Ruente is a municipality in the autonomous community of Cantabria, in northern Spain. It lies in the lowest part of the Cabuerniga valley, a rural area in the western interior of the region.
Ruente is the largest village in its immediate zone, making it the principal settlement of the lower Cabuerniga valley. The municipality is one of several that together make up the valley, a landscape of green hills and small villages characteristic of inland Cantabria.