The snow and skiing conditions were fantastic - good enough to convert longterm alp-addicts best ever. BUT DO NOT STAY AT THE HOTEL SOKOS Whilst it is clean with hot water - probably aimed at the business man & locals certainly not english. It really is 45mins from slopes - best for beginners and not too taxing Possibly one of our worst ever experiences - poor food, not what is advertised - same food for every night, small amounts and no sign of the buffet that is advertised. Made to feel like an incovenience by hotel staff, who were rude and dismissive - one night waited for 45mins for starters - brought dessert by mistake - only two other tables in at that time - crystal rep told us that were not enough clients to warrent buffet - poor value on trips - source them yourselves - also advised by crystal rep to travel to nearest hotel for entertainment except buses didn't run to meet requirements- STEER CLEARof SOKOS HOTEL & crystal (here anyway)!!!

Just back from our second ski holiday of the year in Finland, first one was to Levi and in my opinion was much better than Ruka. On the skiing side Ruka was very limited if you are above beginner and I would imagine intermediate to advances skiers would be bored within a few days, the bus ride to and from the resort from the hotel became a bit of a drudge although in fairness we knew it would take at least 45 mins when we booked, sometimes it took quite a bit longer. The hotel accommodation was fine the rooms were clean and tidy and no shortage of towels etc, the sauna's were 1st class although the swimming pool looked a bit tired and old. Food at the Sokos seemed to be the major gripe with the choices being limited to two main dishes every night and usually one of them being fish, so if you don't like fish there was only one choice....take it or leave it!! The dishes were at best edible but nowhere near the standard of the food at the Sirkantahti at our earlier visit to Levi which was excellent. This was the general feeling of the majority of the guests that we chatted to during our stay. In the town of Kussamo there is 'NO' apri ski and only one bar worth visiting, which was an 'Irish Bar', it was also lacking in atmosphere during the week. Sokos hotel is the centre for local dances and other Finnish traditional bands, this was quite entertaining for a while but not quite what you would expect at a ski resort which Kusammo is definitely not, I think the skiers were just an 'add on' to the normal day to day activities of the hotel. Nearly every night in the bar you are 'entertained' by the locals singing at the Karaoke, all the songs were in Finnish!! You can also wait for quite a while to get served at the bar where the locals all got priority service so you need to be patient, in fact one of the chaps from the London flight told me he waited for 25 mins at an empty bar and gave up and went to the 'Irish pub' this was despite being seen by the bar staff! All in all it is not the worst holiday experience but if you are looking for a lively resort and exciting skiing I would look elswhere, would I go back to Finland ......definately yes......Levi or Yllas....would I go back to Ruka.....definately not.

We have just returned from our annual ski holiday and our first visit to Finland overall a very pleasant and value for money holiday. The hotel Sokos was a very comfortable & clean hotel albeit slightly tired in the odd places. Swimming pool and Saunas were first class , the whole hotel was very warm and bedrooms clean & tidy plenty of hot water day or night. The meals were mixed however. Breakfast was an enjoyable experience good range of food and plenty to drink. Evening meal however was not a pleasant experience on a couple of nights unpallatable ? We found the bus journey each morning and evening a bit hit & miss to many people not enough seats , 50mins was the quickest journey time. The reception staff & bar staff excellent but the restaraunt staff very abrupt to many people on various occasions. Overall i would return however as excellent value and great snow for the beginner & average skiier maybe not to good for people looking for challenging skiing . Crystal Ski were first class hosts. The ski resort of Ruka is OK not your France/Austria/Swiss resort but excellent snow.

My family & i have just returned home from our wonderful skiing trip to kussamo. We stayed at the sokos hotel which was really lovely, the staff were really helpful , & so friendly. The rooms were cleaned every day, with fresh towels in our rooms, it was surprisingly modern, not old fashioned. My only critisism was the evening meal, which i was not over keen on, but it was edible! The breakfast was fine. We went skiing in ruka which was about a 20 min coach trip away, which i loved as the scenery was fantabulous!! ruka is gr8 4 sking especially 1st time skiers. weve skied in quite a few countries, & this 1 certainly is on my favourite list!! Finland is just beautiful & the sokos a gr8 place too stay!!

i stayed at the sokos hotel with my husband and our friends, first impressions, ok considering we are in a total foreign country and a cold place you have to expect things to be different. hotel over all was very clean, always had our room cleaned and towels changed. we stayed on a half board basis although we didnt really enjoy the food, breakfast was fine, we mainly had toast or cereal or eggs but we only ate dinner 1 night out of the 7 nights we stayed. there was a spanish restaurant at the hotel with quite a decent menu if you like spanish tapas although the steaks were the best very very tasty. there wasnt really anywhere to walk to to go and eat out so we mainly just ate in the spanish restaurant every night. the swimming pool was nice and the sauna even better. we got the bus daily to ruka west where my husband and friend did snowboarding skool, by the end of the week they were really good at it considering not have done it before. there was a restaurant called the piste which did the best burger and chips ever ate there most days for lunch. hot chocolates were tasty too and warmed you up if you were sitting outside observing the slopes. the snow was amazing, so white and clean and just like powder, no ice or big lumps just pure snow, it snowed for the first few days we were there and was just so beautiful, we mucked about in the snow a lot and in some places the snow came up to our waists. was so much fun. we booked with crystal and our rep was jeff, he was from oz and was so nice, we had a laugh with him and he was very informative and friendly. we booked a few trips whilst there, snowmobiling which is good fun but if you are a passenger on the back of one can be very bumpy and my back killed me afterwards, although we were on them for 5 hours. we also did a husky dog safari which was good fun also, we had our own sled and the dogs pulled us along through the forests and across frozen lakes. drinks prices are a bit steep but its the euro and what do you expect. i didnt think i would enjoy a winter holiday in the snow being all wrapped up in winter clothes and thermals ect as i love my sunny holidays but it was excellent and i would definately go back again. this was actually the second time i had been to finland as i went at xmas with canterbury travel to salla for the lapland xmas celebration which was also excellent. brilliant if you have kids. you get to meet santa.