Discover Joensuu by Hire Car
The city of Joensuu is located in southeastern Finland and has a total population of approximately 57,500.
The first human settlements in the Joensuu area date back to the end of the last Ice Age, but the development of the region did not really gain momentum until the Middle Ages.
Sights in Joensuu
The region’s many lakes and rivers have created a natural network of waterways that remains a very important infrastructural factor to this day. The city of Joensuu itself was founded in 1848 under Tsar Nicholas I.
Joensuu is a city that was completely designed on a drawing board in 1848. This fact is reflected, for example, in the streets laid out exactly at right angles or the blocks of houses lined up in a structured manner. In the original townscape Joensuu consisted almost exclusively of low wooden houses, but in the 70s of the last century almost all of them were demolished and replaced by modern concrete buildings.
Joensuu itself doesn’t have too many sights to offer. Besides the art museum and the botanical garden, there is only the university or the city hall that might be of importance for tourists.
Discovering the Joensuu hinterland
The situation is different in the surrounding region. Here, especially nature lovers will find an Eldorado, because the many rivers and lakes of the region invite especially in summer to extensive water sports, hiking or other leisure activities. The Koli National Park, for example, is just over an hour’s drive away.
All in all, you should definitely have a hire car in Joensuu. Only with a hire car you can reach the sights of the surrounding area because public transport outside Joensuu you will search in vain.