Savonia University of Applied Sciences

Puijonlaakso is a district in the city of Kuopio, Finland. As the name implies, it is located right next to Puijo Hill and is a very green area. The area has about 6,400 inhabitants, many of whom are students.The area includes the Puijonlaakso shopping center, nursing homes and the Hotel Savonia, in connection with which the tourism, nutrition and economics education unit of Savo Vocational College with Adult Education Center and Savonia University of Applied Sciences operates. Puijo Church was completed in 1977, as part of a larger parish center. Puijonlaakso also includes part of the University of Eastern Finland in Savilahti and the entire Kuopio University Hospital.

Kuopio University Hospital (KUH; Finnish: Kuopion yliopistollinen sairaala, KYS, Swedish: Kuopio universitetssjukhus) is a teaching hospital of the University of Eastern Finland along Puijonlaaksontie at the Puijonlaakso district in Kuopio, Finland. It serves as one of the main hospitals in the country and operates in the facilities of Central Hospital of Puijo (Puijon keskussairaala), Children's Hospital of Alava (Alavan lastensairaala) and Psychiatric Hospital of Julkula (Julkulan psykiatrinen sairaala) in Kuopio, and also former Tarina Hospital (Tarinan sairaala) in Siilinjärvi. After Kuopio, the municipalities of Siilinjärvi, Varkaus and Iisalmi use the services of the hospital district the most. KYS is Kuopio's second largest employer after the city of Kuopio; in 2011, Kuopio University Hospital employed a total of 4,113 people. KYS is also Finland's largest medical educator in terms of enrollment.KYS has an Epilepsy Center (Epilepsiakeskus) that provides diagnostics and treatment for severe epilepsy in both adults and children. The unit's special expertise is intracranial brain curve recordings and epilepsy surgery, which are nationwide concentrated in Kuopio and Helsinki, but most of Finland's epilepsy surgical procedures are performed in Kuopio. With regard to other areas of expertise in KYS, the Heart Center (Sydänkeskus) is a worldwide pioneer in the development of biological bypass surgery and gene therapy for heart failure.

Niirala is a district in the city of Kuopio, Finland, and it has a population of about 3,500. Niirala is now a popular residential area due to its good location between the Kuopio University and the city center. Niirala's main street is Niiralankatu. The neighboring parts of Niirala are Hatsala in the northeast, Haapaniemi in the southeast, and Savilahti in the west.The area includes the Kuopio City Theatre, Alava Church, Minna Canth School and the popular oasis of the Valkeisenlampi Park. Niirala will have a total of about 1,300 jobs (January 1, 2008).

Niuva is a district in the western part of the city of Kuopio, Finland. It is well known as the historic Niuvanniemi mental hospital. In terms of land use, Niuva is mainly a field area around the hospital. The district has few settlements and services, located mainly in the hospital area. However, there is a Länsi-Puijo kindergarten along Suurmäentie. There is a beach on the shore of Lake Kallavesi, just south of the Niuva district in Puijonlaakso.

Hotel Savonia is a Best Western hotel located in Kuopio, Finland. It is also an educational unit, housing the Tourism, Catering and Domestic Services branch of the Savonia University of Applied Sciences.

Niuvanniemi hospital is a state mental hospital in the Niuva district of Kuopio, Finland. Along with the other state mental hospital, Vanha Vaasa hospital, it provides forensic psychiatric services for the entire country. Niuvanniemi is the main location for secure housing and involuntary commitment of criminal patients (i.e. individuals that a court has found criminally insane), and also receives difficult-to-treat or dangerous mental patients from other hospitals. Niuvanniemi is active in forensic psychiatry research, as a clinic of University of Eastern Finland. Niuvanniemi hospital was founded in 1885 and is the oldest psychiatric hospital still in operation in Finland. Niuvanniemi conducts about half of the court-ordered mental examinations. Niuvanniemi has 260 beds for patients, of which 12 are for minors. In 2010, 51% of patients were patients whose sentence for a serious crime has been waived due to insanity; they are committed for 8 years and 8 months on average. Other difficult-to-treat patients, transferred from other hospitals, are committed at least 3–4 years, on average 5 years and 3 months. Niuvanniemi is not a correctional institution, i.e. the inmates are mental patients, not convicts, thus there are no set time limits for detention. (Within the penal system proper, there are Psykiatrinen vankisairaala (Psychiatric prison hospitals) with locations in Turku and Vantaa, where the patients are convicts.)

Puijo is a 150-metre-high (490 ft) hill, the famous landmark of city of Kuopio in Finland and a tourist attraction. It is located near the Puijonlaakso district.

The Puijo tower is an observation tower at the top of Puijo hill in Kuopio, Eastern Finland. Opened in 1963, the tower is 75 metres (246 ft) tall and has a revolving restaurant with 100 seats. It was the first tower with a revolving restaurant in the Nordic countries. The restaurant was an inspiration to Erkki Lindfors, the mayor of Tampere, who got the idea to build a similar one in his home town, resulting in the Näsinneula tower, which opened in 1971. The current Puijo tower has been visited by over 5.5 million tourists. The current tower is the third overall. When it was completed on 27 July 1963, the second one, built in 1906, was dismantled. The first tower was built in 1856. On the western side of the tower there are three ski jumping hills.

The Puijo ski jumping hills (Finnish: Puijon hyppyrimäet) are a complex of five ski jumping hills in the city of Kuopio, Finland. They are located on the 150-metre-high Puijo hill, overlooked by the Puijo observation tower.

Kuopio Ice Hall (Finnish: Kuopion jäähalli, unofficially Niiralan Monttu) or Olvi Arena, is the ice hockey arena located in the Hatsala district of Kuopio, Finland which is also the home arena of KalPa. The arena is built in 1979. The ice hall can hold a maximum number of 5,300 spectators in the stands.

Hatsala is a district located west of the center of Kuopio, Finland. The eastern boundary of the area is Puistokatu, the southern boundary is Minna Canthin katu and the northern is the Kuopio motorway. The western border first runs along Sairaalakatu and Niiralankatu. From the intersection of Suokatu, the border first runs north, then turns west and passes through the Savonia railway line to the motorway. The border leaves Mustinlammi on the Niirala side and on the Hatsala side of the swimming hall and Kuopio Hall.Hatsala is home to the Board Office, Kuopio Court House and Police Station, Kuopio Ice Hall (also known as Olvi Arena), Kuntolaakso Swimming Hall, the Orthodox Church Museum of Finland, Kuopio Sports Hall, the Classical High Schools of Hatsala and Kuopio, the Kuopio barracks area (nationally significant built cultural environment site) and the Kuopio Veteran Museum, the Dance Theatre Minimi and the Kuopio Community College currently operating in a larger, brick barracks building.

RIISA – Orthodox Church Museum of Finland (Finnish: Riisa – Suomen ortodoksinen kirkkomuseo) is a museum located in the city of Kuopio, which specializes in the research, preservation and archiving of the visual and tangible cultural heritage of the Finnish Orthodox Church.