Päijänne Tavastia
 * Smartphone apps: Valopilkku