Скачать или смотреть Helsinki to Saimaa & the Finnish Lakeland 🇫🇮 | Summer, Saunas & Secluded Beaches

Experience the magic of summer in Finland, from Helsinki and the Baltic Sea to the Finnish Lakeland, including Lake Saimaa and Lake Kallavesi. This in-depth 2026 travel guide explores secluded beaches, authentic sauna culture, boating life, and the best lakeside towns to visit.

This water-focused journey is for anyone who wants to explore Finland beyond the usual tourist spots – its society, landscapes, and ways to experience it – rather than just ticking off crowded landmarks.

Finland is a country of nearly 200.000 thousand highly fragmented lakes, with an almost endless amount of shoreline. Add to that a long Baltic Sea coast. For Finns, these waters are an essential, almost self-evident part of summer life. For others, however, they are rarely experienced in the way we Finns experience them – perhaps due to a lack of information, but also to expectations that do not quite align with reality.

In this video, I’ll show you how we Finns explore and enjoy these environments. It also highlights some of the key reasons behind Finland’s happiness – the easily accessible open and pleasant spaces almost everywhere.

This water-oriented journey takes you to around 70 beaches and swimming spots across lakes, ponds, rivers, and the Baltic Sea – guiding you to surprisingly warm waters this far north, and also visiting the towns and neighborhoods that surround them. Along the way, you’ll also discover a selection of remarkable sauna and spa complexes.

In Finland, urban areas and natural landscapes blend in a distinctive way, structured differently from most other countries and requiring a slightly different approach to fully understand and explore them.

I’ll be skipping the most well-known highlights – central Helsinki and Lapland – they’re already well covered. Instead, I’ll take you to lesser-known gems worth discovering, from the quieter outskirts of Helsinki to the Finnish Lakeland.
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00:00 – Intro
01:36 – Helsinki West: Lauttasaari – 7 beaches
02:50 – Helsinki East: Vuosaari
04:25 – Sipoo: Pilvijärvi
05:16 – Helsinki: Hietaranta (Hietsu)
05:53 – Vantaa: Pilvijärvi
07:13 – Nurmijärvi: Sääksjärvi
08:06 – Espoo – 5 beaches
10:07 – Porvoo: River Mustijoki
10:54 – Lahti, Nastola & Mäntsälä – 6 beaches + Finnish lunch buffets
16:32 – Lappeenranta: Lake Saimaa
17:45 – Joutsa
18:31 – Arrival in Kuopio
20:24 – Boating on Lake Kallavesi
25:26 – City bikes & e-scooters
27:28 – Kuopio Center & North
32:07 – Sweet summer evenings
33:01 – Kuopio South
35:57 – Summer 2024 Weather Summary
37:08 – Late Season Special: Tower of Puijo & saunas – Saunaravintola Kaihu (Mikkeli), Saana Kuopio, Luoto Kuopio
43:10 – Early Season Special: Tampere, Kuopio, Maaninka, Heinola & Kotka
45:33 – October Special: Smoke Saunas in Kuusijärvi (Vantaa)
47:06 – Rautavaara – Tiilikkajärvi – distant sandy lake
48:08 – Epilogue
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🦟 Mosquito Tips

On sunny days, you usually only encounter mosquitoes in shady spots or sheltered nature areas. During our swims, which mostly took place in sunny and semi-urban settings, we didn’t meet a single mosquito.

So where do they appear? Head into sheltered nature, and they’ll find you. In the evenings or rainy weather, they can pop up anywhere – except in very urban areas. The far north, especially Lapland, is a whole different story.
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🪰 Gadfly Tips

Gadflies are mostly found in natural environments in July and rarely in urban areas. During our swims in this video, we only encountered them on the islands during our boat tour.
• On the first island, about 8 gadflies appeared, prompting us to move on.
• On the second island, over 3 hours, we counted only around 15, none of which succeeded in biting us. A bit of disturbance was the only harm they caused.

How to deal with them:
• If one starts buzzing around, stay calm. Let it land on your skin, then swat it.
• Swatting mid-flight works too – but hit hard, or it may come back.
• If one lands without you noticing, don’t panic. A tiny sting is your cue – you have about 2 seconds to react.
• Only a successful blood meal would leave a mark, and even then, it’s far less painful than a wasp sting and usually forgotten within minutes.
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Cities and towns: Espoo, Hamina, Helsinki, Hollola (now part of Lahti), Joutsa, Kotka, Kuopio, Lahti, Lappeenranta, Maaninka (now part of Kuopio), Mikkeli, Nilsiä/Tahko (now part of Kuopio), Nurmijärvi, Porvoo, Rautavaara, Sipoo, Tampere, Vantaa.

Lakes and ponds: Jääsjärvi, Hervantajärvi, Hunttijärvi, Iso-Kukkanen, Iso-Valkeinen, Joutjärvi, Kallavesi, Saimaa, Kuusijärvi, Kymijärvi, Maaninkajärvi, Pieni-Valkeinen (pond), Pilvijärvi, Pitkäjärvi, Saimaa, Sammakkolampi (pond), Suolijärvi, Sylvöjärvi, Syväri, Särkijärvi, Sääksjärvi, Tiilikka, Valkeinen, Villähteen Kukkanen, Vähäjärvi.

Rivers: Mustijoki

Sauna/spa complexes: Saana Kuopio, Luoto Kuopio, Kuusijärvi Vantaa, Kaihu Mikkeli.
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