Toksovo: the Kavgolovo Lakes and hills

⏱ 7 h🚶 9 km + 🚆🍽 1📍 6 stops

🏃 A lot — over 7 km

“Petersburg Switzerland” 45 minutes from Finlyandsky: the pine hills of Kavgolovo, two lakes, a kirche from 1887 and lunch by the ski slope. Mushrooms and gold in autumn, skiing in winter.

👶 With kids🌳 Parks and nature🚆 Out of town

👶 7–12, 13+ years · ✗ hard with a stroller

The hill trails have roots and sand and steep climbs — a stroller won't get through; a sling or backpack carrier is better.

🗺 Open in Yandex Maps (with transit)

Getting there

🏛 Finlyandsky Station and Locomotive N2-293

Санкт-Петербург, пл. Ленина, 6

Steam locomotive N2-293 stands in a pavilion by the platforms (October 2026 timetable)

🚆 by suburban train to Lake Kavgolovskoye

Finlyandsky Station: train to Kavgolovo platform at 08:38, 09:34 or 10:27 (on weekdays it's a Lastochka), on Sat–Sun also 09:01 and 10:01, ≈45 min

1
🌳 Lake Kavgolovskoye
Токсово, у платформы Кавголово
A large forest lake near Toksovo with a beach on the eastern shore, pines, and ski jumps on the neighbouring hills.
5–7 minutes from the platform to the east shore. A long forest lake between hills; in autumn it is quiet and empty along the shore
📖 More about the placeCollapse
© GAlexandrova · CC BY-SA 4.0
© Liendain from Saint Petersburg, Russia · CC BY 2.0
© Александровы АГ · CC BY-SA 4.0
- The lake's name translates from Finnish as "Far Lake".
- The lake is shallow: average depth about 2.5 m, maximum about 3.5 m.
- The water level is held by an 18th-century dam: canals between the Toksovo lakes fed the Okhta for the Petersburg gunpowder factory.
- Archaeologists found a prehistoric settlement site on the southern shore.
- The lake and surrounding forest are part of the Toksovsky Nature Park.
🚶 on foot
2
🌅 Toksovo Heights
Токсово, памятник природы «Токсовские высоты»
Hilly terrain with pine forests and elevation changes rare for the flat Leningrad Oblast.
The Toksovo Heights natural monument: hills where skiers and ski jumpers trained for decades. The trails have no strict start; keep to the main path south, toward the center of the village. Look for mushrooms in the pine forest on the slopes
📖 More about the placeCollapse
© Александровы АГ · CC BY-SA 4.0
© GAlexandrova · CC BY-SA 4.0
- The natural monument covers 59 hectares and gained protected status in 2014 — local conservationists fought for it.
- The hills here are kames: glacial mounds, between which some of the hollows have become overgrown and turned into peat bogs.
- Spruce and pine southern-taiga forests more than a hundred years old survive on the slopes.
- In summer runners and orienteers train here, in winter skiers.
🚶 on foot
3
🏛 Toksovo Lutheran Church
Токсово, ул. Советов
The stone Lutheran Church of Saints Peter and Paul from 1887, which in Soviet times was the Arktika cinema.
The Church of Sts Peter and Paul was consecrated in 1887 and, after Alexander III's visit, was called the Alexandrovskaya.
📖 More about the placeCollapse
© GAlexandrova · CC BY-SA 4.0
© GAlexandrova · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Toksovo's Lutheran community was founded as early as 1625, under the Swedes; the first wooden church stood between Luppolovo and Vartemyagi.
- The stone church held 1,136 people and was consecrated on 30 August 1887.
- The pastor's house was built from the old wooden church after the new one was consecrated.
- In 1937 the church was closed, divided by floors into three storeys and turned into a club.
🚶 on foot
4
🌳 Lake Hepojärvi
Токсово, Офицерская ул.
A large forest lake surrounded by pine-covered hills, popular with swimmers and skiers.
One of Toksovo's biggest lakes (second after Kavgolovo): a sandy beach, and around it a marked “health trail” of 10, 20 and 30 km. In winter there is a ski track here, and the Severny Sklon slopes are nearby
📖 More about the placeCollapse
© alzium · CC BY-SA 3.0
- Hepojärvi means "Horse Lake" in Finnish.
- It is the second-largest of the Toksovo lakes after Kavgolovskoye; all of them are of glacial origin.
- The Morye river, which flows into Ladoga, runs out of the lake through a dam.
- In the 18th century the Peter's Canal was dug from here to supply water to the Okhta for the gunpowder factories.
- From the southern shore you can see an Orthodox church, a Lutheran church and ski slopes all at once.
🚶 on foot
5
🍽 Sovignon restaurant at Severny Sklon · 🧸 play area
Токсово, Офицерская ул., 17Б, корп. 7 (комплекс «Северный склон»)
▮▮▮▮▯
Sauvignon is in the same Severny Sklon complex: a kids' room and coloring books, the “Museum of Owls” on the veranda (find out beforehand whether the owls will be there that day); open 12:00–22:00.
🍴 A countryside restaurant with an "Owl Museum" on the veranda: a kids' room with toys, colouring books, and entertainers and workshops on holidays. What to order: reindeer stroganina (thinly shaved frozen meat), trout steak or pike cutlets, and dishes from the kids' menu for the children.
🚶 on foot
6
🏛 Toksovo Station Water Tower
Токсово, Железнодорожная ул., 2Б
The 1917 station water tower — all that is left of the old station building, demolished in 2021.
30 minutes on foot through the village. The tower stands by the tracks, next to the station — trains back to the city leave from here
📖 More about the placeCollapse
© Damaskines · CC BY-SA 4.0
- The 1917 tower is styled as a medieval knight's castle.
- In 2018 the water tower was given cultural heritage status.
- The demolished 1916–1917 station in the Northern Art Nouveau style was designed by Uhro Pällijä; Kharms, Marshak, Grin and Akhmatova visited here.
- The station was demolished on 24 April 2021, and in August a court ruled the demolition illegal — but a new building was built on the site anyway.

↩️ Getting back: From Toksovo station, trains to Finlyandsky Station: 16:35, 17:02, 17:21, 18:21 (≈45 min); on Sat–Sun also a Lastochka at 16:19 — 31 min (October 2026 timetable)