Summer activity week at the Guesthouse
Our "White summer days and nights activity week" vacation offers a refreshing mix of relaxation and physical activity – a good night's sleep after an active day and a Finnish sauna in the evening.
During the vacation, we cycle and hike through the summer forests, paddle on lakes or rivers. In July and August, berries and mushrooms are already ripening in the forest. At all times, there is: swimming in the lake, saunas, sleeping in, Karelian cuisine with fresh fish and vegetables, berries and mushrooms, campfires.
Group size: 4 – 12 people
Dates 2025:
14.-21.6.2025
5.-12.7.2025
16.-23.8.2025
Price: €1150 per person
Single room surcharge: €40 per night
Services included:
• Group transfers for the tours to/from Kuopio
• Accommodations at the Pihlajapuu Guesthouse in double rooms
• Full board (FB)
• German and English-speaking tour guides
• Canoes and bikes
• Sauna every evening, one smoke sauna
• The program
• Finnish Helkama hybrid bikes are provided, with 24 gears, hand brakes, and slightly wider tires than regular city bikes. There are 8 women's models and 4 men's models.
Services not included:
• Costs for flights or individual travel to/from the location
• Individual travel insurance (we recommend purchasing travel insurance)
Required fitness level:
• Canoeing on calm waters
• Cycling on gently hilly terrain
• Normal fitness level
• Team spirit
Program:
Meals: Breakfast at 9 AM, the program starts around 10:30 AM, coffee break around 1 PM, the program continues, sauna from 5-7 PM, dinner at 7 PM.
Day 1: Transfer either from Nurmes train station (evening train from Helsinki) or Kuopio airport at 6 PM to Pihlajapuu Guesthouse, about 1.5 hours from the airport to Nurmes, first meeting, and dinner together.
Day 2: After a leisurely breakfast, paddle exercises on Lake Viemenjärvi. Paddling distance: 6 km. In the afternoon, we learn some Finnish to at least be able to greet in Finnish!
Day 3: Today's program is a cycling tour to the swimming spot Kuokkastenkoski on the shore of Lake Pielinen. Along the way,swimming in the Lake Pielinen. Biking distance 20 km.
Day 4: Raesärkät nature reserve is a beautiful day trip destination in a ridge landscape. The hiking trail that runs through the area follows the old cart road and the bottom of the wheel track. The rest stops are along the route at a short distance from each other. In addition to ridges, Raesärkät landscape includes calm marshes, clear lakes, river bends and old forest with diverse inhabitants. Raesärkät scenery has been admired for decades, and the area is a popular local recreation destination. We can also take a swim in the Ahven-Valkeinen Lake. Walking distance 10 km.
Day 5: Visit to the Laitala Guesthouse. Canoeing on the slow-flowing river. Paddling distance 8 km. Sauna and dinner at Laitala.
Day 6: The morning is free for you to spend as you wish. After lunch, transfer to the wild forests near Lieksa, where a great adventure, the finale of your week in Karelia, awaits you: an overnight wildlife observation. You will receive a short briefing at the wilderness house and then move into the nearby observation huts. Until the next morning, you will listen to the sounds of the wilderness and, with some luck, see bears, wolverines, wolves, and lynxes.
Day 7: Around 8 AM, you leave the observation huts. Return to the wilderness house and breakfast. Then transfer back to the Pihlajapuu Guesthouse. You can spend the rest of the day as you wish, depending on what the group prefers – either a hike or a cycling tour. In the evening In the evening Minna will heat up the traditional smoke sauna (the Finnish "original sauna") and show you how to cook salmon over the campfire – a real Finnish specialty.
Day 8: Goodbye and hei, hei! Transfer to the airport around 11 AM.
-We reserve the right to make changes to the program depending on weather conditions-
