View Of The Viking

Sindre Johnsgaard

A romantic getaway to Finland

Tired of vacationing in all the big and noisy cities? Would you like to visit a place that is secluded, in the woods, but still offers you a ton of luxury? Well, look no further. If you continue to read I will tell you all about one of my favorite destinations to date

Hotel & Spa Resort Järvisydän

About one year ago, I saw a picture of the spa area of Hotel & Spa Resort Järvisydän on Instagram. I fell in love with it immediately, and told myself that I am going there no matter what! Luckily, we were able to go right before the Covid-19 virus aka Corona began causing trouble all over the world. Let me start out by telling you about the location. From Oslo, you take a short plain ride about 1,5 hours to Helsinki. Located in the east of Finland, about 3,5 hours from Helsinki,

We decided to rent a car. I am not a huge fan of driving, but I do like the freedom of having a car, and being able to drive around without being “stuck” at the hotel or wherever you are. The city of Porosalmi where Hotel & Spa Resort Järvisydän is located, has a lot of rich history dating all the way back to 1685. This is when the Heiskanen family started to provide travelers with hospitality services. In the beginning, a strong incentive for establishing the resort was an agreement between the Czar of Russia and the King of Sweden to build and maintain a road through Finland. At the time, it was stipulated that a location for feeding horses and to accommodate travelers would need to be established at 30 km intervals along the way. Porosalmi just happened to be located in one of these places. Tapio and Eila Heiskanen had four sons who all grew up in Porosalmi and one of the sons, Jari Heiskanen, formed Järvisydän with his wife Raija. Jari and Raija had two children, one of them son Markus Heiskanen who at the beginning of 21st century started to host Järvisydän. He is now staying in a guest house which is now in it’s 11th generation, which I think is really impressive.

A lot has happened since 1685, and there has been a lot of construction and new development in recent years.

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The most popular feature is the lake spa. What makes it so unique is that it is filled with fresh water from Lake Saimaa, and it is heated by geothermal and solar energy. All the wood and stonework around are made of logs that they find at the bottom of the lake combined with natural stone. I had never tried a sauna before, and could there be any better place to try it for the first time than in Finland? There are several different saunas there, and with no fear (well maybe a little) I walked into one of the saunas. I was in there for about 20 seconds, then I started having trouble breathing, and I realized that saunas might not be for me. In a proper sauna, you are supposed to go outside and have a dip in the ice cold water after being overheated in the sauna. I did go outside, and stuck my foot in the freezing water. That was about it for me. I might be a wimp, but it was a cool experience anyways. I can imaging it being really nice to spend time in the outside pool in the lake spa because it is a really nice infinity pool overlooking the lake and the houseboats.

As I mentioned, the location is pretty much in the middle of the woods which in my opinion is pretty cool. However, since it is so remote, I suggest having a car so you can get around. I think the closest gas station is about a 15 minute drive, so if you have a late night craving for something sweet, it would take you quite some time to walk to the gas station. Luckily, the food at the hotel is very good. For dinner, they have two different three-course-meals that they offer every other day. My favorite was the deer, which I had never tried before.

If you ever want to visit here, you can choose whether you would like to stay in a normal hotel suite, a houseboat, or a scenery suite. We stayed in the scenery suite which is a like a small romantic cabin. It’s not very spacious, but for two people it’s more than enough. It had a little fireplace, and the coolest part was the windows that go pretty much over the entire bedroom. There are drapes that you can shut, so you can have your privacy, but I loved having them open, and being able to look at the stars all night long. Needless to say, I had a hard time actually catching some sleep in the midst of all the stargazing.