Saunas, SUP and Wild Swimming in Finland

You'll be staying for four nights in the charming Maamiehenmajat cabins, nestled along the shores of Lake Saimaa Archipelago – the true Finnish wilderness experience! Surrounded by lush forests and crystal-clear waters, these traditional wooden cabins are just a 40-minute drive from Lappeenranta, the nearest town. Constructed from local wood, they reflect the natural beauty and classic architecture of Finland. Inside, you'll find cozy twin rooms and inviting communal spaces. The lounge, complete with a soothing soapstone fireplace, and large windows that flood the room with natural light. The fully equipped kitchen includes everything you need, from a coffee maker to utensils, and the dining area is ideal for sharing meals and stories after a day of adventure. The cabins has wifi so if you need to stay connected you can and they also each have a small sauna which you can use each day. Within the site, you’ll find a traditional Finnish smoke sauna and wood-fired hot tub by the lake which will be part of your experience on Day 3. In the evenings, you'll gather around the cozy campfire pit, sipping hot drinks and enjoying the warmth of a bonfire below a breathtaking starry night sky in the wilderness.

For solo travellers looking for their own space, an optional private room can be booked for an extra charge. See Optional Extras for the price. Please request this at the time of booking (this is subject to availability).

On site, you'll find a traditional Finnish smoke sauna, or "savusauna," which unlike modern saunas, has a large stone stove heated by burning wood, fillling the room with smoke that warms the stones and radiates gentle heat throughout. After several hours, the fire is extinguished, and the sauna is ventilated, creating a mild, aromatic atmosphere. These saunas are used for bathing but also for socialising and celebrating important life events, making the experience both meditative and deeply rooted in Finnish heritage. Close to the sauna, at the edge of the lake, is a wood barrel bath or hot tub, typically crafted from cedar or other durable woods and heated by a wood-fired stove. Soaking in the wood barrel bath provides a soothing contrast to the heat of the sauna. For the ultimate experience, take a dip in the cool waters of the lake to invigorate the senses and deepen your connection to nature.

We partner with the World Land Trust to ensure this trip achieves Net-Zero emissions. We also support their Buy an Acre programme, helping local communities to buy and protect natural habitats in perpetuity.

What's the number?
It works out on average at 78kg of CO2 emissions per person, including all local transport, accommodation, food, activities, guides, staff and office operations.

The only thing it doesn’t include right now is flights and travel to the destination. We do make an overall estimate across all our customers separately, but as we don’t book flights, have customers from all corners of the world, and no way of reliably knowing their travel plans, we simply can’t include an individual number in the figure on display here. We’ve got a goal to fix that, so that when you book, there is a way to measure and mitigate the carbon emitted by your flight too.

But what does the number mean?
Yep, hard to picture eh? To give you an idea:

• Driving 1000miles/1609km would be approx. 281kg of CO2 in an average car (or 140.5kg per person if there was 2 of you in it).
• A return economy class flight London - New York would be approx. 1,619kg (1.66 tonnes) per person.
• 10 trees in a temperate forest are estimated to remove approx. 250kg of CO2 from the air in a period of 5-10 years.

What are we doing about it?
Our trips are relatively low-carbon by design, and we're working with all our hosts to develop long term carbon reduction plans. We partner with the World Land Trust to ensure this trip achieves Net-Zero emissions. We also support their Buy an Acre programme, helping local communities to buy and protect natural habitats in perpetuity, ensuring the protection of the reserve and its wildlife.

Want to know more?
Amazingly, no international travel company has ever publicly published their carbon measurements before, as far as we know. We believe that must change, quickly. So we’re openly sharing the method we used in the hope that other companies will be able to more easily follow suit and build on what we've done so far. You'll find it all here.