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  4. Russia Expedition: Permafrost Railway & Ysyakh Festival

Travel deep into Siberia on a rail riding adventure

Siberia – the very word has become symbolic for all that is remote, rugged and mysterious. This 15-day Expedition is your chance to discover a region that is as enigmatic to outsiders as it is vast. Travel into Russia’s Far East on the historic Baikul-Amur Railway, then board the new Permafrost Railway to Yakutsk, a city built on frozen ground. Learn the secrets of life in the Sakha Republic and immerse yourself in the traditions of the Yakut people. Celebrate the beginning of summer in what is normally one of the coldest cities on earth, revelling in the sun and warmth with locals during the Ysyakh Festival. Admire the wild beauty of the landscapes and tenacity of the people who call rural Russia home.

Start
Vladivostok, Russia
Finish
Yakutsk, Russia
Destination
Russia
Style
Original
Theme
Expedition, Festivals and Events
Code
WBSK
Physical rating
Ages
Min 15
Group size
Min 4, Max 12

Why you'll love this trip

  • Travel into stunning, sparsely-populated Far East Russian Siberia via two incredible feats of railway engineering – the Permafrost Express and the historic Baikal-Amur Railway – in the short window of summer.

  • Explore Yakutsk, the largest city built on continuous permafrost, and wonder at the unique architecture and cultural practises born of the harsh environment.

  • Celebrate the arrival of summer during the Ysyakh Festival, where the locals perform traditional Yakut sports, dance into the night and feast on local delicacies like roasted horse meat.

  • Stay overnight in Ust-Buotama National Park and visit a bison nursery, hike through evergreen forest and see the towering limestone rock pillars that line the Lena River.

  • Learn about various Yakut traditions on a visit to a horse farm, during lunch with a family in a small village and in tiny regional museums.

Is this trip right for you?

  • This trip is built around three journeys by train that are longer than 20 hours (with the longest being 38 hours). Please read the itinerary carefully for estimates and think carefully about your suitability for such travel.

  • While the crew will do their best to follow the itinerary, variations to train schedules may occur due to weather or under direction from local authorities. A sense of humour and flexibility will ensure you have a fascinating trip regardless and, if necessary, other travel arrangements will be made to reach the Ysyakh Festival.

  • Cities previously inaccessible by land, dense forest, tiny villages – this tour visits very remote locations. Please be prepared to forgo some modern conveniences in certain locations.

  • This Expedition involves learning about some confronting history, particularly in regard to gulags and forced labour under the Soviet Union.

  • This trip finishes in Yakutsk. You will need to book onward flights to Moscow, Vladivostok or St Petersburg at your own expense.

  • The Ysyakh Festival is on 27&28 Jun. So for those who book on WBSK200616, the order of destinations from Day 9 to Day 13 will be changed to as follow to match the date of the festival near Yakutsk: Day 9 -10 Ust-Buotama National Park; Day 11 - 13 Yakutsk & Ysyakh Festival. The order of activities will be switched accordingly but your experience in these destinations won't be affected.

Map of Russia Expedition: Permafrost Railway & Ysyakh Festival including Russian Federation
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Itinerary
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Zdravstvuyte! Welcome to Vladivostok, a major port city and your gateway to Russia’s Far East. Your adventure officially begins with a 6 pm welcome meeting. With the formalities out of the way, choose whether to join your group and leader for an optional dinner.
Accommodation
  • Hotel (1 night)
Optional Activities
  • Vladivostok - Funicular - RUB12
  • Vladivostok - Fort No 7 - RUB300
  • Vladivostok - Arsenev Regional Museum - RUB400
  • Vladivostok - Hermitage Vladivostok - RUB300
  • Vladivostok - Vladivostok Fortress Museum - RUB200
  • Vladivostok - Voroshilov Battery - RUB200
  • Vladivostok - Zarya Centre for Contemporary Art - Free
Meals Included
There are no meals included on this day.
Special Information
It’s very important that you attend the welcome meeting as we will be collecting insurance details and next of kin information at this time. If you are going to be late please let your travel agent or hotel reception know. Ask reception or look for a note in the lobby for more information on where the meeting will take place. Please have two copies of your passport, visa and migration cards ready. Your leader will collect one and the other is for you to keep on you at all times during the trip.

Check out Vladivostok on a bus tour today (approximately 3 hours). You'll be joined by a local guide who'll give you background information on the main sights around town. Take a walk on the main streets, admire Vladivostok from the old artillery battery, and visit the famous S-56 submarine museum. When the tour's over, the rest of the day is at your leisure until boarding the overnight train this evening at approximately 6 pm (please ask your leader to confirm the time of departure today). Maybe use your free time to explore on your own or choose from our extensive list of recommended optional activities like a ride on the funicular. When the time comes, settle into your train carriage and get comfortable for the first leg of your Russian rail journey.
Accommodation
  • Overnight train (1 night)
Included Activities
  • Vladivostok - S-56 Submarine
Optional Activities
  • Vladivostok - City tour - RUB1300
Meals Included
  • Breakfast
Special Information
The train journey that begins tonight will total around 25 hours, with route with a few stops along the way. This is the only way to get onto the famous Baikal-Amur Railway (Baikal-Amur Mainline).

Social drinking is common on trains in Russia and when enjoyed in moderation can be a great way to meet locals. While alcohol is often available for purchase on the train, legally it may only be consumed in the dining car. Officially it is illegal to be intoxicated on trains in Russia. While we certainly want all our travellers to have a great holiday, it's important that you show due respect for your fellow group members and keep in mind that many of your travel companions are using the train as a means of transport to get home or to work, not to party.

The train will trace the border of China today, travelling through Khabarovsk and crossing the Amur River. Stop in riverside Khabarovsk for about 1 hour and use the opportunity to stretch your legs, breathe some fresh air and stock up on snacks. Continue the train journey and arrive in Komsomolsk-on-Amur at around 6 pm. Set on the Amur River, the majority of Komsomolsk-on-Amur was constructed by gulag labourers – as well as prisoners of war and volunteers – on the site of a peasant village. After checking in, venture out on a walk to seek out some dinner. You leader is full of recommendations for a good local meal.
Accommodation
  • Hotel (1 night)
Meals Included
There are no meals included on this day.

Take a tour of Komsomolsk-on-Amur, a city with a fascinating (though confronting) history as a purpose-built industrial city and major gulag centre. Visit a building where prisoners worked, see the administrative office of the forced labour camps and pay your respects at a memorial stone that commemorates victims of political repression. Spend some time in the city centre then venture further afield to a prison camp for the convicts who built the Baikal-Amur Railway – the very same one that will carry you forward on your Russian adventure. See the camp hospitals, cemeteries and a quarry where prisoners also worked. It’s a sobering visit, but it offers essential insight into an influential period of Russian history. Following the excursion, board a train bound for Tynda in the early evening.
Accommodation
  • Overnight train (1 night)
Included Activities
  • Komsomolsk-na-Amure - City tour
Meals Included
There are no meals included on this day.
Special Information
The train journey that begins tonight will take around 38 hours with multiple short stops.

Sit back and enjoy the scenery along the Baikal-Amur Railway (AKA Baikal-Amur Mainline) as the train heads west, stopping en route at Postyshevo (36 minutes), Noviy Urgal (35 minutes) and Verkhnezeysk (30 minutes). Built as an alternative to the Trans-Siberian Railway from materials that could withstand the tough conditions and permafrost of Eastern Siberia, the line is rarely used for commercial transport. That means you’re one of few people (and fewer foreigners) to make the adventurous train journey over this incredible landscape.
Accommodation
  • Overnight train (1 night)
Meals Included
There are no meals included on this day.

Arrive before 7 am in Tynda, where you can grab breakfast and stretch your legs with a stroll across the river. Head to the silver Builders Monument, dedicated to the volunteers who worked on the Baikal-Amur Railway. Continue by private transfer to Neryungri (206 kilometres, approximately 4–5 hours) in the Sakha Republic (Yakutia). Arrive after lunch and settle into your accommodation. Head out to the local technopark, where massive machinery used in the Russian coal and construction sectors is displayed in a verdant setting. These huge pieces of equipment – which you can climb on and explore – give a sense of the epic scale of local industries. The rest of the day is at your leisure. Be sure to head to the main square to check out the imposing Lenin statue that stands watch there.
Accommodation
  • Hotel (1 night)
Included Activities
  • Tynda - Baikal-Amur Mainline Builders Monument
  • Neryungri - Tekhnopark
Meals Included
  • Breakfast
  • Lunch
  • Dinner
Special Information
Total travel time today is approximately 4–5 hours.

Return to the train station this morning and climb aboard the Permafrost Express at about 9.30 am. Settle in for an epic journey on this long-awaited rail. The vibrancy of the landscapes might take you by surprise, as summer in Siberia is warmer than many people expect. Take in views of evergreen forest, rugged mountains, vast lakes and seemingly endless steppes.
Accommodation
  • Overnight train (1 night)
Meals Included
  • Breakfast
Special Information
Total journey on the Permafrost Express will be 21 hours.

Disembark at the end of the Permafrost Express line in Nizhniy Bestyakh at 9 am. Transfer 35 kilometres to the village of Mayya, a typical Siberian village and the homeland of folk hero Manchaary. This 19th-century Robin Hood-esque figure was a popular advocate for the impoverished and the subject of regional intellectual and activist literature of the time. Visit the Mayya Regional Museum of History to learn a little more about life in the Sakha Republic. Enjoy lunch with a local family in their home, then continue deep into the forest to a Yakut horse farm. Spend some time watching these hardy beasts during feeding time and observing life on the farm. Grab a snack and sip some warm tea with the farmers.
Accommodation
  • Guesthouse or Hotel (1 night)
Included Activities
  • Nizhny Bestyakh - Yakut horse farm & Siberian village experience
Meals Included
  • Lunch
Special Information
Depending on the group size we will either stay at the farm or continue on to Yakutsk for the night where we will stay in a hotel. At the farm, accommodation will be simple and multishare, with a Russian sauna (banya) for bathing.

Cross the Lena River to Yakutsk. Settle into your hotel and then head out to explore the largest city in the world to be constructed on continuous permafrost. Despite being known as one of the coldest cities in the world (or the coldest, depending on what you think counts as a city), you’ll find summer temperatures here quite warm. Take a stroll through the reconstructed and restored buildings of the Old Town. Visit the Treasury of the Sakha Republic exhibition and see examples of traditional crafts and the minerals and gems the region is known for. Continue to the Melnikov Permafrost Institute and learn about the scientific research dedicated to permafrost. Enjoy a free evening in a city that stays light well into the night at this time of year.
Accommodation
  • Hotel (1 night)
Included Activities
  • Yakutsk - City tour
  • Yakutsk - Melnikov Permafrost Institute
  • Yakutsk - Treasury of the Sakha Republic
  • Yakutsk - Old Town walking tour
Meals Included
  • Breakfast

The Ysyakh Festival kicks off at midday with a battle re-enactment performed by locals dressed in traditional, Genghis Khan-style armour. You’re sure to be offered horse meat and horse milk while you watch the festivities, and women in white dress will swat you with horsehair for good luck. Participate in dancing and celebration of the beginning of summer with the excited locals. While the festival is alcohol free during the daytime, when the sun goes down a raucous party begins as young and old come together to ring in the first official dawn of summer.
Accommodation
  • Hotel (1 night)
Included Activities
  • Yakutsk - Ysyakh Festival
Meals Included
  • Breakfast
Special Information
The exact programs of the festival celebration won't be released until about a month before the festival. But based on the programs in 2019, here are the activities and celebrations that you may experience today and tomorrow at the festival: opening ceremony at the Center arena; traditional circle dance of Sakha people; the ritual of purification and blessing guests; traditional art and crafts exhibition; folk songs concert; folklore plays; ethnic sports contest; closing ceremony and worshiping the spiritual areas, etc.

Spend another day immersing yourself in this unique festival. Snack on Yakut delicacies, watch traditional sports like wrestling and horse racing, join more group dances and soak up the atmosphere of the celebration.
Accommodation
  • Hotel (1 night)
Included Activities
  • Yakutsk - Ysyakh Festival
Meals Included
  • Breakfast

Leave behind the city for the wilderness today and drive to Ust-Buotama National Park. Stop en route at the tiered Kuruluur Waterfalls and the Buluus Glacier, a blue-white expanse that spills out of the evergreen forest. Hop on the ferry to Ust-Buotama National Park and stop in at a nursery for forest bison. The bison here were imported from Canada in an attempt to revive the population after centuries of hunting led to their extinction locally. Your accommodation tonight is in classic cabins in the park.
Accommodation
  • Cabins (1 night)
Included Activities
  • Ust' Buotama NP - Wood Bison Nursery
Meals Included
  • Breakfast
  • Lunch
  • Dinner

Spend a day embracing the wild and enjoying the pristine natural surroundings. You can hike to the Buotama River, go for a bracing dip or try your hand at fishing.
Accommodation
  • Cabins (1 night)
Included Activities
  • Yakutsk - Buluus Glacier
  • Yakutsk - Kuruluur Waterfalls
  • Ust' Buotama NP - Hiking
Meals Included
  • Breakfast
  • Lunch
  • Dinner

See the incredible rock formations that are the Lena Pillars from an observation point. These incredible limestone spires line the Lena River and offer insight into the geographical history of our planet. Return to Yakutsk by private vehicle. This evening, maybe head out in the light of night for a classic Yakut meal.
Accommodation
  • Hotel (1 night)
Included Activities
  • Ust' Buotama NP - Lena Pillars
Meals Included
  • Breakfast

Your Expedition comes to an end today. However, there’s plenty more to see in Yakutsk. How often are you likely to return to this part of the world? If you’d like to book extra accommodation and spend a few more days in this incredible city, please speak to your booking agent.
Optional Activities
  • Yakutsk - Yakutsk Regional History Museum - RUB300
  • Yakutsk - Permafrost Kingdom - RUB500
  • Yakutsk - Khomus (Jew's Harp) Museum - RUB250
  • Yakutsk - National Art Museum - RUB150
Meals Included
  • Breakfast

Meals

10 breakfasts, 4 lunches, 3 dinners

Transport

Overnight sleeper train, Private vehicle, Metro, Plane

Accommodation

Overnight sleeper train (5 nights), Hotel (7 nights), Guesthouse (2 nights)

Included activities

  • Vladivostok - S-56 Submarine
  • Komsomolsk-na-Amure - City tour
  • Tynda - Baikal-Amur Mainline Builders Monument
  • Neryungri - Tekhnopark
  • Nizhny Bestyakh - Yakut horse farm & Siberian village experience
  • Yakutsk - City tour
  • Yakutsk - Melnikov Permafrost Institute
  • Yakutsk - Treasury of the Sakha Republic
  • Yakutsk - Old Town walking tour
  • Yakutsk - Ysyakh Festival
  • Ust' Buotama NP - Wood Bison Nursery
  • Yakutsk - Buluus Glacier
  • Yakutsk - Kuruluur Waterfalls
  • Ust' Buotama NP - Hiking
  • Ust' Buotama NP - Lena Pillars

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Important notes

1. A Single Supplement is available on this trip, excluding overnight trains (Days 2-3, 5-6 & 8) and cabins (7 & 12-13) where accommodation will be multishare.
2. In order for our local operator to book train tickets in Russia, we require the following information at time of booking or no later than 31 days prior to departure.
• Passengers full name (First, Middle and Last)
• Full Passport Details (number, expiry, issued)
• DOB
• City of Birth
Please note that the above information needs to be the same as your travelling passport, any wrong information provided may result in extra personal expense to reissue train tickets, or missing out altogether.
3. A minimum of 4 travellers are required for departures of this trip to run.

Essential trip information

Want an in-depth insight into this trip? Essential Trip Information provides a detailed itinerary, visa info, how to get to your hotel, what's included - pretty much everything you need to know about this adventure and more.

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