Nilsiä Travel Guide

Tahko Spa is a full-fledged, albeit a bit small, spa in Tahko ski resort in Nilsiä, Finland. It offers various possibilities to break away from skiing for a while. The choices include a spa with various swimming pools, bowling lanes, gym, a sport area for floorball or badminton, one bar, and a restaurant. There is also a small shop selling some groceries, toys, and souvenirs. A big and well equipped play area for children can be found at the downstairs. The spa can provide childcare on request.

The spa itself consists of Finnish and Turkish saunas -- separate for both sexes -- and a pool area with 25 meter big pool, and various smaller pools for children, and a hot tub / jacuzzi. There is also an outdoor pool, but it was closed due to cold weather (-23C) when we visited the spa. Remember to bring your own towels, unless you want to rent them for three euros a piece.

Treatments, such as massage or facials, are available, too.

When skiing, pizza is a good choice to tackle the hunger -- lots of energy and everyone can customise their own to suit to personal tastes. Kotipizza is the biggest pizzeria chain in Finland, and one of the numerous joints can be found in Tahko.

Kotipizza has a long menu of different pizzas, andn one of them -- "Berlusconi" -- has been elected the best pizza in the world in America's Plate International pizza competition in 2008. Worth trying. I personally suggest their "Monster" pizzas with five toppings of your choice and extra dough bars on top of the pizzas for dipping (dip sauce included in the price). Our family of four is easily fed with that.

The Tahko restaurant has also take-out possibility, and they sell hamburgers and fries under brand "Joke's". I haven't ever tried their hamburgers, so cannot say about the taste. Portions looked big, though,

Tahkovuori is the southernmost full scale ski resort in Finland. Located about 60 kilometers up north from Kuopio, and thus about 450 kilometers from Helsinki, Tahko boasts an impressive set of activities around the year. The first and foremost focus is on skiing, downhill and cross-country, but there are a lot of other sport possibilities as well.

The slopes are not very high, but good for skiing and snowboarding. There is a good selection of cross-country skiing tracks with varying difficulty. If you are afraid of slopes, you can always ski on the frozen lake. For other winter-time activity, consider Tahko Spa that offers also bowling, badminton and other indoor sports. For people not interested in sports, Tahko has all kinds of motorised fun, such as snowcats or rally cars on the lake.

Golf is the biggest attraction during summer. There are two golf courses and third one is being built (situation in 2009). Hiking, rowing, and biking are also good ways to burn calories in summer.

The easiest way to get to Tahko is to drive by car. There are direct buses during winter weekends from major cities in Finland. The nearest train stations are in Siilinjärvi and Kuopio, about 45 and 65 kilometers away, respectively. Airport is somewhere in between the train stations. All have bus or taxi connections to Tahko.

For accommodation, there are a few hotels, several chalet apartments and numerous amount of cottages. There is more than a dozen restaurants, some providing also take-away options. Check Tahko's homepage for more information.