Lappeenranta lies at the southern end of Lake Saimaa, northeast of Kotka.
Lappeenranta’s original core settlement, Lapvesi, later Lappee, was originally formed around a headland jutting into Lake Saimaa, the site of the present fortress.
Lappeenranta incorporated the neighbouring municipalities of Lappee and Lauritsala on 1 January 1967, Nuijamaa on 1 January 1989, Joutseno on 1 January 2009, and Ylämaa on 1 January 2010.
Lappeenranta is the setting for Bordertown, the Finnish police drama shown in the U.S. and other countries on Netflix.
Lappeenranta is twinned with: Rakvere, Estonia; Stykkishólmur, Iceland; Drammen, Norway; Örebro, Sweden; Kolding, Denmark; Klin, Russia; Schwäbisch Hall, Germany; Szombathely, Hungary & Lake Worth, Florida, USA.
The population of Lappeenranta is approximately 73,000, as of 2019.
Lappeenranta was the only Finnish city among the 14 finalists in the international Earth Hour City Challenge 2014, organized by WWF.
The Swedish name Villmanstrand contains the words vildman meaning “wild-man” and strand also meaning “shore”. A wild-man is depicted on Lappeenranta’s coat of arms.