Summer Tour with the Charms of Saimaa

The Pier at Next Hotel Satulinna

The Charms of Saimaa is a cooperation of 15 enchanting destinations around the Saimaa region. The variety of services offered includes distinctive hotel and farm accommodation possibilities, charming, high-class restaurants, delightful boutiques, and atmospheric steamboat cruises. Pick and choose destinations from the multitude to create the perfect Saimaa holiday just for you.

Next Hotel Satulinna is an early 20th century manor, which serves as a hotel, restaurant, conference venue, as well as sauna and spa village. At Satulinna, you have the possibility to enjoy the nature of southern Savo, bathe in a traditional Finnish smoke sauna, swim in the clear blue waters of Lake Puulavesi, and indulge yourself with a variety of beauty treatments. The former barn of the manor now serves as a restaurant in the summer time, serving food prepared using all-organic ingredients.

To combine your overnight visit with a true culinary experience, try Tertti Manor. In Mikkeli In this delightful manor hotel and gourmet haven in southern Savo, the charms of the past meet modern comfort. The manor dates all the way back to the 1500s and has been run by the same family for over a century. Tertti is known for its high-class cuisine. In 2010 The Finnish Gastronomic Society acknowledged Tertti’s achievements in consistently promoting high-quality gastronomy, as well as sustaining the authentic manor house atmosphere. One of the secrets behind Tertti’s cuisine is their passion for local and organic produce. The restaurant serves rye bread based on a 100-year-old dough root from local suppliers, partridge and other game hunted from the manor’s own forests, and salads and herbs grown in Tertti’s own garden.

The Ollinmaki Wine Farm

Continue to delight your taste buds at the Ollinmäki Wine Farm in Anttola. Ollinmäki is a producer of award-winning wines made from Finnish berries and fruits. At Ollinmäki, a Central European wine-making technique – with a healthy dose of Finnish pioneering spirit – is used to turn the berries into wine. In addition to the berries, the names of all the wines come from Finland as well, from an old collection of songs and hymns called Kanteletar.

For getting around Saimaa, leave your car ashore and travel back centuries on a nostalgic steamship cruise. Sightseeing cruises on the traditional handmade Finnish steamships S/S Paul Wahl or S/S Punkaharju offer an insight into the history of the Finnish inland lake. The tour takes you around the Saimaa Lake district and Savonlinna’s famous medieval Olavinlinna castle, home to the world-famous opera festival held at the height of summer each year. Daily cruises in the Savonlinna archipelago 1 June–31 August 2010, at noon, and at 2, 4 and 6 p.m. on the S/S Paul Wahl, and at 11 a.m. and 1, 3, 5 and 7 p.m. on the S/S Punkaharju.

These are only a few examples of the Saimaa region’s charming possibilities. For more information about the Charms of Saimaa, visit www.saimaancharmantit.fi.

For a complete six-day Charms of Saimaa Summer tour, check the Savonlinna travel website at www.savonlinnatravel.com.

For more information about tourism in Finland, go to www.visitfinland.com.

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