Karelia marble quarries. Summer vacation in Karelia

Hello everyone 🙂

We just arrived from a two-day trip to a marble quarry in Karelia (Ruskeala).

For several years we wanted to go to see, but somehow it didn’t work out, we even managed to get to the quarry in Carrara (Italy) faster than to the marble quarry in Karelia 🙂
We wandered, studied and photographed all day long.

I love quarries, for some reason I am attracted by natural rock ledges and outcrops. As far back as I can remember, I always loved to climb some mountain.

In the summer of 2013, we traveled around Europe () and in almost 2 months traveled more than 14,000 km - we climbed to the peaks, visited marble quarries where marble Carrara, Brechia Sardo, Rosso Levante are mined, but we have not been to our quarries.

Therefore, in order to diversify our next trip to Finland, we decided to drive more interesting route and visit the marble quarry in Karelia in Ruskeala.

By the way, we went to Finland in order to open a visa and prepare for a new road trip in Europe.

Let's go ride around again different countries almost 2 months 🙂 Planned to visit the exhibition MARMOMACC in Verona Is an international exhibition of natural stone and marble, design and technologies for its processing and use.

I'll write in more detail soon, if you don't want to miss it, then 🙂

Okay, it's time to move on to the main topic - a photo report about a trip to Karelia to the Ruskeala marble quarry.

Travel to the marble quarry in Karelia

Our two-day itinerary looked like this:

Our route through the marble quarry in karelia

I will not describe the road itself and how to get to the marble quarry in Karelia. This information is already full on the Internet.

But I will note a few points.

For example, a few kilometers before Karelia, the usual asphalt road ended and the asphalt began immediately in front of the entrance sign "Republic of Karelia" 🙂

After a few kilometers, the asphalt ran out again, and so on several times. If you look on the map, then the road is lined with asphalt dotted line 🙂

But in fact, I really like the roads in Karelia. They are beautiful:

Beautiful roads of karelia

Before reaching Ruskeala village about 3 km, there are waterfalls where the film "The Dawns Here Are Quiet" was filmed.

Filmed here "The Dawns Here Are Quiet"

A beautiful place, but there were a lot of tourists because of this it was somehow uncomfortable.
They could not stand it for a long time.

waterfalls near the quarry

Immediately after the waterfalls, we stopped at the local hydroelectric power station, where we saw another waterfall. The place is not popular and there were no tourists at all, then we went further to the marble quarry itself.

Entrance to the village of Ruskeala

For normal orientation on the ground, a copy of the satellite image of the quarry surroundings was made with the main points to be visited:

Satellite pit layout

The quarry has long been closed and flooded. But a few years ago, it was ennobled and made accessible to tourists.

Marble quarry in karelia works all year round... But time is divided into two seasons (Summer and Winter).
In winter, they turn on the lighting here, ride the tourists in dog sleds, and in the summer they rent boats.

There are constant queues to the boats. There are a lot of people willing.

Tourists swim in a marble quarry in Karelia

There are several grottoes at the water level in the marble quarry. This is a system of horizontal adits where Ruskeala marble was previously mined.

They often hide tourists on boats них

grotto in the marble quarry of karelia

This photo shows the scale of the quarry.
The height of the marble quarry in some places is more than 50 meters.

Height of the marble quarry of karelia

The walking route through the quarry leads to one of the adits. The mining system extends over several kilometers, but many of the adits are flooded and inaccessible.

One of them is above the water and our route lay through it:

Horizontal adit in a marble quarry

Vertical rectangular shaft.
Height 40 meters, 20 of which are flooded with water.
As far as I understand, there used to be an "elevator" here, which was used to lift the marble and to access the horizontal adits.

Marble Quarry Vertical Mine

Now a metal bridge has been made here, from which you can see the adit well.

Bridge in the adit of a marble quarry

Inside, almost everywhere, you can see traces of the tool, which was used to drill into the marble in order to break off blocks.
Diameter approximately 2-3 cm.
I can't even imagine how hard it was.

tool marks in the quarry

Italian marble quarry in Karelia.

The continuation of the route along the marble quarry passed through an underground lake, but in summer it can only be viewed from above.
But "Italian Quarry" is available

pointer to the underground lake

At one time, Italian equipment was brought to this part of the quarry and marble was mined by wire sawing, not by explosive method. By the way, that is why it is called “Italian quarry”.

Therefore, the blocks here have more familiar outlines and the pattern of local marble is visible.

italian quarry in karelia

Climbing higher, I managed to take a photo of the entire marble quarry.

In the middle you can see the "lake":

Italian marble quarry

The structure and natural pattern of the cut marble is clearly visible.

By the way, marble from this quarry in Karelia was used for facing some metro stations, floors of the Kazan Cathedral, during construction St. Isaac's Cathedral, even saw it several times.

italian quarry in rusceala

Traces from drilling are clearly visible. Here they are of a larger diameter than in underground adits.
In some places there were cores with a diameter of 120 mm.

this is how marble was mined in the quarry

Typical traces of sawing with a rope.
But the edges of the blocks were not very smooth. In some places the “wave” is almost 100 mm.

Stone cutting plant in karelia

Abandoned equipment is visible through the window:

abandoned factory

In general, I liked the trip to the marble quarry. Interesting place... There is something to see.

Karelia marble quarry is a great place

On this, the first day of our two-day trip ended, the next day we went to Finland to see the ancient fortress in Savonlinna, but more on that later 🙂 In order not to miss the next photo report - 🙂

You, a lover of ancient Slavic and Scandinavian legends, you like to see ancient monuments, beautiful in their uniqueness.

One of these natural and man-made wonders is the Marble Canyon, located in one of the most interesting and spectacular places on the Karelian land. The view of the canyon is a fairy tale created by nature and man, having come here, you will fall in love with Karelia with its birches, lakes and amazing marble quarries!

History and location

At the end of the 17th century, a large marble deposit was found near the Ruskeala region. A beautiful stone with shades from light gray to a beautiful greenish color was found in a coniferous forest, near the beautiful Ruskeala waterfalls, the places known to us from the film "The Dawns Here Are Quiet".

Its production began on an industrial scale. An excellent material for highly artistic decoration, was transported throughout Russia, it began to be used as an exquisite decoration material in the construction of St. Isaac's and Kazan cathedrals, the Tauride, Marble and Winter palaces in the royal monastery - the city of St. Petersburg.

Before the start of the Russian-Finnish war, the universal quarry, where marble was mined, was flooded by representatives of the Finnish side in order to create a line of confrontation in that distant and unknown war.

The main quarry is a lake of noble jade color, complemented by sheer walls made of natural stone, the depth of the lake was more than 100 m.

In the Republic of Karelia, not far from the town of Sortavala, near the village of Ruskeala, there is a magnificent park complex "Ruskeala".

A distinctive feature of this natural monument - a canyon made of marble, striking in its amazing beauty, having a length of about 500 meters.

Weather meteorological conditions

Geographically Karelia is located in the north-west of Russia, on the coast of the majestic Of the White Sea, the climate is mild and changes very quickly.

The winter period in Karelia is marked by abundant snow drifts and frosty weather, and the summer is short and cool, although hot days do occur, but not often. January and February in the republic, according to the observations of weather forecasters, are distinguished by the coldest weather, but July is the peak of the Karelian summer, when average monthly temperature ranges from +13 ° C to +15 ° C, and sometimes a weather anomaly occurs and the temperature reaches +30 ° C.

A little about the beauty of the Ruskeala Mountain Park

The main quarry, now called "Ruskeala Mountain Park", opened almost 10 years ago, before that, the adjacent territory was cleared, the footpaths were fenced, a free parking lot was equipped, tourists can rent a boat to swim closer to the canyon walls and view marble giants that rise to a height of 20 meters.

The approach to the remaining quarries was abandoned, some were flooded, and the remaining quarries continued to be mined for ornamental stone. Over the years, the sloping banks of the quarries have been overgrown with small shrubs and trees; nothing can be seen behind this dense wall. But from the higher and steep banks, a wonderful view of the quarries, flooded with water, opens.

All quarries have a remarkable feature, they differ from one another in the color of the water, therefore they look completely different, remaining beautiful and mesmerizing corners of Karelian nature.

So far, Russian scientists have not yet invented technologies to drain the flooded quarries, but this will surely happen and then how many mysteries will appear before the curious eyes of tourists!

In the wall of one of these quarries, there is a marble grotto - which has become the business card of this unique place... You can get to the grotto only by boat, so boat rental is in demand among people who decide to visit the Karelian pearl, which is one of 100 beautiful corners of Russia

One of the main highlights is the Marble Canyon, which resembles a giant bowl carved by mountain craftsmen for several years.

How to get to the Marble Canyon?

The park of natural origin and the hands of the first mountain masters can be reached very easily, we offer several routes:

We go by train

The train from St. Petersburg to Kostomuksha runs on odd days. At 21:20 local time, it departs from Ladoga railway station... We arrive at the station - Kaalamo at 04.00 in the morning, then we get by bus to Ruskeala.

We rush in a private car

From St. Petersburg we leave for the A 121 highway. To the city of Priozersk you need to go about 130 kilometers, and from it the same distance to Sortavala, after another 25 km, you get to the village of Ruskeala.

We get there by regular bus or fixed-route taxi.

Regular buses and fixed-route taxis depart from St. Petersburg to Ruskeala village. From the bus station "Severnaya" leaves daily bus route number 805, next to the city of Sortavala. From the metro stations "Prospect Prosvescheniya" and "Ozerki" - route taxis No. 433 and No. 436 depart. And from there, you can take a taxi to Ruskeala or take a regular bus.

What entertainment awaits you

Every tourist who comes to see the most beautiful natural landscape finds something to his liking and taste, for example:

Divers love to use Marmara Lake as a training ground, where they have where to swim, dive and swim in the most remote corners of the canyon.

For lovers of rafting, extreme routes have been developed, passing along the mountain rivers Tahmajoki and Janisjoki. They begin in spring and end with the end summer season... The length of the rafting route is 2.5 km, along its entire path, participants in rafting will face various obstacles in the form of dams and blockages created by river inhabitants - beavers.

Speleologists and drivers are attracted by the Ice Gap, which arose after a series of explosions in a nearby quarry. The adits fell into the water, leaving an oval-shaped hole on the surface, measuring 20X30 meters. In the Ice Gap, a special climate is maintained, in which the ice does not melt even in summer.

Tourists really like visiting Ruskeala waterfalls, and the most beautiful, in their opinion, is the Akhvenkoski waterfall, which means "Perch threshold". The famous film by director Stanislav Rostotsky "The Dawns Here Are Quiet" was filmed near the waterfalls. In the summer, many people prefer to take water procedures, in the very place where the heroine of the film, the beauty Zhenya Komelkova, swam!

Where can you stay overnight?

Throughout the season, guests are welcomed at the recreation center "Ruskeala", which offers a wood-burning sauna for rent, fishing enthusiasts are offered boats and tackle for fishing... The recreation center develops interesting excursion routes in the Mountain Park and picturesque waterfalls, at quite affordable prices.

The price for accommodation is 2000 rubles per person per night.

At a distance of 13 km on the shores of the beautiful lake Yanisjärvi, there is another recreation center with a poetic name "Black stones". The tourist base "Black stones" offers vacationers accommodation options in a hotel or in a cottage.

The cost of living is from 1850 rubles per person per day.

What souvenirs to bring from Karelia?

So that, as the song says “Karelia will dream for a long time,” you will have a piece of Karelia as a keepsake, bring home local souvenirs, there is a huge selection of them. You can buy embroideries from Zaonezhskaya craftswomen, incomparable samples of Karelian culture, passed from mother to daughter, linen shirts and bags are also in demand, products from Karelian birch, which, according to legend, are a tree-protector for a person wearing products from it are especially chic ...

Birch is used to make various women's jewelry and colorful boxes, painted in accordance with local motives. Souvenir products are represented by all kinds of magnets and circles, with views of the Ruskeala park complex.

Ruskeala Mountain Park

How to get to Ruskeala Mountain Park

The park is located 25 km from the city of Sortavala, near the village of Ruskeala.

On public transport: can be reached with a change in the city of Sortavala.

From St. Petersburg - by train St. Petersburg - Kostomuksha (from Ladozhsky railway station) to the city of Sortavala. Travel time is 5.5 hours.

From Petrozavodsk - by bus Petrozavodsk - Sortavala or Petrozavodsk - Lakhdenpohja (to Sortavala). The journey takes about 6 hours.

How to get from Sortavala to Ruskeala:

There is a bus from Sortavala to Vyartsilya, which stops in Ruskeala. The bus station and the railway station in Sortavala are located in different parts of the city.

By car: both from Petrozavodsk and from St. Petersburg you can get through the city of Sortavala.

From Petrozavodsk - via Pryazha, Kolatselga and Lyaskela (along the P-21 highway). Distance 280 km.

From St. Petersburg - along Priozerskoe highway through Priozersk along the A-129 highway. Distance 250 km.

Having reached the city of Sortavala, you need to move in the direction settlement Vyartsilya. In 25 km there will be a village Ruskeala.

You need to drive through Ruskeala village or follow the main road to the bridge over the Tohmajoki river. Immediately after the bridge there will be a left turn to the quarries.

Karelia Map

What to see

The main attraction of the Mountain Park is the Marble Canyon - a mining monument of the late 18th - early 20th centuries. The Marble Canyon is a former quarry for the extraction of different types of marble filled with the purest groundwater. Ruskeala marble is used in the construction of the most beautiful and significant buildings in St. Petersburg and its palace suburbs. St. Isaac's Cathedral was faced with it, the floors of the Kazan Cathedral were laid out with it, windows were framed Marble Palace and the facade of the Mikhailovsky Castle.

During the extraction of marble, three quarries were formed, connected by adits. Stone mining stopped, and the old abandoned Ruskeala quarries turned into beautiful mountain lakes - white marble bowls filled with the purest bluish-green water. Long inactive mines and adits have become like mysterious caves and grottoes. The banks of the canyon, towering steeply above the emerald surface of the water, are penetrated by surface and underwater adits, drifts and mines. Although the Marble Canyon is the main attraction of Ruskeala, there are many picturesque rocks and stones.

The entrance to the park is paid. In the park, you can walk around the flooded quarry along a well-groomed path, see the active workings and monuments of industrial architecture, go down into the caves. The canyon has a pier where you can rent a boat.On the boat, you can see the sheer marble walls from the water and get into the mysterious grottoes and adits.

Around

Waterfalls on the Tohmajoki River located on the 17th km of the Sortavala - Vyartsilya highway. It was here that several episodes of the film "The Dawns Here Are Quiet" were filmed. The waterfalls are not very big, but stormy and picturesque, there is a small lake.

The presence of a dog and a car with all-wheel drive makes and allows you to get out to places that you never even thought about before. So we went to Karelia. And we went to see the most tourist, but at the same time, the most a nice place in Karelia - the Marble Canyon in Ruskeale.

The Marble Canyon can be visited separately, or you can make it a part great trip across Karelia.

What is Marble Canyon

And this miracle is wonderful and wondrous for our land. Well, even if not really ours, but close to come and see and fly across the ocean is not necessary. The canyon got its name not by chance, marble was really mined here since our emperors began to veneer their palaces (Catherine II especially added work) and up to now, when the metro was laid under the cities. Some stations of the St. Petersburg subway, such as Avtovo, Ladozhskaya and Primorskaya, are faced with marble from Ruskeala. Now this place is presented in the form of a large lake on which tourists swim in boats, over which people fly on ropes and daredevils jump from a bungee. And there is a convenient tourist trail around.

Let's take a walk?

What's good - you can take a dog to the Marble Canyon. And yet there are such civilized tropics that even though it is to some extent called trekking (a walk along the stone-grass paths), it's a pleasure to walk.

Walk the main road around grand canyon takes one and a half to two hours with a calm walking step. You cannot go over the edges of the path. But who follows the rules ?!

If everyone were exemplary visitors to the park, then no one would have such personnel. And so everyone has them)

Water, we must immediately make a reservation, really is of such a turquoise color, generally a minimum of "Photoshop" - added a little sharpness. But to see exactly this color of water, you need to come to Ruskeala on a sunny day. On a gloomy day, it can be just blue, gray or greenish.

The water in the Marble Canyon was not taken by accident, but intentionally. The Finns, retreating, simply flooded it by launching the water of the nearby river in an adit. Therefore, the places that are called "Underground Lake" here do not quite accurately reflect the truth. But outwardly, yes - an underground lake.

Here, too, the water is blue-blue. This is all because there are no impurities and sand. Like the waters in Croatia in Istria. My dad is a sailor still believes that off the coast of Croatia the water is the most turquoise that he has seen. Even more turquoise than the Caribbean.

Needless to say, it is really a little dangerous to walk here because it is still a living rock and, like any stone, it can crack sooner or later.

As I already said, you can rent a boat and ride inside the adits. I would not risk it, but there are more people who want than boats and we even have to wait.

About 20 minutes of the two hours we spent was observing those who jump from the bungee. It's all about garlic, not like the. Full ammunition, tied, then pulled out. But the people still fight and decide to jump for a long time.

Many, instead of a bungee, choose a flight over the canyon on a cable. It's fast and judging by the screams, it's not scary at all, but fun. Of course, you are always attached to a short leash!

But if there is no desire to row on the oars, but still want to see the adits, then the trail smoothly takes everyone underground.

The depth is like this:

On back side The rock garden "blossomed with a riotous color" of the marble canyon. To be honest, I doubt that the visitors had a hand in this, although I do not exclude that they are now continuing this flash mob. But it looks funny and unexpected. Do you want to go to the cliff, and it is in this place that there is an observation deck right at the edge, and here they are standing.

I supported my tradition and made a wish and put another pebble on top of one of the pyramids. I always do that. For example, in Angkor Wat, according to local guides, Japanese tourists dragged all the stones in the vicinity to these pyramids, but still someone finds a withered stone and makes it even higher. Like me, for example))

Why do people build cairns from stones? It's hard to answer for everyone. I make wishes. Norwegians, they say, give life to trolls (built a pyramid - a new troll was born))). Do you build cairns from stones? What for?

That's for sure what people have done here for the sake of a tick "I was here" and so this. Pskov, hello!

Arkhangelsk tried))

Remember, at the beginning I mentioned that marble for the appearance of metro stations in St. Petersburg was taken here, in the Marble Canyon? So it was for the metro that the marble was taken from the so-called Italian quarry.

There is a version on the network that it was named so because the Italians came here once (their Carrera was not enough for them)) began to develop, then they found out that it was of poor quality and abandoned everything. The guide, whom we overheard, said that the extraction of marble from this part mountain park bought Italian cars. They cut out whole blocks so that the marble was immediately smooth and polished. Then this part of the quarry was already flooded by the forces of the elements and development here stopped.

I really like looking at the drawing of the stone. I took a lot of pictures in my piggy bank, plus to those that I took in the Bako reserve and I still can't post it on the network (((maybe there is just a reason?) Here the pattern and color of marble is as if a tree grew between two columns.

In addition to white marble, there was also pink in the Italian quarry. All tourists, though piece by piece, are trying to take out a souvenir for themselves and pink is almost impossible to find.

The color of the water in the canyon when the sun is already hidden behind the trees. But during the White Nights period, you can walk after sunset, and the entrance to the canyon is open until late.
These are the marble rocks in Karelia.

When is the best time to come to the Marble Canyon

In any season! I was here when the snow lay, in summer and autumn, and it is beautiful in any weather, believe me.

How to get to the Marble Canyon

Getting to Gorny Park in Ruskeale is not easy without a car. It is clear that backpackers they don't get there yet. But by train, buses and on foot - it's real to get there. We went by car. This trip took us 2 nights and 2.5 days, but you can turn around in one day, you just have to sit behind the wheel a lot.

My advice is to go to the Marble Canyon for 2 days with at least one overnight stay, because the road from St. Petersburg to Sortavala, behind which the park is located, takes 5-6 hours in only one direction, and in some places there are quite large traffic jams already under St. Petersburg. There are also no roads in Karelia in places.

by car

Drive 130 kilometers along Priozerskoe highway (highway A121) to Priozersk. Then take the road towards Sortavala, all signs will tell you the direction. After about 150 km, after Sortavala, follow the signs towards the village of Ruskeala, and there you will see signs to mountain park.

by bus

From the metro station "Devyatkino" by bus # 805 to Sortavala. Departure at 16.10 every day.
From the metro station "Prospekt Prosvescheniya" and the metro station "Ozerki" there are both regular buses and minibuses that come to the bus station in Sortavala. Further it is better to take a private trader, or on foot.

You can buy bus tickets to Sortavala online.

by train

Train Saint Petersburg - Kostomuksha from Ladozhsky railway station. Go to the stop - Kaalamo. Night train. Arrival very early. Further, as with buses: either look for a private trader or go on foot.

You can buy a train ticket to Sortavala, it is more convenient than the Russian Railways website.

Where to stay in Sortavala

If you decide to go with an overnight stay, you can stay overnight in Sortavala itself, at a hotel, or rent a room at one of the tour bases, a cottage or a room from private traders.

And you can search the tour base directly in the form below

How to be always online when traveling?

Buy a euro card for internet and calls. I personally have an Orange card choose a card and tariff

How do I save on hotels?

It's very simple - look not only at the booking. I prefer the search engine RoomGuru. He is looking for discounts on both Booking and 70 other booking sites.

This June I managed to make a short trip around Karelia as part of an organized tour for 5 days (review of the tour). The program was composed in such a way as to show us the most recognizable and photographed places in Karelia, which can be visited in such a short vacation. We spent the first part of the tour in the area of \u200b\u200bthe Karelian city of Sortavala, next to which there are such famous sights of Karelia as Ruskeala waterfalls, Valaam island with an old monastery and Ruskeala mountain park, which will be discussed today.

A bit of history

Ruskeala Mountain Park is an area where marble canyons with emerald water, adits, mines and paths with viewing platforms, organized into routes for tourists. I would call this landmark an industrial-natural one, and here's why.
In the distant 17th century, the Swedes began mining here for marble, which, with northern severity, was turned into whitewash. Practical Swedes did not need pompous material to decorate buildings and pavements, they always loved brevity and practicality, so the hand did not flinch to translate good. However, almost a century later, our country began the extraction of marble for its direct purpose. Few people know, but many famous buildings of St. Petersburg are faced with marble from the Ruskeala quarries, the main ones of which are Green and White, named after the color of the marble that is mined from them. For example, white marble from Karelia was used in the construction of St. Isaac's Cathedral, one of the facades of the Mikhailovsky Palace, the pedestal of the monument to Peter I, windows were decorated with it Winter Palace... The marble of the Green Mountain was useful in the construction of the Kazan Cathedral and other objects of St. Petersburg, Gatchina and Tsarskoye Selo.

Marble was mined at different levels, called horizons, which are located even underground. The original horizons have not reached our time, they were replaced by later ones. I will not write about how the marble was mined, because it will be much more interesting for you to hear this story from a qualified guide in the park, who, as part of the recruited group, will tell you everything in detail.
About marble quarries it is worth saying that it is a kind of unique park, because it was created for private investment, you must agree that for Russia it is not a frequent occurrence.

Walk around Ruskeala quarry

Our excursion group arrived at Ruskeala Mountain Park at around 8 pm. In summer, admission is possible until 24-00. In June, in the Russian north, there are already almost white nights, and in another season, illumination works in Ruskeala.

You can walk around Ruskeala on your own by buying an entrance ticket, or you can excursion group, which are led through the park by a local guide. For some reason, our travel agency could not organize an excursion for us earlier than 20-30, therefore, by agreement with all tour participants, we went to the territory ourselves. Why didn't you wait an extra half hour? This was the first day of our trip, many got off the train at 6 in the morning, then we visited the Alexander-Svirsky monastery in Leningrad region, drove almost 5 hours to the recreation center in the Sortavala region. We had a choice - to sit an extra hour at the base, and then go, which meant to come back later, or leave the base earlier, walk in the park ourselves and go to rest after a crazy day.

In front of the park entrance there is a square with a long row of souvenir stalls and an administration building where tickets are sold. There is also an observation deck on the largest quarry of Ruskeala.

Since we arrived in the evening, we did not see the emerald-blue water straight, because the sun, apparently, fell at the wrong angle. But all the same, marble mountains, water, floating boats looked very nice, I could not wait to get into the park.

Around the quarry walking route, during which they constantly meet observation platforms, allowing you to approach the edge of the quarry without extreme. For the gifted, there are signs everywhere, stating that they should not throw stones down, not approach the edge and not dive down ... apparently, there were some.

I drew attention to the rather large grottoes on the opposite side of the mountain, for some reason they seemed familiar to me, although I had never been to Ruskeala.

And then Zhenya suggested to me that this was the first 3D Russian film "The Dark World", namely the scene with the lake witches, was filmed here. Here is a video for the song "Witch", you can see the landscapes of Ruskeala.

Filming location "Dark World" in Karelia

In addition to boats that can be rented at a special station, I noticed divers in their careers. As the guide said, they really like this place, and the park allows professionals to conduct trainings. It turns out that the water in the quarry is very clean, besides, at the bottom there is a technique flooded by the Finns, with the help of which the marble was mined. And since the Karelian lakes are not rich in outlandish seabed or fairy tales about sunken ships with treasures, the exploration of the bottom of Ruskeala is extremely interesting for divers. The cost of using the diving pier is 200 rubles.

As soon as we passed one side of the quarry, we saw a pointer to an adit, into which you can freely go down without special permission. In your own words, an adit is a depression in the ground, a kind of corridor, a quarry. We decided to go down into the adit that has been preserved for a long time, which goes 200 meters deep. It was created to deliver trolleys with marble from a mine along a narrow track railroad... At the entrance to the adit, you can see what an old trolley looks like.

To be honest, it was scary to go down, yes, I don't like any caves and grottoes at all, but I decided to go into the adit, because I had never seen anything like it.

We walked around the quarry and quietly envied independent touristswho sailed on boats, swam up to the grottoes, as in the frames from the film.

We were told that research is now being carried out in the quarry to open the passage to the mountains for tourists. In a couple of years, they promise to organize excursions to grottoes, caves and other wonders of nature hidden from the eyes.

Routes in Ruskeala

Routes along Ruskeala can be found at the entrance to the park - there is a large poster.

Download a map with routes

Route around the Marble Quarry

You can restrict yourself to a walk around the Big Marble Quarry, as we did, or you can visit the factory, the neighboring lake. In general, if you are lovers of industrial tourism, then Ruskeala is just an ideal object. In any case, this place is very unusual, so I recommend allocating at least 3 hours for it, and then, as they say, how it goes.

What else can you do in Ruskeale

As you already understood, it is interesting to walk around Ruskeala, first of all, to walk, depending on the degree of interest, to look at the quarry with one eye or to make a real journey into the industrial past of our country.

As for entertainment, Rusleala offers boating. Immediately upon entering, you will see a descent down to the boat station. There you will be dressed life jackets, and you can go sailing. I think it's very cool to swim under the huge marble rocks, look into the clear water and just enjoy nature. In addition, you will be able to swim to the grottoes that we only saw from above. Boat rental works from May 20 to September 30, it costs 400 rubles per boat (no more than 4 people, we're not in China).

If you love to tickle your nerves, then you will definitely want to ride the torso on a bungee on a short track or cross an entire career. Tarzanka is located at the exit from the Marble Quarry.

I can't say anything about reliability and safety, but it is fixed like this.

For children, there is a trampoline at the exit, for dads beer and barbecue, shops for moms. They also regularly ride husky dogs, but we arrived too late.

How to get there, opening hours, entrance cost

The working hours of the mountain park depend on the time of the year.

If you walk around Ruskeala on your own, the entrance ticket will cost 150 rubles. for adults, 100 for students, 50 rubles for schoolchildren, and for children under 7 years old admission is free.

A tour of the park costs 250 rubles. for a short route lasting 1 hour and 350 rubles. for a walk for 1.5 hours.

And if you decide to be creative and celebrate your wedding not in Thailand, but in Karelia, then the mountain park will give you a boat trip ... and let all the guests wait. ?

Get to Ruskeala by car not difficult, here is her address. Free parking near the entrance is available.

On my own, i.e. by public transport, you can also get to the marble quarries.

From St. Petersburg you need to take train # 350 St. Petersburg - Kostomuksha, having bought a ticket to the Kaalamo station. Next, take a taxi to the park (drive about 5 km).

From Petrozavodsk to Ruskeala you can get by train # 680-Ch Petrozavodsk-Sortavala, get off at the Kaalamo station. Travel time from 19-20 to 06-06. You can also get to Sortavala by bus or minibus (NUMBERS), although the travel time will be from 5 to 8 hours.

The easiest way to get to Reskeala or the city of Sortavala. At the bus station, check the bus schedule to Vyartsilä, it stops near the park, although it runs very rarely. If you are in Sortavala, then it is most convenient to take a taxi (about 450 rubles one way), and you can immediately agree to be waited for and brought back. This option will cost you about 1000 rubles, but it all depends on the specific taxi driver, your art of trading and the time you want to spend in the park.

From Moscow to Ruskeala, you guessed it, you can get through St. Petersburg or Petrozavodsk.

Perhaps the information on how to get to Ruskeala is frightening, but you need to understand that it makes no sense to go to Karelia to Ruskeala. It is necessary to develop a route in which to include the city of Sortavala and its environs, visit Ruskeala, Ruskeala waterfalls, swim on Valaam, fish, walk in nature, and there are many things to do in this region of Karelia.

Where to stay

In the area where Ruskeala is located, there are several recreation centers where you can comfortably stay. This will allow you to combine outdoor recreation with visiting attractions located nearby.

I lived at the recreation center "Black stones" and I can safely recommend it. The base is located about 30 minutes drive to the mountain park.

Recreation center "Black stones"

About the same distance country club Gardarika who can be booked on booking.com .

In close proximity to the marble quarries is the recreation center "Ruskeala". On Ruskeala's website you can read about the route to the base, private bus and transfer. A little further, on the lake, there is the Janisjärvi base.

If you like rest in the city more, I recommend book one of the hotels in Sortavala ... From it it will be extremely convenient for you to travel around this part of Karelia, perhaps even meet some taxi driver who will become your driver and a pleasant companion.

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