Pihlajavesi is the second-largest basin in the complex Saimaa lake system.
Pihlajavesi and the castle Olavinlinna on an island of it are regarded as a national landscape of Finland.
[2] Part of the lake belongs to a namesake 45-km² nature reserve (created 2014) and Natura 2000 area (1998).
[2] The purpose of the area is to protect the archipelago nature – including shores, woods and outcrop hills – and the Saimaa seal habitat, to maintain the traditional landscape, and to further outdoor life, teaching and research.
This Eastern Finland location article is a stub.