Ruskeala Mountain Park & Marble Canyon
Eighteenth-century grey-and-white marble quarry filled with clear groundwater
Quarried from 1765 to face Saint Isaac's Cathedral and the Marble Palace in Saint Petersburg.
Sortavala, Valaam & Ruskeala, Russia
Ideal: 2 daysBest: May–SepPrice: Moderate
In 60 seconds
Sortavala, Valaam & Ruskeala in 60 seconds
Along the jagged granite skerries of northern Lake Ladoga, the Karelian town of Sortavala preserves early twentieth-century Finnish National Romantic buildings by Eliel Saarinen and Uno Ullberg. From Sortavala, a turn-of-the-century steam train climbs through spruce woods to the flooded eighteenth-century marble quarries of Ruskeala, while boats cross Ladoga to the pine-clad Valaam archipelago.
Best for
- Nature
- Lake
- Marble
- Architecture
- Steam Railway
Known for
- Ruskeala Mountain Park & Marble Canyon
- Sortavala Finnish National Romantic Quarter
- Valaam Archipelago & Monastery
Skip if
Lake Ladoga crossings to Valaam depend heavily on calm weather and ice-free months.
Your match
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See
Must experience
The things that would make the trip incomplete without them.
Sortavala Finnish National Romantic Quarter
Early twentieth-century granite and timber civic architecture by Saarinen, Sonck and Ullberg
Walk Karelskaya Street and climb Mount Kuhavuori for a view over Lake Läppäjärvi.
Valaam Archipelago & Monastery
Granite island group in northern Lake Ladoga with pine forests and sketes
Reached by hydrofoil across the open lake from Sortavala pier.
Beyond the obvious
Hidden gems
Less obvious, rarely queued for, and usually the part people remember.
Kronid Gogolev Museum of Woodcarving, Sortavala
High-relief limewood carvings depicting Karelian life and the Kalevala
Housed in an 1899 historic building in central Sortavala.