Tailor-made 28-day tour of Russia
Summer 2007
http://nordictravel.ru
Day 1.
Arrival in Moscow SVO-2.
Transfer to Vnukovo Airport.
17:15 – Flight to Yakutsk (Yakutia).
Breakfast, lunch and dinner – not included.
Day 2.
05:30 – Arrival in Yakutsk. Transfer to the hotel.
Accommodation (early check-in if the rooms are ready).
14:00 - Yakutsk city tour by minibus with a guide (1 hour).
Breakfast, lunch and dinner – not included.
Overnight at the hotel.
Day 3.
Breakfast.
9:00 - Transfer by minibus (with guide) to the village on the shore of the Lena village (140 km, 3 hours). Lunch is provided as a packed meal. Transfer by motorboat to the Lena Pillars (60 km, 1.5 hrs). Visit of the Lena Pillars. 17:00 - Return to Yakusk (same way).
Overnight at the hotel.
(B, L)
Day 4.
Breakfast at the hotel. Free day in Yakutsk. Optional excursions (not included, can be booked on the spot):
- Permafrost Institute of Siberian branch of Russian Academy of Science
- Museum of Mammoth of the Academy of Science of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia)
- etc.
Lunch and dinner – not included.
(B)
Day 5.
Breakfast at the hotel.
10:00- Transfer to the YSYAKH Festival (25 km from the town). Day on the Festival (Guide’s assistance is included).
21:00 - Transfer back to the hotel.
Lunch and dinner – not included.
(B)
Day 6.
Breakfast at the hotel.
10:00 - Transfer to the YSYAKH Festival (25 km from the town). Day on the Festival (Guide’s assistance is included). 21:00 - Transfer back to the hotel.
Lunch and dinner – not included.
(B)
Day 7.
Breakfast. Free day in Yakutsk, optional excursions.
(B)
Day 8
Breakfast, 09:00 - transfer to the airport.
11:15 – Flight for Irkutsk.
13:00 – Arrival in Irkutsk. Transfer Airport – Listvyanka.
Lunch. Listvyanka walking tour with Baikal Lake Museum. Boat trip (1 hour).
Transfer Listvyanka – Irkutsk via Wooden Architecture Museum.
Dinner.
Overnight Trans Siberian train to Ulan-Ude at 23:14 local time (2nd class 4-berth compartments).
(B, L, D)
Day 9
07:25 - Arrival in Ulan-Ude. Transfer to Hotel the hotel (early check-in if the rooms are ready).
Breakfast at the hotel or in the city.
City tour (by minibus, with guide).
Visit to the History Museum of Buryatia.
Excursion to the Ivolginsky Datsan (by minibus, with guide), the most important Buddhist temple in Russia (30 km from Ulan-Ude).
Visit to the Old-believers' village Bolshoi Kunalei or Tarbagatay (Old-believers is a Russian religious group that split off from the Russian Orthodox Church in the seventeenth century).
Lunch with a local family. During and after lunch, the family and friends will present a small folk concert, traditional games, and clothes passed from generation to generation.
Return to the hotel in Ulan-Ude.
(B, L, D)
Day 10
Breakfast at the hotel. Visit (with guide) the Ethnographic Museum of the People of Transbaikalian and see collections of traditional dwellings, clothes and furnishings of all ethnic groups of the region. The museum today is one of the largest open air exhibitions in Russia made of individual sections representing the Evenks, Western Buryats, Eastern Buryats, Cossacks and Old Believers.
Visit to the Buryat Village (by minibus, with guide, 70 km - Atsagat) to enjoy folklore entertainment and traditional Buryat dinner. Return to the hotel.
(B, L, D)
Day 11
Breakfast at the hotel.
Visit (by minibus, with guide) the ancient merchants' town of Kyakhta on the Mongolia border (240 km) which was a main city on the ancient Tea Route between China and Russia.
Excursion to the V. Obruchev Local History Museum.
Transfer to the train station. Departure by overnight train to Irkutsk at 22:12 (2nd class 4-berth compartment).
(B, L, D)
Day 12
07:35 - Arrival to Irkutsk. Transfer to hotel for breakfast.
City walking guided tour with visits to the Local History museum and to the House of Decabrists (Decabrists were young Russian officers who rebelled against the Tsar in 1825. A large group of Decabrists settled down in Irkutsk to build a cultural life in this Siberian city). Lunch included.
16:15 – Departure from Irkutsk for Moscow by train (2nd class 4-berth compartment)
(B, L)
Day 13
On train. No meals included.
Day 14
On train. No meals included.
Day 15
16:42 - Arrival in Moscow (Yaroslavsky train station)
Transfers, luggage storage and meals are not included.
Departure by overnight train for St.Petersburg, from Oktyabrsky train station (former Leningradsky station), 2nd class 4-berth compartment at the overnight train. Train Moscow 23:55 - St.Petersburg 07:55
Day 16.
Arrival in St.Petersburg.
Transfer.
Accommodation at the hotel.
Day 17.
09:00 – Pick-up in St.Petersburg.
Departure for Veliki Novgorod (minibus, guide, 188 km).
Lunch.
Excursions to the Kremlin, St. Sophia Cathedral of the 11th century, the Monument «Millennium of Russia», Yaroslav’s Courtyard. Overnight at a tourist class hotel in Velikiy Novgorod.
(B, L)
Day 18.
Breakfast at the hotel.
Excursion to the St.Yury Monastery of the 11th Century and the Museum of Wooden Architecture "Vitoslavitsy”.
Departure for Tikhvin (minibus, guide, 210 km).
Lunch.
Excursion to the Tikhvin Monastery of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin (16th Century) with the famous Wonder-Working Icon of Our Lady of Tikhvin.
Overnight at a tourist class hotel in Tikhvin.
(B, L)
Day 19.
Breakfast at the hotel.
Departure for the town of Sortavala (minibus, guide, 450 km).
En-route: excursion to the ancient village and fortress of Staraya Ladoga (12th Century) and the Church of St.George with wall paintings of the 12th century.
Lunch at café.
Visit to Aleksandro-Svirsky Monastery of the Holy Trinity (16th Century).
Continue to the town of Sortavala on the northern shore of Ladoga Lake.
Accommodation and overnight at a tourist class hotel in Sortavala.
(B, L, D)
Day 20.
Breakfast at the hotel.
~09:00 - Departure for Valaam by hydrofoil (with guide, 50 min ride).
Walking excursions to the Cathedral of the Transfiguration and small Hermitages. Lunch in the refectory of the Monastery. Monks' chorus concert in the Hermitage of the Resurrection.
~15:00 - Departure back for Sortavala by hydrofoil.
Departure for Petrozavodsk (minibus, guide, 250 km). En-route – dinner in a traditional wooden house in the Karelian village of Kinerma.
Accommodation and overnight at a tourist class hotel in Petrozavodsk.
(B, L, D)
Day 21.
Breakfast at the hotel.
Petrozavodsk city tour (minibus, guide).
~11:30 - Departure for Kizhi by hydrofoil (without guide).
~12:45 - Arrival at Kizhi, meet the Museum guide there. Sightseeing tour to the Museum - Churches of the Transfiguration, Intercession, chapels and old wooden houses (the sight of Kizhi is enlisted in the UNESCO's World Heritage List).
Lunch (lunch box is provided).
~16:00 - Departure back for Petrozavodsk by hydrofoil.
~17:15 - Arrival to Petrozavodsk.
Independent time in Petrozavodsk.
Overnight at the hotel.
(B, L)
Day 22.
Breakfast at the hotel.
08:30 - Pick up at the hotel by the guide. Departure for the White Sea coast (town of Kem/Belomosrk) by bus (450 km from Petrozavodsk to the North).
Visit the Kivach Waterfalls and Kivach Nature Reserve (80 km from Petrozavodsk), featuring typical taiga forest plants.
Lunch at a roadside cafe (275 km from Petrozavodsk).
Walking excursion (4 km roundtrip along the forest path) to Petroglyphs - archeological sight, ancient rock-carvings (380 km from Petrozavodsk).
Arrival in Kem or Belomorsk in the evening, accommodation and overnight at a tourist class hotel.
(B, L)
Day 23.
Breakfast at the hotel.
Departure for the Solovetsky Islands by boat at ~08:00.
Arrival at ~10:30, transfer and accommodation at a tourist class hotel.
Lunch.
Walking excursion to Solovetsky Monastery, Kremlin and the Gulag Museum.
Optional - boat tour to Zayatsky Island with its mysterious labyrinths and ancient wooden church.
(B, L)
Day 24.
Breakfast.
Transfer to the rowing boats pier.
Rowing-boat tour along the lakes and canals of the Island (5 km of rowing in the picturesque surroundings, 4-5 people per boat who row by themselves).
Lunch (lunch boxes or picnic by the lake shore).
Walking from the lake to the Botanical garden (1.5 km), exploration of the Garden. Bus tour to the Sekirnaya Mountain: visit of the Church of the Ascension and the observation ground. Return to the settlement of Solovetsky, transfer to the port.
~17:00 - Departure for Kem by boat.
~19:30 - Arrival in Kem. Overnight at the hotel.
(B, L)
Day 25.
Transfer (without guide) to the train station for a morning train to Vologda (2nd class 4-bed compartment, departure at 07:12).
Breakfast and lunch are provided as a packed meal.
(B, L)
Day 26.
06:30 – Arrival in Vologda.
Transfer to the hotel.
Early check-in if the rooms are ready.
Breakfast. Vologda city walking tour with guide - Kremlin, St.Sofia's Cathedral, exhibition of lace and ancient icons.
Free time. Overnight at the hotel.
(B, L)
Day 27.
Breakfast.
Departure for the ancient Russian town of Kirillov (minibus, guide, 130 km).
Excursion to the St. Kirill Belozersky Monastery of the 14th Century. Lunch in Kirillov. Departure for the village of Ferapontovo (20 km).
Excursion to the Ferapontov Monastery (14th Century) with its famous museum of Dionisy's frescoes. Departure back to Vologda.
Dinner (for extra payment) at the restaurant near the train station.
21:00 – Departure for Moscow (2nd class 4-bed compartment, arrival in Moscow at 05:57)
(B, L)
Day 28.
05:57 – Arrival in Moscow. End of services.