Events in Ruka and Kuusamo

5 min read Updated October 2026 Compare all tours

Most of what happens in Ruka is tied to snow. The tourist association collects the largest events of the year on one list, and the dates below come from there and from the ski resort. Some are sports events with spectators, others are holiday periods. The association also notes that events which need snow only take place when the snow allows. Dates for several events in 2027 have not been published yet; they are marked as such.

World Cup weekend in late November

FIS Ruka Nordic opens the international season every year, and in 2026 it runs from 27 to 29 November. The tourist association describes it as 10 competitions with 400 athletes from 30 nations, 8 of them World Cup contests, with ski jumping, cross-country skiing and Nordic combined in the same stadium. The detailed programme for each day was not available in mid-October. The World Cup came to Ruka for the first time in 1996/97 and has been held at the end of November every year since 2002/03.

The large hill is the landmark here. Built in 1964 and renovated in 1996, it is the largest ski jump in Finland and, according to the tourist association, the largest plastic-coated jump in the world. Halvor Egner Granerud set the hill record of 150.5 metres at the World Cup in 2022. Outside race days the 5 km World Cup loop in the stadium is open to anyone on skis.

Spectators should plan for little daylight. Metsähallitus gives about five hours of daylight in November and about three in December, so dress for long hours in the cold.

December holidays

December has three blocks. The Independence Day weekend from 4 to 6 December is followed by the opening of the FIS Freestyle Ski World Cup on 11 and 12 December. Christmas in Ruka-Kuusamo runs from 18 to 27 December and the New Year period from 27 December to 7 January. The ski slopes stay open on the holidays with shorter hours: on 24 December until 14:00, and on 25 December from 11:30.

Light is at its lowest in these weeks. On 21 December the sun rises in Ruka at 10:43 and sets at 13:20. Real polar night never comes this far south of the Arctic Circle, but outdoor plans work best around midday.

Light and hockey in January

From 15 January to 7 February 2027 the Polar Night Light Festival turns the slopes into a light installation. The ski resort calls it the world's northernmost light installation on ski slopes. Every Friday at 19:00 a torch descent leads down the Kuru slope, number 5, and the Friday night skiing until 23:00 gives you a reason to stay out. During the festival the ski resort also guides snowshoe tours from Monday to Saturday, 18:30 to 20:00. By 1 February the sun is already up from 09:02 to 15:33.

The festival opens in the middle of the ice hockey weekend. The Ruka Ice Hockey Tournament from 14 to 16 January 2027 is played outdoors on the natural ice of Kaltiolampi pond. Its organiser calls it the largest amateur outdoor ice hockey tournament in Europe.

Winter holidays, Easter and X Games

From late February to mid-March Finnish schools take their winter holidays in three waves: week 8 from 20 to 28 February, week 9 from 27 February to 7 March, and week 10 from 6 to 14 March 2027. These are the busiest weeks of the season. If your dates are flexible, early February or the second half of March fall outside them, still within what Metsähallitus calls the best skiing period.

Easter falls on 25 to 29 March 2027. Two weeks later, from 9 to 11 April, Ruka hosts a round of the MoonPay X Games League. By then the days are long: on 1 April the sun is up from 06:19 to 19:58. The ski season itself continues until 2 May 2027.

Summer and autumn

When the snow melts the events move onto trails and rivers. The NUTS Karhunkierros Trail Ultra, named after the Bear's Trail, is held on 28 and 29 May 2027, and Fellscape Ruka follows on 11 and 12 June. Midsummer, Juhannus, is celebrated from 23 to 27 June 2027, in the middle of the weeks when the sun stays above the horizon all night. On 31 July 2027 the Downhill Swim takes swimmers 24 km down a river in Oulanka National Park.

In autumn the region promotes the ruska, the colour change of the vegetation. In 2026 the Autumn Colors programme ran through September; the 2027 dates have not been published yet. Local tradition has the colours arriving on 12 September at about two in the afternoon.