[category]
[title]
At 40km/h, Ruka Coaster doesn’t look especially intimidating on paper. That’s hardly in the same league as the world's fastest rollercoaster, Formula Rossa at Ferrari World in Abu Dhabi, which rockets to 240km/h. On the slope, carving through a frozen white landscape, it feels like something else entirely. By the end of the ride, the scepticism has vanished, replaced by a very wide grin.
Here, numbers don’t tell the whole story. What matters is how the speed feels – and it feels fast. Properly fast. Part of that is down to the fact you’re in control. You grip the handles and regulate the pace yourself by braking. Technically, you can hurtle all the way down without touching them. In reality? Almost everyone squeezes at some point. When you’re the one deciding whether to slow down, the rush hits differently.
And put it this way: Helsinki’s beloved wooden roller coaster at Linnanmäki amusement park tops out at 60km/h. Suddenly, 40 doesn’t seem quite so modest.
The 750-metre track winds its way down the slope of Ruka ski resort, elevated on stilts and built directly into the natural hillside. Strictly speaking, this isn’t a roller coaster at all but a mountain coaster. The difference between roller and mountain coaster goes like this: on mountain coasters the sleds run individually (one adult and a child, or two smaller adults if you don’t mind sitting close), you control the speed yourself, and the ride is part of the landscape rather than confined to an amusement park.
It’s sometimes marketed as an Arctic mountain coaster. Technically, that’s stretching it: the Arctic begins north of the Arctic Circle, and Ruka, in Kuusamo, sits just south of it. Still, it certainly feels Arctic. Kuusamo is one of Finland’s snowiest regions and lies further north than Nuuk, Greenland’s capital. When the trees are heavy with snow and the air bites at your cheeks, definitions seem beside the point.
Opened in July 2025, this winter marks Ruka Coaster’s first proper snowy season – and winter is when it truly comes into its own. There’s something undeniably exhilarating about racing downhill through a landscape that looks carved from ice.
The only real question is timing. Daylight or darkness?
We rode in daylight, partly out of curiosity and partly in the misguided hope of capturing the perfect action shot. That plan was doomed from the start: phones and cameras are forbidden on the ride, and at that speed you wouldn’t get much more than a blur anyway.
After dark, the experience shifts. The illuminated track and glowing ski slopes add an extra layer of drama. The sweet spot is sunset, when the sky hovers in a deep electric blue before fading fully to black. That’s when the coaster feels at its most atmospheric – though truth be told, it’s hard to go wrong at any hour.
The departure station sits in the heart of Ruka village, next to Scandic Rukahovi hotel, making it an easy add-on to a day on the slopes.
Ruka Coaster is open in winter from 1.30pm to 9.30pm. Tickets cost €19, with 50 percent off for ski pass holders.
RECOMMENDED: Best things to do in Lapland