Place on Earth: Ruskeala marble quarry (Karelia). Natural monuments of Karelia: Marble Canyon and Ruskeala Waterfalls

In the north-west of Lake Ladoga there is an unusual tourist place - Ruskeala marble quarry. Unusual because a simple quarry was turned into a tourist attraction. The result is an interesting place that attracts tourists from all over Russia.

In our time Ruskeala Canyon is a whole tourist complex with all the necessary infrastructure. The basis of this complex is marble quarry, which has been developed since 1766. This establishment is called Ruskeala Mountain Park. But there are no mountains here, there are adits left over from the production of marble.

After development ceased, the quarry gradually filled with water.

The park is designed for guests of different categories and preferences.

St. Isaac's Cathedral in St. Petersburg, partially the Kazan Cathedral, the Hermitage inside, the Mikhailovsky Castle, as well as the Primorskaya and Ladozhskaya metro stations are lined with Ruskeala marble.

Large family with small children will be able to walk along special safe tourist routes with observation platforms and benches for rest. The routes are laid around the quarry and include a passage through the cave. After a walk, you can go down to the quarry, rent a boat and ride on the turquoise-blue water surface. The water here is calm, there is no wind.

Families are more active They will add trolley riding to their program - a cable stretched across the quarry. They will put a special harness on you, fasten you to a roller suspended by a cable and push you down. In a few seconds you will slide to the other side with a lot of emotions.

For the curious just behind the mountain park there is a kindly abandoned lime factory. The place is interesting, but dangerous - the old ovens are gradually collapsing. There are many interesting objects in Ruskeala - turn off the main routes more often and you will see everything.

If you are a diver, then you have the opportunity to dive in clear water into a flooded grotto. At the bottom of the quarry you can see the remains of mining equipment, marble debris, etc. St. Petersburg instructors conduct technical diving training here. You can dive under ice both in summer and winter.

Also, judging by the white traces of sports magnesia on some rocks, this place is visited rock climbers. By the way, there are places for rock climbing in Karelia not far from here.

There is parking and souvenir kiosks in front of the park entrance.

Ruskeala Park on the map

Photos of the Ruskeala quarry

How to get to the Ruskeala marble quarry

By car from Petrozavodsk or St. Petersburg you need to go towards the city of Sortavala. Only from Petrozavodsk you need to get there just a little bit, but from St. Petersburg it’s the other way around - we pass Sortavala, then there will be the village of Helyulya, we also leave that behind. The main thing is not to miss the left turn (if you drive from Petrozavodsk, turn right). It will be approximately 7 km after Sortavala. There is a sign for “Vyartsilya”. And then, without turning anywhere, we reach Ruskeala and turn left immediately after the bridge. The total distance from St. Petersburg is 300 kilometers, from Petrozavodsk - 250.

By train or bus. From St. Petersburg (from Petrozavodsk similarly) We take the train, which stops in the city of Sortavala. We get off there and look for buses to Ruskeala. In addition to buses, in the summer there are transfers organized by Sortavala hotels, in particular Piipun Piha (marked on the map). Getting there by public transport is not easy, but it is quite possible.

GPS coordinates of the quarry in Ruskeala:

61.9448044N 30.5810452E

or depending on what system your navigator is running on:

61°56′41.3″N 30°34′51.8″E

Park operating hours

The marble quarry is open daily from 10:00 to 21:00

Cost of visit

• • Adults - 200 rub.

• • Students - 150 rub.

• • Schoolchildren - 100 rub.

• Children under 7 years old are free.

Having a dog and a car with all-wheel drive forces you and allows you to go to places you never even thought about before. So we went to Karelia. And we went to see the most touristy, but at the same time, the most beautiful place in Karelia - the Marble Canyon in Ruskeala.

The Marble Canyon can be visited separately, or you can make it part of a big trip around Karelia.

What is Marble Canyon

And this is a wonderful and marvelous miracle for our region. Well, maybe not exactly ours, but close to come and see and you don’t have to fly overseas. It was not by chance that the canyon got its name; marble has actually been mined here since our emperors began lining their palaces (Catherine the Second especially added to the work) until the present day, when subways were laid under the cities. Some stations of the St. Petersburg subway, such as Avtovo, Ladozhskaya and Primorskaya, are lined with marble from Ruskeala. Now this place is presented in the form of a large lake on which tourists sail in boats, over which people fly on cables and daredevils jump from bungee. And there is a convenient tourist trail around it.

Shall we take a walk?

What’s good is that you can go to Marble Canyon with a dog. And here there are such civilized tropics that even though it is to some extent called trekking (walking along stone and grass paths), it is a pleasure to walk.

A walk along the main route around the Grand Canyon takes one and a half to two hours at a calm walking pace. You cannot go beyond the edges of the path. But who follows the rules?!

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

The water, I must immediately make a reservation, is really such a turquoise color, in general, at least “Photoshop” - it 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 may simply be blue, gray or greenish.

The water in Marble Canyon did not come by accident, but on purpose. The Finns, retreating, simply flooded it by running water from the river flowing nearby into the adit. Therefore, the places that are called “Underground Lake” here do not accurately reflect the truth. But outwardly, yes, it’s an underground lake.

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

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

As I already said, you can rent a boat and go inside the adit for a ride. I wouldn’t risk it, but there are more people willing than boats and we even have to wait.

About 20 minutes out of the two hours that we spent watching those bungee jumping. Everything here is garlicky, not like in . Full ammunition, they will tie you up, then pull you out. But people still fight and decide for a long time to take the leap.

Many people choose to fly over the canyon on a zip line instead of ziplining. 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 you don’t want to row, but still want to see the adits, then the trail smoothly leads everyone underground.

The depth is like this:

On the back side of the Marble Canyon, a rock garden “bloomed wildly.” To be honest, I doubt that the visitors had a hand in this, although I do not rule out that they are now continuing this flash mob. But it looks funny and unexpected. You want to approach the cliff, and in this particular place there is an observation deck right at the edge, and here they are standing.

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

Why do people build cairns? It's difficult to answer for everyone. I make wishes. Norway, they say, gives birth to trolls (built a pyramid - a new troll is born))). Do you build pyramids from stones? What for?

This is exactly what people have done here for the sake of the “I was here” checkbox. Pskov, hello!

Arkhangelsk tried))

Do you remember that I mentioned at the beginning that the marble used for lining the 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 Internet that they say it was named that way because the Italians came here one day (their Carrera was not enough for them)) began to develop it, then they found out that it was of poor quality and abandoned everything. The guide we overheard said that Italian machines were purchased to extract marble from this part of the mountain park. They cut out entire blocks so that the marble immediately turned out smooth and as if polished. Then this part of the quarry was flooded by the forces of the elements and development here ceased.

I really like looking at the pattern of the stone. I took plenty of photos for my collection, plus the ones I took in the Bako Nature Reserve, and I still can’t post them online (((maybe there’s a reason?) Here the pattern and color of the marble is as if a Christmas tree had grown between two columns.

In addition to white marble, there was also pink marble in the Italian quarry. All the tourists are really trying to take out a souvenir piece by piece and it’s almost impossible to find a pink one.

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

When is the best time to visit Marble Canyon?

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

How to get to Marble Canyon

Getting to the Mountain Park in Ruskeala without a car is quite difficult. It’s clear that hikers still don’t get there. But by train, by bus and on foot, it’s possible 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 a lot behind the wheel.

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 one direction only, and in some places there are quite large traffic jams already near St. Petersburg. There are also no roads in Karelia in some places.

by car

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

by bus

From the Devyatkino metro station by bus No. 805 to Sortavala. Departure at 16.10 every day.
From the Prospekt Prosveshcheniya metro station and the Ozerki metro station there are both regular buses and minibuses that arrive in Sortavala at the bus station. Next, it’s better to go private or on foot.

You can buy bus tickets to Sortavala online.

by train

Train St. Petersburg - Kostomuksha from Ladozhsky station. Go to the stop - Kaalamo. Night train. Arrival very early. Then, as with buses: either look for a private operator or walk.

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 overnight, you can stay overnight in Sortavala itself, in a hotel, or rent a room at one of the tour bases, a cottage or a room from private owners.

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

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Mountain park "Ruskeala" is the main pride of Karelia. This is an amazing combination of marble mountains, turquoise lakes and lush greenery. Looking around the surrounding area, it is difficult to imagine that just a few centuries ago this place was an ordinary adit, where marble was mined under the most difficult conditions.

Prices in the Ruskeala mountain park in 2019

• The cost of an individual visit for an adult is 300 rubles per person
• For students - 150 rubles per person
• For schoolchildren - 100 rubles per person
• For WWII participants, blockade survivors, concentration camp prisoners and children under 7 years of age, admission is free.
• For residents of the Sortavala region, visiting the park will cost 50 rubles per person
• The cost of visiting as part of excursion groups is from 150 rubles for schoolchildren and from 450 rubles for adults

Additional services

From May 1 to October 1 you can rent a boat on Marmara Lake (for 1 hour). The cost of the trip is 600 rubles for a four-seater boat.

Diving enthusiasts will have to pay 300 rubles for the opportunity to dive from the pier once.

Excursions and routes

For independent tourists, two types of routes are offered - short and long. You can go there on your own or in a group of 5-20 people with a guide. The first will pass along the “Marble Canyon” around the quarry, the second will be the “Road of Mining Masters” with a stop and a visit to the “Italian Quarry”. It is also possible to go along the “Underground Ruskeala” route, which will take about 1 hour.

Residents of St. Petersburg and other large cities can go on a sightseeing tour of Ruskeala by purchasing a ticket from local tour operators.

All excursions in the Ruskeala Mountain Park differ from each other in the length of the route (from 1.3 kilometers) and duration (from 1 hour).

Note! All year round, the temperature in the adits remains at + 7 degrees Celsius. Even in summer, it is highly recommended to bring warm clothes with you. To ensure safety, children under 3 years old are not allowed on the route.

Hotels and recreation centers

In the immediate vicinity of Ruskeala there are many places where you can stay overnight or just relax. One of the closest recreation centers is “Ruskeala”. The complex is located on the shore of the lake, near the city of Sortavala, just two kilometers from the famous marble canyon. There are also hotels and guest houses near the park.

Points of attraction

The main asset of the park is the combination of marble rocks that come to the surface with the greenery of the surrounding vegetation and the turquoise of the lake water. The marble hills have different colors - white, black, bluish, the colors constantly alternate, making the emerging picture seem a little fantastic.

The water-filled marble quarry in Korelskaya Ruskeala is a lake, above which rise 25-meter marble cliffs that go deep under the emerald water. Rows of slender fir trees rise directly above the marble.

The canyon consists of mountain workings that create amazing arches, halls with marble columns, as well as caves, although made by man, but looking natural. Only a small part of them is accessible to humans. Most grottoes are closed due to safety reasons and inaccessibility. Some can only be seen by swimming underwater with scuba gear.

You can enter the dungeon of the adits in the northern part of the canyon. The most frequently photographed cliffs are also located here - Ivan da Marya and Catherine II. But the most unusual sensations come from walking along the underground lake on pontoons.

The marble quarry in Ruskeala is also called “Italian quarries”, this name came from the first developers of this place. Here you can see smooth cuts of marble, huge stone blocks, a marble pool filled with water, and brick kilns.

Ruskeala Mountain Park: Google panoramas

The Ruskeala Marble Canyon is one of the most beautiful and interesting places in Russia, where you can not only relax, but also get acquainted with the history of mining by visiting the ruins of an old marble factory.

The marble canyon is located in the Republic of Karelia, in the village of Ruskeala.

Part of the quarry is still quarried for marble, and the second part is reserved for public visiting, and is called “Ruakeala Mountain Park”. The park is the pride and highlight of our country, the most unique object in Europe, with a pearl - the marble canyon. Its shores rise above the emerald waters, along which you can take a rowing boat into mysterious adits and grottoes. More secluded corners are also available for divers - underwater labyrinths.

Ruskeala Mountain Park

The Ruskeala Mountain Park was opened in 2005, and was created by the travel company Kolmas Karelia. It is visited by tens of thousands of tourists every year. After stone mining stopped, abandoned quarries turned into beautiful lakes - white marble bowls with bluish-green water.

The mountain park is a cultural heritage site, a unique natural ensemble, beautiful at any time of the year. In winter, the marble lake is covered with people, and along it you can easily reach adits and grottoes. "Ruskeala failure" turns into a fairytale ice castle with fancy columns"

At night, the canyon is illuminated with artistic lighting, which makes it even more mysterious and impressive.

The Ruskeala Canyon is a favorite place for divers who swim into the most hidden corners of the quarry. The Tohmajoki River attracts rifting enthusiasts who descend the white waters. You can rent a boat and take a ride on the clearest waters. You will also enjoy fishing, picking mushrooms and berries.

Guests of tourist centers can visit the city of Sortavala, famous for its amazing Finnish architecture. The Museum of Northern Ladoga region has carved paintings by Russian artist Kronid Gogolev, which are also worth seeing for art lovers. You can visit the Valaam Monastery and other stunning places.

The cleanliness of the park is carefully maintained by its staff, who swim around the lake and collect plastic bottles, caps and other garbage. However, many visitors, touched by the beauty of this wonderful place, try not to litter here.

Many of the park's flora and fauna are listed in the Red Book. There are exotic mosses, lichens, orchid plants, rare species of reptiles and amphibians, as well as bats.

How to get to the Ruskeala marble canyon?

Marble Canyon is 300 km away. from St. Petersburg. You need to drive from St. Petersburg along the Priozerskoye Highway (Federal Highway A 129) to the city of Priozersk, and then to the city of Sortavala. Then move towards Petrozavodsk, and after 10 km. from Sortavala, turn to Vertsilya village (Route A 130). The total travel time will take you about 5 hours.

From St. Petersburg you can get to the marble canyon by the St. Petersburg-Kostomuksha train from Ladozhsky station. You need to get to Sortavala station, and then take a taxi to the Mountain Park.

There are minibuses and taxis running from Petrozavodsk to Sortavala, which you can also take to get there.

Prices, bases, where to stay

A visit to the park costs 150 rubles. Excursion for an adult - 200 rubles, for students - 150 rubles, for schoolchildren - 80 rubles, for children under 7 years old - free.

Renting a boat for 4 people will cost 250 rubles.

You can stay at the Ruskeala recreation center. A day in a double room will cost you from 2500 rubles.

Accommodation in a double room at the Black Stones recreation center will cost you from 2,500 per day.

Lovers of a Spartan holiday in the lap of nature can stay, for example, at the Elki farm. The price for placing a tent is from 150 rubles per day.

The Ruskeala Marble Canyon is an amazing place worth visiting. Those who have already been here received an unforgettable experience and dream of returning here again.