Valtimo

Valtimo is a town in North Karelia, Finland.

Understand

Get in

By bus from Joensuu or Kajaani.

Get around

See

A feeling of emptiness at Valtimo railway station.

• Valtimo Church. 
• Valtimo is also a great place to experience wilderness, and an existence of emptiness.

Do

• Listen to silence.

Buy

There is a supermarket in town centre.

Eat

There are two restaurants in town centre.

• Seiska. 
• Irmuska. 

Drink

Beer, nearest liquor store is in Nurmes.

Sleep

• Puukarin Pysäkki, Kajaanintie, ☎ [phone], e-mail: [e-mail]. Inn a little out of town. Good Karelian food. Also programme services. single €66, double €104; lunch €17–26, dinner €28–48. 

Connect

Go next

• 🌍 Hiidenportti National Park and Peurajärvi Recreational Area (Hiidenportin kansallispuisto) (20 km to the north-east along Ylä-Valtimontie, road 5284), ☎ [phone], [phone], e-mail: [e-mail]. 24 hours daily. National park offering old-growth forest, the above mentioned silence and the Hiidenportti gorge. A hike to Porttilampi and back from the Käärmesärkkä parking will be about 16 km, make it 23 km and you will see most of the main features (there are lean-to shelters where you can stay overnight, to make it a real adventure or to make longer hikes, if you have mattress and sleeping bag). With more driving you can start your hike from the other end and see Hiidenportti itself on a 3 km hike. From Käärmesärkkä you can instead turn to Peurajärvi Recreational Area, where you immediately find lakes with child-friendly beaches, and can make easy hikes around the lakes and over the ridges, fish with a rod and line (reel requires buying a permit, as does fishing in some of the lakes) and, if you like, rent a cottage for a longer stay. There are businesses from which to rent equipment, such as sleeping bag, fishing gear and a canoe, or ask for guided tours. Free, including stays in the shelters.