Kuopio Things to Do

The Kuopio Museum, built in 1907, is, along with the Kauppa-Halli (market hall), one of the city's Art Nouveau treasures. The museum presents permanent archeological and cultural displays as well as many temporary exhibitions.

We didn't go inside, but the exterior in itself is a tourist attraction.

Kuopio has a traditional savusauna (smoke sauna) in the Rauhalahti tourist area called Jatkankampalla. While we did not know what to expect at first, we ended up loving our time there. What makes it especially interesting if you are travelling with a member of the opposite sex is that it is one of the few mixed saunas in Finland.

Essentially, you sweat it out in the sauna (if somebody has not already taken it upon themselves to do so, you may use a ladle to throw water on the stove, which will produce steam) before jumping into the lake outside when you can't take the heat anymore. We repeated the process 3-4 times. The wide variation in temperature accelerated our heartbeat a lot, which made us feel both very relaxed and very hungry. Fortunately, the Jatkankampalla Lumberjack Lodge just beside the smoke sauna served an extensive buffet meal that really hit the spot. It is one of our fondest memories of Finland.

Before I forget: towels are provided but not swimsuits. That may explain why so many people were skinny-dipping... not that there's anything wrong with that. :)

1 more image

Any visitor that stops in Kuopio must take the time to go up the Puijo Tower, which is located on the hill of the same name. Since Finland is a very flat country, Puijo is a special place because the combination of the hill (150 m) and tower (75 m) take you 225 m above sea level.

From the open-air observation deck on the 13th floor you have a panoramic view of the surrounding forests and lakes -- said to represent "the national ideal of Finnish scenery". There is also a restaurant on the 12th floor, which explains the history of the Puijo area (and of the towers that preceded the current one). At ground level, there is a gift shop, which also serves at the ticket office to go up the elevator to the restaurant and observation deck.

This old steam locomotive is called Kukko and you can find it at Kuopio railwaystation. It was built in Germany 1924. I think it's sweet that they actually gave names to the different models. There are three of this kind and many other kinds of locomotives still left in Finland, some of them have been kept nicely but some have been vandalized by ignorant youth. This one is in rather good shape.

I like the colour of this building (Indoor Market), which is located exactly at the centre of the city.
Not far away between each other, you can visit Kuopio Museum, Art Museum, Alava church, Jynkka church, St. Nicholaos Cathedral, VB-Photograghic Centre, the House of City Council etc.

Johan Vilhelm Snellman is the most important Finnish philosopher and politician of the 19th century. He used to be the headmaster of a secondary school in Kuopio and is therefore strongly connected to the city.
It was Snellman who could persuade Tsar Alexander II to make Finnish together with Swedish and Russian an official language of Finnland.

This lake is situated in the city and it's a wonderful place to go for a walk in the late afternoon.
On a hot day you might even want to take a refreshing bath. There are several places to go for a swim.

This church is built on a small hill, with a nice garden in the front. I could not find any information on it in my guidebook and not anywhere else. All I know is that it is a Lutheran Church, and that it has beautiful shiny copperplates on the roof. I enjoyed sitting in the garden in front of this church with my lunch.