Repovesi National Park, Kymenlaakso, Finland

4Ulla K 5:00 PM Jul 28, 2013

Hiking for a day or more
Looking for a place to see the best of Finnish nature? Repovesi National Park is one of the best places for this. It is just about 200km from the capital and the scenery is almost like from Kuusamo, the quite northern part of Finland. In the park the trails are well marked and you can buy the map of the area from the gas stations around the area (for example Valkeala ABC). The trails are mostly just paths, but some parts can go along a dirt road. The altitudes are changing, so you need to keep a moderate speed. There are well kept fire places/ resting areas and couple of places where there is easy to put a tent. The sceneries are beautiful, the waters are clean, you can swim, you can paddle, you can come to a boat trip or come with a boat, walk some and call for a taxi boat to get you back to your place of beginning the trip. The hiking routes vary in length, so with children you can just come from a car park about 1,2 km and have a picnic and swim and go back, or then you can go 5 km route or then even routes from one to two or three nights. All the trash you bring has to be taken by you back, there are no trash containers. Wells are there to drink, they are marked into the map just like the places to lit a fire or put up a tent. Toilets you can find in almost every resting place, bring your own toilet paper. For rock climbers there is almost the best place in Finland to practice, about 30 meters of cliffs, some of the routes are above the water (there is a little rowing boat to be used for landing or securing). This place is called Olhava. There is a place for camping just underneath the cliffs. So, just go and enjoy the awesome silence, nature and clean air/water that this place is offering. :)

4Volker_12 5:00 PM Oct 23, 2013

Quite remote nature, and this close by the capital
A very good training are for hiking or water sports in Finland. Just a 2-3 hours drive from the capital Helsinki, Lapinsalmi is a good starting point for a 2 day hike. There are many campfire sites with plenty of wood and an axe, water is good after boiling. And there are 4 wells in the National Park, so cold drinking water is also no problem. Most of the tracks are small, so you are only disturbed by other hikers. But some tracks and campfires are for bicycles and longer staying climbers, so a little more busy. But overall, still a very good start for a longer vacation in Finland.