Sortavala (Russian: Сортавала; Finnish and Karelian: Sortavala; Swedish: Sordavala), previously known as Serdobol (Сердоболь) until 1918, is a town in the Republic of Karelia, Russia, located at the northern tip of Lake Ladoga near the Finnish border, 246 kilometres (153 mi) west of Petrozavodsk, the capital city of the Republic of Karelia.

The closest city on the Finnish side of the border is Joensuu, which is located 136 kilometres (85 mi) from Sortavala.

Like the rest of Finnish Karelia, Sortavala was retaken by Finland during 1941–1944 (the period of the Continuation War) and most evacuees returned to rebuild their homes.

As a rule, these are buildings in the style of Northern Art Nouveau (national Romanticism), neoclassicism, the most recent — functionalism, their authors are the most famous Finnish architects Uno Werner Ullberg, Gottlieb Eliel Saarinen, Johan Jacob Arenberg, etc.

In addition, a large number of wooden buildings built in the middle of the XIX century, usually in the Empire style, have been preserved.