Published 18.12.2023
A sauna restaurant with breathtaking views will be built on top of Saarua
Ruka is building a scenic sauna restaurant at the top of Saarua, with giant windows that open directly to Valtavaara and Konttainen. Between baths, you can relax in the shelter of the covered terrace in the warm pool and lounge - enjoying the scenery and the fireplace.
The development of the Ruka ski center will continue during the years 2024-2025, with a sauna restaurant to be built at the top of Saarua, next to the gondola station. From the sauna restaurant, the views open towards the Valtavaara nature park and the northern sky.
A much-needed landscape restaurant will also rise next to the sauna, serving as a lunch restaurant during the day and a dinner restaurant in the evening. You can get there by skis, chair lift or gondola. In the evenings, you can return to Ruka village for example by taking a snow racer. In summer, the restaurant is right next to the Karhunkierros hiking trail and near the starting points of Ruka Bike Park's bike trails.
- For years, Ruka's friends have been hoping for a scenic restaurant at the top of Ruka and more sauna services. These two wishes are now combined in Saarua's sauna restaurant, even though no one has come up with a wish for a sauna to the top, rejoices Rukakeskus board chairman Ville Aho.
- I'm sure that the new sauna and restaurant will appeal to both our domestic and international customers and may even be a reason for many to choose Ruka as their destination, Aho continues.
The restaurant will have approx. 150 customer seats and a spacious glazed terrace. Saunamaailma can accommodate approx. 30 bathers at a time in two-hour shifts. The goal of opening the sauna restaurant is no later than November 2025. The project has already been granted a building permit.
A name competition will be organized for Ruka's friends during the winter of 2024 for the name of the sauna restaurant, because "Kiuas" shown in the pictures is only the working name of the restaurant.
Building a new, sustainable Ruka
Ruka is growing and developing fast. On Independence Day, Ruka opened the renewed Masto slope area and a new 8-person chair lift. The total value of the project was 14 million euros.
Ruka's development continues to be strong, as the next Ruka's highest-class Ski-Inn accommodation facility, also scheduled to open in November 2025, will also be announced in the near future.
