PRESS RELEASE 26.4.2021

Saaga Travel has launched for summer 2021 new round trip products, where customers can bike in several nature destinations in Northern Finland.

Click here for biking products:

Mountain biking in Ukkohalla, Hossa and Syöte, guided tour (5D)

Customized mountain biking round trips in Northern Finland. Example package Rokua Geopark-Ukkohalla-Syöte (4D)

- We had planned to develop cycling trips for next summer. One day in April, while driving students from Oulu's Pöllökangas school to a swimming lesson, the group's physical education teacher began to envision bicycle tours. It served as an impetus for us to take action. Now we have launched the first full-service biking tours with the same physical education teacher as our mountain bike guide, says Saaga Travel's Marketing Director Pekka Kimpimäki .

- In addition to mountain biking, I also enjoy several other sports and, in addition to my work, study to be a nature experience instructor. I know the mountain biking routes and trails in Northern Finland like my own pockets. Unbelievable that thanks to one bus trip I was able to develop new experience products from my own passion, rejoices Saaga Travel's mountain biking guide Tytti Kaijanen.

The first biking round trip products are aimed at domestic customers. In the future, bicycle tours will also be offered to international tour operators and winter cycling packages will be developed, says Saaga Travel's International Sales Manager Johanna Salmela.

Saaga Travel's bicycle tours are tours for 10 to 15 people, cycling in several different destinations. Transfers between destinations are done by minibus. Customers ’own or rental bikes travel with them in a closed trailer where the bikes stay clean and don’t get damaged. The transport solution built by the company itself opens up new opportunities for cycling tourism for groups in Northern Finland including Lapland. The closed trailer is also rented to outside cycling groups.

At first bicycle trips to destinations in Oulu and Upper Kainuu regions

The destinations of the first guided bike tour, which went on sale this week, are Ukkohalla, Hossa and Syöte. The start and end points of the trip are in Oulu, which enables smooth connections, for example from Helsinki by train or by plane.

- In Ukkohalla, customers can cycle on comfortable needle trails and beautiful hilly landscapes. New mountain bike trails will be opened in the area this summer. Quality-conscious customers will appreciate the opportunity to relax in Ukkohalla's sauna world, where we have 9 different saunas and several indoor and outdoor pools, says Hotel Ukkohalla's CEO Jussi Kiiskilä.

- Syöte is a real mountain biker's dream destination, glows the Sales Manager of Iso-Syöte Ski Resort and KIDE Hotel Juhani Ikonen, also himself a passionate mountain biker. The ski resort invests in biking during the summer season. Last summer, Iso-Syöte opened a new bike park, which adds a new dimension to the area's cycling opportunities. -This summer we expand the Bike Park with 11 new tracks and increase the number of rental equipment considerably, Ikonen continues.

Saaga Travel guided mountain biking round trip is on sale for individual travelers on company's webshop. The company also offers bespoke biking trips tailored to the wishes of the cycling groups.

Further information:

Saaga Travel biking trips: https://saagatravel.fi/en/matkakauppa/

Pekka Kimpimäki, Marketing Director (in Finnish), tel +358 400 280 685

Johanna Salmela, Sales Manager, International Sales, tel. +358 40 826 2345

Photo: Syöte Travel Association

Saaga Travel Ltd.

Saaga Travel is a northern Finnish travel service company. The company's business area includes passenger transport services (charter buses, contract traffic) as well as travel packages for domestic and international customers. The company is headquartered in Oulu and its main area of operation is Northern Finland. The company is owned by its key personnel, whose vision is to be a high-quality, advanced and leading passenger transport company in its field. The company's operations are guided by the desire to create new and different tourism services and to produce service experiences that exceed expectations.