A lot of people will know the story about Jack and the Beanstalk. When the seeds grow into a stalk, Jack climbs up and ends up in the house of the giant. In some versions, Jack is hidden in the giant's kettle but the giant smells him in his house. This story really comes...
As children, we have all found treasure in the most bizarre places. Sometimes it probably was an amazing stick, a slimy toad, or even a shiny rock. However, most of us forget about our dreams of finding jewels and precious stones when we grow up. We advocate finding your inner child every now and then, so we decided to go and dig for treasure at Lampivaara in Lapland. (more…)
Iso-Valkee is a beautiful little lake with sandy beaches, lean-to shelters and a nature trail. This area is especially popular among swimmers and divers, ice-skaters, dog owners and geocachers. The trail around the lake is 3,7 km long. Water in the lake is crystal clear, which is not that common in the Finnish lakes.
I went to Iso-Valkee in November, a day before the snow, and I didn't see any swimmers. The lake was partly open as it is up to 24 meters deep and has some natural springs. But...
Pääjärvi recreation area is a perfect spot for day visits or short overnight stays, when you want to be out in the nature in Southern Finland. Pääjärvi provides clearly marked trails and nice resting spots around the lake. It's a good place for picking berries and mushrooms, hook and line fishing, skiing, cycling, swimming, and camping. Pääjärvi is also a multi-cache location, in case you are into geocaching.
I headed to Pääjärvi last weekend to enjoy the autumn day and have a...
Juveninkoski is a waterfall located in Jämsä. It gets its water from a small Nytkymenjoki river in the village of Partala and it is the largest waterfall in Central Finland. The water plunges down a rocky cliff for about 7 metres. Juveninkoski is a nice sight especially in spring (April-May) when the water level in the river is higher. I mean, let's be honest here, Finland is not exactly the go-to country for waterfalls, but it's nice to have some beautiful rapids to see. I visited this...
Kyynäränharju ridge is one of the top attractions in Liesjärvi national park, which is located in Tammela, approximately 95 km from Helsinki. Kyynäränharju is a low sandy shored ridge, which separates Lake Kyynärä and Lake Liesjärvi from one another. There are several hiking trails in Liesjärvi National Park and they depart from multiple locations. I recommend for example Pirttilahti parking area, from where you can reach Kyynäränharju easily.
A large part of the Liesjärvi...
In one of the most beautiful towns in Finland, Porvoo, you can also find the Ekudden (oak cape or peninsula) nature trail that showcases many of the various vistas Finland has to offer. The nature trail is located 3km (1,9mi) from the centre of Porvoo, and it is about 1,5km long. You would think that this is a short trail but it has so many wonderful distractions on its route that you should definitely give yourself 1-2h to go around it. Combining Ekudden with a visit to old Porvoo with...
Lake Pakasaivo located in Muonio, Lapland, is also known as the Hell of Lapland. When we saw a little star on the map with a text "Hell of Lapland", we knew we have to go and check it out! The last 10km before reaching the area really challenged us because the tiny dirt road is not necessarily the most comfortable to drive on. But on the positive side: we did see reindeer in the forests while driving slowly towards the area! Pakasaivo is approximately 60 metres deep, second...
We were on a roadtrip from Jyväskylä all the way to Enontekiö in north western Lapland, and we wanted to visit Hepoköngäs along the way. We knew the largest free-falling waterfalls in Finland were somewhere in the Kainuu region just above the midriff of Finland so we took out an old-fashioned map and checked out that it was located in Puolanka, about 100km above the town of Kajaani. Yes, it was sort of along our route (it wasn't really… the detour added several hours to our travel...
Kanavuori, Chicken Mountain, is a hill and nature trail located in Jyväskylä, Central Finland, and in the western part of the Finnish Lakeland. So it is not a mountain, let's be clear on that. The hill may not sound high at 197 meters, but it totally surprised us with its steepness.
Kanavuori is located in Vaajakoski about 9 km from the Jyväskylä city centre, just off from a a Finnish national road number 4. You can reach it by bus or by bike from Jyväskylä centre. Bus lines 1, 3 or...
