“Picnic in the middle of the winter? Are you kidding me!?”

No. Not at all.

For you to imagine, Karhusaari (Bear island in Finnish) is a small island in the north of Lappeenranta Harbor.

Karhusaari is located about 1km from the Harbor

For the rest of the year, this island is just a small and unnoticed piece among thousands of others. However, during winter, when Saimaa lake is completely frozen, Karhusaari turns out to be the perfect picnic site, as you can conquer this island by…walking there.

On the frozen lake.

Used to have a bar/restaurant and attracted many tourists, Karhusaari became abandoned after a devastated fire burned everything down 20 years ago
Nowadays, the island belongs to the local congregation, and visitors are welcomed to have their picnics here
The main hut; woods are free and are always available for visitors
The only thing that the visitors are responsible for, is to make themselves feel comfortable…
…and warm, which can be very tricky sometimes 😉
Some perfect ideas for a picnic meal in Karhusaari are grilled sausages, vegetables, with some warm drinks. The better you prepare, the more you can get from this short trip
Tea, anybody? 😉

Actually, our trip to Karhusaari wasn’t very excited, as we couldn’t manage to make fire. Due to this period of the year (February-March), the snow has been partly melting, thus all the woods were wet 😦 a good tip for those who’d like to visit Karhusaari at this period is: bringing some dry wood logs, gasoline, and paper 😉

But overall, having a weekend picnic with your good friends surely makes your day.

MOINK20 and the beaches, 03/2019

Khanh Tr.