Pälkäne () is a municipality of Finland. It is part of the Pirkanmaa region. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which . The population density is . Onkkaala is the administrative center of the municipality. Tampere is located northwest of the center of Pälkäne.

The municipality is unilingually Finnish. Many people from Helsinki and the surrounding cities own summer cottages and residences in Pälkäne, making the small town very busy during summer vacation seasons. Pälkäne is a very popular summer vacation resort given its diverse services, high-quality swimming beach, beautiful nature and close location to big cities. From start of year 2007 Pälkäne and Luopioinen were merged to a new municipality of Pälkäne.

Geography Nature

The landscape of Pälkäne is dominated by several lakes, the largest of which are Lake Mallasvesi on the west side of Onkkaala and Lake Pälkänevesi on its east side, as well as Lake Roine on the Kangasala side and Lake Ilmoilanselkä on the Hauho (Hämeenlinna) side. Lake Kukkia is situated in the area of the former municipality of Luopioinen. In the western part of Pälkäne, Roine and Mallasvesi are separated by the rather large island of Hausalo.Hannu Tarmio, Pentti Papunen & Kalevi Korpela): Suomenmaa 6: maantieteellis-yhteiskunnallinen tieto- ja hakuteos, p. 337–341. Porvoo-Helsinki: WSOY, 1976. ISBN 951-0-06465-3. (in Finnish)

The Kostianvirta River, which belongs part to the drainage basin of the Kokemäki River, flows between Lake Pälkänevesi and Lake Mallasvesi.Kostianvirta - Maanmittauslaitos (in Finnish) As the average water level of both lakes is about 84 meters above sea level, the flow direction of Kostianvirta sometimes changes, especially due to the spring meltwater.

Villages

Äimälä Aitoo Ämmätsä Epaala Evinsalo Haltia Harhala Huhtioinen Huntila Kaitamo Kajantila Kankahainen Kantokylä Kantola Kärväntälä Karviala Kaukkala Kinnala Kirpu Kollola Kotila Kouvala Kuisema Kukkola Kuohijoki Kuuliala Kyynärö Laitikkala Lemmettylä Lovensalo Luikala Luopioinen Mälkilä Mällinoja Miemola Mustilahti Myttäälä Okerla Oksala Onkkaala Padankoski Pappila Pitkäjärvi Pohjalahti Puutikkala Rautajärvi Ruokola Ruotsila Sairiala Salmentaka Sappee Säynäjärvi Seitsye Tauriala Tausti Tommola Töyräniemi Vahdermetsä Vuolijoki

Culture

Food In the 1980s, Pälkäne's traditional parish dishes were called local sweetened potato casserole called tuuvinki, salted bream, slowly smoked meat, Tavastian limppu bread called varikoinen,Kansallisruuat - Kangasalan Sanomat (in Finnish) sweet sahti, and plum kissel.Jaakko Kolmonen: Kotomaamme ruoka-aitta: Suomen, Karjalan ja Petsamon pitäjäruoat, p. 74. Helsinki: Patakolmonen Ky, 1988. (in Finnish)

People Matti Helenius-Seppälä (1870–1920) August Hyöki (1874–1960) Eemil Linna (1876–1951) Teemu Mäntysaari (born 1987) Väinö Sipilä (1897–1987) Toivo Salonen (born 1933) Mikko Leppilampi (born 1978) Riku Helenius (born 1988)

See also Battle of Pälkäne

References

External links

Municipality of Pälkäne – Official website