Timeshare RCI/Flexiclub member fm Harare, Zimbabwe

We booked the holiday club through our timeshare and having spent the last Xmas in Germany and then Austria, I wanted to make sure that we definitely had snow and there was no lack of it in Kuusamo. We have two young girls and we found the outdoor activites arranged from both the hotel and outside of the hotel fantastic. We did everything from a private trip to the Artic Circle to Santa's village, to Reindoor rides, ice fishing, night sledging, all the ski mobile trips, husky dog rides etc etc. Absolutely fantastic and all the outfits are supplied if you don't already have. The tour guide was just brilliant and not once did he clock watch and was absolutely brilliant with our two girls, all the patience in the world, nothing was too much trouble. We have been around the world and to us Finland was one of the best holidays we have ever experienced, the scenery was just like a Disney movie, Winter Wonderland. The skiing is brilliant X-ctry or down hill skiing. However, Ruka is recommended and we enjoyed many many hours just tobaganning down the slopes. We have never stopped talking about this holiday and have booked to go back for Xmas 2007. We all cannot wait. We could not fault this place and our two girls, rave about the hotel. I have to say that the beds are the best we have ever slept on. Great holiday and thoroughly recommend this hotel to anyone looking at holidaying in Finland.

arrived late in the evening to the hotel, check in was extremly quick and we were then whisked down to the resturant for some food. hotel lobby was nice and transfer from hotel took no time at all(20-30mins tops)
ROOMS: i found the rooms to be very small with very little storage space but they were very clean and tidy but always lovely and warm! the bathroom area was a little more spacious but only had a shower which is ok but even me (who isnt really a bath person) would of loved a hot bath after a day on the slopes
FOOD: i am a very fussy eater and i wasnt very impressed with the food there was very little choice and you were never quite sure what you were eating, especially the evening meal, brealfast was a little better with more choice. the soup starters for the evening had frequently gone by the time we arrived and the desserts were non-excistent. they have another resturant downstairs that serves pizza and burgers etc and after a few nights in the buffet resturant we went down there and paid for our food, but like i say i am a bit fussy and most other people seemed to think the food was ok
SPA: the spa is good, big pool with a couple of hot tubs and a slide and massaging waterfall. i booked this hotel mainly on the basis of the spa and it didnt really justify it as we were quite bored of it after a couple of days. i didnt try any of the treatments as they were quite expensive.
TOURS: the tour centre is right next to the hotel which is very handy. we did the husky safari and snowmobile safari. they were both excellent and very good value, and all equipment is provided for you for each safari, boots gloves hats overalls etc.. the husky safari was by far my favourite, the views were excellent and the dogs a joy to be around although i must warn you it quite hard work to drive them but well well worth it, i could of done it all day. i would say its an absolute must! the snowmobile safari was also excellent my only drawbak is i personally would of liked to have gone much faster but the guide only goes as fast as the least confident member of the group which is sensiable but not as much fun as it could of been.
RUKS SLOPES: these slopes are perfect for beginners/intermediates as they are very very quiet and always well groomed. my only negative point is that they are very very short compared with other resorts but again that is fine for beginners. all the lifts are easy to use and the slopes well mapped out. there is also 2 freestyle parks and a couple of half pipes although these were very rarely used. im a snowboarder and it was a little limited for snowboarding. it was also annoying that the bus from the hotel takes you to the wrong side of the mountain and then you have to wait for another bus to take you round the other side where the ski school and hire/storage facitles are.

I would go to ruka again as i really enjoyed the slopes but would not stay in the hotel kuusamo as the bus journeys limited the amount of time you could spend on the slopes and the food was only average. i would stop in ruka but saying that anyone was does stop in kuusamo will have a good time especially those going with children. and i would definitley recommend the husky safari its not too be missed!!!

The hotel is not a four star as it is rated in the brochure. I would class it more of a 3 star, as the standard of the food is average. The pool is a good size but everytime we went into it, it was cold even though the temperature was supposed to be around 30 degrees! The evening buffet is not great and no choice for vegetarians at all apart from salad which does get a little repetitive when it is minus 15 degrees outside!

The rooms are pleasant and comfortable, but whatever you do, don't use the slippers from the mini bar as you will get charged for each slipper!!!!!!

We landed in Snow for the first time ever on a ski-ing holiday, normally when we ski we have a long 4 hour transfer journey, only 1/2 an hour this time wonderful.
excellent warm Finnish welcome which was experienced everywhere we went.
The Hotel Club Tropikiki in Kusammo was clean,comfy, warm and had loads of sports and leisure facilities. excellent bar, good tasting and excellent variety of food.
Scenery was magnificent I have never seen as many trees! The tempratures were as low as -18 and as high as 1C but we were snug in ski suits we hired once we arrived.
The ski-ing was a lot better than we anticipated. snow fell every night so we skied on fresh powder every day sadly the runs were fairly short in comparison to France but the snow quality was far superior so you can't have everything! experienced night ski-ing under floodlights for the first time - has to be tried to be believed. The air was so cold that at times you could see ice particles forming in the air in front of your eyes. one day we saw an ice bow above the mountain breathtaking. i would reccomend anyone with sensitive skin to buy/take goggles and a balaclava with them to keep exposed faces covered as much as possible. personally I managed with sunglasses and a scarf but my skin is used to the cold.

Our 10 year old son said this was the second best holiday he has ever had (i think his best was Disney in USA)

what with the apres ski, swimming, bowling, poole tables etc,etc,etc we were spoilt for choice

we were so busy we didn't end up doing any Husky sledding or reindeer farms or indeed any of the other wonderful things we could have done, never mind maybe next time.