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Finland, Katinkulta – Golf weekend in Katinkulta
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FACTS: Katinkulta
Country: Finland.
Where: in central Finland, Oulu, 600 km from Helsinki
Accommodation: Holiday Club, Katinkulta, 112 double rooms, four suites with sauna and jacuzzi. There are also 252 nice cottages with 2, 4 or 6 beds. The cottages were built between 1987 and 2002. All cabins have a sauna. The hotel has 20 different indoor pools, always 32 degrees in the water, various saunas, tennis, squash, badminton, table tennis, bowling, a gym, indoor golf training, massage, hairdressing, solarium, beauty salon, versatile children's world with babysitting and special youth programs. For groups there are different activities, including safaris to Russia.
Eating: Generous breakfast buffet, family dining, a la carte restaurant, nightclub, cafe, and bar.
Rating: No Finland feeling at the hotel but the Holiday Club name ensures quality. Many activities. Superb sauna and swimming pool for all ages.
More info: www.holidayclubresorts.com
Phone: +358 (0) 8-669 75 10,
Fax: + 358 (0) 8-669 74 97
Finland, Katinkulta
Doubts start to gnaw a little bit when we are on the way to Katinkulta, “Cats gold” in Swedish. It feels like we’re on the road to nowhere. We stop doubting once we get there and walk into the reception of the Holiday Club.
The actual location Katinkulta is actually only the golf establishment, but it is more than enough for a weekend vacation. There are a wide range of activities here, both indoor and outdoor.
Not least, a very impressive bathing establishment with 20 (!) different pools and of course, Sauna World, with saunas all over. Outside the hotel there is a smoke sauna, the mother of all saunas, with a small artificial lake. The water temperature is ten degrees. We had to hurry up ...
Outside the hotel complex is the golf course, opened in 1990, designed by Swede Jan Sederholm. It turns out to offer 18 excellent holes. Not least the quality surprises us. The fairways and greens are in great shape even though we are there in the late fall. In 2002 the course was playable in late April when the ski lifts were still running, and the course is playable long into October.
Jari Koivusalo, the establishment’s sports director, has played all of Finland’s 100 courses. “Our course is definitely one of Finland's top ten,” he says.
I will gladly return, the optimal of course would be June or July when the midnight sun is shining. Then you can play around the clock, something many have discovered.
For those who tire of summer games there is the world's first ski tunnel around the corner in Vuokatti. It was opened in June 1997 and is 1,212 metres long. National ski teams from around the world train here, and the usual hearty types with, for example, the Vasa Ski Race in sight. One-hour of skiing costs ten euros. Equipment can be rented.
Playable 1990, located outside the hotel.
Distance from yellow tee: 5,825 metres
From the red tees: 5,025 metres
Phone: +358- (0) 8-669 74 88,
Fax: +358- (0) 8-669 74 80th
Rating: very good quality, challenging holes, stay on the fairway.