Viitasaari

Viitasaari is a small town surrounded by lakes: the 230 lakes in the municipality cover a fifth of the municipality's area. Sounds by the centre separate Ylä-Keitele from Keski-Keitele, both parts of the 500 km² (190 sq mi) Keitele. Half of the 6,500 inhabitants live in the town itself.

The area was inhabited already in the Stone Age. Sámi people are believed to have arrived more than 2,000 years ago and still lived here in the 16th century. Western hunters and fishermen have been here since the 300s, Tavastians since the 1000s. The area was settled by Savonians in the 16th century. Henrik Gabriel Porthan, who raised interest in the history of Finland in the 18th century, was from Viitasaari. 1882 Viitassari got a municipal doctor, the first in Finland.

• Town of Viitasaari, Keskitie 10, ☏ +358 14 459-7411 (M–F 09:00–15:00), viitasaaren.kaupunki@viitasaari.fi. M–F 08:00–16:00. (updated Feb 2022)

E75 and national road 77 run through the town, the latter here part of the Blue Highway from Mo i Rana in Norway, via Vaasa, Viitasaari, Kuopio and Joensuu to Petrozavodsk in Russian Karelia. E75 runs through Finland from Helsinki in the south via Jyväskylä, Viitasaari and Oulu to Utsjoki in the far north. The distance to Kuopio is 75 km, to Jyväskylä 105 km.

There are coaches from Helsinki, Lahti, Jyväskylä, Oulu, Rovaniemi, Kajaani, Ylivieska, Joensuu, Kuopio, Seinäjoki and Vaasa.

Small craft can reach Viitasaari from Lahti, Heinola, Jyväskylä and Äänekoski by the Keitele–Päijänne–Vesijärvi waterway. Commercial traffic on Keitele is nowadays of minor importance.

The railway from Jyväskylä northward passes through the municipality, but the nearest passenger stop is at Pyhäsalmi in Pyhäjärvi, 87 km north from Viitasaari centre.

Jyväskylä airport is 78 km away. Most coaches from Jyväskylä drive via the airport.

Car, boat or bike are your safest options to get farther from the centre and the thoroughfares. The centre is small enough to be walkable. In winter, ice roads lead to the north-east and south-east over Keitele, ice conditions permitting.

• 🌍 Huopanankoski (20 km west along road 77). One of Finland's first sport fishing destinations. In the 1890s fishermen as far as from England came to the rapids. The famous Finnish author Juhani Aho was a keen visitor. Exhibitions and a 1-km culture path. Old watermill and newer hydroelectric plant. 
• 🌍 Forestry museum (Metsätyömuseo). Exhibits on forestry work and on living at forestry camps. Also some other buildings. (updated Feb 2022)
• Kristuksen kirkastumisen tsasouna, Kirkkotie 12, ☏ +358 40-756-9589 (M–F 09:00–12:00 - in summer M W Th), jyvaskyla@ort.fi. monthly services. Tsasouna of the orthodox congregation of Jyväskylä. 

• Boating or canoeing on Keitele. Much of Ylä-Keitele is a Natura 2000 area, with some nice shoreline without cottages and some infrastructure for visitors. Also the other parts of the waterways are nice.
• Fishing in the rapids (requires local permits).
• 🌍 Heinä-Suvanto (30 km east along road 77, turn right just before the municipal border to Keitele). Bird wetland. 
• Traktorijatzit: Mid-July. A jazz festival that is kicked off with a tractor parade. (date needs fixing)

• 🌍 Hännilänsalmi Camping, Naurismaantie 80, ☏ +358 14 572-550, +358 41-437-5952, info@hannilansalmi.fi.