The Finnish Lakeland, from Lake Saimaa to Kuopio

The road between the lakes

Central and eastern Finland are covered in lakes, forests and islands. The road crosses from one shore to the next on bridges and free ferries, between pines and birches. By the water, summer cottages often have their own sauna. In June and July, it barely gets dark.

At Punkaharju, the road runs along the top of a ridge of sand and gravel left by the glaciers, about 7.5 km long, between two lakes. You can see water on both sides at once. Further on, Savonlinna is built on islands, around Olavinlinna castle, founded in 1475 on a rock in the middle of a strait. Every summer, its courtyard hosts an opera festival. Boats leave from the harbour for an hour or two on the lake.

At Imatra, in summer, a dam opens its gates at 6 pm and the almost dry gorge of the Vuoksi fills with white water. Near Kouvola, the Verla board mill is on the UNESCO list. Two hours north-east of Kuopio, the wooded hills of Koli rise above Lake Pielinen.

The Old Church of Petäjävesi, built from 1763 to 1765, combines log building with Gothic and Renaissance shapes. It has been on the UNESCO list since 1994.

Alvar Aalto, who grew up in Jyväskylä, built in wood, brick and copper. His Säynätsalo Town Hall, completed in 1951, is built around a raised courtyard that you reach up steps of grass. In July 2026, UNESCO added thirteen of his works to the World Heritage List, including this town hall and the Church of the Three Crosses in Imatra.

Lake Saimaa and its seal

Saimaa is the largest lake in Finland: about 4,300 km² and 13,700 islands. It is held back in the south by the moraines of the Salpausselkä and drains through the Vuoksi into Lake Ladoga, in Russia. Opened in 1856, the Saimaa Canal also links it to the sea, from Lappeenranta to Vyborg.

The Saimaa ringed seal lives here and nowhere else. Its ancestors were trapped in the lake at the end of the last ice age. Since 2025, it has been recognised as a separate species, Pusa saimensis. About 500 remain. Winters without snow and fishing nets threaten it. With luck, you will see one on a rock in Linnansaari National Park, on Lake Haukivesi.

What not to miss

1. 1The Imatra rapidsA quarter of an hour of water released into the Vuoksi gorge, at 6 pm in summer.
2. 2OlavinlinnaThe castle from 1475, on its islet in the middle of the Kyrönsalmi strait, in Savonlinna.
3. 3Valamo MonasteryThe monks of Valaam, evacuated from Lake Ladoga during the Winter War, refounded it in 1940 at Heinävesi.
4. 4Puijo TowerA 75-metre tower on a hill in Kuopio, with views over Lake Kallavesi and its islands.
5. 5Häme CastleA fortress of granite and brick on the shore of Lake Vanajavesi, in Hämeenlinna.
6. 6AinolaJean Sibelius’s house near Lake Tuusula, where he lived from 1904 and where he is buried.

The Finnish Lakeland in pictures

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Petäjävesi’s old log church and its bell tower, in full, under blue sky.

The Lakeland table

Lake fish comes first. Muikku, or vendace, a small whitefish, is eaten fried at the markets. In Kuopio, kalakukko is a large rye loaf baked around fish and pork fat; it has been recognised as a traditional speciality guaranteed in Europe since 2002. In Savonlinna, lörtsy is a fried turnover, sweet or filled with meat.

Everywhere you will find Karelian pasties filled with rice, and smoked fish. In summer, wild berries are free for anyone to pick: bilberries, lingonberries, cloudberries.