European Green Belt travel packages for Europeans on both sides of the former Iron Curtain
Elma’s 2021 travel packages for European lovers of Kalevala, Arctic nature and culture.
Elma Travels develops cultural and nature tourism packages in the post-corona pandemic in the European Green Belt zone. We are creating through our brand “Via Kalevala“ a tourism service network near the Finnish-Russian border with the Sámi, Kven and Karelians people in Finland, Norway and Russia, who cherish the Kalevala tradition.
Our principle is to create vitality for the poor areas of the border region through tourism, so that at least 80% of the turnover of the tourism package goes to local entrepreneurs.
During the two-week travel package, visitors will get a unique look at Helsinki, the capital of Finland, Lahti, the European Environmental Capital in 2021 in southern Finland, and St. Petersburg, a Russian metropolis born and formed by Finno-Ugric cultural roots.
From St. Petersburg, we continue through the Karelian Isthmus and the former Finnish small towns of Priozersk and Sortavala, following the shores of Lake Ladoga back to the Finnish border, to the mining museum town of Outokumpu. From there, through Koli, the Finnish National Landscape, to the bard-singing villages of the Finnish border on the Vienna route, through the landscapes of the Eastern border National Parks and military historical attractions to the Sámi areas of Finland, getting to know the local culture.
We cross the Norwegian border, moving to the shores of the Arctic Ocean in the residential areas of the Kvens. We cross the Russian border with its tundra landscape, moving to Murmansk, a Russian Arctic seaside town.
The journey continues from Murmansk south to Russian Karelia. There we will get acquainted with the rock drawings of ancient peoples who left their stories to us and the pulsating modernity of Petrozavodsk, the capital of the Russian Republic of Karelia and the open-air museum on the island of Kizhi, being the Kizhi enclosure an UNESCO World Heritage site.
Visitors return to Finland and Helsinki-Vantaa Airport, where the journey home begins.
Download European Green Belt travel packages map (PDF) here.
In 2021, three travel options will be available:
- spring winter landscape and cultural trip
- the midsummer white nights in Southern Finland and St. Petersburg and the nightless nights in Lapland
- the travel to the northern colors of autumn and the chasing of northern lights
