Lake my breath away

“Looks like you’ve brought the heat along with you!” was easily the most common thing I heard throughout my trip to Finland. To me, too, summer in Finland seemed like an alien concept – this was a place that had reindeers and northern lights; was summer even a thing there? Maybe it was a just a less cold winter instead. That sounded right.

I was soon to be proved extremely wrong. With the sun shining overhead, clear blue skies and every Finn working meticulously on their tan, summer time is when everyone is out and about, making the most of the sun. While Helsinki is gorgeously metropolitan and otherwise worth spending time in, summer in the capital is wasted time. To truly make the most of warm days, the locals hit up Finnish Lakeland, which includes Imatra, Lappeenranta and Porvoo. With beautiful outdoor spaces, Lake Saimaa’s omnipresent calming presence and innumerable sauna sessions, they know summer in Lakeland is where the magic is at. Take a cue.

Fishing for beauty in Imatra

WAKING up on a summer morning in Helsinki has me slightly disoriented. I check my watch as I shove the last of my things into my suitcase – I have exactly two hours to spare before I hit the road. Time enough to sneak in a quick breakfast and a short visit to Helsinki Cathedral – a pretty good way to kick off my trip. But, as I make my way to the restaurant, the gentle roar of thunder breaks my train of thought. My short Helsinki escapade has just been cut even shorter by the downpour. Bummed out but not defeated, I figure this is just Finland’s way of telling me to keep my eyes on the prize – my trip to Imatra later this morning, and a chance to see how many pieces of rye bread I can wolf down at 6am.

Breakfast done, I join my hosts, Sari