Ice skating on Lake Saimaa<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/h1>\n<\/h2>\n
\u00a0<\/span>
\n\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/span>
\n\u00a0<\/span>
\n\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/h2>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_empty_space][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”3\/4″][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1650608805079{margin-top: 22px !important;}”]Ice skating in Finland is a nationwide phenomenon during the winter months. From kids in their first years of school to professional figure skaters and ice hockey players, people all over Finland love to be out on the ice.<\/strong><\/p>\nLake Saimaa is no exception. \u00a0Local ice rinks buzz with activity as parents play with their children while the frozen lakes of Saimaa call to those looking for adventure.\u00a0Tour skating – skating on a maintained route on frozen Lake Saimaa – is very popular and an amazing experience on a crispy, sunny, winter’s day.<\/p>\n
A world of white and blue \u2013 Finland in winter<\/h2>\n
They say that the Finnish flag gets its blue cross from its clear skies and lakes, and its white background from the snow that covers the country in winter. In the heart of Finland\u2019s lake district, Saimaa must be the embodiment of this with endless white expanses stretching out over its frozen waters.<\/p>\n
This is a land of discovery. Towns such as Mikkeli and Savonlinna have routes many kilometres long allowing you instant access to the frozen archipelago and its stunning views. Smooth ice, gently falling snow and a slight breeze in your face; that\u2019s skating on Lake Saimaa.<\/p>\n
On these routes, you\u2019ll also find cosy places selling warm drinks for a pit-stop when you want a break, but you\u2019re just as welcome to stop off at a lean-to shelter and grill your own food over a campfire. Feel free to bring your own skates or hire them locally for your Saimaa skating trip.<\/p>\n
Ice skating and winter sports in Saimaa<\/h2>\n
With the winter being such a big part of life in the Nordic countries, winter sports like skating are found everywhere in Saimaa in both the countryside and towns. There will always be at least one local outdoor ice rink, often at schools, open for public use. Here you\u2019ll find people of all ages enjoying the ice not only because it\u2019s healthy but also because it\u2019s fun and quite addictive! Once you\u2019re comfortable skating, you might even consider trying ice hockey.<\/p>\n
In bigger towns like Mikkeli, Savonlinna and Varkaus, you\u2019ll also find indoor ice rinks. Not only are they often bigger that those outdoors, they also come with the benefit of being open all year round.<\/p>\n
Lake Saimaa\u2019s skating season \u2013 choosing when to visit<\/h2>\n
The skating season on Lake Saimaa depends a little on the year but typically lasts from around December to March. The lakes typically freeze over around December and don\u2019t fully open again until April but during the earliest and latest parts of the season, the ice will be quite thin, wet and unsafe to go on.<\/p>\n
Of course, the temperature in January or February might be as low as -30\u00b0c and the lakes can be very exposed to the wind; warm clothes are a must when skating in Finland. Then again, when you get too cold, the Finnish sauna is an instant remedy!<\/p>\n
The lakes are waiting for you. Enjoy ice skating on Lake Saimaa![\/vc_column_text][vc_btn title=”Read more about tour skating” style=”classic” color=”blue” align=”center” link=”url:https%3A%2F%2Fwww.visitsaimaa.fi%2Fen%2Ftourskating%2F|target:_blank”][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/4″][vc_column_text][\/vc_column_text][vc_raw_html]JTNDdmlkZW8lMjB3aWR0aCUzRCUyMjEwMCUyNSUyMiUyMGNvbnRyb2xzJTNFJTBBJTIwJTIwJTNDc291cmNlJTIwc3JjJTNEJTIyJTJGd3AtY29udGVudCUyRnVwbG9hZHMlMkYyMDIxJTJGMDklMkZWaXNpdFNhaW1hYV9SZXRraWx1aXN0ZWx1X0lnLXRhcmluYV9weXN0eV8xMDgweDE5MjAubXA0JTIyJTIwdHlwZSUzRCUyMnZpZGVvJTJGbXA0JTIyJTNFJTBBJTNDJTJGdmlkZW8lM0U=[\/vc_raw_html][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
[vc_row full_width=”stretch_row_content_no_spaces” full_height=”yes” parallax=”content-moving-fade” parallax_image=”24410″][vc_column][vc_column_text] Ice skating on Lake Saimaa \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 [\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_empty_space][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”3\/4″][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1650608805079{margin-top: […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5086,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"relatedcontent":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-3553","1":"page","2":"type-page","3":"status-publish","4":"has-post-thumbnail","5":"hentry","7":"priority-3"},"yoast_head":"\n
Finland Travel - Ice-skating on Lake Saimaa | Visit Saimaa - Visit Saimaa<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Fly over the surface of Lake Saimaa on your ice skates or check out the local ice hockey & ice rinks of Mikkeli & Savonlinna. Discover Saimaa in winter.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.visitsaimaa.fi\/en\/finland-skating-lake-saimaa\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Finland Travel - Ice-skating on Lake Saimaa | Visit Saimaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Fly over the surface of Lake Saimaa on your ice skates or check out the local ice hockey & ice rinks of Mikkeli & Savonlinna. Discover Saimaa in winter.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.visitsaimaa.fi\/en\/finland-skating-lake-saimaa\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Visit Saimaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-06-07T11:16:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.visitsaimaa.fi\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/skating-Lake-Saimaa-skating-Finland-mikkeli-savonlinna.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"970\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.visitsaimaa.fi\\\/en\\\/finland-skating-lake-saimaa\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.visitsaimaa.fi\\\/en\\\/finland-skating-lake-saimaa\\\/\",\"name\":\"Finland Travel - Ice-skating on Lake Saimaa | Visit Saimaa - Visit Saimaa\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.visitsaimaa.fi\\\/fi\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.visitsaimaa.fi\\\/en\\\/finland-skating-lake-saimaa\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.visitsaimaa.fi\\\/en\\\/finland-skating-lake-saimaa\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.visitsaimaa.fi\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/06\\\/skating-Lake-Saimaa-skating-Finland-mikkeli-savonlinna.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-06-16T14:01:17+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-06-07T11:16:24+00:00\",\"description\":\"Fly over the surface of Lake Saimaa on your ice skates or check out the local ice hockey & ice rinks of Mikkeli & Savonlinna. Discover Saimaa in winter.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.visitsaimaa.fi\\\/en\\\/finland-skating-lake-saimaa\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.visitsaimaa.fi\\\/en\\\/finland-skating-lake-saimaa\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.visitsaimaa.fi\\\/en\\\/finland-skating-lake-saimaa\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.visitsaimaa.fi\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/06\\\/skating-Lake-Saimaa-skating-Finland-mikkeli-savonlinna.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.visitsaimaa.fi\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/06\\\/skating-Lake-Saimaa-skating-Finland-mikkeli-savonlinna.jpg\",\"width\":2000,\"height\":970,\"caption\":\"skating Lake Saimaa, skating Finland mikkeli savonlinna\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.visitsaimaa.fi\\\/en\\\/finland-skating-lake-saimaa\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Visit Saimaa\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.visitsaimaa.fi\\\/en\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Finland Travel – Ice-skating on Lake Saimaa | Visit Saimaa\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.visitsaimaa.fi\\\/fi\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.visitsaimaa.fi\\\/fi\\\/\",\"name\":\"Visit Saimaa\",\"description\":\"The Official Travel Guide of Lakeland Saimaa\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.visitsaimaa.fi\\\/fi\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Finland Travel - Ice-skating on Lake Saimaa | Visit Saimaa - Visit Saimaa","description":"Fly over the surface of Lake Saimaa on your ice skates or check out the local ice hockey & ice rinks of Mikkeli & Savonlinna. Discover Saimaa in winter.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.visitsaimaa.fi\/en\/finland-skating-lake-saimaa\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Finland Travel - Ice-skating on Lake Saimaa | Visit Saimaa","og_description":"Fly over the surface of Lake Saimaa on your ice skates or check out the local ice hockey & ice rinks of Mikkeli & Savonlinna. Discover Saimaa in winter.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.visitsaimaa.fi\/en\/finland-skating-lake-saimaa\/","og_site_name":"Visit Saimaa","article_modified_time":"2024-06-07T11:16:24+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2000,"height":970,"url":"https:\/\/www.visitsaimaa.fi\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/skating-Lake-Saimaa-skating-Finland-mikkeli-savonlinna.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.visitsaimaa.fi\/en\/finland-skating-lake-saimaa\/","url":"https:\/\/www.visitsaimaa.fi\/en\/finland-skating-lake-saimaa\/","name":"Finland Travel - Ice-skating on Lake Saimaa | Visit Saimaa - Visit Saimaa","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.visitsaimaa.fi\/fi\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.visitsaimaa.fi\/en\/finland-skating-lake-saimaa\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.visitsaimaa.fi\/en\/finland-skating-lake-saimaa\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.visitsaimaa.fi\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/skating-Lake-Saimaa-skating-Finland-mikkeli-savonlinna.jpg","datePublished":"2016-06-16T14:01:17+00:00","dateModified":"2024-06-07T11:16:24+00:00","description":"Fly over the surface of Lake Saimaa on your ice skates or check out the local ice hockey & ice rinks of Mikkeli & Savonlinna. Discover Saimaa in winter.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.visitsaimaa.fi\/en\/finland-skating-lake-saimaa\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.visitsaimaa.fi\/en\/finland-skating-lake-saimaa\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.visitsaimaa.fi\/en\/finland-skating-lake-saimaa\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.visitsaimaa.fi\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/skating-Lake-Saimaa-skating-Finland-mikkeli-savonlinna.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.visitsaimaa.fi\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/skating-Lake-Saimaa-skating-Finland-mikkeli-savonlinna.jpg","width":2000,"height":970,"caption":"skating Lake Saimaa, skating Finland mikkeli savonlinna"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.visitsaimaa.fi\/en\/finland-skating-lake-saimaa\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Visit Saimaa","item":"https:\/\/www.visitsaimaa.fi\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Finland Travel – Ice-skating on Lake Saimaa | Visit Saimaa"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.visitsaimaa.fi\/fi\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.visitsaimaa.fi\/fi\/","name":"Visit Saimaa","description":"The Official Travel Guide of Lakeland Saimaa","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.visitsaimaa.fi\/fi\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.visitsaimaa.fi\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3553","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.visitsaimaa.fi\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.visitsaimaa.fi\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitsaimaa.fi\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitsaimaa.fi\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3553"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitsaimaa.fi\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3553\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26694,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitsaimaa.fi\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3553\/revisions\/26694"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitsaimaa.fi\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5086"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.visitsaimaa.fi\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3553"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"relatedcontent","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitsaimaa.fi\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/relatedcontent?post=3553"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}