Lieksa is a base, not a sight in itself. The town has one essential indoor stop — the Pielinen Open-Air Museum — and almost everything else is outdoors. Within an hour's drive: the Patvinsuo national park to the south, the rapids and rafting of Ruunaa to the northeast, the Karelian wilderness running unbroken to the Russian border, and the dramatic ridges of Koli across the lake.