Kuopio Things to Do

The most interesting place worth visiting near central Kuopio is Puijo tower, located on Puijo hill very close to the town. The tower has excellent views to all directions, over the city itself and to the forests and lakes around it.

The entrance fee is a few euros, and you can enjoy the views from an open air deck or behind glass in cafeteria one level below. There is also a revolving restaurant, but I can't say anything about the food -- the view is grand.

Kuopio has natural hills suited for winter sports and especially the Puijo ski center is world famous. There are international ski jumping competitions every winter. Here's a good chance to see how high the towers really are. They rise above the tree tops. I can't imagine having to climb stairs all the way up carrying your skis and then, with your legs still all wobbly from the climb, you JUMP down. Ok, they probably don't have to climb stairs anymore but even so...

Something to do for a rainy day: Finnish art at Kuopio Art Museum. This summer there's an exhibition of Ellen Thesleff's paintings and graphic from private collections. I went to see and the works that were displayed were just beautiful. However, I was a bit dissappointed in the limited number of works on show.
Open tues - fri 10 - 17, wed 10 - 19 and sat-sun 11 - 17. Entrance fee was 3 eur.

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Kuopio University Botanical Garden is called Marikko and it's rather a new building with a modest collection of plants. Nice outdoor settings though with a pond and all. And don't miss the beautiful lake shore. Inside, there was also a nice Japanese garden but, again, not very large. On the positive side, there's no entrance fee.

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Puijo tower stands high on a hill and it is the landmark of Kuopio. You can see it from afar and, naturally, you have great views from the tower's top landing. Entrance fee 3,50. There's also a cafeteria if you feel like having a bite to eat. It's not too much more expensive than elsewhere. A gift shop with tower miniatures and pictures of the tower in almost anything imaginable from plates and mugs to wooden artefacts.

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Kuopio is surrounded by lakes and the natural thing to do in the summer is to go on a Lake Kallavesi sight seeing cruise. The sceneries are wonderful. There are several options, but one very popular is to go on a traditional lake "steamer" as seen in the pictures.

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Go to this city block museum, Korttelimuseo, and enjoy the atmosphere of a century ago. Very interesting displays of craftsmen's tools of trade such as weaver, tailor, shoemaker, pharmacist and so on in several buildings from mid 19th century till 1930. Sometimes, they have work exhibits, i.e. people showing how things were done in the past. Also changing exhibitions of photography. Really a lot to see and there's also a nice cafeteria should you feel peckish. If the weather is nice, you can drink your coffee in their lush garden.

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There is lots of water in and around Kuopio and the lake is having important part of the city life, culture, economy and leisure. In the summer it is beautiful clear blue water and in the winter white frozen ice.