Trip Ref #8774
DURATION
LOCATION
ANNUAL LEAVE
GROUP SIZE
MEETING POINT
ACCOMMODATION
Hotel · Campsite
DIFFICULTY
No specific level of fitness or previous experience needed, just a sense of adventure and a willingness to try new things!
Experience Finland’s Nuuksio National Park, 45 km² of peace and tranquility
Canoe calm lakes, hike through green forests and try stand-up paddle boarding (SUP) on picture perfect waters
Spend a unique night in a tent suspended above the forest floor!
Day 1
Helsinki
Meet your host at Helsinki Airport and head to your hotel in the centre of town. Check-in, unwind and then head out to explore the city.
Day 2
Hiking and camping
Take a short drive to a pristine lake located deep inside the national park and spend the day canoeing across the calm water and occasionally carrying your canoe between lakes for an extra bit of adventure! Take a break for a snack and a coffee on the lakeshore and then hike inland to check out the park’s flourishing forests. Drive to the Haltia Nature Centre for lunch and then spend the afternoon exploring, swimming in the nearby lake or hiking the surrounding trails on your own. In the evening, walk to an eco-camp and spend the night in a 2-person tent suspended above the forest floor. Dinner meanwhile will be a basket of goodies for the perfect, cosy evening meal. Fall asleep listening to the sounds of the forest.
Day 3
SUP and departure
Wake in the tranquil forest and after breakfast drive the short distance to a small and beautiful lake where you'll take to the water on a stand-up paddle board. Experience the sense of freedom and closeness to nature that's unique to SUP and then climb to the top of a nearby hill for a packed lunch with views right across the park. Nuuksio covers two different ecological zones, oak forest and southern boreal forest, with trees extending far into the distance, allowing you to appreciate the vastness of the Finnish wilderness. In the afternoon, drive back to Helsinki in time for your flight home.
Included
Guides
Professional, English-speaking guide
Accommodation
1 night in a hotel and 1 night in a treehouse-style tent
Meals
All meals on day 2 and 3
Transfers
To and from the airport and everything in-between
Equipment
All canoeing, SUP and camping equipment
Permits
Entrance to the Haltia Nature Centre
Not Included
Flights to and from the meeting point
Travel insurance
Some meals as described
Personal expenses
Visas where required
Day 1
Breakfast
Lunch
Dinner
Day 2
Breakfast
Lunch
Dinner
Day 3
Breakfast
Lunch
Dinner
What is the food like?
Finnish cuisine blends traditional and modern continental foods for delicious and varied dining opportunities. Dishes commonly include fish, pork, beef or reindeer, but also involve lots of vegetables and mushrooms. Typical meals include cabbage rolls, hearty stews, meatballs and fish prepared in a number of ways. The evening dinner basket on the second night includes sausages, sandwiches and tea. Most dietary requirements can be catered for, just let your host know in advance.
What is the accommodation like?
Helsinki
You’ll stay at Hotel Katajanokka in the city centre. Rooms are ensuite and include TV and free wifi and the hotel also has an onsite restaurant and bar.
The forest
You’ll stay in a 2-person tent at the Tentsile Eco Camp. Tentsile tree tents are low-impact and have a low carbon footprint and are suspended one or more meters above the ground, with the higher tents accessed via a webbing ladder. The lakeside campsite also provides campfires, an eco-toilet, bottled water, sleeping bags, towels and easy access to the Haltia Nature Centre restaurant for breakfast.
The Area
Logistics
Starts
Helsinki Airport
17:30
Ends
Helsinki Airport
Flexible
Transfers
Your host will meet you at Helsinki airport at 17:30, but if you arrive early to spend the day in Helsinki there is a fast and cheap airport train connection to the city centre. Your hotel is located close to Market Square in the heart of town. At the end, you'll be returned to the airport. Please schedule your flight home to depart after 17:00.
Travel options
Helsinki-Vantaa Airport (HEL) is served by regular, inexpensive flights, including direct flights from London on British Airways, Finnair and Norwegian Air Shuttle. Your host will contact you before you leave to check your arrival and departure plans.
What about all the carbon?
We've crunched the numbers to work out the total carbon footprint of this trip, and plant enough trees to suck 2x as much back out the atmosphere.
Enjoy 12.5% Off Outdoor Gear
In need of a few more items? All bookings receive a 12.5% discount to use at Cotswold Outdoor, Snow + Rock and Runner's Need.
What's included?
- All your canoeing, SUP and camping equipment
What do I need to bring?
- Hiking shoes or boots
- Rain/windproof jacket and trousers
- Hiking shirts and trousers
- Thermal top and bottom
- Warm jacket or sweater
- Warm hat and gloves/mittens
- Water bottle
- Head torch
- Swimsuit and towel
- Sun protection (hat, sunglasses and sunblock)
- Small backpack for carrying personal items
No optional extras are available for this trip.
The hosts rearranged the activities to suit the weather, checking I was happy with their suggestions and kept me clearly informed about the plan.
Kaspian was a great host, very helpful and knowledgeable. Everything went smoothly there was a good balance between free time and activities. The activities were both a lot of fun especially the paddleboarding. The food was also great!
Matteo the guide was fantastic and the equipment used was excellent.
Location, activities, logistics, hotel quality and tensile was fun.
A relaxed itinerary, with a good mixture of activities and plenty of time to explore by yourself. The guide and other travelers were really nice which made the trip a lot more fun.
The program, activities, sufficient free time, group size and locations were great.
Fantastic mix of activities in an amazing national park.
The transfers were really convenient. The hotel was lovely. Hiking, SUP and Canoeing were all really good fun! Hosts made sure everyone had plenty of food, fun activities, and were flexible if we wanted to change anything. There was some free time too which was nice. The tree tents were fun too. I had a lovely group of people.
SUP was excellent with great tuition from Kaspian.
The calm and tranquility of the National Park were great. Plus the food and unique camping experience.
No particular level of fitness is needed to enjoy this trip, just bring a sense of adventure and a willingness to try new things! No previous canoeing or SUP experience is needed.
SUP is short for Stand Up Paddleboarding, a fun and peaceful sport that brings you closer to nature and gives you the freedom to experience the water like never before. You'll stand or kneel on a paddleboard and use a long paddle to gently propel yourself across the lake. The paddleboards are wide and very stable, so it's not as wobbly as you might think. Another great thing about SUP is that's it completely beginner friendly and no matter your skill level, you're guaranteed to have fun!
Sure can! Over 50% of our travellers travel solo, it’s a great way to meet like-minded people.
Summer daytime temperatures in Nuuksio range from 16 – 22 °C and cool off to 7 – 12 °C at night. Rainstorms occur on average 15 days a month. Summer nights are very short and don't really get dark at all. From mid-August onward the nights get darker, revealing starry skies and sometimes even the aurora if you’re really lucky.
Our recommended travel insurance provider is Campbell Irvine.
Travel insurance is compulsory for all of our adventures and you are required to provide your policy information before departing.
Your insurance should include adequate protection for overseas medical treatment, evacuation/repatriation, your baggage and equipment and the specific activities involved on your adventure. We also strongly recommend it includes cancellation and curtailment insurance, should you be unable to join your trip for specific reasons such as illness.
We fully endorse Campbell Irvine as their insurance offers all of the above, so get in touch with them or call on 020 7938 1734 to get your insurance sorted. We suggest that you book travel insurance as soon as you book your adventure, just to cover you for any last-minute life changes. We know you’re an active lot and injuries do happen!
We automatically convert prices from the local currency that a host receives to your chosen currency. We update our exchange rates on a daily basis so this does mean that prices displayed on the site are subject to currency fluctuations, which is why you may see them change over time.
If you wish to change the currency you pay in, head to the bottom of the page.
All of our group adventures are specially designed for adults to enjoy (18+) as we want these adventures to bring together outdoorsy people who are truly like-minded. Children can be accommodated on some private departures.
You're in good company. Our adventures are typically made up of a mix of solo travellers and small groups of two or three friends who simply love adventure, pushing themselves and meeting awesome like-minded people. See here for more info about our lovely bunch of Much Better Adventurers.
Want to book a private trip? Just tap ‘Private Group’ in the dates and prices tab.
Your trip is led by carefully curated local hosts and expert guides. See here for more info about the guides we work with.
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