Kandalaksha is a Russian town located on the Kola Peninsula, on the coast of Kandalaksha Bay of the White Sea (so-called Kandalaksha coast), at the inflow of River Niva into it, at the distance of 277 km to the south of Murmansk. It is a port town at the White sea and a railway station at the line Murmansk - St. Petersburg.

Kandalaksha is tourism and sports center. The ski super marathon 70 km long is held there annually.

In Kanadalaksha's vicinities there is the Kandalaksha Reserve (for protection of nesting sites of colonies of sea birds on islands of the White and Barents Seas).

It has the area of 14412 sq km and the population of 35 659 people (as of 2010).

History of Kandalaksha

The settlement of Kandalaksha was known from the 11th century. It stands on the bank of the Kandalksha Gulf that gave name to the town. A post path for Cola Peninsula passed through Kandalaksha.

In the 16th -17th there was a monastery in Kandalaksha. In 1590 Kandalaksha was burnt down and plundered by Swedes and in 1855 it was burned again by Englishmen.

Kandalaksha became a town in 1938.