SKI-INN RukaSuites apartments — Hotel in Koillismaa sub-region

The two of us stayed in a four person apartment that had everything you needed for a great holiday. We particularly liked the sauna and the drying cabinet. Unlike some reviews on here, we didn’t have a washing machine but I wouldn’t have used it anyway. |Like some other people, we were chilly on the first night as you cannot turn the heating up but by day two we realised why this is. If you are using the sauna your apartment will warm right up and stay warm. |We had a nice view from the balcony into the forest. It was minus 23 and very windy most of the time that we were there so we really appreciated being in a building where we could go down to the supermarket, pizza place, subway etc without venturing into the cold. Make no mistake, I was looking at the temperatures for the North Pole while I was in Ruka and they were the same. Be aware of how cold it can get. I’ve snowboarded for twenty years and have never experienced anything like it! |The apartment was very clean although someone had forgotten to do the toilet room but it was nothing that some antibacterial wipes couldn’t sort out quickly. |Because the exchange rate isn’t great right now for Brits, you might want to consider taking extras from home rather than buying everything there as most of the supermarket prices are double what we pay at home. I was pleased we took a few extra dishwasher tablets, toiletries, tea and coffee. (Cleaning things are provided.) Having said that, it wasn’t prohibitively expensive - a beer was about €7.50 in a bar and we were paying less than a tenner for a pizza at the place in the building. |I was really pleased that we stayed here rather than anywhere else. It was ideally located for the lifts. Some of the other places around the hill seemed to have little there other than apartments and were serviced only by a ski bus or the gondola. The ski bus only runs once every two hours and some places are almost an hour away so unless you like a long trip to the shops, you might want to consider being somewhere very close to the centre. The gondola was closed for to high wind and maintenance while we were there so yet another tick in the box for these apartments. |There are a few winter sports shops around, a couple of bars and a few restaurants. We particularly liked the little bonfires on the slopes, which you really needed to head to in order to thaw out.|The slopes were very well groomed and stayed that way because the resort was so quiet. There were no lift queues and we loved snowboarding in the floodlights. On a Friday the runs stay open until 11pm. |We booked a trip on a nighttime snowmobile safari and it was great. |All in all we loved the apartment. Personally I wouldn’t return to Ruka because the weather conditions and monochrome scenery was too much for me but you pay your money and take your chance with...

Signing in was easy, received a text message with all needed information a day before, so you didn’t need to go via reception. We were able to get the room an hour earlier per request from reception, very nice. Parking was easy, parking garage under the hotel, but it was quite expensive, 105€ for 7 nights.||||It was biting -25C when we arrived, and the apartment was really cold. The wind howled through the windows and the cold kept creeping in, the bedroom was not warmer than +17C even if the heater was on fully. Also, the bathroom floor heating must have been broken or completely missing as the floor was really cold.||The kids had the warmest room close to the corridor, but then again, the noises from outside travelled into the flat. ||||You had to have your ski-boots in the apartment, so the stomping sound when walking back and forth to the ski-room in the basement travelled into the apartment. The staircase is with stone floors, and very slippery. ||||Also the partying sounds travelled between the flights, so a couple of nights were quite noisy. ||||Finding your way to the ski-room was another thing, there were not many signs, and one in the basement led you in the wrong direction completely. The ski lockers are quite small, you could only fit max 4 pairs of skis or 2 snowboards in one locker. One locker is reserved per apartment, and with codelock, remember to bring your reading glasses along! ||||The Ski-Inn apartments are in the middle of pedestrian Ruka-village, with everything necessary around. Bigger markets like Citymarket/Prisma/Alko can be found in Kuusamo, 25min drive away.||||A small spa can be found in Holiday Club Kuusamo, but our kids thought it was quite boring, as there were only one small slide and no outside pool. |||| The Ruka slopes are very nice, something for all ages and levels. The lousy level of signage continued in the slopes. There was maybe one sign in the beginning of the slope telling you which number it is, but it did not continue further on, and on a cloudy day you could not really tell were you were. And there were quite many signs telling you the name of the place, but it was not clearly mentioned in the ski-map, maybe this was for hikers in the offseason.||||Ruka is a nice smaller place a days drive (12h) away from Helsinki. Enough slopes and places to see to spend a week. Plenty of ski tracks if you prefer...

The room we had was for two people, spacious comfortable and every amenity you'd ever need. Sauna, clothes drying facilities and dishwasher to name a few. A small balcony looking onto the slopes, perfect for a few nice photos but at -10 we didn't fancy sitting out. Located just a stones throw from the two main front lifts you can virtually ski back to the hotel door. |Staff onreception were very helpful and spoke pretty good English. The breakfast although good value for money did become a little repetitive, Personally if I was to return I would have Breakfast in the room every other day and pay for the hotel breakfast as an when we fancied going down. |The supermarket is situated just behind, a two minute walk in either direction and they have everything you would need for breakfast lunch and dinner.|Another plus about Ruka Suites you don't have to get dressed up in warm clothes coats hats and gloves if you fancy going out for a drink, lunch or evening meal. Attached to the hotel is an American sports bar also serving snacks, a sushi restaurant and an American style restaurant with a fantastic selection of meals.||I've stayed in several ski hotels round Europe and this is one of the best yet. ||This isn't hotel related but Skiing/snowboarding in Ruka is perfect for a first/second ski Holliday,beginners and family's with young kids.|My Daughter is 7, has been snowboarding for just under 2 years and by the end of the week she was getting from top to bottom of the longest run in under 2 minutes. All the slopes are usually open for the...