The promoted Caucasian ski slopes and the Black Sea health resorts are very popular among Russians. People are ready to pay big money, endure discomfort in crowded trains, fight for a place on the beaches to relax and improve their health. But quite a few people are fleeing this fuss. Keeping their own money and nerves, they choose the sanatoriums and resorts of Karelia, which falls in love with calm beauty and wonderful nature. Here, everyone will find something to their taste.
In summer, lovers of extreme sports and outdoor activities rafting along the Karelian rivers, go hiking, ride water motorbikes on the lakes, hunt and fish. In winter, active tourists gather at the ski resorts of the Republic of Karelia. The elevation differences here are not very large, but they are safe and great for beginner athletes. Vacationers are provided with a whole list of winter entertainments: downhill skiing, sledding or snowboarding from different slopes, excellent ski runs, snowmobiling, biathlon shooting ranges, ice skating rinks.
The elderly, who prefer a quiet, sedate rest, and people who want to improve their shaky health, are hosted by the best resorts of Karelia year-round. Karelian wellness centers specialize in the prevention and treatment of many diseases. At the same time, modern equipment and a variety of medical procedures are used, as well as gifts of local nature.
Climatotherapy in Karelia
Climatotherapy is a complex treatment method, during which the beneficial properties of the climate are used. One of the common procedures included in the complex climatotherapy is aerotherapy - staying in the fresh air and taking air baths. Karelia is known for its clear forests and lakes, healing air. Therefore, aerotherapy is effectively used in Karelian health centers in the treatment and prevention of respiratory diseases, diseases of the cardiovascular system, anemia, and nervous system disorder.
Walking through pine forests, along lakes and rivers has a therapeutic effect, calms nerves, increases physical activity, improves sleep and appetite, helps at least temporarily escape from routine worries and focus on yourself and treatment. And the local air saturates the body with oxygen and becomes a gift for the lungs, accustomed to breathing in the gas-polluted air of cities.
Other natural healing factors of Karelia
Karelian mineral waters, which are rich in useful substances, especially iron, are actively used to improve the body's health. This partly explains why the first resort appeared in Karelia. The healing properties of the sources were discovered by chance. But the benefits from them were so obvious that Peter the Great in 1719 ordered the opening of the country's first resort for water treatment, which he personally visited several times. So the famous and still operating Marcial Waters resort appeared.
Karelia is famous for the therapeutic muds of lakes, which are used for cosmetic and medical purposes. Vacationers take mud baths, make applications and wraps. Karelian mud helps in the treatment of various injuries of joints, soft tissues, bones, diseases of the nervous system, musculoskeletal system, blood vessels, skin, respiratory system, and digestion.
Separate Karelian pride is shungite. This mineral is widely used in the resorts of Karelia. It has a life-giving effect on water. It disinfects it, cleans it from excess mineral substances, turbidity, unpleasant taste and smell. Shungite water has a beneficial effect on the skin condition, is used in the treatment of diseases of the stomach, joints, heart.
Advantages of Karelian sanatoriums
- Good value for money services. In terms of costs, the resorts of Karelia are cheaper than the Black Sea ones. Cost is largely determined by demand, and there are much more people who want to relax in the south. The quality of treatment and the level of accommodation in Karelian sanatoriums are very high.
- Availability. In the summer, buying a ticket to the health center in Karelia is much easier than getting to the southern sanatoriums, which many people from all over the country seek. And getting to the north is much easier in the summer months, because most trains and planes heading south are packed to capacity.
- Treatment. Qualified specialists provide a wide range of services: in-depth examination and body diagnostics; recovery from injuries and ailments; effective treatment of various diseases.
- Comfort. High-quality food, coolness, magnificent nature, lack of household worries and duties, polite staff - all this makes the medical resorts of Karelia a place where people find a long-forgotten sense of peace and tranquility.
What is treated and how?
Karelian sanatoriums specialize in diseases:
- respiratory organs;
- blood
- genitourinary organs;
- joints and spine;
- nervous system;
- digestive organs;
- heart and blood vessels;
- musculoskeletal system;
- overweight related.
People who are being treated and vacationing in sanatoriums of Karelia undergo an in-depth examination and consultation with professional doctors who constantly monitor the condition of patients. Wellness centers offer their customers an extensive range of medical, preventive, rehabilitation methods and cosmetic procedures:
- physiotherapy (laser, magnetic, ultrasound, electrophoresis, electrosleep);
- climatotherapy;
- mineral water treatment;
- schungite rinses and local applications;
- aerophytotherapy;
- physiotherapy exercises;
- various types of massage;
- saunas, pools and baths;
- healing souls;
- inhalation, quartzization, infrared baths;
- halochambers;
- acupuncture;
- homeopathic treatment;
- body peeling and all kinds of body wraps;
- if necessary, drug treatment;
- mud treatment from the lakes of Karelia.
Resort City
The capital of Karelia, founded by Peter the Great in 1703, is the administrative and cultural center of the republic. Petrozavodsk is a rather large and modern city, but it is still "saturated" with Karelian nature. Wide streets, numerous monuments and shopping centers, an impressive port are lost next to the grand Lake Onega, and forests full of lakes, rivers and streams begin immediately outside the city. Therefore, you can rest and be treated directly in Petrozavodsk.
The sanatorium "White Keys" is surrounded by a forest, although in fact it is located within the city. From its buildings to Lake Onega only 700 meters. People with diseases of the respiratory system, nervous system, gastrointestinal tract, diseases of the spine and joints come here. The guests of the sanatorium are located in single and double rooms with a high level of comfort. The package includes four meals a day and treatment. In your free time, you can walk along the lake or go to the city center.
For lovers of active winter leisure in Petrozavodsk, there are three whole ski resorts, which are considered one of the most popular in Karelia:
- The resort "Yalgora" opened relatively recently, in 2012, but it was immediately loved by the townspeople and visitors. This complex has a height difference of 100 meters and is suitable for training professional athletes as well as for families who decide to spend a Sunday afternoon skiing or skating. Visitors can take advantage of five ski and cross-country tracks, two ski lifts. There is an observation deck with views of Petrozavodsk and the winter beauty of Karelia. The resort "Yalgora" has a solid throughput: more than three thousand people per hour.
- The Gorki complex is equipped with two ski slopes with a 40-meter vertical drop and two ski lifts. The low altitude, equipment rental and the opportunity to work with instructors turn the Gorki resort into an optimal place for beginners and family weekends. There is a separate track for snowboarders and tubing enthusiasts, a playground, an ice rink and a cafe.
- The Kurgan complex is intended for training professional biathletes and skiers. But now ordinary people come here to ride from two 40-meter slopes with a ski lift or to overcome a 10-kilometer ski track. In addition, on the territory of the complex there is a shooting range for biathletes, a track for skaters, a rehabilitation center. You can rent the right equipment and use the help of instructors.
Marcial Waters
The famous wellness center is located in the village of the same name and in March 2019 celebrated its 300th anniversary. Although in fact, after the death of Peter, who established the Marcial Waters and even created the project of a local church, the resort quickly fell into decay and resumed its activity only in 1964, regaining the title of one of the main health resorts of Karelia.
The Marcial Waters resort is located 50 kilometers from Petrozavodsk and has a developed infrastructure. On the compact territory there are three buildings, medical departments and a dining room, four sources of mineral water. The resort accepts people suffering from diseases of the genitourinary, digestive, respiratory, cardiovascular systems. Iron-rich local water is especially useful for patients with blood diseases. In addition, the health resort offers a special program of cosmetic anti-aging treatments and a weight loss program.
"Palaces"
The sanatorium “Palaces” began work in 2003, is located in the village of Martsialnye Vody, therefore it specializes in the same diseases as the neighboring sanatorium, offering similar procedures and therapeutic methods: hydrotherapy, shungite procedures, physiotherapy, anti-aging effects on the body, mud therapy, and Of course, the wellness treatment of the Karelian nature that reigns around.
Medical facilities, residential buildings and a restaurant are built of wood according to Scandinavian technology and are located in the same building, so it is very convenient for guests to treat themselves and eat in the winter, without going out into the cold once again. In the sanatorium you can rent badminton, a bicycle, walking poles, sledges, skis. There is a library, a children's corner, a volleyball court, two saunas, a pool.
Clinic "Kivach"
Kivach Medical Center is located in the village of Konchezero, 55 kilometers from Petrozavodsk and a few kilometers from the legendary eponymous waterfall. The resort is surrounded by large clean lakes and pine forests, which creates excellent conditions for the treatment of respiratory organs. But the medical profile of this resort of Karelia is very wide. It treats urological and gynecological diseases, as well as diseases of the joints, veins, spine, hearing and vision. They help strengthen immunity, cope with allergies, overweight, chronic overfatigue and stressful conditions.
Guests of the center are located in six residential buildings, in 2-, 3- and 4-bed rooms, receive five meals a day, organized on the basis of the "buffet". At their service are medical and cosmetology departments, a winter garden, a gym, a swimming pool, a Finnish sauna, a Russian bath, a Turkish hammam, outdoor sports grounds, a restaurant, and a children's room. The administration of the medical center arranges for its guests trips to the Kivach Falls, excursions to Petrozavodsk and other memorable places of Karelia.
Ski resorts with accommodation
The ski complexes in Petrozavodsk are arranged so that visitors spend several hours in it, and then leave home or in a city hotel. But many lovers of fast descents and long ski runs prefer to settle in walking distance from the slopes, so as not to depend on weather and transport, but to do what they love at any convenient time.
The Kallivo Park Center is located 250 kilometers from Petrozavodsk near the Finnish border in the small village of Helulya. This is one of the best ski resorts in Karelia. Reviews about "Kallyvo Park" are usually positive, laudatory. Vacationers note the quality of two tracks with a vertical drop of 110 meters, equipped with four lifts and a modern lighting system. In addition to the ski slopes in the center there is a snowpark for fans of snowboarding, a separate descent for tubing and a comfortable hostel.
The Malaya Medvezhka ski complex is sheltered at the northern tip of Lake Onega, 160 kilometers from Petrozavodsk. Guests stay overnight next to the ski slopes in a small hotel or in wooden cottages located in a beautiful pine forest. The resort is interesting for fans of any winter entertainments; for them, in Little Bear there are two ski slopes of different complexity, ski tracks for snowboarders and tubing, a safe slide for kids, and a 5-kilometer ski track, which allows you to ski and watch at the same time the fabulous nature of Karelia.
The Spasskaya Guba ski resort is located in the village of the same name 65 kilometers from Petrozavodsk and is equipped with four slopes of different difficulty levels and one ski lift. Two tracks with a vertical drop of about 80 meters have artificial lighting, so you can ride on them even after dark. There is a separate descent for snowboarders. Visitors can rent the equipment they need and take the advice of experienced instructors. A guest house has been built on the territory of the resort. You can stay there for the night in cozy, warm rooms or eat in a cafe, where free Internet access will be a nice bonus to excellent dishes.
Reviews
Visitors really like Karelian resorts: fresh air, water, treatment, cleanliness, varied food, wonderful nature. Attentive and polite staff left good memories. The procedures carried out in the sanatoriums return strength, energize. Many come here all the time.