Sysmä Hiking Trails

Päijätsalo Nature Trail is about 6 km of marked hiking on Päijätsalo island beside Lake Päijänne in Sysmä, Päijät-Häme. Metsähallitus lists the route on Luontoon.fi (1), and the City of Sysmä’s Päijätsalo recreation area page describes road access from Sysmä, information boards, and the separate BikePolku Päijätsalo mountain-bike circuit marked in blue (2). The area lies partly in Päijänne National Park and within the Salpausselkä UNESCO Global Geopark (2). Starting from the Pyydysniemi shore, you soon pass Pyydysniemi nuotiopaikka, then about a kilometre along Pyydysniemen tulentekopaikka with Metsähallitus-supplied firewood at the site and Pyydysniemi puucee close by. Roughly midway you reach Päijätsalon näkötorni on the hilltop—the island’s best-known landmark. Visit Lahti warns that from April 2025 the tower has stayed closed because of rot in load-bearing timbers; check their Päijätsalo page and the City of Sysmä news for updates before planning a climb (3)(4). A spring 2025 notice on the City of Sysmä site quotes Metsähallitus confirming you can still walk the nature trail normally while specialists assess the tower (4). Toward the end of this line you reach Päijätsalo pysäköintialue, where many drivers start or finish. By boat, the City of Sysmä notes a small-craft dock at the Pyydysniemi campfire site and a second, larger-vessel dock about 100 m north (2). Retkipaikka’s walk-through describes blue and red paint blazes, a stiff climb toward the tower, a rocky stretch nicknamed Kivikkopolku on the return leg toward parking, and roughly two hours on foot for a parking–tower–Pyydysniemi loop (5). If you also mountain-bike, BikePolku shares part of the island’s facilities—see our page for that route.