FORGET LAPLAND! Why EVERYONE Should Visit FINLAND’S LAKE DISTRICT 🇫🇮 (Punkaharju)

Continuing my road trip in Finland’s lake district I visit the world’s largest wooden church in Kerimäki & another magnificent ridge road through the vast lakelands of Punkaharju. Forget Lapland & travel here!
🇫🇮 See more of my travel vlogs from Finland here → bit.ly/mwt_finland
Way out in Finland’s magnificent east, amongst the lakes and forests of Finnish Lakeland is the largest wooden church in the world - the yellow 19th century Kerimäki Church (Kerimäen Kirkko). I stopped by to take a walk around it and ended up flying my drone too. From up in the air I got some delightful views of the surrounding landscape, which included Lake Puruvesi just a kilometre away.
Back on the road I headed towards another contender for Finland’s most spectacular driving route - the Punkaharju ridge road that weaves its way along a narrow strip of land and is lined with gorgeous tall trees whose greenery compliments the blue of the lakes perfectly.
Sections of the Punkaharju are on the waterline whilst other parts snake up to reveal breathtaking viewpoints of the encompassing environment. The key one being Runeberg's Mound (Runebergin Kumpu) which has been identified as the ridge road's highest point. The Punkaharju ridge road is a must visit if you’re in the east of Finland - during my visit there was barely another soul in sight. I felt like I had it all to myself.
Whilst in the Punkaharju area there’s lots of other places to visit too. I saw Lusto (Suomen Metsämuseo Lusto) which is the Finnish Forest Museum and Kuikonniemi Fortress (Kuikonniemen Linnoitus) which is part of Finland’s long and impressive series of defensive fortifications called the Salpa Line.
Before driving another 2.5 hours to my next destination I went in search of Finland’s Tallest Tree (Suomen Pisin Puu) which reportedly stands at 47.3 metres and is just a few minutes from the ridge road of Punkaharju.
📖 CHAPTERS:
📖 00:00 Intro
📖 01:14 Largest Wooden Church in the World (Kerimäki Church)
📖 02:30 How Expensive is Finland?
📖 03:30 Driving Finland’s Punkaharju Ridge Road
📖 05:31 Kuikonniemi Fortress (Salpa Line) & Lusto
📖 06:52 The Search for Finland’s Tallest Tree
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Soundtrack
🎵 I’m Walking Home by Consolate feat. Natalie
🎵 Eternal Sunshine by Rymdklang Soundtracks
🎵 We’re Taking Off by Wildflowers
🎵
🎵 Music by Epidemic Sound. Get a FREE month here → bit.ly/2LB53FZ

[@druidofthefang]

It is very unusual for a visitor to go to these "normal" places in Finland. It has been fun to watch so far.

[@MattWhitingsEurope]

Glad you're enjoying the trip, I can't help but to be amazed by how few people there are about. I like finding these less touristy places away from the crowds, they're always fun to explore. Thanks for watching.

[@BeginningsAndPaths]

Beautiful area with gorgeous scenery! I'm always amazed by the combination of forest and water. Thanks for sharing 🙏😊 ~Philip

[@oh2mp]

Nice video again! It was a pity that Kerimäki church was closed. Did you know that there are 27 places that have been defined as national landscapes of Finland? Punkaharju is unsurprisingly one of them, but you have already seen several others too. You may remember that before changing to Euro in 2002 Finland had markka as its currency. On the backside of 500 FIM banknote of the last series used there was a drawing of Punkaharju.

[@turpasauna]

Absolutely. The nature is most gorgeous, people friendly and the pace of life slower.

[@MattWhitingsEurope]

Yes indeed, sometimes it's nice to slow down a bit and enjoy the scenery.

[@yoretabio4537]

So true. As Finn I agree

[@robertwilkinson8421]

I'm really enjoying following your Travels through Finland. Thanks for sharing.

[@MattWhitingsEurope]

Thanks so much for tuning in, I'm really pleased you're enjoying my travels. I'm having a blast in Finland & can't wait to share the rest of the trip.

[@Justusosaa]

Hi Matt. I am glad that you presented world’s biggest wooden church. Forgetting Lapland and its free roaming reindeer is impossible. White nights is such an experience, which stay in mind the resto of life! Lapland is something special in Finland. The real Lapland starts from the Arctic Circle to the North. The area is wide and it hides many awesome surprises. Your idea to forget Lapland is mission impossible now and later. Happy travel. Matti

[@MattWhitingsEurope]

That church was humongous, it made me feel so small standing next to it. Fair point about Lapland, I think I always associate it with Father Christmas and sledging through the snow - sounds like there's a lot more to Lapland than that. Perhaps I should consider it for another road trip sometime, anywhere in particular you would recommend - maybe some interesting places off the beaten track?

[@Hongaars1969]

Hello Matt. How are you? I arrived back in Dubrovnik on Wednesday (from Pretoria where I’d been the previous 11 weeks). Here at club Med, the temperatures have been soaring. On Friday we already had the first major power outage. Today, a scrub fire up the hill behind Dubrovnik. The point of the above ramble is that visiting places like Finland are more and more appealing. (In fact in yesterday’s Times travel section there were 25 cool climate summer holiday recommendations and one of them was the lake region in Finland…I’m sure The Times’ writer borrowed from your uploads). The lighting and the long shadows in your videos augment the scenery. Glad you were able to recover from the knock on your head and continue to enjoy your journey. Until next week Zoltán

[@yoretabio4537]

I have visited Punkarock rock festivals in Punkaharju as teen at Midsummers 1979-83. Seen Motörhead and Bad Manners there, among many other bands.

[@oh2mp]

I was a little too young that time but from about 1984 onwards I went many many times to Huviniemi of Punkaharju and saw many famous bands of the time there :)

[@magister2123]

My childhood scenery. Thx! 😊

[@MattWhitingsEurope]

Glad I could bring back a few good memories for you - I very much enjoyed my day! Wonderful place!

[@artsi897]

Great video.👍🇫🇮👍

[@MattWhitingsEurope]

Thanks so much, glad you enjoyed it. 👍

[@WITYTRAVELS]

Glad you didn't let a little bloody head ruin your trip. Fanta is the most important supply for the road trip! That is an impressive tree!

[@KarpoKekkonen]

Great to see some familiar sights.

[@MattWhitingsEurope]

Cool, I take it you're from these parts?

[@TommiSRP]

Glad youu made it to the Harjutie! It is magnificent!

[@MattWhitingsEurope]

Great day, I really enjoyed the experience! I just can't believe how quiet it was.

[@0mgz0mg]

Oh man. The tallest tree sure would be a long moment of admirarion for me.

[@MattWhitingsEurope]

I do wonder how they know that for sure. I mean there must be millions of trees in Finland and many of them in the middle of nowhere, they can't measure them all!

[@petrihakkinen2336]

Those larches are planted for ship masts. Those are very durable trees in that purpose

[@MattWhitingsEurope]

That makes sense, I was wondering earlier how they know it's the tallest tree in Finland without measuring all of them. 🤓

[@petrihakkinen2336]

@@MattWhitingsEurope here is allways going forest invention. Whole land is randomly put in test areas and those been measured. And lot of forest workers who report big trees.

[@butterflies655]

Visit Pulkkilanharju. It is as nice. Some ppl think it is the most beautiful scenery in Finland.

[@MattWhitingsEurope]

Thanks for mentioning Pulkkilanharju, a few others have said the same thing - I Googled it and looks wonderful. Definitely interested in visiting it at some point, some many incredible driving routes in Finnish Lakeland.

[@td6460]

Good year for you to pick touring Finland, we haven't had a summer like this in ages.

[@MattWhitingsEurope]

There's some crazy weather across Europe at the moment! Thanks for watching 😀

[@ItsGunkku]

i love ur videos

[@MattWhitingsEurope]

Thanks so much, really appreciate you saying! Hope all is well in Joensuu!

[@itsgoodiewoodie]

You are doing amazing work. I love these scenes.

[@MattWhitingsEurope]

Thank you, makes my day to hear comments like that. Glad you're enjoying my journey! 😄

[@jugcage7634]

Thanks, these are always an interesting watch.

[@MattWhitingsEurope]

Glad you like them! Really enjoying my trip to Finland and am still amazed by how quiet the lake district is.

[@TommiSRP]

About the food prices in Finland: - There are 3 main chains of grocery stores in Finland: S-Ryhmä, Kesko and LIDL - S-Ryhmä has the following stores: S-Market, Sale, Prisma - Depending on location these have different prices, Prisma being the cheapest and largest - Kesko usually has the following stores: K-Market, K-Supermarket and K-Citymarket - Again, depending on location these have different prices - LIDL is a germany owned company - They sell off-brand copies of products S-Ryhmä and Kesko stores hold - Generally the cheapest with lower quality Kesko stores are regarded as the most expensive ones, S-Ryhmä pretty much has the best value for money and LIDL is for those who want the cheapest stuff!

[@Juhito]

Please drink tap-water! Perfectly safe and save money 🙂

[@MattWhitingsEurope]

Thank you, in hindsight I should have filled up my water bottles from the tap. Definitely a money saver.

[@TommiSRP]

Oooh, I hope you made it to Joensuu, enjoyed some good food, visited the Bunker Museum and enjoyed the lake Pyhäselkä!

[@MattWhitingsEurope]

I'm sad to say that I didn't. I had planned to and researched some of the places you mentioned but unfortunately I ran short of time and something had to give. I was disappointed not to be able to squeeze it in - maybe next time?!

[@TommiSRP]

@@MattWhitingsEurope Hopefully next time! Beautiful summer city! Did you make it to Koli to see "The National View"?

[@Randomizer939]

Yay, my sister got married in the smaller section of the largest 😂 (1:56 on the right in the woods)

[@MattWhitingsEurope]

That's cool. You would need to know a lot of people to fill the main church! Congrats to your sister.

[@stasacab]

I have to agree on that. I have lived and traveled in the lake district for what, like 25 years or something and there is still lot to see and explore. I think it is one of the best places in Finland. OK, my tips for Finland, besides the lake district: Ahvenanmaa/Åland archipelago, coastal cities Hanko and Kaskinen, Hailuoto, some parts of Lapland, old mills of which Fiskars and Billnäs are the most famous.

[@MattWhitingsEurope]

Thanks for those suggestions, have just Goggled them and made a note of a few - they look like great spots to stop by. Sounds like you're a real fan of the lakes, I bet over 25 years you've seem plenty of incredible places. The size of the region amazes me, it feels like it's never ending at times!

[@Juissimies84]

Another entertaining video. Thank you for this. May i say one CON in my books? Mostly during scenery shots where music plays the music is quite loud compared to rest of video. This is only small improvement (imo). Other than that content is top notch! narrative is very interesting, calm and clear. Very pleasent experience overall. Now i´m of to sauna😌.

[@XGD5layer]

On my device the music is equally loud to when he's just speaking

[@Juissimies84]

@@XGD5layer Rewatched the intro and still keeping my statement. Could be my 10"/500W subwoofer and 7.1 setup that likes to go nuts. It´s still not a dealbreaker what comes to Matt´s videos. Don´t get me wrong :).

[@toinenosoite3173]

@@Juissimies84 You are right in keeping to your first opinion, as there is a clear difference in the music volume between speaking and other parts. Not that I think it is too loud in the non-speaking parts, but it is imo getting someshat close.

[@Juissimies84]

@@toinenosoite3173 Fair enought 👍

[@Pyhantaakka]

The disappointment when you find that hot rods are not actually hot. 🤭

[@MattWhitingsEurope]

It shouldn't be allowed! 😂

[@wantsomerye5537]

Two and a quarter-hour drive north.. Koli National Park?

[@MattWhitingsEurope]

Great guess but nope 😐

[@user-ld6fy2rp3p]

😊

[@MattWhitingsEurope]

😃

[@nigelwatson2750]

You need to buy some protein

[@MattWhitingsEurope]

Are you selling protein by any chance?

[@TheRus13]

The main thing is to learn to pronounce Finnish names :)

[@itseperkele181]

Nah, the main thing is to enjoy nature.

[@cinnamontea326]

Rally Finnish has it charms

[@maariatamminen454]

The nature is NUMBER 1 ❤ And a great roadtrip, thank you for that! 🙏 Pronanciation is really a secondary thing when enjoying Finland's nature and peaceful athmosphere❤❤❤

[@TheRus13]

Первый ! :)

[@Juissimies84]

...to fall in ukraine? haha

[@td6460]

@@Juissimies84 Voitko kehari jättää tommoset botti-tason kommentit semmosiin videoihin, mihin ne kuuluu?

[@Juissimies84]

@@td6460 Tuolla tavalla pyydettäessä, en.

[@rihc3584]

Please do not came to Finland. We want to live in peace here. No tourist here!

[@saaraa7876]

Boo hoo. Almost no one comes here anyways we’re not Italy or Spain. Welcome tourists!

[@MattWhitingsEurope]

Don't worry, I can keep a secret. It's the people I tell that can't.