Kuikka – the base camp
Our base camp Kuikka is a former forest workers' residence close to the border to Russia. It is situated in the municipality of Kuhmo on a headland, surrounded by the lake of Kuikka as well as by boreal forest. The building is a traditional rural Finnish log house. As familiar the accommodation, as genial is the contact to our customers. The general atmosphere in Kuikka is comparable to a big family rather than to a hotel. Your children as well as your pets are welcome here. Also, often times our customers feel free to join us in the kitchen and have a chat while we are preparing dinner or give Lassi or Sami a hand when putting out food for our animals. Although the Articmedia family-team does not live in Kuikka, we all feel home here.
Equipment
There is flowing water (potable), electricity, W-lan and Ethernet cable connection, satellite TV, a projector, copy machine and printer. Often times, there are slide shows or workshops held in our auditorium / dining room. You do not need to bring your own sheets and towel, since you will receive those from Articmedia. In case of wet weather conditions, there are two dryers in the back entrance leading to room 4. Also, there is the possibility to use our laundry machine. There are three entrances to the main building, whereas the entrance leading to the kitchen is preserved for our staff. We kindly request you to take off your shoes before entering the main building. There are tree toilets and four showers, a beach sauna with wooden stove and a smoke sauna (see also room plan). We keep a small souvenir shop in the dining room.
Surrounding of Kuikka
Kuikka is surrounded by a fabulous lake with the typical clear brown water. Next to the sauna, there is a bonfire place, where we usually sit around the fire during a sauna evening, grill sausages and enjoy a tin of beer. There are three rowing boats for free disposal. A boat trip on our lake is an experience and the view is singular. By boat, you’ll reach a beaver nests. On the headland around Kuikka, there are several bird boxes, berries and mushrooms.
In case you’ll bring your own camper van or tent, there is a large parking area close to the buildings for the van or soft forest ground for your tent.
Food
Usually, breakfast is at 9 a.m. We offer a large breakfast buffet. After breakfast, our guests catch up on sleep. However, for the small appetite during the day, you’ll always find some coffee, tea, and something small to nosh on the buffet table in the dining room.
Dinner is usually at 4 p.m. We usually serve a three courses meal à discretion. Unfortunately, we are not allowed to sell any alcohol. There are alcohol shops called Alko, where our driver takes you to on your way from the airport to Kuikka on request.
NB: In case of any allergies or special food habits, let us know in advance, since we might not have the ingredients for special food preparations in stock. The closest shop is on 60 km distance.
Rooms
There are 7 rooms for our guests, with bunk beds. Due to the origin of the house, there are no single or double rooms as such. Often, friends and couples/families live in one room. However, if you have any particular wish concerning your privacy, let us know. The rooms ‘Tavi’ and ‘Telkkä’ are separate from the rest of the house, and have a separate toilet. All in all, there is one toilet, two toilets with shower, a big sauna with two showers, and a smoke sauna in addition. The room ‘Sotka’ is spacious and separated from the main building. There is no flowing water in this room, but a water tank as well as a stove / small kitchen. Room 3 also spacious, and the beds can be separated by curtains in order to guarantee your privacy. The beds in room 4 can also be seperated by curtains, see our room plan.
Smoke sauna
The smoke sauna is a very old and appreciated Finnish tradition. In old times, the Finnish smoke sauna was heated up on Saturdays. The heating up was usually undertaken by the father, assisted by the children. As usual, also our sauna is placed in an separate log hut next to our Kuikka lake, in order to enable a short way to the cooling lake water. Your visit in the smoke sauna will be a special experience! We heat up a one cubic big stone oven for about five to seven hours. The sauna will be extremely hot, when we remove all ash and glow from the oven. Inside, the sauna is totally black, since there is no chimney in this sort of sauna, but small windows for fresh air. Before the sauna is ready, we release all smoke, wash the benches from the pitch and let the sauna cool down a bit. Then we take the traditional sauna beer – and enjoy the special atmosphere in the dark warmth, get sweaty in the soft steam, before we cool down in the fresh lake water.