Äksyt Ämmät brings you closer to the landscapes, culture and everyday life of Finland.
Based in Nurmes, in the heart of North Karelia’s lake and forest region, their experiences range from soft outdoor adventures to cultural journeys that reveal Finland through nature, local traditions and regional food.
This can mean guided nature excursions, tailor made itineraries, stays at their own guesthouse Pihlajapuu, or travelling between locally run stays through their signature Guesthouse to Guesthouse Tours, a registered concept explored by walking, biking or running.
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Experiences are built around Finland’s forests, lakes and seasonal changes, inviting you into nature in ways that feel active but unhurried.
Whether through guided walks, soft outdoor adventures or quieter time spent outdoors, each journey is designed to help you engage with the environment rather than simply pass through it, allowing travellers to notice the details that define this part of the country.
Travel that supports local communities
Their Guesthouse to Guesthouse Tours are designed around small, locally run accommodations, creating journeys that directly benefit independent hosts across the region. The same approach extends across their wider network of regional partners, food producers and service providers, ensuring tourism spending stays within the places travellers visit.
From local food to cultural encounters that reflect Finnish and Karelian ways of life, each experience brings you closer to customs that remain part of everyday life in the region, especially through experiences like their Karelia Cuisine Tour, where local flavours become a way into the region’s history, stories and traditions.
Äksyt Ämmät was built by founders Kirsi and Minna from a deep love for Finnish nature and a desire to share it in ways that protect what makes it special.
With decades of experience, they have shaped the company around a belief that meaningful travel should create connection, not pressure, on both landscapes and local communities. Their work has always been guided by the idea that Finland’s natural and cultural heritage should be experienced respectfully and passed on intact to future generations.
Such a special place wonderful and helpful staff great skiing and lovely views and the best food in Finland. Guest house to guest skiing tour stole my heart. Would recommend it to everyone who likes to ski.
We had a great time on our ski week with Minna, and highly recommend it. The skiing was relatively easy, the guides were great, and the food was outstanding. it was a great Karelian experience which gave us a good feel for the area. We enjoyed the whole week immensely and recommend it to anyone wanting a nordic winter vacation.
We booked a week of Guesthouse to Guesthouse Cross Country Skiing with Mina. Impressed with how well organised the week was. We stayed in 3 different Guest houses the last one being Minnas Majatalo Pihlajapuu / Aksyt Ammat Oy. The facilities were great. Boot, Ski hire, excellent guiding, very friendly guest houses. Loads and loads of great mostly locally sourced and prepared / cooked food. The smoked sauna experience was unique.
Proudly gay-owned and locally run, these tours are a playful alternative to sightseeing, designed around local culture and Helsinki’s everyday life.
Tailor made journeys across Finland connecting travellers with local culture, nature and the Nordic way of life.
Carefully curated outdoor adventures designed to create a positive impact, each one ending with a shared meal in the wilderness.
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