Summer road trip through Savo: lakes, saunas and seal safaris

Starting point: Kuopio-Tahko 
Getting there: Flight from Helsinki to Kuopio Airport (KUO), then around 50 minutes by road to Tahko
Endpoint: Mikkeli with a road and train connection to Helsinki
Length: Seven days, with room to linger 
Distance: Approximately 500 km by car 
Suggested transportation: Rental car, picked up at Kuopio 
Best time to go: June to late August

This road trip begins in Tahko, in the North Savo province and around 50 minutes' drive northeast of Kuopio Airport. Tahko is one of Lakeland's most famous year-round resorts. In summer that means two 18-hole golf courses, marked mountain biking and hiking trails through the surrounding landscapes, a network of swimming and boating bays on Lake Syväri, and the long, slow-fading evenings of a Finnish summer. From Helsinki, the easiest way in is a one-hour flight to Kuopio Airport (KUO) and a rental car picked up at the terminal. 

Tahko is a compact cluster of hotels, cabins and restaurants strung along the foot of Tahkovuori hill with the lake on one side and the wooded hillside on the other. Settle in at one of the many suites or apartments available at Sustainable Travel Finland labeled Tahko Spa Hotel, then head up to Havu Kitchen & Bar for dinner. Havu sits at the top of Tahkovuori and the view from its terrace across Lake Syväri's small wooded islands is a good first orientation across the landscape this road trip runs through. You can drive up, walk, bike, or take the summer chairlift from the village to the restaurant. Havu's kitchen offers menus blending delicate Scandinavian flavours with Asian influences using local producers' ingredients.

After breakfast, head back up the hill for a guided electric mountain bike ride with Tahko Safarit. Tahko's marked MTB trails range from gentle, rolling forest paths to the downhill runs of the Bike Park, and the guides supply bikes and pick a route to fit your group.

Finish your ride at Pehku Bar at the top of Tahkovuori, a slope restaurant that's been operating since 1996. The signature dish is Pehku's goulash, a beef fillet soup served with house bread and sour cream. A short walk from Pehku is the start platform for Tahko Zipline, Finland's longest. It runs along two parallel one-kilometre cables, drops 140 metres in elevation and glides up to 40 metres above the water of Lake Syväri. Top speeds reach 60-70 km/h. Anyone who'd rather skip the ride can take the chairlift back down to the village.

Back in the village, the Tahko Rooftop Spa on the top floor of the Break Sokos Hotel Tahko (STF) offers multiple unique saunas, hot tubs and an outdoor pool with a panoramic view across Tahko's slopes; yoga is also a part of the weekly programme. For dinner, walk over to restaurant El Monte in the village, where the atmosphere is relaxed and the kitchen leans on cherished Finnish dishes with a touch of modern flavor. End the evening at Hophaus Tahko for a tasting of specialty beers; the bar also has a distillery on site producing organic gin and rye whiskey.

Check out of the hotel in Tahko and drive south to Kuopio around 70 km and roughly an hour on Finland's National Road 5. Kuopio is set among the islands and peninsulas of Lake Kallavesi, and it is the regional capital of the North Savo province. 

Start your day in Kuopio at the central market square, tori, which has been the city's social and commercial heart since the 19th century. The neighbouring Kuopio Market Hall, kauppahalli, is where to look for the city's signature dish: kalakukko, a domed rye-crusted pie filled with vendace, pork and bacon, baked slowly until the rye crust seals in everything inside. Try a portion as a mid-morning snack. You'll also find cafés and little shops inside the hall.

A ten-minute walk south of the market square is the passenger port, satama, where Roll Risteilyt has been running lake cruises around the city since 1978. Their City & Islands Tour is a 90-minute loop through the archipelago around Kuopio, with lunch served onboard from a menu built around vendace, beef meatballs and other Lakeland staples. Book ahead in high summer, or walk to the port and pick a departure that fits your schedule.

After your visit in Kuopio, drive south on National Road 5, around 90 km and an hour, to Kuvansi, near the city of Varkaus. The stop here is Freefinns Ranch, a small working farm with horses, Finnish Lapphunds, chickens and rabbits. Book an excursion beforehand and join a guided horse ride through the Savo countryside.

From the Freefinns Ranch, the route turns east on smaller roads towards Oravi on Lake Saimaa. Oravi is a small village in the Savonlinna municipality, sitting between Linnansaari and Kolovesi National Parks, with a small shop, café-restaurant Ruukinranta and a guest harbour. 

Check in at the STF labeled Kanava Resort with nine eco-friendly cottages, built from cross-laminated timber and opened in 2023 on the site of a 19th-century ironworks at the tip of the Puistoniemi headland, where Lake Saimaa meets the Oravi canal. The well-equipped modern cabins with private saunas have floor-to-ceiling windows looking onto the canal and across to the islands of Linnansaari. In summer, lucky guests have spotted the Saimaa ringed seal from inside.

The next morning, you can either have breakfast in your cabin or take a five-minute walk to restaurant Ruukinranta in the centre of Oravi village (STF). Ruukinranta offers local delicacies alongside fresh bread from a nearby bakery best enjoyed on their spacious summer terrace.

After breakfast, head over to SaimaaHoliday Oravi, the local outfitter at the harbour, for a morning on the water. Their canoeing services run from May to October, with self-guided rental, guided tours and beginner courses. Hop into a canoe and discover some of Finland's most beautiful waterways and island landscapes. Enjoy lunch back at Ravintola Ruukinranta or on rocky shore picnic. 

In the late afternoon, return for the day's main event: a sunset seal safari into Linnansaari National Park. There is an estimated 80 Saimaa ringed seals in the Linnansaari area, part of a global population of 530 (the 2025 estimate from Metsähallitus). The species is endemic to Lake Saimaa – it exists nowhere else in the world – and in 2025 was officially reclassified as its own distinct species, Pusa saimensis. The safari runs in a small open boat with an experienced guide; the seals tend to come ashore at dusk to rest on warm rocks.

After a day on the lake, spend a quiet evening back at the cabin at Kanava Resort.

It's time to leave Oravi in the morning and drive south to the city of Savonlinna, around 40 minutes by car. The city grew up around Olavinlinna, the medieval St Olaf's Castle that Erik Axelsson Tott began building in 1475 on a rocky islet in the Kyrönsalmi strait. Olavinlinna is the world's northernmost medieval stone fortress still standing.

Take a guided tour around the fortress to hear how the Swedish-Russian wars shaped it, the cycle of fires and restorations it went through, and about the castle's later life as the summer home of the world-famous Savonlinna Opera Festival, founded by soprano Aino Ackté in 1912 and held inside the castle walls every July. 

From the castle, walk a few minutes along the harbour to the local marketplace for the city's signature snack: the lörtsy, a deep-fried pastry sold from market stalls with savoury meat-and-rice or sweet apple-jam fillings. For lunch, try Muikkuterassi that sits on the rooftop of Original Sokos Hotel Seurahuone and has a panoramic view across the market square and harbour. The kitchen specialises in fried vendace dredged in rye flour and pan-fried in butter, Lake Saimaa's defining summer dish.

In the early afternoon, drive south-west toward Mikkeli. The drive from Savonlinna to Mikkeli takes about 1.5 hours. The turn-off for Tertti Manor (Tertin Kartano in Finnish) comes about 10 minutes before the city centre. The pink wooden manor house has been in the same family since 1894 and housed a restaurant and garden café since the late 1970s. Stop for coffee and cake in the lovely café and its terrace, and pick up breads, jams and other local goodies from the deli shop.

From Tertti, continue the day's drive for another 25 kilometres to Anttola. Check in at Saimaanranta Resort by Anttolanhovi on the shore of Lake Saimaa. The modern, wooden lakeside villas, designed by Finnish Studio Puisto Architects, sit directly on the water, each with a private sauna. Spend the evening on the terrace, in the sauna and borrow the resort's rowing boat for a calming experience on the lake.

On the morning of day seven, drive south from Anttola to Ristiina, around 40 minutes by car. Ristiina is a small village on the southern reaches of Mikkeli and is the launching point for trips to the Astuvansalmi rock paintings. RIB Saimaa runs guided cruises out to the rock face from Ristiina and Varkaantaipale, on a small open boat for up to eleven passengers. Pre-order snack packages or coffee to compliment your trip.

The rock paintings cover a steep granite cliff on the shore of Lake Yövesi, part of the wider Saimaa system. They are around 5,000 years old, made with red ochre mixed with animal fat and blood, and depict around 80 figures: elks, humans, boats, hand and paw prints, and the much-photographed female bow-holder known as the Astuvan Artemis. 

Officially identified by the Finnish archaeologist Pekka Sarvas in 1968 (locals had known of them for generations), Astuvansalmi is the largest collection of prehistoric rock art in the Nordic countries and a designated site within the Saimaa UNESCO Global Geopark. In 2019 it became the first Finnish site on the Council of Europe's Prehistoric Rock Art Trails.