Northern Lights Forecast for Ruka

Northern Lights in Ruka

Ruka is a ski resort on Rukatunturi, a 492 m fell in the Kuusamo municipality in northeastern Finland, about 25 km north of Kuusamo town. It lies in Northern Ostrobothnia, just south of the Lapland regional border and about 40 km south of the Arctic Circle, so there is no polar night: at the winter solstice the sun is up for a little under three hours. The resort makes its own light. The pedestrian village is compact and bright and 36 of the 41 slopes are floodlit, so the aurora is watched from the fells and lakes around Ruka rather than from the village or the summit above it.

Valtavaara and Konttainen, the dark fells next door

The Ruka tourist office sends people a few kilometers out. Valtavaara and Konttainen are two fells northeast of the village on the last stretch of the 80 km Karhunkierros, the trail that starts at Hautajärvi in Salla, runs through Oulanka National Park and finishes at Ruka. Valtavaara is the same height as Rukatunturi, 492 m, and has a day hut near the top; Konttainen is 407 m. With Rukatunturi’s slopes lit, these are the summits to climb on an aurora night, not the one the resort is built on.

Juhannuskallio, a cliff south-east of the village, is the tourist office’s other suggestion and the one you can drive to. Riisitunturi, further west on the Posio side, is covered on the Kuusamo page.

Talvijärvi, Vuosselijärvi and the early ski season

Talvijärvi sits right below the slopes and Vuosselijärvi is about 4 km east. Until they freeze, a calm lake gives the mirrored “double aurora”, and the tourist office gives August to November as the window for it.

The lifts start partway through that window. Ruka opens on stored snow in early October and typically has skiing for more than 200 days a year, so only late August and September of the aurora season come before the ski season. The Ruka Nordic World Cup weekend is in late November.

The airport bus and the Kemijärvi train

Kuusamo airport is 27 km from Ruka, with Finnair flights from Helsinki all year and, in winter, direct flights from several European cities. An airport bus runs up to the resort. Without flying, the night train from Helsinki ends at Kemijärvi, where a connecting bus reaches Ruka in about 2 hours. Daily coaches from Oulu and Rovaniemi run to Kuusamo town; from Rovaniemi it takes about three hours.