Pälkäne is a small lakeside municipality in the Tampere region of southern Finland, with around 4,300 inhabitants. The landscape is dominated by lakes — Pälkänevesi and Mallasvesi are the largest — connected by the Kostianvirta channel, which formed suddenly in 1604 when the water broke through between the two lake basins.
The area is historically significant as the site of the Battle of Pälkäne in 1713, where a Swedish-Finnish army was defeated by Russian forces in the Great Northern War, leading to eight years of Russian occupation of Finland — a period remembered as the Great Wrath. Today the Kostianvirta is a quiet riverside spot with historical markers and good walking paths. The Pälkäne church in the village of Onkkaala beside the strait has served this community since medieval times.
Pälkäne is primarily a summer cottage destination for Finns, with good swimming, fishing, and rowing on the lakes. In winter, the Sappee ski resort a few kilometres north offers downhill skiing and cross-country tracks, and is the nearest ski area to Tampere.