LOHJA HOMEVISIT AT LAINE FAMILY WITH CHRISTMAS THEME
GENERAL INFORMATION
Package type: 2 days
Season: December
For whom: small groups (min. 8–max. 15 pers.)
Services included: guided transportations, guided visit to Tytyri Mine Experience and light lunch at Tytyri, coffee break and handicrafts at Kettukallio Experience farm, dinner by the campfire at Kettukallio, smoke sauna & hot tub at Kettukallio, accommodation and breakfast in Gasthaus Lohja, guided visit at Lohja Christmas fair, traditional Christmas porridge for lunch, Christmas themed home visit at Laine family
Duration of the programme: 2 days, 1 night
Type of transport: tour bus / individual transfer /public bus
LOCATION
Address: Kohtolankatu 8C, FIN-08100 Lohja
Distance from the capital: Helsinki 60 km or 1 hour by bus
Hosts: Laine family, Ms. Riitta Laine
Contact details:
T.: +358 44 977 8855
E-mail: riitta.maria.laine@gmail.com
This package introduces the most traditional ways to experience spending two days like a Finn. Sauna, smoke sauna, food, old traditional Christmas fair event and a visit to a Finnish home to spend a Christmas evening with the Laine family. Warm hearted local people to meet and taste rural delicacies by the campfire. Finns love to travel to rural sites during midsummer and during Christmas time. If we don’t have the opportunity to travel to rural sites, we try to create the best traditional Christmas at our home. On Christmas Eve it is usual to spend time with family and with the closest people. Winter wonderland, traditional food and traditional Christmas programmes make Finns relax during the Christmas season.
The Laine family comprises the lady of the house Ms Riitta, her husband Jerri and two teenage sons. The hostess Riitta Laine is a professional gardener and a lifestyle person and she also works as a nature guide. The Laine family’s home, located by the lake Lohjanjärvi, is a place to relax and spend some time enjoying the view and the atmosphere
Day 1
- Transportation from Helsinki to Lohja in the morning, 09:30 am. The bus ride will take 1 hour.
- Tytyri Mine Experience. . The tour goes 100 metres below ground where the history of miners is strongly present. Guided tour 1.5 hours. Limestone mining history and mining are still a very important part of rural living as limestone is still regularly used to maintain soil fertility. The highlight of the tour will be the light and music artwork show based on Finlandia by Jean Sibelius in a massive underground cavern.
- Light lunch at Tytyri-hall, a 110 m deep restaurant.
- Kettukallio Experience farm. Transportation from Tytyri to Kettukallio Experience farm. There is a traditional Finnish smoke sauna, where guests can take time enjoying the refreshing atmosphere. Smoke sauna is the origin of the Finnish everyday sauna. Right beside the smoke sauna there is a hot tub where bathers can sit and relax listening to nature. The hot tub has room for 8 persons.
- The dinner is cooked on an open fire and served in an idyllic Lapp hut. The dinner includes starter salad based on Finnish vegetables and main course: glazed salmon, baked potatoes, grilled vegetables and sauce. After dinner there is coffee or tea cooked by the fire.
- Overnight accommodation. Gasthaus Lohja is a cosy family owned small hotel close to the city centre of Lohja. Local and tasty breakfast in the morning.
Day 2
- Local and tasty breakfast in the morning.
- 09:00–14:00 Lohja Christmas Fair event. Free time to do shopping and explore the event during
- 15:00–19:00 Visit to the Laine family and Christmas eve programme:
- Meal preparation. Guests will prepare mushroom soup together with the hostess in the family’s kitchen.
- Lakeside walk. A walk by the lake Lohjanjärvi with the hostess listening to her stories about Finnish Christmas tree and traditions.
- Decorating the Christmas tree and writing postcards. After the walk, it is time to decorate the Christmas tree and write Christmas cards by the fireplace back home to your loved ones. The hosts will take them to the local post office to be sent.
- There is an option to have a sauna in the Laine family’s home. Almost every Finnish home has a sauna and Finnish sauna is also on the Unesco “Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity”..
- Christmas meal. In the evening it is time to enjoy a traditional Finnish Christmas meal. Dinner includes salad, different sorts of fish, potatoes, ham, and sauce. For dessert, Christmas pies and coffee or tea.
- Christmas presents. At the end of the evening guests will get homemade Christmas presents from the Laine family.
- Return to Helsinki. Transportation back to Helsinki leaves at 19:00.
