Kitee Tourist Places to Visit in Kitee, Finland, Europe

Kitee Tourist Places to Visit in Kitee, Finland, Europe

Kitee is a town as well as municipality in the province of Eastern Finland in North Karelia region in Finland, located about 185 km northeast of the provincial capital, Mikkeli and 400 km northeast of the national capital, Helsinki. Beautifully constructed Kitee Church is the major landmark as well as tourist attraction in Kitee.

Kitee is the hometown of many renowned artists such as Tuomas Holopainen (songwriter and keyboardist), Jukka Nevalainen (drummer), Emppu Vuorinen (guitarist), Tarja Turunen (vocalist) and Sami Vanska (bassist). Because of its licit and illicit moonshine manufacturing, Kitee is generally called as the ‘Moonshine city of Finland’.

Geography of Kitee:

Lying between 62°06′ N latitude and 030°08′ E longitude, Kitee is spread over an area of 1,141.31 square kilometers.

How to reach Kitee?

Flybe Nordic and Joensuu Airport with flights to Helsinki, catered by Finnair are the closest airports to Kitee, located about 85 km and 80 km from the heart of Kitee respectively.

There are buses and taxis generally available at the airport; otherwise tourists can take rental vehicles for comfort journey.

Kitee is connected to its neighboring cities and towns by both luxury and general bus services, served by many prominent bus companies.

Culture, Food and Shopping in Kitee:

Kitee is the birthplace of several famous artists such as Emppu Vuorinen, Jukka Nevalainen, Tuomas Holopainen and Tarja Turunen.

Shops are fewer in Kitee compared to other towns of Finland, so tourists can reach nearby Savonlinna or Joensuu for more comfort. Pajonka is a restaurant in Kitee offering pizza & pastas.

What to do in Kitee?

Visiting historical sites and churches
Hiking
Shopping

Tourist Attractions in Kitee:

Kitee Church:

Kitee Church is a major religious site in Kitee known for the grand construction with beautiful architecture. It is also very well known among surrounding regions for its holiness.

Medieval Olavinlinna:

St. Olaf’s Castle or Olavinlinna is the medieval period castle which was constructed by Danish knight Erik Axelsson in the year in 1475 to defend Swedish-Danish Kalmar Union’s eastern border. It derives its name from the patron saint of knights, St. Olaf and the castle is home to Castle Museum and Orthodox Museum. St. Olaf’s Castle is located in Savonlinna, around 85 km away from Kitee.

World biggest wooden church:

Situated about 60 km away from Kitee, the biggest wooden church in the world is located in Kerimaki which is a must see site. Don’t miss it.

List of other places of interest in Kitee includes:

Savonlinna Provincial Museum
Art Centre Retretti
Lusto – Finnish Forest Museum
Linnansaari National Park
Kirkkoniemen Kellotapuli
Savonlinna Cathedral
Pikkukirkko
The Bunker museum
The North Karelian Museum
The central church of Joensuu
Evangelical-Lutheran Church
Botanical Garden and Tropical Butterfly Garden in Joensuu
Joensuu City Hall
Orthodox Church in Joensuu

Best time to visit Kitee:

Kitee can be visited throughout the year, especially the summer months (June to August) are best to travel Kitee.

Accommodation options in Kitee:

Well facilitated hotels are less in numbers in Kitee but it houses many vacation rentals that are good in facility and budget. Tourists can also reach nearby cities for better hospitality services. The prominent hotels in and around Kitee include: