The expanses of Russia are endless and tempting, especially for those who have large funds for travel. We have chosen five of the most expensive and unusual cruises from the Far East to Murmansk.
"Towards permafrost" - along the Yenisei on a motor ship
The route from Krasnoyarsk to Dudinka is incredibly popular among both Russians and foreign tourists. A real expedition with initiation into polar explorers, upon return from which you will be enriched with knowledge about how the development of Siberian lands took place.
Two thousand kilometers of the ship with tourists on board will pass in 11-12 days. It offers everything you need: restaurants, spa rooms and gyms for those who want to warm up. At the stops, you can visit the northernmost (now abandoned) railway built by prisoners of the Gulag, as well as climb the Putorana plateau - a unique reserve where nature has been preserved intact.
For impressions you will have to pay from 500 thousand rubles per person. For half a million you buy a cabin, meals and all excursions, including fishing and a helicopter tour.
To Solovki on the White Sea
From Arkhangelsk, St. Petersburg and Moscow you can go to the Solovetsky Islands. The archipelago in the White Sea became famous in the XV century as a holy place where the monastery arose. A century later, Solovki became a place of detention, where political prisoners were sent into exile. Guests are introduced to the history, told about the monastery and shown prison barracks.
The start of prices is from 50 thousand rubles per person.
Nuclear-powered icebreaker to the North Pole
Fabulous at the cost of the trip(price from 2.5 million rubles!)is proposed to make on a nuclear icebreaker from the port of Murmansk to the North Pole. Book a "cruise" for six months: of those who want to queue, there are not enough places for everyone.
It offers guests two weeks of stay on a nuclear icebreaker with stops on the islands of the Arctic Ocean, as well as swimming (!) and landing on ice floes in order to have a picnic. One of the companies that organizes tours offers the company of the famous Fyodor Konyukhov, who is happy to share travel stories. And of course, there is a high probability of encountering polar bears.
On the islands of the Far East
A trip to the Shantar Islands in the Sea of Okhotsk will be remembered for colorful landscapes and pleasant acquaintance with local inhabitants.
- On Wrangel Island, almost 300 bears give birth to cubs every year, for which the island is jokingly called the "polar bear maternity hospital".
- On the island of Big Diomede in the Bering Strait, more precisely, between it and the island of Small Diomede (owned by the United States), there is a border between Russia and the United States and a line of change of dates, where one day flows into another. Border guards joke that they celebrate the New Year twice.
- On the Shantar Islands, migratory birds make a stop for rest, and the main inhabitants and owners of the lands are bears. Academician Middendorf wrote that "without trails trodden by bears, a person could hardly get through the thickets of the wooded Okhotsk region."
From Yakutsk along the Lena River to the Arctic
From the city of permafrost of Yakutsk, it is proposed to cruise along the Lena River. The route leads to the village of Tiksi, an Arctic port of Russia located beyond the Arctic Circle. Along the way, the ship will certainly make a stop at the Lena Pillars National Park, and will also take you to small settlements on the islands of the Laptev Sea, where you can get acquainted with the indigenous inhabitants of Yakutia.
Travel is not cheap: a ticket for one will cost 300 thousand rubles for two weeks.
