National Park
The route is suitable for people of different age and physical condition. The exception is people for whom excessive physical strain and long walks outdoors are not recommended for medical reasons.
The trail is well-maintained with information placards in two languages, bridges, benches, ribbons on trees, campfire sites.
The route offers two tourist attractions: a reconstructed Karelian house on the territory of abandoned Karelian village Vartiolampi and a reconstructed Finnish farmstead Aarola on the shore of lake Paanajarvi.
The excursion begins in the former village Vartiolampi which was the nearest to the state border before WWII. A wide vacant space is what is left of the former village. Many grass species brought here by the farmers grow on the fertile fields and pastures. Only the pits are left of the houses’ cellars overgrown with raspberry bushes. A local graveyard was located in the southern end of the meadow in a spruce grove. Locations of the former houses in the village are marked with information placards. An old Karelian log house was reconstructed in the village with an exhibition devoted to life and habits of local dwellers of the beginning of 20th century. Some home utensils found in this area are exhibited there.
After Vartiolampi a bus takes the visitors to lake Paanajarvi. On the way they pass the ruins of commandant’s house that was there before the war.
At the lake the visitors can either take a boat or walk 3 km on a rocky shore to the deserted Aarola farm.
People lived on the shores of lake Paanajarvi before 1944. The site of Aarola farm is clearly seen from the lake side. A sauna, a barn and a wood shed have been restored there. Information boards tell about life on Finnish farmsteads in the 30s of 20th century. A living house is also being reconstructed. It is a real museum of Finnish culture.
