Once so remote that only the hardiest adventurers would make the gruelling 4,202km trip from Moscow to Irkutsk, capital of the Baikal region, now, a short flight and less than four exhilarating days are all you need to experience some of the most iconic sights and exciting activities that Lake Baikal winter tour offers, the “jewel of Siberia” has to offer. Don’t let the season put you off! Mid-winter is arguably when Lake Baikal is at its most visually stunning, completely covered in crystal clear ice that shimmers gem-like in the abundant winter sunshine.
The perfect combination of culture and adventure, this lake Baikal Winter tour packs in some of Baikal’s signature ice and snow-based activities and attractions, while offering downtime against a backdrop of some the most magical winter scenery imaginable.
In Russia, life is as vibrant in winter as it is all year round. Explore Russia’s Golden Ring city – Suzdal, which features dozens of exceptional architectural monuments, including Russia’s iconic onion domes. Go on a troika sleigh ride or stroll through a snow forest under the winter morning sun. Sleep snugly on the Tsar’s Gold, your heated private train, on this 13-day private journey from Moscow to Ulan Bator via Lake Baikal!
Arriving in Moscow and St Petersburg during winter has been likened to stepping into a novel – a land of exotic fur hats and snow-dusted cathedral domes. This tour will take place between December 29 and 5 January to include an unforgettable New Year’s Eve in Moscow, one of the most exciting cities in the world to celebrate with the locals and “party like a Russian!” Or you can choose any other dates.
While in Moscow you’ll discover some of the city’s most iconic attractions and lesser-known gems, including a guided tour of the Kremlin and a day excursion to the opulent royal estate of Kolomenskoye.
Next, we’ll travel by high-speed train to St Petersburg to experience the romance of one of the world’s most beautiful cities in dazzling white winter dress. Delve into the treasures of the Hermitage Museum (without the summer crowds!) and enjoy a traditional troika sleigh ride in Pavlovsk Park.
We invite you to enjoy a Russian New Years holiday and experience the magic of Moscow, St. Petersburg, Petrozavodsk and Vologda. Truly, an unusual and colorful journey, like the elusive Northern Lights themselves! The New Year is celebrated at the festive dinner with a colorful show program in the beautifully decorated hotel restaurant.
The Reindeer Herder’s Festival is a one-day holiday, celebrated annually in the main cities and villages in the Yamalo-Nenets region in the Russian Arctic. For the nomadic Nenets people, a festival day is a major event, which offers a chance to meet with friends and compete in contests of physical skill and a variety of other competitions.
It has also become an event in which the Nenets are able to share with the world a fascinating slice of their unique culture, which has remained relatively unchanged throughout the centuries. On this tour not only will you witness the Reindeer Herders’ Festival in Yamal but you will also stay with a Nenet family far from the city, giving you an amazing opportunity to fully immerse yourself in the nomadic way of life and if you are lucky enough, to witness Northern Lights.
To visualise the Northern Lights Murmansk experience, imagine a place that lives, works and plays above the Polar Circle. This extraordinary place is the Kola Peninsula in the far north-west of Russia.
Why do we visit Murmansk in the coldest part of the year? Well, the Northern Lights are best seen in the winter months. Murmansk city, being so close to the Arctic Circle, is one of the world’s premier destinations to see the Aurora Borealis, or Northern Lights, one of the most breathtakingly beautiful natural phenomenon visible from Earth.
As the world gets smaller, we desire to travel further – and there are few places as enchantingly far away as Yamal. This cultural immersion transports you deep into Russia’s isolated Arctic region. ‘Yamal’ means ‘edge of the world’ in the language of the indigenous Nenets. The Nenets of Yamal carves out a unique way of life, seemingly at the limits of human tolerance.
Each spring, the Nenets migrate from winter pastures on the Russian mainland to the summer pastures in the Arctic Circle, a one-way journey of up to 1,000km. This is your chance to experience a small part of this epic journey alongside these extraordinarily resilient people. This is a remarkable extraordinary opportunity to get to know one of the world’s last true nomadic reindeer herders through their eyes.
Russian winter turns cities a dazzlingly photogenic white, and reveal the true beauty of the Kola Peninsula, whose Arctic skies are often graced with the mythical Aurora Borealis.
Russian winters are harsh yet extraordinarily beautiful, and it’s the lands above the Arctic Circle where winter’s transformational effects are most keenly felt. The Kola Peninsula is home to people and animals who not only survive but thrive despite the chilling temperatures. Ending in the ‘capital’ of the Arctic Circle, Murmansk, this Northern Lights tour shows you two sides to life in the Russian Winter, from the grandiose cities of Moscow and St Petersburg to the polar landscapes of the remote Kola Peninsula.
This Lake Baikal Photography Tour will grant intrepid photographers the honour of focusing their lenses on some of Siberia’s most famously beautiful frozen landscapes. Summer sees the bulk of tourist activity in the area, but it’s in winter that the most devoted photographers make the pilgrimage, hoping to capture once-in-a-lifetime images of the natural world at its most powerful and surreal.
Experience a train journey unlike any other. An adventure on rails to the top of the world, the lands above the Arctic Circle where the mythical Aurora Borealis performs her breathtaking celestial dance in the velvet black Polar night sky. This compelling 12-day Northern Lights Train Tour showcases the unique contrast between two of Russia’s most majestic cities and the isolated yet charming communities deep within the Russian and Norwegian Arctic Circle. Commencing in St. Petersburg or Moscow, we visit some of the city’s most prominent historical and cultural sites, before embarking on this remarkable Arctic railway adventure in search of the elusive Aurora Borealis.
Our Lake Baikal Ice Adventure tour takes place during late February and March. The beginning of spring in the Baikal region, at this time of year, the temperature climbs above zero, but the surface of the lake is still largely frozen, covered by solid winter ice so clear you can see rocks and other objects at the bottom of the lake as far as 40m below. During spring, Baikal receives few visitors compared to the summer high season, allowing you to feel an inspiring sense of isolation and communion with undisturbed nature during this handcrafted 7-day tour. Be amazed by the frozen beauty of the world’s oldest and deepest lake and experience real-life walking on water. We’ve included a few activities exclusive to the cooler months such as ice skating snowmobiling to add a sprinkle of spills and thrills to this thoroughly enjoyable adventure.
This Kamchatka heli-skiing tour takes you to soaring ridges blanketed in untouched deep powder snow, and to the top of the majestic volcanoes of the Pacific Ring of Fire. Your helicopter touches down in the middle of nowhere – the summit of a towering and very-much-alive volcano. The Mi-8 helicopter is the ultimate chairlift, and the volcanic slopes of Kamchatka are the ultimate free ride.
As the chopper disappears from view, the sense of isolation and the sheer silence of the mountains is profound. Take a moment to meditate on exactly where you are – one of the wildest, most remote places on Earth – then take a deep breath and away you go. Kamchatka is the ultimate winter wonderland for ski enthusiasts.
The exact volcanoes that will be flown to on this Kamchatka Heli-skiing trip will be dependent on the weather and conditions allow. Some possible highlights include:
Lake Baikal winter tours are rightfully upheld as Siberia’s most famous attraction – its clear-as-a-mirror waters are a reflection of Siberia’s wildness, its vastness and its beauty. The crescent-shaped lake extends for 636km from north to south and is up to 1,637m deep, making it the deepest lake in the world. In fact, 20% of the world’s freshwater is contained within Lake Baikal. The vast Baikal region is home to unique indigenous cultures such as the Buddhist Buryat people. Traditional villages are dotted along the lake’s shore, interspersed with taiga forest and rocky steppes.
This tour takes place at the end of winter to provide guests with the unique opportunity to experience winter activities on the frozen surface of Lake Baikal and a trip to the region’s spectacular ice caves. READ MORE
A winter wilderness adventure like no other! This Kamchatka winter tour is your chance to visit one of the most remote and scenically stunning destinations on Earth – the Kamchatka Peninsula, an ancient volcanic region on the edge of the Pacific Rim of Fire. There are no roads or railways from Kamchatka to the rest of the world – the only practical way in is by air. One of the final frontiers of winter sports travel, unspoiled by commercial tourism, Kamchatka offers pristine mountain ski slopes, abundant wildlife and rugged natural scenery.
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