Where to Stay in Laukaa, Central Finland

Laukaa is best known for the rock paintings of Saraakallio. The Saraakallion kalliomaalaukset cover a cliff face above the water with prehistoric red-ochre figures, among the richest such sites in the country, and more survive at the Ison Kuhajärven kalliomaalaus and Uittovuoren kalliomaalaus across the lakeland. The parish church anchors the centre.

Laukaan kirkko and its detached belfry, the Laukaan kirkon tapuli, stand in the old core, while the village of Lievestuore keeps its own church and the station at Lievestuoreen rautatieasema in eastern Laukaa.

The Saraakallion kalliomaalaukset are the landmark visitors travel for. Their cliff above the water carries one of the largest sets of prehistoric rock paintings in the country, with more on the rocks at Ison Kuhajärven kalliomaalaus and Uittovuoren kalliomaalaus. Church and history fill out the round.

Laukaan kirkko keeps its separate belfry, the Laukaan kirkon tapuli, the village of Lievestuore has its own Lievestuoreen kirkko and old station, the manor at Järvilinna stands among trees by the water, and the farmstead museum of the Kalluntuvan kotiseutumuseo gathers the older rural life of the lakeland.

Laukaa reaches back to the people who painted its cliffs. Hunters and fishers left red-ochre figures on the rock at Saraakallion kalliomaalaukset, Ison Kuhajärven kalliomaalaus and Uittovuoren kalliomaalaus, working the lakes of Central Finland long before any parish, and farming villages later spread across the better ground between the waters. A parish formed in the sixteenth century.

Laukaa was set apart as its own parish in 1593, and the church that became Laukaan kirkko, with its detached belfry the Laukaan kirkon tapuli, grew into the fixed centre of a wide rural community scattered through the lakeland. Industry and rail reshaped the east. A mill village rose at Lievestuore around its works on the eastern lakes, gaining its own Lievestuoreen kirkko and the station at Lievestuoreen rautatieasema as the line crossed the municipality.

The old rural life is kept close. A farmstead museum at the Kalluntuvan kotiseutumuseo and the manor at Järvilinna still record how people once lived by these waters.

Laukaa lies in central Finland, in the lakeland, on a broad spread of water and forest. Lakes shape everything here. Cliffs drop to the water at the Saraakallion kalliomaalaukset, the church centre sits on firmer ground by Laukaan kirkko, and the mill village of Lievestuore lies on its own lakes to the east of the municipality.

Wide, low ridges and shorelines run between the waters across this part of Central Finland.

Laukaa has the cool, snowy climate of the Central Finland lakeland. Its many lakes freeze through long winters, locking the cliffs of the Saraakallion kalliomaalaukset and the shores of Lievestuore under ice and snow. Spring comes late.

The thaw opens the water below the painted rocks again, and short, bright summers bring people out onto the lakes and to the church centre around Laukaan kirkko while the long northern light lasts.

Getting to Laukaa is easiest by road. Regional roads run in from across Central Finland to the church centre and on to the villages spread through the lakeland. The rails reach the east.

The old line crosses the municipality with a stop at Lievestuoreen rautatieasema, while most visitors drive in to the centre at Laukaan kirkko, the handiest base for the rock paintings of Saraakallio and the lakes beyond.