House of Northern Senses

About House of Northern Senses

By the ULTIMATE Ski Resorts Editorial Team

Editor-in-Chief: Jai Michael

House of Northern Senses fills the former village school of Virkkula, built in 1954 and later a Finnair retreat for almost five decades, on Lake Pikku-Porontima about 15 minutes from Ruka. It has eight rooms and suites for up to 22 guests and is built around Finnish sauna culture: a smoke sauna, a lakeside wood-heated sauna and a spa floor with an indoor pool.

A school by the lake

The manor was built in 1954 as the village school of Virkkula and served Finnair as a retreat and training venue for almost five decades before its restoration. It stands by Lake Pikku-Porontima, about 15 minutes by car from Ruka and 30 from Kuusamo Airport, with its own lakeshore, a swimming pier and large lawns and terraces. You can book the whole house for family, friends or a company.

The saunas

Sauna is the point. The smoke sauna, in a second sauna building by the lake, holds ten, with a shower room, a relaxation room with fireplace and a terrace. The traditional wood-heated lakeside sauna, about 20 metres from the water, takes eight. On the manor’s bottom floor, a spa-style area has a large Finnish sauna for 12, an indoor pool, showers and a relaxation room with fireplace. You cool off in the pool, the lake or, in winter, an ice hole, or roll in the snow, and sauna drinks and menus are served as you wish. Saunas are booked privately, and the spa floor is available every day.

More than accommodation, a complete Arctic retreat experience, in its own words.

Rooms

There are eight rooms and suites for up to 22 guests: four Cozy Double rooms, two Superior Double rooms and a Superior Family Suite with two bedrooms, each with its own bathroom, and a single room.

Eating

The kitchen cooks Nordic food from local and seasonal ingredients: wild Arctic berries, forest mushrooms, local fish, reindeer and game. Breakfast is served daily 8–10am and is included; lunches and dinners of three or four courses are booked ahead, with weekend brunch, sauna-and-dinner evenings and lakeside meals in summer and autumn.

Out and about

The house arranges husky and snowmobile safaris, reindeer farm visits and guided nature trips, and a helicopter reaches it from Kuusamo Airport in about ten minutes, weather and season permitting.

Our advice: book the whole house for a group, plan an evening in the smoke sauna with a swim through the ice hole, and finish with dinner by the fire.

Opening hours, prices and seasonal openings change, so please check with House of Northern Senses before you go.