Lake · Finland
Saimaa
The largest lake in Finland and the fourth largest lake in Europe
- Area
- 4,422km²
- Max depth
- 82m
- Average depth
- 8.1m
- Elevation
- 62m a.s.l.
- Shoreline
- 9,572km
- Volume
- 36.0km³
Saimaa is a lake in Finland. It covers 4,422 km². On average it is 8.1 m deep, and 82 m at its deepest point. Its surface lies 62 m above sea level.
Plan your visit
Stay, sail and get there
Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.
The water
How warm is Saimaa?
The water is warmest in July, around 20 °C at the surface, and coldest in January, around 0 °C. The surface averages 20 °C or more in July: comfortable for most swimmers.
The lake usually freezes over for about 159 days a year, from around 15 November to 22 April.
On the shore, afternoons reach 21 °C on average in July and -9 °C in January. The driest month is February (47 mm of rain), the wettest July (104 mm).
Average surface temperature measured by the Landsat 8 satellite between 2013 and 2021 at the point furthest from the shore (119 readings). Shallow bays and beaches are often warmer.
From above
The whole lake from space
Month by month
The year at the lake, month by month
Not a forecast: these are averages over many years. Water is the 2013–2021 average; air, rain, sun and wind are the 1991–2020 average.
Water: 2013–2021 averageClimate: 1991–2020 average
| Month | Water°C | Water high°C | Air high°C | Air low°C | Rainmm | Rainy daysdays | Sunh/day | Windkm/h |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | Ice | — | -9 | -15 | 55 | 14 | 0.7 | 11 |
| February | Ice | — | -8 | -14 | 47 | 12 | 2.2 | 12 |
| March | Ice | — | -2 | -9 | 48 | 13 | 5.3 | 12 |
| April | Ice | — | 4 | -1 | 52 | 12 | 6.7 | 11 |
| May | 7 | 11 | 13 | 6 | 82 | 13 | 8.1 | 10 |
| June | 16 | 19 | 18 | 10 | 100 | 16 | 8.5 | 10 |
| July | 20 | 21 | 21 | 14 | 104 | 18 | 7.8 | 9 |
| August | 19 | 20 | 19 | 12 | 102 | 16 | 6.3 | 9 |
| September | 14 | 16 | 13 | 7 | 87 | 14 | 3.5 | 10 |
| October | 8 | 11 | 5 | 1 | 81 | 16 | 1.0 | 10 |
| November | Ice | — | -2 | -5 | 72 | 15 | 0.0 | 10 |
| December | Ice | — | -6 | -11 | 69 | 16 | 0.1 | 11 |
Water: LakeTEMP (Landsat 8, 2013–2021). Air, rain, sun and wind: NASA POWER, 1991–2020 averages. A rainy day has at least 1 mm of rain. Sunshine hours are derived from measured solar radiation.
Size & depth
How big, how deep
- On average, water stays in the lake for about 23 months before flowing out.
- Its catchment drains 68,116 km² of land.
- About 607 m³ of water flow out every second, on average.
- Its shoreline is 40.6 times longer than a circle of the same area: plenty of bays and inlets.
Around the shore
What's around Saimaa
Counted within 1.5 km of the shoreline in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit.
- 101beaches and swimming spots
Kotaluodon uimaranta, Pikku-Kakkosen uimaranta, Paavalinkiven uimaranta, Nivan uimaranta, Karihiekka and 96 more
- 35campsites
Pistohiekka, Tynnörsaari, Sammakkoniemi leirintäalue, Syväniemi telttailualue, Lohilahti itä telttailualue and 30 more
- 6boat hire and water-sport clubs
Mikkelin melojat, Melapirtti and 4 more
- 74marinas and slipways
Mikkeli satama, Hyypiänniemen veneluiska, Haislahden veneluiska, Risteilyalukset, Niittylahdensatama and 69 more
- 7ferry piers
Savonlinnan matkustajasatama and 6 more
- 29viewpoints
Soininmäki, Maisema Pötsönlahdelle, Hollankirkko, Fietstocht plek 1, Naisvuoren näkötorni and 24 more
- 115hotels, B&Bs and chalets
Sokos Hotel Seurahuone, Oravi Apartments, Sokos Hotel Vaakuna, Koskelon lomamökit, Scandic Mikkeli and 110 more
- —fishing spots
- 160restaurants and cafés
Towns on the shore
- Joensuu78,398 people
- Lappeenranta72,909 people
- Mikkeli51,661 people
- Savonlinna31,283 people
- Varkaus19,603 people
- Liperi11,927 people
- Joutseno10,603 people
- Pyhäselkä7,210 people
Nearest airport with scheduled flights: Joensuu Airport (JOE), 24 km in a straight line.
Car hire at JOE airport (Joensuu)Discover Cars · Affiliate linkOpenStreetMap is built by volunteers: when a number is low, it may just mean nobody has mapped it yet.
Recent years
How each month compared
Afternoon high on the shore. The first row is the reference, the 1991–2020 average in °C; the years below show the difference from it: warmer in orange, cooler in blue.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1991–2020 average | -9.1 | -7.5 | -2.4 | 4.5 | 13.4 | 17.8 | 21.1 | 18.7 | 13.1 | 4.8 | -1.6 | -6.0 |
| 2020 | +7.5 | +5.3 | +3.2 | −0.9 | −2.1 | +3.0 | −2.1 | −0.5 | +0.9 | +2.3 | +2.8 | +1.1 |
| 2021 | −1.4 | −4.4 | −0.2 | +1.4 | −0.7 | +5.0 | +2.8 | −1.0 | −3.1 | +1.7 | +0.4 | −3.7 |
| 2022 | +1.6 | +3.2 | +0.5 | −2.7 | −1.6 | +1.6 | +0.5 | +2.6 | −2.5 | +1.9 | −0.5 | −0.8 |
| 2023 | +4.1 | +2.0 | −0.7 | −1.3 | +0.2 | +1.2 | −2.1 | +2.0 | +3.5 | −1.5 | −4.0 | −3.7 |
| 2024 | −2.0 | +0.7 | +1.6 | −2.3 | +1.1 | +3.0 | +1.4 | +2.0 | +4.3 | +2.5 | +2.1 | +1.8 |
| 2025 | +3.6 | +1.4 | +2.5 | +1.4 | −0.8 | −0.6 | +2.6 | −0.4 | +2.5 | +1.7 | +2.7 | +3.2 |
+1 warmer than usual −1 cooler than usual
RussiaAbout these numbers
| Outline, area, depth, volume | HydroLAKES v1.0 (Messager et al. 2016) · CC BY 4.0 |
|---|---|
| Water temperature and ice | LakeTEMP v1 (Korver et al. 2024), Landsat 8 2013–2021 · CC BY 4.0 |
| Air, rain, sun, wind | NASA POWER, 1991–2020 · public domain |
| Names and description | Wikidata (Q192770) · CC0 |
| Around the shore | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
Every figure is an average or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.
