Simo

Simo is a small municipality in southwest Finnish Lapland. This is a summer destination and most people come here for fishing wild salmon. Other attractions are the old villages Simokylä and Simoniemi.

Understand


Simo has about 3,000 residents. The net migration is slightly positive but the population trend is slowly declining though. The community still lives strongly from agriculture, and potato is even nowadays a major product. Many locals however drive daily to the cities Kemi or Oulu for work. In close future a renovated highway from Oulu towards north will probably bind Simo more to influence of Oulu than to the rest of Lapland. Simo itself is an important wind power producer and there are several wind power plants. Simo is also an important producer of energy peat.

Geography
Geographically Simo is very similar to the Ostrobothnian area to its south. The landscape is flat and consist of forests and large open mires. Compared to the rest of Finland the lakes and rivers are notably scarce. The river Simo (Finnish: Simojoki) flows to the Baltic Sea, and is one of those few rivers left that still have its original breeding Baltic Sea salmon population. The shoreline to the Baltic Sea is long, and the shallow waters are in favour to many pelagic birds. The population is heavily concentrated to the sea shore and along the banks of the Simo river while there are few people residing elsewhere.

There are large bog and mire systems especially in the northeast. The southern part of the Runkaus Strict Nature Reserve, protecting an exceptionally important fen mire, is in Simo. To protect its nature the Runkaus area is closed to the public.

History
There are many place names of Sami origin at the area. The oldest known settlements on the mouth of Simo river are fishermen communities from 1300s. In 1540 there were 11 houses in Simonkylä, 6 in Simoniemi and 5 in Maksniemi village. The road connetion was established in 1652 but it took until 1750s before wagons could use it. During the 1700s, numerous settlers arrived to the area but it took until 1800s before first permanent settlements were built inland, to the banks of the Simo river. Simo became an independent parish in 1796.

When Finland was still part of the Russian Empire, some young Finns – known as Jägers – prepared themselves for rebellion against Russia by traveling secretly to Germany to get military training there. Later they arrived back to Finland via sparsely populated Ostrobothnian coast where hiding the autorities was easy. On December 11th, 1916, a group of these Jägers were hiding in a forest hut near Yli-Kärppä village when a police patrol found them. During the encounter known as Simon kahakka, the Simo Skirmish, one Jäger was killed, three Jägers and two policemen were wounded, and two Jägers were captured. The skirmish was the first violent encounter between Finns and Russians since the Finnish War (1808–1809) – except the assassination of the governor general Nikolaj Bobrikov 1904 – and is often seen as a start of weaponed fight for Finland's independence. There is a movie about the skirmish.



In September 1944, during the Lapland War, the bridges across the river were completely destroyed by Germans to slow down approaching Finnish army. Maksniemi village and the surroundings of the railway station suffered heavy damage during these battles while Simonkylä and Simoniemi villages survived completely.

In the early 20th century the paper mill in Kemi started to turn the rural municipality into more laborious one. Agriculture remained the most important livelihood. During the 2010s, Simo has become an important producer of wind power.

By car
Highway E75 (Ouluntie) runs through the administrative centre. Distance to Oulu in south is 80 kilometers (1 hour drive) and to Kemi in north 27 kilometers (20 min). National road 924 (Ranuantie) connect the administrative center to Ranua 92 kilometers east (1h 20 min).

By bus
There are numerous daily coach connections between Oulu and Kemi, some of them continuing to Rovaniemi and Haparanda. These stop at Simo centre if necessary; either at the or – mostly – by dropping the passengers to a bus stop by the highway. A bus ticket costs approx. €7 from Kemi and €10–18 from Oulu. See Matkahuolto for details.

By train
The nearest railway stations are at Kemi and Oulu, where you must continue to Simo with a coach. The railway goes through the administrative centre but passenger trains haven't stopped here for decades.

By plane
The nearest airports are Kemi-Tornio Airport in north and Oulu Airport in south. Both have daily connections to Helsinki.

By boat
If you are travelling with a yacht there is.

Get around
There is a local bus connection between Simo bus station and Kemi bus station via Simoniemi and Simonkylä villages. The bus operates once or twice a day at working days. A bus ticket from the Simo bus station to Simonkylä costs around €3.30/adult. Otherwise you need to use your own vehicle or local taxi.

Any visits to Runkaus Strict Nature Reserve require a written permission from the Finnish Forest Administration. The permissions are given for scientific purposes only.

See




Do



 * Most people visit Simo for fishing as the river Simo has original wild salmon population. For fishing you need to buy a Finnish national fishing permit AND a separate permit "2581 Simojoki, Simo" sold by the Finnish Forest Administration. Take a look at website Simojoki.com for details for rules and regulations. Most lodging companies have permits for sale.
 * There is official 178 km long canoeing route in river Simo. The route starts from lake Simojärvi in Ranua and ends to the Baltic Sea. The paddling route is considered quite easy and it takes 4-7 days to complete.
 * Jäger Path (Jääkäripolku) is 16 km long marked trail from Veska in Kuivaniemi to Kievari in Simo. The trail has been completely renoved in 2019.

Sleep




Stay safe
There is notable risk for tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) in the Simo area. The endemic range extends to southern suburbs of Kemi. The local tick species is Ixodes persulcatus which carries TBE much more often than other European ticks.



Connect
As of Nov 2023, Simo and its approach roads have a basic mobile signal from DNA, 4G from Telia and 5G from Elisa.

Go next

 * Bothnian Bay National Park
 * Ranua, with a zoo. Among the animals are polar bear, brown bear, lynx, wolf, wolverine, forest reindeer, beaver and otter (some 50 species in all).