Discover the people and businesses that turn a journey through Lake Saimaa into a connected travel experience
A successful journey is about more than impressive landscapes and memorable activities. Often, it is the people who make a destination come alive: the hosts who welcome guests, share recommendations and stories, and help visitors feel connected to a place from the moment they arrive.
These are the people who connect the Saimaa region. They link accommodation with activities, nature with culture, and international tour operators with a Finnish region that still holds plenty of potential for new travel products.
goSaimaa plays an important role in bringing these different elements together. Together with the Lappeenranta and Imatra regions, the destination organisation connects tourism businesses, encourages cooperation and helps international tour operators discover Saimaa as one coherent destination.
The NordicStage: Discover the Saimaa Region on 7 October 2026 offers an opportunity to meet some of these hosts and experience providers directly.
Hospitality makes the difference
A hotel is more than somewhere to sleep. It can shape a visitor's first impression of an entire region.
From the historic Olkkolan Hovi and charming Salpalinjan Hovi to the stylish Boutique Hotel Kägöne, each property offers its own perspective on Saimaa and its surroundings.
What they have in common is that the stay becomes part of the journey itself, rather than simply a place between activities.
Seeing Saimaa through local eyes
First-time visitors to the Saimaa region may initially see an immense landscape of water, forests and islands. Exploring it with someone who knows the area reveals another layer.
With Tuplakasi-Action, the lake becomes more than scenery. Boat trips, paddling experiences and excursions in search of the rare Saimaa ringed seal introduce visitors to the waterways through the people who know them best.
For tour operators, experiences like these can turn the natural landscape into something more tangible and easier to integrate into a wider itinerary.
Finnish traditions that become travel memories
Finland's sauna culture is known around the world.
But knowing about sauna and actually experiencing it in its local setting are two very different things. On board Saunalaiva m/s Emma, sauna is combined with a journey across the water. It is a simple concept that transforms one of Finland's best-known traditions into a distinctive Lake Saimaa experience.
At Tuhannen Tarinan Talo, encounters are equally important. Stories, handicrafts and glimpses into local life offer travellers another way to understand the region beyond its landscapes.
From lake to river
Water connects not only the landscape, but also many of the experiences found along the way. Where Lake Saimaa flows into the Vuoksi River, Vuoksen Kalastuspuisto offers another perspective on the region.
Boating, fishing and relaxed evenings beside the river can provide a natural continuation, or conclusion, to a journey through the Saimaa area. It is another example of how closely nature, activities and hospitality are intertwined here.
A destination built through cooperation
Every host and experience provider brings their own story, ideas and way of welcoming visitors. Together, however, they create something bigger: not simply a collection of hotels and activities, but travel experiences that can be combined into coherent itineraries.
This is one of the strengths of the Saimaa region. The waterways connect the landscape. The experiences connect the journey. And the hosts connect it all. Behind those hosts and tourism businesses, cooperation at destination level also matters.
Together with the Lappeenranta and Imatra regions, goSaimaa helps bring tourism partners together and builds connections with international travel trade.
NordicStage is one way of creating these connections by bringing destination representatives, local businesses and buyers into direct conversation.
Meet the people behind Saimaa
The businesses introduced here represent just some of the people who bring the Saimaa region to life every day.
Together with goSaimaa and the Lappeenranta and Imatra regions, they will share their ideas, experiences and products during NordicStage: Discover the Saimaa Region on 7 October 2026.
For tour operators, the event is an opportunity to meet local partners directly, ask questions and discover new possibilities for Finland programmes. And perhaps, one of those conversations will become the starting point for a new Saimaa itinerary.
More inspiraton from the destination
Lake Saimaa: A journey connected by water
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Why Lake Saimaa is more than Finland's largest lake
Header: © GoSaimaa
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Why Lake Saimaa is more than Finland's largest lake
Lake Saimaa: A journey connected by water
