{"id":847,"date":"2015-10-25T14:46:08","date_gmt":"2015-10-25T12:46:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.visitsaimaa.fi\/en\/?p=847"},"modified":"2024-02-02T09:32:24","modified_gmt":"2024-02-02T07:32:24","slug":"outdoors-finland-10-things-to-do-in-saimaa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.visitsaimaa.fi\/en\/outdoors-finland-10-things-to-do-in-saimaa\/","title":{"rendered":"Outdoors Finland &#8211; 10 things to do in Saimaa"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Saimaa is the biggest lake in Finland and also the fourth biggest natural freshwater lake in Europe. Surrounded by cities as Varkaus, Savonlinna and Mikkeli it\u2019s not only a great place for some urban adventures but mostly it\u2019s a perfect spot for various outdoor activities.<\/p>\n<p>Finland is a true natural paradise. And you know what? Most people speak English, it\u2019s pretty affordable (especially compared to other Nordic countries) and the food is great. The Saimaa region is awesome and there are plenty of things to do. So what are you waiting for? Pack you bags, fly to Finland and enjoy!<\/p>\n<p><strong>TOP 10 THINGS TO DO IN LAKE SAIMAA REGION:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Eat vendace or vendace roe, which is special delicacy in Lake Saimaa region. The Lake Saimaa region has been awarded the prestigious, international <a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitsaimaa.fi\/en\/european-region-of-gastronomy\/\">European Region of Gastronomy title for year 2024.<\/a>\u00a0The unique gastronomy and culture of Eastern Finland are celebrated with rich experiences that combine the purest food in the world and the original culture.<\/li>\n<li>Experience the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitsaimaa.fi\/en\/saimaa-ringed-seal\/\">Saimaa Ringed Seal watching cruise.<\/a> Try to spot one of the most endangered seals in the world!<\/li>\n<li>Discover<a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitmikkeli.fi\/en\/teema\/astuvansalmi-leads-you-to-the-ancient-mysteries-of-lake-saimaa\"> Astuvansalmi Rock Paintings,<\/a> which constitute the largest rock art site in Northern Europe.<\/li>\n<li>Visit <a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitsaimaa.fi\/en\/savonlinna-opera-festival\/\">Olavinlinna Castle<\/a> or enjoy the world-class Opera Festival, set in the globe&#8217;s northernmost medieval castle.<\/li>\n<li>Experience the activities of four seasons. How about paddling, hiking, biking, tour-skating, fishing, yoga, forest meditation, sightseeing cruises&#8230; You name it!<\/li>\n<li>Join the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitsaimaa.fi\/en\/cultural-experience\/karelian-pie-workshop\/\">Karelian Pie workshop with Paula at Okkola Holiday Cottages.<\/a><span class=\"TextRun SCXW51774477 BCX8\" lang=\"EN-US\" xml:lang=\"EN-US\" data-contrast=\"auto\"><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW51774477 BCX8\">\u00a0A curiosity for many foreigners, this rye-crusted pie filled with creamy rice porridge is cooked in a <\/span><span class=\"NormalTextRun SpellingErrorV2Themed SCXW51774477 BCX8\">tradional<\/span><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW51774477 BCX8\"> wood burning oven and served with lashings of egg-butter. Hearty and delicious, this pastry has been made in the region for centuries and is an important part of Saimaa\u2019s cultural and gastronomic heritage.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><span class=\"EOP SCXW51774477 BCX8\" data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li>Try a traditional Finnish lakeside sauna surrounded by the magnificent nature of Lake Saimaa. If you want, t<a href=\"https:\/\/uhkua.fi\/in-english\/\">he local host in Uhkua will join you in the sauna and teach you the best traditions to fulfil the sauna experience.<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Visit Muisti War and Peace Center in Mikkeli, which is <span class=\"TextRun SCXW102771116 BCX8\" lang=\"EN-US\" xml:lang=\"EN-US\" data-contrast=\"auto\"><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW102771116 BCX8\">a modern museum which examines the effects of war from the perspective of human experience.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li>Ensure the restful night&#8217;s sleeps at <a href=\"https:\/\/pihlasresort.com\/\">PihlasResort,<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/elsanranta.fi\/home\">Elsanranta<\/a> or <a href=\"https:\/\/kururesort.com\/en\/\">Kuru Resort.<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Dine at Tertti Menor, recognized as one of the world&#8217;s top restaurant by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nationalgeographic.com\/culture\/article\/best-of-the-world-2024-restaurants?fbclid=IwAR3Z3pjklx28OL49UQll-0tH5BJuDUWyQZyQhM9e2CXWeXjFl2LRRvRKE9A\">National Geographic.<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Finland is a true natural paradise..<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":26298,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[69,67,66,70,29,28,65,68,18,35],"relatedcontent":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-847","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-media-hits-gb","8":"tag-berry","9":"tag-fishing","10":"tag-hiking","11":"tag-lake","12":"tag-linnansaari","13":"tag-olavinlinna","14":"tag-paddling","15":"tag-punkaharju","16":"tag-saimaa","17":"tag-saimaa-ringed-seal","19":"priority-3"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.3 (Yoast SEO v27.5) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Outdoors Finland - 10 things to do in Saimaa - Visit Saimaa<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Finland is a true natural paradise..\" \/>\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\/outdoors-finland-10-things-to-do-in-saimaa\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Outdoors Finland - 10 things to do in Saimaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Finland is a true natural paradise..\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.visitsaimaa.fi\/en\/outdoors-finland-10-things-to-do-in-saimaa\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Visit Saimaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-10-25T12:46:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-02-02T07:32:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.visitsaimaa.fi\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/VisitSaimaa_Tertin-kartano_sisaan_low.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"360\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"288\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Nita Silvennoinen\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Nita Silvennoinen\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.visitsaimaa.fi\\\/en\\\/outdoors-finland-10-things-to-do-in-saimaa\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.visitsaimaa.fi\\\/en\\\/outdoors-finland-10-things-to-do-in-saimaa\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Nita Silvennoinen\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.visitsaimaa.fi\\\/fi\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7542b12ca188fd300e95b6f2236253ba\"},\"headline\":\"Outdoors Finland &#8211; 10 things to do in Saimaa\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-10-25T12:46:08+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-02-02T07:32:24+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.visitsaimaa.fi\\\/en\\\/outdoors-finland-10-things-to-do-in-saimaa\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":400,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.visitsaimaa.fi\\\/en\\\/outdoors-finland-10-things-to-do-in-saimaa\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.visitsaimaa.fi\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/05\\\/VisitSaimaa_Tertin-kartano_sisaan_low.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"berry\",\"fishing\",\"hiking\",\"lake\",\"linnansaari\",\"olavinlinna\",\"paddling\",\"Punkaharju\",\"Saimaa\",\"saimaa ringed seal\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Media Hits GB\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.visitsaimaa.fi\\\/en\\\/outdoors-finland-10-things-to-do-in-saimaa\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.visitsaimaa.fi\\\/en\\\/outdoors-finland-10-things-to-do-in-saimaa\\\/\",\"name\":\"Outdoors Finland - 10 things to do in Saimaa - Visit Saimaa\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.visitsaimaa.fi\\\/fi\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.visitsaimaa.fi\\\/en\\\/outdoors-finland-10-things-to-do-in-saimaa\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.visitsaimaa.fi\\\/en\\\/outdoors-finland-10-things-to-do-in-saimaa\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.visitsaimaa.fi\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/05\\\/VisitSaimaa_Tertin-kartano_sisaan_low.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-10-25T12:46:08+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-02-02T07:32:24+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.visitsaimaa.fi\\\/fi\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7542b12ca188fd300e95b6f2236253ba\"},\"description\":\"Finland is a true natural paradise..\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.visitsaimaa.fi\\\/en\\\/outdoors-finland-10-things-to-do-in-saimaa\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.visitsaimaa.fi\\\/en\\\/outdoors-finland-10-things-to-do-in-saimaa\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.visitsaimaa.fi\\\/en\\\/outdoors-finland-10-things-to-do-in-saimaa\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.visitsaimaa.fi\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/05\\\/VisitSaimaa_Tertin-kartano_sisaan_low.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.visitsaimaa.fi\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/05\\\/VisitSaimaa_Tertin-kartano_sisaan_low.jpg\",\"width\":360,\"height\":288,\"caption\":\"Nainen vaaleanpunaisessa kes\u00e4mekossa astumassa sis\u00e4\u00e4n Tertin kartanoon.\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.visitsaimaa.fi\\\/en\\\/outdoors-finland-10-things-to-do-in-saimaa\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Visit Saimaa\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.visitsaimaa.fi\\\/en\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"berry\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.visitsaimaa.fi\\\/en\\\/tag\\\/berry\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Outdoors Finland &#8211; 10 things to do in 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\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.visitsaimaa.fi\\\/fi\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7542b12ca188fd300e95b6f2236253ba\",\"name\":\"Nita Silvennoinen\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Outdoors Finland - 10 things to do in Saimaa - Visit Saimaa","description":"Finland is a true natural paradise..","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\/outdoors-finland-10-things-to-do-in-saimaa\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Outdoors Finland - 10 things to do in Saimaa","og_description":"Finland is a true natural paradise..","og_url":"https:\/\/www.visitsaimaa.fi\/en\/outdoors-finland-10-things-to-do-in-saimaa\/","og_site_name":"Visit Saimaa","article_published_time":"2015-10-25T12:46:08+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-02-02T07:32:24+00:00","og_image":[{"width":360,"height":288,"url":"https:\/\/www.visitsaimaa.fi\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/VisitSaimaa_Tertin-kartano_sisaan_low.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Nita Silvennoinen","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Nita Silvennoinen","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.visitsaimaa.fi\/en\/outdoors-finland-10-things-to-do-in-saimaa\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.visitsaimaa.fi\/en\/outdoors-finland-10-things-to-do-in-saimaa\/"},"author":{"name":"Nita Silvennoinen","@id":"https:\/\/www.visitsaimaa.fi\/fi\/#\/schema\/person\/7542b12ca188fd300e95b6f2236253ba"},"headline":"Outdoors Finland &#8211; 10 things to do in Saimaa","datePublished":"2015-10-25T12:46:08+00:00","dateModified":"2024-02-02T07:32:24+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.visitsaimaa.fi\/en\/outdoors-finland-10-things-to-do-in-saimaa\/"},"wordCount":400,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.visitsaimaa.fi\/en\/outdoors-finland-10-things-to-do-in-saimaa\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.visitsaimaa.fi\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/VisitSaimaa_Tertin-kartano_sisaan_low.jpg","keywords":["berry","fishing","hiking","lake","linnansaari","olavinlinna","paddling","Punkaharju","Saimaa","saimaa ringed seal"],"articleSection":["Media Hits GB"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.visitsaimaa.fi\/en\/outdoors-finland-10-things-to-do-in-saimaa\/","url":"https:\/\/www.visitsaimaa.fi\/en\/outdoors-finland-10-things-to-do-in-saimaa\/","name":"Outdoors Finland - 10 things to do in Saimaa - Visit Saimaa","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.visitsaimaa.fi\/fi\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.visitsaimaa.fi\/en\/outdoors-finland-10-things-to-do-in-saimaa\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.visitsaimaa.fi\/en\/outdoors-finland-10-things-to-do-in-saimaa\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.visitsaimaa.fi\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/VisitSaimaa_Tertin-kartano_sisaan_low.jpg","datePublished":"2015-10-25T12:46:08+00:00","dateModified":"2024-02-02T07:32:24+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.visitsaimaa.fi\/fi\/#\/schema\/person\/7542b12ca188fd300e95b6f2236253ba"},"description":"Finland is a true natural paradise..","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.visitsaimaa.fi\/en\/outdoors-finland-10-things-to-do-in-saimaa\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.visitsaimaa.fi\/en\/outdoors-finland-10-things-to-do-in-saimaa\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.visitsaimaa.fi\/en\/outdoors-finland-10-things-to-do-in-saimaa\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.visitsaimaa.fi\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/VisitSaimaa_Tertin-kartano_sisaan_low.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.visitsaimaa.fi\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/VisitSaimaa_Tertin-kartano_sisaan_low.jpg","width":360,"height":288,"caption":"Nainen vaaleanpunaisessa kes\u00e4mekossa astumassa sis\u00e4\u00e4n Tertin kartanoon."},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.visitsaimaa.fi\/en\/outdoors-finland-10-things-to-do-in-saimaa\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Visit Saimaa","item":"https:\/\/www.visitsaimaa.fi\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"berry","item":"https:\/\/www.visitsaimaa.fi\/en\/tag\/berry\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Outdoors Finland &#8211; 10 things to do in 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"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.visitsaimaa.fi\/fi\/#\/schema\/person\/7542b12ca188fd300e95b6f2236253ba","name":"Nita Silvennoinen"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.visitsaimaa.fi\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/847","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.visitsaimaa.fi\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.visitsaimaa.fi\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"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=847"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitsaimaa.fi\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/847\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29705,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitsaimaa.fi\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/847\/revisions\/29705"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitsaimaa.fi\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26298"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.visitsaimaa.fi\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=847"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitsaimaa.fi\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=847"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitsaimaa.fi\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=847"},{"taxonomy":"relatedcontent","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitsaimaa.fi\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/relatedcontent?post=847"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}