Where to Stay in Mäntyharju, Southern Savonia

Mäntyharju is known for its lakes and its old railway, a forest-and-water municipality of Southern Savonia in eastern Finland, in the lakeland. The Mäntyharjun rautatieasema brought the wider world to the village, its wooden station a heritage piece of the line. Trains still pass through.

The Mäntyharjun kirkko marks the centre, the island of Miekankoski recalls the old border between Sweden and Russia, and the rock paintings of the Mäntyharjun Haukkavuoren kalliomaalaukset carry the deep past of these waters.

The Mäntyharjun rautatieasema is a landmark of the village, its wooden station a heritage piece of the railway through Southern Savonia. Older marks lie out on the lakes. At the centre stands the Mäntyharjun kirkko, the island of Miekankoski keeps the memory of the old border between Sweden and Russia and a summer café, and the rock paintings of the Itkonlahden kalliomaalaus, the Kannonaluksen kalliomaalaus and the Mäntyharjun Haukkavuoren kalliomaalaukset carry the deep past of these waters of eastern Finland, while the Mäntyharjun museo gathers the local story.

Mäntyharju grew as a lakeland parish of the Savo forests. Chartered in the 16th century, the water-bound community of Southern Savonia lived among its lakes and islands, the people fishing and farming the shores while the deep past lingered in the rock paintings of the Itkonlahden kalliomaalaus and the Kannonaluksen kalliomaalaus. The borderland marked the place.

At the island of Miekankoski the old frontier between Sweden and Russia once ran through these waters, and the parish gathered its life around the Mäntyharjun kirkko, the church that held the village centre in the old keskusta. The modern age arrived by rail. The Mäntyharjun rautatieasema brought the railway to the village, its wooden station and yard a heritage of the line, while the old land route of the Suuri Savontie had long carried travellers through the forests of eastern Finland.

Trains drew life to the centre. Rural memory of the parish was gathered in the Mäntyharjun museo, and Mäntyharju settled into its modern role as a lakeland municipality of Southern Savonia, its lakes, its station and its old paintings spread across the waters and forests of eastern Finland.

Mäntyharju lies in the lake-and-forest country of Southern Savonia, in eastern Finland, in the lakeland. Water fills the broad municipality, with lakes and pine forest spreading on every side while the village centre gathers by the Mäntyharjun kirkko and the Mäntyharjun rautatieasema. Islands break the lakes.

The waters around Miekankoski and the wooded shores carry the rock paintings and the summer cottages of the parish, the lake country that gives this corner of eastern Finland its shape.

Mäntyharju has a cold lakeland climate, set by the waters and forests of Southern Savonia. Winters are long, dark and deeply snowed, the cold gripping the lakes and pinewoods of the municipality around the Mäntyharjun kirkko from the early autumn until the late spring thaw, when the ice holds the shores for months. Summers are short and warm.

The long northern daylight warms the lake water and the islands of Mäntyharju through a brief season, drawing cottagers and boats to the shores of eastern Finland before the freeze returns.

Mäntyharju is reached by rail and road through the lakeland of Southern Savonia. Trains stop at the Mäntyharjun rautatieasema in the village centre, a rare lakeland town still on the line, and the roads carry the rest of the traffic to the centre by the Mäntyharjun kirkko. The station sets it apart.

Travellers come by train across the forests and lakes of eastern Finland, or by car along the roads that follow much the old line of the Suuri Savontie through the woods to the shores of Mäntyharju.