Kuusamo town

5 min read Updated October 2026 Compare all tours

Most visitors to the region sleep in Ruka and see Kuusamo only on the way from the airport. The town is worth more than that. It is the administrative centre of a municipality of 5,808.92 square kilometres, and the ski resort of Ruka lies within its boundaries. In December 2023 it had 15,017 inhabitants, about 3.3 per square kilometre. The centre is where locals shop and where the region's history is told.

A town on a high plateau

Kuusamo lies in Koillismaa, the name for the north-eastern part of the North Ostrobothnia region. The town describes its ground as a plateau more than 250 metres above sea level, from which water drains in five directions. Lakes and rivers cover 830.81 square kilometres of its area, and woodland 4,330. It is also one of the snowiest parts of Finland, with snow cover of up to 80 to 90 centimetres, and the yearly average temperature sits around 0 °C.

The history goes back further than the town title. Kuusamo already formed an administrative unit with fixed boundaries by 1675, and the parish of that time was much larger than today's town. It became a municipality in 1868 and a town in 2000.

Daylight is a little longer here than at the ski resort. At the winter solstice the sun rises at 10:37 and sets at 13:26 in Kuusamo, a few minutes more than in Ruka, which lies further north.

Karhuntassu and the region's story

The visitor centre Karhuntassu, at Torangintaival 2, combines several things under one roof. It holds Kuusamo Info, one of the two tourist offices of the region, the Hannu Hautala Nature Photography Centre, a café and a shop with Kuusamo products, and it sells fishing permits. Its permanent exhibition tells the history, culture and nature of Kuusamo from the Ice Age to the present day.

The tourist association lists opening hours of Tuesday to Friday from 9 am to 5 pm and Saturday from 10 am to 3 pm. The centre is closed on public holidays, and the exhibition charges admission. Check the hours before a special trip, especially around Christmas.

Shopping and everyday errands

For a self-catering stay the town centre is the place for a bigger shop. The tourist association names Lidl, Prisma and K-Citymarket there. Ruka has a K-Market in the Kumpare shopping centre and a smaller one in Ruka Valley, and the association notes that shops in the resort are usually more expensive. Combine the supermarket run with your arrival or departure if you rent a car, since the airport is only about 7 km from the centre.

For families the tourist association lists the Teletubbyland playground in the centre and ice rinks both in Ruka and in Kuusamo. The Kuusamon Tropiikki spa hotel has a public spa with three saunas, a large pool area and a big water slide, and its stop is on the airport bus route to Ruka.

Between Kuusamo and Ruka

The road from the centre to Ruka village is about 25 km long, and the drive takes roughly half an hour. The tourist association writes on one page that taxis are the only way between the two, but its bus page lists regular buses between Ruka village and Kuusamo centre. In winter that is SkiBus line 3, which last season ran from 1 December to 1 May. The dates for 2026/27 were not yet published in mid-October, so look up the timetable once you know your travel dates. Taxis serve Ruka and Kuusamo 24 hours a day, and all of them accept cards.

Kuusamo is also the arrival point for public transport from elsewhere in Finland. The daily bus from Oulu ends here, and the connecting bus from the night train at Kemijärvi reaches the centre at 11:40. By road the centre is 217 km from Oulu, 195 km from Rovaniemi and 245 km from Kajaani. Our pages on getting to Ruka and getting around have the timetables and the airport bus.

Trips from the town

Seen from Kuusamo, the national parks are a bit further away than from Ruka. Metsähallitus puts Oulanka National Park 50 km from Kuusamo, compared with 30 km from Ruka. The tourist association gives 60 km to Riisitunturi and 80 km to Hossa, the only one of the three that is closer to the town than to Ruka.

The Kujala reindeer farm is the nearest tour to the centre. Its meeting point is a parking area on Kemijärventie, and you get there yourself, as the tour pages include no transfer. The morning tour is a one-hour farm visit with feeding; the sleigh tour adds a 1.5 km ride. Bring your own winter clothing for both.

Two long day trips collect guests from their accommodation in Kuusamo as well as in Ruka. One goes to the Ranua Wildlife Park with entry included, and the other to an icebreaker cruise in the Gulf of Bothnia, about three hours away by road in each direction.

In September the shores of Lake Kuusamojärvi are one of the places the tourist association recommends for the autumn colours. The colours usually arrive around 12 September and last two to three weeks.