Five houses by the water in South Karelia

Chalet Zen sits alone at the edge of its own small lake, surrounded by pine forest. There are no neighbours in sight and no traffic to hear. Guests come here to slow down, and most of them say the same thing afterwards: that having a whole lake to themselves was the part they did not expect.

The house sleeps four across two bedrooms, one on the ground floor and one upstairs. Inside there is an indoor Finnish sauna, a fireplace in the living room, and a kitchen equipped for real cooking — dishwasher, oven, hob, fridge and a coffee machine. Wi-Fi reaches the whole house.

Outside there is a sunny terrace, a second fireplace for the evening, a barbecue, and two paddle boards pulled up on the shore. The water is clean enough to swim in straight after the sauna, which is the correct way to use both.

A car is necessary. The nearest supermarket is ten minutes away and Imatra is about half an hour, where you will find restaurants, larger shops, horse riding, fishing and zip lining.