 Poster: A snowHead
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Resort: Ruka
Country: Finland
Domain: None
Author: Temesvar
Date: 27 December 2022 - 3 January 2023
Our holiday: 2 intermediates, returning to skiing after a 10 year break, and 2 children skiing for the first time, aged 7 and 5. Booked as a package through Crystal. It started out as a Lapland Santa trip, but the prices for such things were so high unless taking the kids out of school, it turned out that turning a 2-3 day Santa only trip into a week's skiing trip with Santa as an excursion was much better value. We skied for 6 days, with one afternoon off to see Santa, and one morning off to go husky and reindeer sledding.
We had group skiing lessons in the mornings. The children loved theirs, and by midweek were fearlessly pointing themselves down the hill as young kids will tend to do, and were going over ramps and boxes in the junior snow park. The adult group lessons were a bit of a mixed bag. We started off in a group of about 10, but for the first couple of days we didn't do much more than ski up and down the same short, basic blue run and there wasn't much in the way of instruction beyond things like "follow me and ski in my tracks" and "try to keep your skis parallel in the turns". Several of the group didn't bother with it after the first 2-3 days, but that meant by the end there were only 4 of us, and we were going off to more interesting parts of the resort. It's hard to know whether we improved because of the instructor's "light touch" tuition, or whether it was more a case of getting better just by doing it, but we were better by the end of the week than we had started. So I would say we have had better tuition in the past, but I was glad we stuck it out for the week.
With the kids being new to skiing, and being kids, afternoons away from ski school were spent on the easy slopes with them, and we didn't get to see much of the wider resort, but that was fine. They loved the junior snow park, visiting the reindeer and cooking marshmallows and sausages on the open fires dotted around the hill. There was also tubing (a short run to go down on a big inner tube type thing) and sled racing, although we didn't do the latter.
The trip to see Santa was very good. You go out to his cottage by the lake in a group of about 15 children plus parents, have some time sledging down the hill onto the frozen lake, then a hot drink and then in to see Santa. He tells some stories about Lapland and his job, teaches everyone a Christmas song in Finnish, and then there is some free time for a drink and cookies when the kids can have photos with him and ask him questions. He has the answer to any question.
But as much as the kids enjoyed seeing Santa, the highlight for them was the skiing, which was great.
Website : https://www.ruka.fi/en - https://www.ruka.fi/en/skiresort/slopes/webcameras - https://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/649924
Basics : Ruka is in Lapland, about 20 minutes north of the airport in Kuusamo (the transfer time is excellent), and just outside the Arctic Circle.
Lift system : The main gondola takes you from Ruka Village, where most of the accommodation and restaurants are, to Ruka Valley where the skiing is based. There is a range of chairlifts, T-bars and button pulls, so not the most advanced lift system, but it is only a small hill, not a mountain, so it probaly doesn't need more than that and you aren't on the lifts for very long.
The terrain : It's a hill, not a mountain, so none of the runs are very long. It's very good for beginners, with a row of blues on the Ruka Valley side, with one set out with magic carpets as the nursery slope, and another as the junior snow park. Further afield there are more blues and reds, but nothing too taxing or long - the longest run is just over 1km. On the Ruka Village side are its couple of black runs, including a mogul run.
I don't think experts would enjoy Ruka that much. It's great for beginners though, and as intermediates we had enough to do for a week. The point of Ruka isn't miles of runs and challenging terrain, it's that it's beautiful to ski through snow covered trees, with views over the Arctic forest, and stopping off to see the reindeer or warming yourself by the fire.
Blue 26 is the Rosa and Rudolf adventure route, a winding narrow path amongst the trees with elf houses and other things to stop and look at, which was great for the kids.
When we went it was mid-winter. I was expecting it to be dark most of the time, but actually that's not quite right. What there was was a very long dawn and very long dusk, so it was light-ish from about 9.00am and stayed light-ish until about 3.30-4pm, with about 4 hours of full daylight in the middle. All the slopes are floodlight all day and stay open until 7pm, plus one night of late night skiing, so the lack of daylight is never a problem, and you don't really notice it getting light or dark. All that applies in reverse for the summer of course, so by the end of March there is 12 hours of daylight as you get to the equinox.
The snow : If you can't guarantee snow in Lapland at New Year, you can't guarantee snow anywhere. We had one powder day, but with the temperature, any snow that falls during the winter isn't going to melt for a long time.
The temperature was between -20C and 0C, but with the usual layering (base layer, fleece and jacket) we were never too cold. However, if you want a reminder of the hard work your clothes are doing for you, try taking your gloves off for a minute or so! The wind can blow, and even when it feels sheltered at the bottom of the hill and among the trees, it can be unpleasant at the summit and it can close the gondola. However, as soon as you get off the summit into the trees it's fine again.
When we were there the Northern Lights were apparently pretty regular, but thick cloud meant we didn't see them except for one brief glimpse on the last night. Remember that when you might think about booking a Northern Lights excursion. Looking at the webcams since we've been back, it seems to get sunnier in the spring, but the aurora is less likely the further you get from mid winter.
Off-piste : Not our thing, but I doubt there is much to speak of, other than brief excursions off the sides of the pistes into the trees.
The resort : I liked Ruka village. It is set out around a main square where the gondola station is, and has plenty of restaurants, and a smaller number of bars. Some accommodation is a walk away from the centre, down a hill. Several of the hotels are on the square, and so very close to the gondola and ski hire shop. Ruka Valley, on the other side of the hill, is smaller with fewer hotels and restaurants, but is right next to the ski school meeting point, and there is another hire shop there. The two are linked by the gondola, which carries on into the evening, and a ski bus. However, the gondola can close if it's windy, and I'm not sure the bus runs very late, so you can risk getting stuck on the wrong side of the hill in the evenings, and need a taxi. There are also cabins in the woods, which look very charming and cosy, but you would rely on the ski bus for transport I think. The bus was full on days when the gondola was closed, so I would imagine there is some risk of needing to walk to the slopes some days if you stay there.
Food : In Ruka Village there are plenty of places offering decent food. RUOK Burger was well-loved by our kids. Over on the Valley side, we had most of our lunches in the Camp Kitchen, which was much less busy than the main eatery there. Don't miss taking marshmallows or sausages and cooking them over one of the open fires on the hill. They have metal forks and skewers etc, or you can take your own.
Accommodation : We stayed in the Ruka Ski Chalets, which is definitely not a chalet, but is a very decent apartment-hotel a short walk from the gondola. They have ski lockers on the ground floor, and a small kitchen in the room so you can self-cater.
Costs: Finland is expensive, but not ridiculously so. For example, a beer is about 7 Euros, and a meal for 2 adults and 2 kids, with drinks, was typically about 70-80 Euros. The holiday itself was similarly priced to other non-posh European ski resorts, such as Andorra or the less expensive parts of Italy, but it is only a small hill so it is probably expensive for what you get. But as we were with kids on their first ski holiday, we were never going to need a vast domain to explore.
Conclusion: We enjoyed Ruka very much. In its own right, the skiing isn't wonderful, but you go there for the scenery, the reliable snow, Santa, reindeer, huskies and everything else that goes with it. Above all, it was the kids' first ski trip, and they could easily have hated skiing, hated the cold, hated dealing with all the kit. Instead they loved it, and can't wait to ski again. It puts it into some perspective that for a holiday that was mainly about seeing the real Santa in a real snowy forest, the skiing was by far the kids' highlight.
For that reason alone, it was one of the best holidays we have ever had.
Last edited by Poster: A snowHead on Thu 20-04-23 9:21; edited 1 time in total
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Great report, thanks @Temesvar. All my kids and grandkids would definitely have preferred the skiing to seeing Santa! And it's such a thrill to see kids getting into it so quickly. The only downside is letting yourself in for a lifetime of expensive holidays......
Shame your ski lessons were so pathetic - no wonder people dropped out!
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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@Temesvar, thanks for a super report. Although it wouldn't be my thing, it sounds like heaven for a family with small kids.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Thanks for sharing. It sounds similar to my experience. My boys learnt to ski in Pyha ski resort aged 9 and 6 over New Year in 2017. We (I) loved it. It was a memorable family holiday. With Santa and huskies and snowmobiles thrown in. Fabulous! I've skied in a fair few places (may be 30 or so), but this holiday was the best ever as a whole experience. I really enjoyed the skiing also. Perfect fluffy snow on a few very interesting runs, was still more than great. 
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