Kuusamo, mainly due to its natural beauty attracts visitors, the town has hardly attractions in the traditional sense to show. Because the city center in the Lapland war completely destroyed and then as soon as possible and economically had to be rebuilt, is Kuusamo from the architectural point of view largely irrelevant. By contrast, the cultural life of the city, at least in view of the relatively small population lively.
In 1996 completed "Kuusamo House" in the center acts as a cultural and conference center. In him are regular musical and theatrical performances as well as changing art exhibitions. The Museum of Kuusamo is an open-air museum, housed in a historic farmhouse has been established. Moreover, in the old school of Kirkkoketo a school museum.
Kuusamo's Church lies in the center of town and was built in 1951 on the same spot as the old wooden church of 1802. The original church had been burned to the ground, along with the rest of the town, at the end of WWII. Hotly pursued by the Russians, the 6.SS-Gebirgs-Division “NORD” briefly passed through Kuusamo on their withdrawal to occupied Norway. Before the SS troops renewed their march, Untersturmführer Reinhard Heydrich - a platoon commander in the divisions recce battalion - gave orders that the church bells be taken down and buried lest they fall into Russian hands. In 1959 SS Engineers, who had survived the war, returned to help unearth the church bells they buried back in 1944. Today these same bells reside in the re-built church.
Kuusamo is the venue of several international winter sports competitions. In Ruka skiing there is a stadium with the Rukatunturi-hill (HS142) and a smaller-K64 ski jumping hill and lighted trails and a biathlon facility. Since 2002, the World Cup kick-off in ski jumping and Nordic combined and cross country skiing World Cup races in Ruka Nordic Opening in late November at a joint event in Kuusamo instead. 2006's 16,000 spectators, the competition
