Ruka And Kuusamo

Ruka and Kuusamo, Lapland

Close to the Arctic circle, Kuusamo is the district in which you will find Ruka, Finland’s most popular ski resort just a 20 minute drive from the city centre and the Oulanka National Park, one of many national parks and nature reserves in the area, where the world famous, 80km long, karhunkieros (bear trail) hiking trail runs.

When it comes to beautiful holiday destinations, you’ll have a hard time finding a better place.

Summer And Winter Fun in Ruka and Kuusamo

No matter what the time of year, whether we are under several feet of snow and well below freezing in the winter months or in the middle of sunny summer with 24hour daylight, there is always something to go outside and do.

In the winter there’s skiing, snowmobiling, the amazing phenomenon of the northern lights, you can go snowshoe hiking, ice cart racing or take a trip to Santa’s house (he lives just down the road) as well as husky mushing and riding in a reindeer sleigh.

More Reindeer Than People

Photo by Outdoor Academy Of Sweden

The Kuusamo district covers an area of 2250 square miles (5800 sq km) and is home to a population of just under 17,000 people. Which means that there’s an average of 8.7 people per square mile (3.35 per sq km).

To give you a comparison, Rochdale, the town I am from in Lancashire, UK, has 11,186 inhabitants per square mile (4,319 per sq km).

That’s 11,177.3 people per square mile less.

So what is there instead of people? The short answer to that would be trees. Oh and lakes. And reindeer. 60% of the land area is forested and 300 square miles water, lakes and rivers so clean that you can drink straight from them.

In fact the water for our house comes directly from the lake at the bottom of our farm and is the most delicious water I’ve tasted.

I don’t know the exact details of the reindeer, but someone once told me that there are 3 reindeers for every one person in the Kuusamo district. A fact I can easily believe.

A lot more than just reindeer can be found in our forest though. Read about The Flora And Fauna In Ruka And Kuusamo.

Temperature

In the winter, between December and April the temperature drops to well below freezing, -20C or colder is not unusual. Warm clothes and lots of layers are essential.

In the summer, temperatures can soar to well into the 20C’s and even up to the 30C’s, and the sun never sets for several weeks of the summer.

In the winter the lakes freeze up and are safe enough to walk and drive over – there is a road over a lake in Kuusamo city centre that only exists in the winter when it’s frozen up- and most lakes have snowmobiles tracks over them them and people sitting on them fishing through small holes through in ice.

In the summer they fill with boats and bird life, sunbathers lie on their sandy shores and take a dip in the inviting water.

Northern Lights

Photo by Hyougushi used under creative commons

We are lucky enough to witness the northern lights, or aurora Borealis, quite regularly between October and April, and I often spend my winter evenings dressed in as many clothes as I can staring up at them from my garden.

The aurora borialis are natural light displays seen in the night sky that weave and wave in long green stripes caused by dust particles from the Sun that have been pulled into the Earth’s atmosphere.

Find out more about The Northern Lights In Ruka and Kuusamo

Midnight Sun

In the middle of summer in Ruka and Kuusamo the sun never sets, but high hangs over the horizon, a golden globe turning the sky beautiful shades all through the night.

It is a very strange thing to experience and is celebrated by the midsummer solstice festival, Juhanas, where typically Finns spend the evening and much of the night drinking in saunas and swimming in lakes.

In summer, people don’t tend to be inside much and a lot of workers, especially farmers and fisherman, of which my husband is both, work longer hours as the daylight makes it possible to be outside doing things all day and night.

	Ave Temp	Hours Daylight	Snow Depth	Northern Lights
January	-14	5	61	Yes
February	-12	9	70	Yes
March	-8	13	75	Yes
April	-2	17	40	No
May	5	21	2	No
June	15	24	0	No
July	20	19	0	No
August	13	16	0	No
September	6	13	1	Yes
October	0	9	5	Yes
November	-6	5	27	Yes
December	-11	3	42	Yes