Located 25km north of the small town of Kuusamo (Eastern Lapland), Ruka is one of Finland's largest and most modern ski resorts. Ruka ski resort offers the longest skiing season out of any resort in Finland. The First Snow Track 'Ensilumenlatu' is opened in early October and the slopes stay open until early May.
Ruka ski area
There are a total of 34 slopes in Ruka, of which the 20 illuminated pistes offer an opportunity to ski also in the evenings. They range from gentle slopes for beginners to taunting gradients for professional skiers. Slopes are located in different parts of a combination of four Arctic fells providing sheltered skiing every day. The illumination of the slopes creates a dreamlike atmosphere in the twilight. The Ruka peak reaches 492 meters and the longest piste measures 1.3 km. The quality of the Ruka skiing pistes is apparent also due to the fact that it is the official training location for the alpine and freestyle teams in Finland.
The skiing season normally begins in mid-October and lasts until the middle of June, thanks to 100 snowguns. The past 15 seasons have offered between 200 and 250 skiing days! Ruka has 22 lifts, 5 of which are chair lifts including RukaExpress, a detachable 6 seat chairlift with bubble. This is why lift queues seldom exceed 10 minutes, most days there is no wait at all.
Ruka’s the perfect place to start your ski adventure. Kick things off with lessons in the biggest beginner zone, then move on to looping quiet blues and tree-lined trails across the rest of the 24km area. For those who ski with children, it is best to head to either the Vuosseli or Kaltiolampi children’s areas, which also delight beginners with convenient magic carpet lifts.
Intermediates are just as well catered for with 43% of slopes classified red. Vuoselli has numerous long, cruising blues and reds all accessible from a high-speed covered chairlift and Masto’s reds have campfires at the bottom where you can warm up before the next challenge.
Experts will want to head to the Kelo and Pessari areas, where there are challenging reds and blacks as well as loads of off-piste through the trees. The powder here is known for being exceptionally good thanks to the low temperatures and dry air, and the lack of crowds means fresh tracks can easily be made days after a snowfall. The black number 4 is a FIS standard slalom run where you can really test yourself on the way back to the village.
Ruka village
The village centre is car-free, and parking is available in the underground Ruka Parking Hall.
A densely built village also ensures that the surrounding nature has been left as untouched as possible. If you are staying at Ruka village, you can get around the local area on the carbon-neutral Village-2-Valley scenic gondola and the SkiBus.
If you’re looking for exciting winter activities besides skiing, you’ll be spoilt for choice.
There is over 600km of snowmobile routes and ‘snowmobile safaris’ of varying lengths can take you deep into the forests. If you fancy a more traditional method of travel, two popular choices are reindeer and husky safaris.
Those looking to relax and unwind will find a number of saunas and a masseur in the village shopping centre. There’s also a recently opened day spa that can be reached on skis or by foot, offering a range of the usual treatments as well as traditional Lappish stone and berry options. A little further afield in Kuusamo town there’s even a tropical swimming pool complex!
Lapland’s one of the best places to see the elusive Northern Lights, and Ruka’s scenery provides an ideal backdrop. Hop on a snowmobile and zoom out to the middle of one of them to watch nature’s best light show. Light pollution’s as low as it gets out here, and the reflections on the ice make things even more Instagram-friendly. This awesome natural event lights up the sky with luminous greens, blues and reds, a once-in-a-lifetime experience. The best time to see the Northern Lights is between December and February.
