Tampere is located 38 kilometres (24 mi) northwest of the center of Pälkäne.

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.

In the western part of Pälkäne, Roine and Mallasvesi are separated by the rather large island of Hausalo.

[8] 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,[9] sweet sahti, and plum kissel.