Today I would like to tell you about another amazing attraction of Karelia - the Ruskeala mountain park, located 30 km north of the city Sortavala.

In fact, the Ruskeala mountain park is an abandoned marble quarry, however, the river flowing nearby has made its own adjustments to the lifeless gray landscape. Thanks to her, the main marble canyon was filled with turquoise water, turning the industrial facility into an amazingly beautiful natural fairy tale. There is also a version that the Finns specifically let water from the river into the quarry in order to flood the adits and prevent further stone mining. It turned out very impressive! This place is so fascinating that recently it has been included in the top three most beautiful natural and man-made attractions in Karelia. Be sure to take the time to visit.

Marble mining in these areas began in the 17th century, when the Swedes owned these lands. It was they who built a factory here for the production of building lime from marble. After the end of the Northern War, the land and the plant became property Russian Empire. The marble quarry turned out to be of no use to anyone before Catherine II came to power.

In the second half of the 18th century. for the construction of St. Petersburg, large deposits began to be looked for in the vicinity of the city natural stone. That’s when they remembered the abandoned marble quarry. By decree of the Empress on August 9, 1766, several families of stonecutters from the Urals arrived on the banks of the Ruskolka River to mine marble, laying the foundation for a mining village called Ruskeala.

Such amazing pearls as St. Isaac's Cathedral and the Marble Palace in St. Petersburg, triumphal columns in Tsarskoye Selo and Gatchina were built from Ruskeala marble. Ruskeala marble was used in interior decoration Mikhailovsky Castle, Kazan Cathedral, monument to Peter I and other buildings and structures northern capital. Marble was used to make fireplaces, countertops, monuments, candlesticks and other luxury items for wealthy people.

WITH mid-19th V. Ruskeala marble ceased to be widely used in decoration, and so that mining in the marble canyon would not stand idle, a plant for the production of construction lime was built. Later, at the beginning of the 20th century. The plant's range of building materials has expanded. Here they began to produce crushed stone, marble chips and facing blocks.

After the Great Patriotic War the plant continued to operate. True, marble production in the main canyon was stopped. There were several reasons for this. Firstly, the adits and the quarry itself were already flooded, and secondly, the use of explosive stone extraction technology over the centuries resulted in many cracks in the rock, which prevented the production of marble slabs.

Interesting fact! Currently feeding the quarry clean groundwater. Algae do not grow in such water, which makes it possible to view the quarry waters to a depth of 15-18 meters directly from the surface. However, you still won't be able to see the bottom. In some places the depth of the quarry reaches 50 meters.

After the war, Ruskeala marble was used in decoration only once, when the Ladozhskaya and Primorskaya metro stations were built in St. Petersburg. The rest of the production was sent to production building materials. The plant finally ceased to exist in the 90s of the last century.

Ladozhskaya metro station in St. Petersburg

And with the beginning of the 2000s, to be more precise in 2005, the Ruskeala mountain park was equipped with money from local entrepreneurs, which became very popular over the 10 years of its existence. Every year, tens of thousands of tourists from all over Russia and foreign countries come here to enjoy the beauty of the natural and man-made landscape.

What can you see in Ruskeala Mountain Park?

Map mountain park"Ruskeala" (click to enlarge)

The entire walk through the park takes place around the marble lake. Including the excursion, it will take no more than 1.5 hours. The length of the route is about two kilometers.

Note! Ruskeala Mountain Park is located a few kilometers from the border with Finland, so often mobile phone switches to European towers. Be careful with calls so as not to get into roaming in another country!

Along the way, in addition to the main marble canyon, you will be able to examine the preserved adits, see the chimneys of a lime plant in the distance, pass by several picturesque cliffs, an underground sinkhole with a lake below, and also visit the Italian quarry. In addition, along the route you will have the opportunity to stop at several observation platforms and take memorable photographs.

Our guide is Margarita, a resident of Ruskeala, wearing a national Karelian costume.

How much does it cost to visit Ruskeala Mountain Park?

The park is open daily from 10:00 to 21:00.

Entrance to the park is paid. As of July 2016, the cost of a ticket for an adult was 200 rubles. Student card – 150 rubles, school card – 100 rubles. Preschoolers and WWII veterans can visit the mountain park for free.

What to do in your free time?

After an excursion or an independent walk around the picturesque marble canyon, you can choose several active entertainments:

Sailing through the canyon on a rented boat an hour will cost 400 rubles. The maximum capacity of the boat is 4 people.

Note! If you plan to ride a boat, it is better to line up in advance before the excursion. There are many more people wanting to ride than there are boats.

Flying over the canyon on a zipline will cost 1000 rubles. In the summer, the queue for this attraction was also impressive, but unlike boating, you do not have to wait an hour for the previous group to return, due to which the queue moves noticeably faster.

Rope jumping– a jump from a high point in the canyon on a rope – will also cost 1000 rubles, but 10 seconds of unreal sensations will be remembered for a lifetime.

Children from 5 years old and adults can also visit Rope park on Lake Montferrand. The cost of an adult ticket is also 1000 rubles. Just remember, in rainy weather the rope park is closed to the public.

If you don’t want to tempt fate with extreme entertainment, but are somehow too lazy to row a boat, you can feed the local seagulls, enjoy the picturesque views, have a snack in a cafe or go in search of souvenirs. Fortunately, there are souvenirs here for every taste.

Particularly popular winter activities are dog sledding in the Ruskeala Mountain Park, as well as descending into a hole to an underground lake.

Interesting fact! Inside the underground failure, formed as a result of the collapse of rock, there is a special microclimate. In the distant parts of the underground mine, the ice never melts, and strange icicles hang from the walls everywhere. To get there in summer, you need to go down to the lake on a rope, and then swim a little more by boat. In winter everything is much simpler: the descent takes place on solid ice.

By the way, very soon it is planned to open a new route in the Ruskeala Mountain Park - “Ruskeala Underground”. Among the picturesque grottoes and caves, failures and adits, lighting will be installed and you will be able to fully enjoy not only the beauty, but also the amazing acoustics of these places.

Construction of a marble amphitheater has already begun, where it is planned to organize performances by creative groups.

So in a couple of years, the Ruskeala mountain park will be unrecognizable. An excellent reason to come here, even if you have already been here before.

How to get to the marble canyon in Karelia?

By car

From Petrozavodsk, past Pryazha, Kolatselga, Lyaskel, get to the turn to Vyartsilya, then follow the highway to the village of Ruskeala. We drive through the village, then across the bridge and then turn left following the sign. Distance approximately 250 km.

From St. Petersburg you need to follow the federal highway A129 to the city of Priozersk, then to the city of Sortavala. From Sortavala we move towards Petrozavodsk along the A130 highway. At the 10th kilometer there will be a turn towards Vyartsilya. Distance in in this case about 290 km.

By public transport

The first thing you need to do is get to Sortavala. Regular buses and trains run from St. Petersburg or Petrozavodsk to Sortavala. Next, you need a bus to the village of Vyartsilya or the village of Kaalamo (located 7 km from Ruskeala). They make a stop in Ruskeala. True, they don’t go every day. The current schedule can be found on the website of the State Unitary Enterprise “Karelavtotrans”.

Great way– take a taxi from Sortavala. Phone numbers of local carriers can be found.

As part of the excursion

You can get to the Ruskeala mountain park. Similar excursions can be found in various travel agencies in Petrozavodsk and Sortavala.

Ruskeala waterfalls

On the way to the Ruskeala mountain park, it is wise to make a stop at the Ruskeala or Tokhmin waterfalls. The cascade of three small waterfalls (the height of the largest does not exceed 4 m) became famous because it was here that the scene of Zhenya Komelkova’s bathing in the film “The Dawns Here Are Quiet” was filmed. However, this is not the only TV movie that glorified these places. In addition to “And the Dawns Here Are Quiet,” the fantasy thriller “The Dark World” was filmed at the Ruskeala Falls, with a wooden hut as a souvenir, as well as a children’s fairy tale about Baba Yaga. The fairy tale was filmed not so long ago, so even the guides don’t know its exact name. For the filming of the fairy tale, many memorable decorations were built here - elegant wooden stairs, benches, tables and a lot of fairy-tale characters. Lots of interesting things for both children and adults.

The picturesque Tokhmin waterfalls have appeared in more than one television film

The waterfalls themselves are not very high. Two flow a little further...

... and one - the most powerful - is very close

The waterfalls themselves amaze with the color of their water. She is absolutely red, one might even say rusty, thanks to a large number contained iron. Falling from a height, the water ends up in a lake covered with white foam. Because of this, at first glance it seems that the water here is dirty, but this is not at all the case.

It was here that we were able to try cloudberries, which are praised on every corner. This jar cost 200 rubles

Speaking of filming. Not only the waterfalls, but also the Ruskeala marble canyon itself became famous on television. Here, as well as at the waterfalls, some scenes of the fantasy thriller “The Dark World”, the crime series “Golden Trap”, the action film “Flint”, the adventure thriller “The Seventh Rune” and the series “Trail of the Piranha” were filmed.

That's all for now! When planning your trip to Karelia, do not forget to include a visit to the marble canyon in the Ruskeala mountain park and the Ruskeala waterfalls. Believe me, you won't regret a minute! Amazing place! Mesmerizing beauty!

I feel that my story about him will last many times longer than the 23-day journey itself lasted. :)
Actually, my story is about Karelian part our big tour is coming to an end. There is only a day and a half left, a beautiful and important part (however, there were no others!) - a trip to Ruskeala to the waterfalls and to the mountain park to the Marble Canyon and a transfer from Sortavala to Vyborg.
When I go into an album with Ruskeala photographs, I simply dissolve in it. I experience indescribable feelings looking at this Karelian splendor. Various thoughts appear: the desire to see again, to see even more... Today I complained that I didn’t see the Italian Quarry, to which my husband replied: “Oh, come on! There will be a reason to come back.” Knows me. :) Sweet bliss immediately spread in my soul...
I present to you a review post about the tenth day of our trips to Karelia in which I will tell

• how we visited the Ruskeala waterfalls,
• what we saw and what we didn’t see in the Ruskeala Mountain Park and why,
• Is it worth or not to go to the ungulate zoo at the Black Stones recreation center.

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Day 10

​The day started with a bang a lot and fast, one might say, conditional,breakfast in a rented apartment. Cookies, tea. Get dressed. We moved towards Ruskeala.
Sights of Ruskeala - waterfalls and Marble Canyon- located on the same highway - A130. From Sortavala to the Ruskeala waterfalls it is 27 kilometers, then along the highway, after five kilometers - the Marble Canyon. On the map it looks like this:

We got there along a good road, we didn’t notice how.

It is impossible to drive past the Ruskeala waterfalls; from the road you can already see the parking lot, a pond and one of the waterfalls.

On the stand, which stands near the parking lot, it is written “Ahinkoski Waterfalls”. Ruskeala waterfalls are a new name, Ahinkoski is an old Finnish name.

Ruskeala waterfalls - ennobled landmark of Karelia (as well as ) - cafe, parking, information stand, toilets (not so great, but there are),for the convenience of tourists climbing to the waterfalls, ladders have been laid,

We climbed and looked

took pictures.

And our journey along the A130 highway to one of the main attractions of Karelia - the Ruskeala Mountain Park - continued.

There are no problems with pointers to it. But such a pointer can be quite misleading.

The fact is that the Ruskeala Mountain Park is not only the Marble Canyon. Thinking this way, many do not reach the Italian quarry, the Ruskeala failure “Underground Lake”. But these are amazing objects!!! By the way, we didn’t get there either, but for other reasons. Somehow everything turned out chaotic, even they themselves didn’t understand how.
This is what it looks like scheme of the Ruskeala Mountain Park(from the site ruskeala.info) and its surroundings. Looking at her, I understand that we have something to strive for, why return to Karelia again.

We parked the car in an almost full parking lot. Let's go to the ticket office.

There we were offered a boat ride along the Marble Canyon. I immediately refused (I’m terrified of such boat trips), my husband decided to go for a ride. Sonya is with him. Well, what happened - we bought one ticket for a boat trip (400 rubles - the price for a boat!), one for a regular walk (150 rubles). And so they divided.
This was our mistake. I should have waited for my “boatmen” and then gone for a walk in the park together.

• Firstly, it’s “fun to walk through the open spaces” together. Well, more interesting, definitely. Solo sailing is absolutely not my thing. The degree of pleasure from the visible decreases significantly.
• Secondly, there were places where I was a little scared on the route alone.
• Thirdly, I was in a hurry, seeing that my friends had already “left”, having ridden, and did not go where I needed to go - the failure and the Italian Canyon.
• Fourthly, I gave my camera to my husband, thinking that it was from the boat that the most best views, and walked around with his camera. And the color rendition of his camera is worse than mine, alas... Kostya’s photographs came out like crazy - either row or take photographs, but the ones that came out didn’t turn out very well. At times my little treasure took the camera into his hands.

In general, my first advice is, don’t do as we do - don’t split up! Second, don't bet on photos from the water. Photos from above are more impressive and there are much more possibilities for different angles.
And now the photographs.
She put her people on the boat, waved her hand and went along the route. Not a mother, but an echidna. She sent the child, but did not swim.

In fact, I was in such a panicked, “frozen” state that I couldn’t see anything around me. I didn’t even read the sign in large letters that said “Exit from the route.” The fact that I saw her is a fact (well, the photo is mine!). But also the fact that I didn’t even suspect that I was going to reverse side, the real truth. And imagine my surprise (to put it mildly) when a month later I was looking at my photographs of Marble Canyon and saw this photo.

Well, and photographs of the Marble Canyon taken by Kostya and Sonya together.

The first rowing in my life was not so easy. :)

“Towards the end” we walked around and looked at the souvenirs. Nice souvenirs, but the prices are kind of crazy. So we didn’t buy anything. Nothing at all. :(Even books.

By this time it was 15.30. We decide to get to the Black Stones recreation center, where the ungulate zoo is located.

There are signs from the highway at the turn to the zoo. It's difficult to drive past.

They sawed along the primer at a speed of 20 km/h. The ride is still the same.

The system of visiting the zoo seemed very strange to us. They are not allowed there just like that, without excursions. If I don’t confuse it with the excursion, the cost is 250 rubles per person. In addition, the group had to wait. By this time it was starting to drizzle. Well, that's it, to the heap. There was no decisive moment. In general, we turned around and sawed back 10 kilometers along the dirt road. In fact, it would be necessary to pave the road. It’s not serious to somehow invite people and not create any conditions.

Ruskeala Mountain Park in Karelia - an amazing place. This is a unique attraction not only in Karelia, but throughout Europe. More than 50 thousand tourists visit the Ruskeala park and quarry every year. The quarries created by human hands, in which marble was mined until the 19th century, attract and beckon with their beauty, fresh clean air Ladoga region.

An abandoned quarry has turned into an interesting tourist attraction Ruskeala mountain park in 2005, thanks to the efforts of several enthusiasts. For 200 rubles you can walk along the tourist routes. By paying more, you can rent a boat or try your hand at extreme form sports I recommend Ruskeala mountain park to visit in Karelia. It is also interesting to find out what is popular in the Ruskeala area: hotels, prices and recreation centers.

The month of June turned out to be rich in travel for me. I visited Bangkok, then Pattaya, then Moscow, then went to St. Petersburg and visited Karelia. To be honest, when I went there, I had no idea what the Ruskeala mountain park was and how breathtakingly beautiful it was there. But I saw this place and was absolutely delighted. After visiting I learned enough interesting materials about in Karelia, and now I can tell you.

Location of the Ruskeala mountain park in Karelia

Main landmark marble canyon Ruskeala in Karelia - this is the city of Sortavala. Sortavala is located approximately 30 km from Ruskeala's career and is known for being the starting point to Valaam for thousands of thousands of travelers from all over the world. Valaam is perhaps the most famous island on Lake Ladoga.

The island is similar to the island town of Sviyazhsk near Kazan with its numerous monasteries and churches. You can only get there by water - a round trip ticket starts from 2,000 rubles per person. But Ruskeala marble quarry in Karelia It’s also an interesting attraction, even more accessible and not overloaded with crowds of tourists that can overshadow any, even the most interesting, trip.

Ruskeala Quarry. I found this cute card:

Unusual discoveries in Ruskeala Park that are not written about anywhere

The first thing that surprised me was that Ruskeala mountain park private, created with money from investors in 2015. In total, about 600 thousand rubles were spent. By my Moscow standards, they even stayed within the budget. At the same time, in the Ruskeala mountain park, paths, observation platforms, illumination of the marble quarry were equipped, and extreme rope descents were organized. The park is looked after, and it shows. And it’s not a pity to even pay money for entry. In the park Ruskeala marble quarry perfect cleanliness, clear water, but this is of course more of a natural feature, but at least, nothing floats in the water: neither leaves, nor bottles.

The park is equipped with all kinds of maps and signs, and overall makes a pleasant impression.

Entrance to the Ruskeala marble canyon in Karelia

Entrance is paid, as I already said, and at the same time, the organizers turned out to be no fools. As I noticed, every day in the Ruskeala mountain park they give out bracelets of different colors. The colors seem to be repeated, but you won’t be able to visit one bracelet for 2 days in a row. And we wanted :) Yesterday we had blue bracelets, the next day they sold yellow ones, and there are definitely orange ones too.

Entrance cost to Ruskeala Park in Karelia

Now regarding the cost of visiting Ruskeala mountain park in 2017. I read the articles of my blogger friends literally in February 2017, the entrance to the Ruskeala mountain park was 150 rubles. I visited in June 2017, entrance was already 200 rubles. But it's worth it, of course. Well, here’s a picture with the entrance cost for clarity. Discounts for schoolchildren, students, residents of the Sortavala region. Children, WWII veterans and residents of besieged Lenangrad - free.

The entrance itself marble canyon Ruskeala in Karelia looks like this. Recently we hung up a sign for tourists “Visit center”.

There's a lot inside useful information about the Ruskeala mountain park.

You can also take a map of the Ruskeala marble quarry in Karelia, all sorts of advertising brochures, read for general development.

A little history of the Ruskeala mountain park in Karelia

The territory of the current park and Ruskeala marble quarry in Karelia it was Swedish until 1721. The Swedes mined marble in small quantities. After the Great Northern War, when the territory of the Ruskeala marble quarry became Russian, the extraction of industrial marble here began in the 1760s. Marble from Ruskeala was used to decorate St. Isaac's Cathedral, St. Michael's Castle, the Small Marble Palace and the Kazan Cathedral in St. Petersburg.

As I already said, the main attraction of the Ruskeala Mountain Park is the marble quarry. This is a huge marble production area, with adits and equipment, flooded with water. The view here is really beautiful, I was completely delighted, although, perhaps, it’s already difficult to surprise me with anything. clear water, with visibility up to 15-18 meters, small blue boats on the water, steep marble cliffs, everything is very very beautiful and majestic.

Another interesting thing is that the entrance to the Ruskeala mountain park is from the side where the view of the marble quarry is the most beautiful. Having walked to the end of the short tourist route, you can go back along another part of the quarry. And the view there is no longer the same, the rocks are flatter and overgrown with moss.

Around Ruskeala marble quarry in Karelia There are paths and observation platforms, but I would not recommend staying on them for a long time, because there has already been a precedent when blocks of marble broke off and fell down. They can even be seen through the crystal clean water. There is still equipment at the bottom of the quarry, it’s just that everything was suddenly flooded when the Finns left these lands.

Another place in the Ruskeala mountain park in Karelia that I want to talk about is the so-called Ruskeala failure. It was formed as a result of explosions in neighboring adits and fascinates with its scale, depth and eternal people at the bottom, which does not melt even in summer. You can go down there, and even go ice skating in winter.

All quarries in Ruskeala are separated by adits, which are almost all filled with water. However, there is one that you can hit. And it looks like gnomes were working there :) Because I, with my wonderful height of 175 cm, could not walk through calmly. There are “places for head banging,” as the tour guides joke. It's cool in the adit and the lights are flickering. Apparently one light bulb just burned out. However, it was very colorful, walking through a cave in a marble rock with the blinking light of lanterns.

The adit comes to the surface and if you raise your head up, you can see people walking there. And this is the view from above.

If you go off the beaten path, you can find some pretty interesting places in the Ruskeala Mountain Park. One of them is an Italian quarry. It is not related to the Italians, and the pasta makers have never been here. The marble was simply mined using Italian technology. But the marble turned out to be not very good high quality, crumbled, and soon the quarry was closed. Blocks of marble still stand on this site. And there are visible stripes on it that remain from the time it was mined.

If you go behind the Italian quarry marble canyon Ruskeala in Karelia, then you can see another quarry, where hiking trails and equipped paths do not lead. To get to the quarry you need to walk over a pile of stones.

But the view from it is fantastic. There is an abyss behind us. I'm scared. I'm on the left :)

Ruskeala hotels prices and recreation centers

I’ll tell you separately where to stay if you go on vacation to Karelia and want to visit. There is a recreation center in Ruskeala itself, but it is quite expensive due to its favorable location next to the Ruskeala mountain park. Therefore, the most optimal housing in terms of price and quality is the city of Sortavala. In Sortavala there is a choice of accommodation for different categories of vacationers. Not that big, but still there. The destination is developing, the city is actively visited by Finns, so a certain tourist infrastructure is being created for them.

The prices are quite affordable, and for lovers of economy and nature there is the opportunity to simply set up a tent. So, Ruskeala - hotels, prices and recreation centers in the Sortavala area, from where you can easily get to Ruskeala marble quarry in Karelia. Here, as elsewhere, there are offers for budget tourists, as well as for those who are not going to save. Prices for hotels and recreation centers in Karelia near Ruskeala - from 1,500 rubles for two. Below is a selection of several options for recreation centers in Karelia near the marble canyon. You can view prices, as well as book hotels and recreation centers using widgets.

The nearest hotels and recreation centers to Ruskeala

Inexpensive hotels and recreation centers near Ruskeala (in Sortavala)

The best hotels and recreation centers near Ruskeala

The best hotels and recreation centers near Ruskeala are located on the island of Riekkalansaari near Sortavala:

For a complete picture, I also attach a map of Ruskeala with the nearest hotels.

Shops in Ruskeala Mountain Park

Near the park there are cute souvenir shops with all sorts of crap. A bunch of memorable little things, marble products, amulets, amulets, magnets, bags of herbs and other crap.

If you want to eat after a long walk around Ruskeala marble quarry in Karelia, there is only fast food here. You can buy the famous Karelian wicket (with cheese and feta cheese or with potatoes and red fish), hot corn is sold on the street, and fish is fried. After several hours of walking around the Ruskeala mountain park, you will be so hungry that you won’t care what you eat :)

So, today I talked about the Ruskeala mountain park, the main attraction of which is the Ruskeala marble quarry in Karelia. In addition, there is also an Italian quarry, an abandoned quarry (I’ll tell you about it another time), adits, and Ahvenkoski waterfalls, which are often called Ruskeala waterfall. This place is famous for the fact that the film “The Dawns Here Are Quiet” was filmed there. But about this in the following articles.

Life hacks for visiting the Ruskeala mountain park in Karelia

Many people strive to get to Karelia and the Ruskeala mountain park; most tourists choose Saturday. Naturally, Saturdays from 1 to 6 pm are the busiest peak hours in Marble Canyon. If you want to truly enjoy privacy with amazing nature Karelia, calmly sail boats through the canyon, try all possible entertainment and attractions and avoid long queues and crowds of tourists - I suggest you go to Karelia on weekdays or on Sundays.

So, what can you do in Ruskeala Mountain Park on weekdays and Sundays, without queues or rush?

1. Guided tour of the park, visiting abandoned quarries and the ruins of an ancient marble factory that have survived to this day.
2. Jump from the 24-meter cliff of Maramora Canyon. Of course, with insurance. Height free fall while it is 8 meters.
3. Walking along a rope bridge: three ropes are stretched across the canyon at a height of 24 meters - you walk one at a time, hold on to two.
4. High-speed descent along an inclined cable straight to the surface of Marmara Lake. This is the longest troll in Europe!
5. Rope park for children younger age. Trains agility and endurance.
6. A fascinating and romantic boat trip through the marble canyon. You will be able to swim to all corners of the canyon and to underwater grottoes (from the moment the ice melts from the lake).
7. Photographing and communicating with husky dogs.
8. Rent of standard and small (for children) snowmobiles (in winter).
9. Riding on an inflatable banana behind a snowmobile (in winter).
10. Jeep ride around Ruskeala (by appointment).
11. Dog sledding.
13. Master classes on making souvenirs in a souvenir workshop.
14. Rent sports equipment(cheesecakes, skis, skates, bicycles).

That's all for now. I’ll tell you more about Karelia soon, because I’ve visited and seen a lot. I haven’t told you everything about Thailand yet, and there will be several articles about Crimea soon. In general, subscribe to updates and share the article on social networks. +100500 to karma guaranteed :)

is a question asked by many who have learned about these wonderful places. In this article we will try to explain as clearly as possible how to do this.

Option 1. By car.

The simplest and at the same time difficult option of the path. From St. Petersburg you need to take the Novopriozerskoe highway, otherwise known as highway A121. 130 kilometers to Priozersk excellent asphalt road. From Priozersk you need to move towards Sortavala. This is another 130 kilometers, but 90 of them are asphalt low quality, and the remaining 40 are in the trash of broken primer. After Sortavala the road becomes good again.

After leaving Sortavala, after 8 kilometers look for the turn sign for Vyartsel. The intersection is large, wide and quite difficult to miss. Turning around and driving another 18 kilometers, you will see a stunning view of. Be sure to stop here and take a walk and recharge positive emotions and the energy of nature.

After walking around the waterfalls, move on for another 3 kilometers. As soon as you cross the Tohmajoki River for the second time (the first was at the waterfalls), turn left. There will be a corresponding sign right at the intersection with the road to the mountain park. Another 700-800 meters along the dirt road and you are in the mountain park, park, buy tickets and take a walk. Have a nice holiday.

Option 2. By bus.

From St. Petersburg towards Ruskeala there are buses from the northern bus station in Murino and the Ozerki metro station. Having bought a ticket and boarded the bus, a not very exciting journey of 5-6 hours awaits you. The best option will leave on the earliest possible bus. As a rule, this is a bus at half past midnight, but there are also later (early) ones, for example, at 9-10 in the morning.

Having arrived in Sortavala at the bus station, you are given several options for the further route. You can take a taxi, costing about 300-400 rubles, to Ruskeala or wait for the bus, which usually arrives at the bus station at 19.30, in which case you will be in Ruskeala around half past eight, and you will also have to walk a kilometer along a dirt road, but you save on a ticket, which costs about 80 rubles.

There are cases when local Karelians, out of the kindness of their hearts, gave tourists a lift to the marble quarry, but this is only a matter of luck and charisma of the travelers.

Option 3. By train.

This method is the most difficult to implement. The difficulty is that the train you need to take arrives at the closest one to Ruskeala populated area at 4 am. The train St. Petersburg - Kostomuksha departs on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 21.20-30 from Ladozhsky station. The stop you need is Kaalamo. Arrival 4.00. Next comes the hardest part. At 4 o'clock in the morning you need to find someone who will take you to Ruskeala or walk 8.5 kilometers. But even if you take a leisurely walk, you will have to wait until 9 am, since the marble quarry opens to visitors at this time.

When choosing a path, remember that in winter the road is very different from the same road in summer. Be attentive and careful, and most importantly, enjoy your time in the picturesque places of Karelia. Good luck on your journey!

Ruskeala Mountain Park on the map with route: