Eastern Siberia

Why Go?

Endless ice-bound winters, kiln-hot summers, a history of imperial exile and Stalinist savagery – Eastern Siberia (Восточная Сибирь) isn't an obvious holiday destination, but there’s much more to this vast region than blood-craving mosquitoes and blizzard-lost Gulag camps. Focus is given to the map by glorious Baikal, the world’s deepest lake. Only Siberia could possess such a phenomenon with its crystal waters, mind-boggling stats and long list of outlandish endemic species. The lake presents a major obstacle to the Trans-Siberian Railway, which cradles Siberia in a string of intriguing cities such as architecturally grand Irkutsk, exotically Asian Ulan-Ude and youthful Krasnoyarsk.

But the trick to enjoying Eastern Siberia is in escaping the cities – hit the Great Baikal Trail, go hunting for Tuvan standing stones or seek out far-flung Buddhist temples in Buryatiya – the possibilities are almost as endless as the immense sweep of geography they occupy.

When to Go

AMar Do a spot of ice fishing on Lake Baikal when the Siberian winter turns its surface hard as steel.

AJul Get on down at Shushenskoe’s Mir Sibiri International Music Festival.

ASep Watch larch trees around Lake Baikal turn a fiery yellow during the brief autumn.

Best Places to Eat

A 0.75 please

A Kochevnik

A Food & Bar 114

A Orda

A Khozyain Taygi

Best Places to Stay

A Aldyn Bulak Yurt Hotel

A Belka Hostel

A Hovel Hostel

A Mergen Bator

A Nikita’s Homestead

Eastern Siberia Highlights

1 Kyzyl Marvelling at ancient Scythian gold at the National Museum, and the uncanny sounds a human voice can make during Tuvan throat singing.

2 Lake Baikal Trekking, cycling or hitching a lift across the frozen lake.

3 Irkutsk Wandering boulevards of haughty 19th-century architecture in the city once known as the ‘Paris of Siberia’.

4 Ivolginsk (Ivolga) Datsan Meditating with monks at this and many other revived Buddhist monasteries around the region.

5 Frolikha Adventure Coastline Trail Stepping out on Siberia’s most exhilarating long-distance hiking routes.

6 Circumbaikal Railway Taking a turn around Baikal’s rocky southern shore.

History

For century after tranquil prehistoric century, Eastern Siberia’s indigenous peoples, such as the Evenki (Tungusi) north of Lake Baikal and the Kets of the Yenisey River, lived a peaceful existence in harmony with nature, harvesting game and berries in the thick taiga, fishing the rivers and building their chumy (tepees), largely oblivious of the outside world. In the south, horse-riding nomads of the Scythian culture (700 BC–AD 300) thrived in what is now Tuva, leaving behind fields of standing stones and circular kurgany (burial mounds) packed with intricately fashioned gold.

Gradually, however, Mongol-Turkic tribes began their expansion north and west, led by fearsome leaders such as Attila the Hun. The Buryats filtered north from Mongolia during the 11th and 12th centuries to assimilate local peoples and become the dominant ethnic group in Eastern Siberia. In the early 13th century, Chinggis (Genghis) Khaan united Mongol tribes across the region and went on to conquer China. Subsequent khans would sweep west across the steppe to sack the great cities of European Russia.

Enter the Russians

With a firm foothold in Western Siberia, small Cossack units began arriving further east in the early 17th century, establishing an ostrog (fortress) at river confluence positions such as Krasnoyarsk (1628), Ulan-Ude (1666, originally Verkhneudinsk) and Irkutsk (1651). Traders from European Russia followed and pressed indigenous peoples into supplying sable pelts at bargain prices (a tax called the yasak). The Buryats put up some resistance to the European invaders, but were no match for the Russian firearms.

European peasants were the next group to make the treacherous journey from the west, followed by banished prisoners and Old Believers after the religious rift of 1653; the original defensive forts burst like popcorn into ramshackle timber towns. Other Siberian settlers included the influential Decembrists, who’d failed to pull off a coup in 1825, and political prisoners from the uprisings in Russian-occupied Poland. The end of serfdom in 1861 brought a tsunami of land-hungry peasants escaping the cramped conditions of European Russia.

In the 18th century, Tibetan Buddhism arrived in Buryat settlements east of Lake Baikal and was successfully superimposed onto existing shamanist beliefs. The western Buryats were never converted and shamanism still dominates west of the lake.

The Impact of the Railroads

Siberia’s fur-based economy rapidly diversified and the discovery of gold further encouraged colonisation. Trade with China brought considerable wealth following the treaties of Nerchinsk in 1689 and Kyakhta in 1728. Lucrative tea caravans continued trudging the Siberian post road until put out of business by the Suez Canal and the Trans-Siberian Railway. The railway instantly changed the fortunes of cities, most notably Kyakhta on the border with Mongolia. Once one of the richest towns in all Russia, it plunged into provincial obscurity when the tea trade dried up. In the early 20th century the newly finished line brought yet another influx of Russian settlers east.

Following the 1917 Bolshevik revolution and the outbreak of the Russian Civil War, Siberia declared itself firmly in the White camp under Admiral Kolchak. After much fierce fighting along the Trans-Siberian Railway, Red forces finally took the region in 1919. Kolchak was arrested and executed in Irkutsk in 1920, and the last shots of the civil war were fired in Tuva. From 1920 to 1922 Eastern Siberia was nominally independent, with the pro-Lenin Far Eastern Republic centred on Chita.

As the USSR stabilised and Stalin’s infamous Gulag camps were created, Siberia reverted to its old role as a land of banishment. Nonetheless, unforced colonisation continued apace, especially after WWII when much heavy industry was shifted east for strategic security. Prisoners, volunteers and Soviets seeking higher pay (the so-called 'long rouble') for working in the east arrived to construct dams and transport infrastructure. The greatest of these projects was the ill-conceived Baikalo-Amurskaya Magistral (BAM) railway stretching over 4200km from Tayshet to Sovetskaya Gavan on the Pacific coast.

Post-Soviet Siberia

Since the end of the USSR in 1991, many towns and villages away from the economic beaten track (such as along the BAM and the Yenisey River) have deteriorated into virtual ghost towns. Others, such as Krasnoyarsk and Irkutsk, have benefited from Russia’s new-found economic strength on the back of high oil and gas prices. Lake Baikal is attracting more tourists than ever, and Moscow has declared certain areas on its shores special economic zones slated for development. Having weathered the world economic downturn comparatively well, things are better across the region than they have ever been. But with this recent prosperity have come concerns about Siberia’s ecologically sensitive habitats and the effects industry and mass tourism may be having on them. Eastern Siberia's Russian cities are firmly behind a now confidently authoritarian President Putin (who has a soft spot for certain locations in the region), but the self-governing Buryats, Khakass and Tuvans worry about the Kremlin's increasingly centralising tendencies.

Krasnoyarsk Territory & Khakassia

Vast and beautiful, the Greenland-shaped Krasnoyarsk Territory (Красноярский Край) stretches all the way from the Arctic islands of Severnaya Zemlya to a mountainous tip at Mt Borus. Its capital is Krasnoyarsk, a buzzing, forward-looking metropolis and a popular stop for travellers riding the Trans-Siberian Railway. Attached to it in the south is the autonomous republic of Khakassia – the land of snow-capped peaks, lake-dotted taiga and sparsely populated steppe grasslands. The native Khakass people are descendants of Turkic nomads, closely related to the Kyrgyz, but these days they are vastly outnumbered by Russians.

Like culturally similar Altai, the steppes of Khakassia and southern Krasnoyarsk Territory were a cradle of Siberian civilisation. Standing stones and kurgany pock the landscape; many are more than 3000 years old, though the most visually impressive date from the Turkic period (6th to 12th centuries). The Khyagas (Yenisey Kyrgyz) empire, from which the name Khakassia is derived, ruled much of Central Asia and central Siberia from around AD 840 until its golden age ended abruptly with the arrival of Chinggis Khaan and company.

Russian trappers and Cossacks started moving into the northern, forested part of Krasnoyarsk Territory from the 15th century, building forts and imposing duties on indigenous fur hunters. The colonisation was spurred by the construction of the Great Siberian Trakt, a road connecting Siberia to European Russia. Colonists were supplemented by people exiled from all over the empire, most notably from Poland. By the beginning of the 20th century, the territory was largely populated by ethnic Russians, with the shamanist Khakass people largely Christianised and integrated into Russian society.

Krasnoyarsk Красноярск

%391 / Pop 1.08 million / Time Moscow +4hr

Orderly and affluent, Krasnoyarsk reflects in the blueish-grey surface of the mind-bogglingly wide Yenisey River, which marks the border between the swampy west and the mountainous east of Siberia. Uniquely, the million-strong city boasts a hugely popular national park located within city boundaries. The other prominent urban feature is unfortunately a giant aluminium plant, which contributes to some serious air pollution in the centre. With outstanding museums, a lively restaurant scene and some exquisite timber mansions popping up here and there amid the Soviet-era concrete, Krasnoyarsk is an agreeable place to break the long journey between Tomsk (612km west) and Lake Baikal.

Krasnoyarsk

1Top Sights

1Ploshchad MiraG3

1Sights

2Intercession CathedralE3

3Literature MuseumD2

4Regional MuseumD4

5Resurrection ChurchF2

6Revolution SquareA3

7Surikov Art MuseumE3

8Surikov Museum-EstateB3

9SV NikolaiG3

2Activities, Courses & Tours

10Sayan RingC4

4Sleeping

11Dom HotelA3

12Dom NeoB2

13Hotel OktyabrskayaF3

14Hovel HostelE2

15IrisE3

16Soft HotelE3

5Eating

170.75 pleaseC3

18Bar BulgakovE4

19Mike & MollyB3

20Shiv GangaB3

21Svinya i BiserA3

22Vinegret BufetE3

6Drinking & Nightlife

23Kofeynya KulturaE3

24KremG3

25TovarishchA3

26Zalech na Dno v GamburgE4

27Сhaynaya YurtaG3

3Entertainment

28Dom KinoC3

29Opera-Ballet TheatreC4

30PhilharmoniaG3

31Puppet TheatreB3

32Rock-Jazz KafeE4

8Information

33RosbankG3

34SberbankE4

Transport

35TSAVSA3

1Sights

Dotted about Krasnoyarsk are some very fine wooden houses, notably ul Lenina 88 and 67 and ul Karla Marksa 118. There are also many art nouveau facades such as pr Mira 76, ul Lenina 62 and ul Parizhskoy Kommuny 13.

oStolby Nature ReserveNATURE RESERVE

( GOOGLE MAP ; www.stolby.ru)F

Russia's most visited national park is located right across the river from Krasnoyarsk's city centre. Its highlight are the fingers of volcanic rock called stolby poking above gently sloping wooded mountains. To reach the most spectacular of them (as well as the newly opened visitors centre), follow the track (7km long) near Hotel Snezhnaya Dolina (bus 50). Alternatively, you can take the year-round chairlift (Фуникулёр; R250) at Bobrovy Log Ski Resort and hike about the same distance through the park.

New paths and steps mean going it alone is not the daredevil experience it once was, but English-language tours with SibTourGuide are a much more pleasant and entertaining affair. Be aware that infected ticks are dangerous between May and July, and tick protection or predeparture encephalitis jabs are essential at this time.

oPloshchad MiraMUSEUM

(Площадь Мира MAP GOOGLE MAP ; www.mira1.ru; pl Mira 1; adult/child R150/70; h11am-7pm Tue, Wed & Fri-Sun)

Krasnoyarsk's Lenin museum was opened on the occasion of the October Revolution's 70th anniversary in 1987, only to see the entire communist system collapse four years later. But, in a true revolutionary spirit, it has reinvented itself as a beautifully eclectic art venue that fuses elements of the original communist-era exhibitions with top-quality contemporary art and photography. An installation dedicated to Afghan and Chechen wars, which mixes naive art with photographs and personal belongings of deceased soldiers, is especially poignant.

Ploshchad Mira also serves as the venue of Krasnoyarsk's art biennale, held in 2018 and 2020. The museum's old library has now been converted into what Russians call 'open space' – a wi-fi hotspot lounge, where you can comfortably spend time checking emails, reading a book or chatting with friends over a cup of coffee. Called Okna, it also runs lectures and public discussions.

Regional MuseumMUSEUM

(Краеведческий музей MAP GOOGLE MAP ; www.kkkm.ru; ul Dubrovinskogo 84; R150; h10am-6pm Tue-Sun)

Housed in an incongruously attractive 1912 art nouveau Egyptian temple, this is one of Siberia’s better museums. Arranged around a Cossack explorer’s ship, surprisingly well-presented exhibitions across the two floors examine every facet of the region’s past, from Cossacks and gentlemen explorers to the Tunguska explosion, local fauna, prerevolution institutions and religious art.

Highlights include the 20th-century ‘nostalgia’ section on the upper level and the 4m-tall mammoth skeleton looking like something straight off a Hollywood museum movie set. There are touchscreen games for kids throughout and a decent cafe to look forward to at the end.

Literature MuseumMUSEUM

(Литературный музей MAP GOOGLE MAP ; www.kkkm.ru/filialy-muzeya/literaturnyj-muzej; ul Lenina 66; R100; h10am-6pm Tue-Sun)

Occupying a glorious 1911 merchant’s mansion, this wonderfully restored museum highlights various aspects of Siberian life that inspired authors who wrote about it – from cold and gloom to multicoloured gems and shaman dances. Of special note is the exhibit dedicated to Agafia Lykova, a member of the famous Old Believer hermit family.

Surikov Art MuseumMUSEUM

(Художественный музей Сурикова MAP GOOGLE MAP ; ul Parizhskoy Kommuny 20; R150; h10am-6pm Tue, Wed & Fri-Sun, 1-9pm Thu)

The cute Surikov Art Museum displays works by Russian 19th-century artist Ivan Surikov and his contemporaries. Its affiliate at ul Mira 12 houses a small but impressive collection of Russian vanguard art, including Kandinsky, Malevich and Rodchenko.

Intercession CathedralCHURCH

(Покровский собор MAP GOOGLE MAP ; ul Surikova)

This pleasingly small old church dating from 1795 has an interior of unusually glossed and intricately moulded stucco framing haloed saints.

SV NikolaiMUSEUM

(Святой Николай MAP GOOGLE MAP ; R70; h10am-8pm Tue-Sun)

Permanently docked below Ploshchad Mira art centre is the SV Nikolai, the ship that transported future revolution leader Vladimir Lenin to exile in Shushenskoe in 1897 and the future Tsar Nikolai II across the Yenisey in 1891.

Chapel of Paraskeva PyatnitsaNOTABLE BUILDING

(Часовня Параскевы Пятницы GOOGLE MAP ; top of Karaulnaya Hill)

For some spectacular city views, climb Karaulnaya Hill (there's no bus) to the little chapel that features on the Russian 10-rouble banknote (now slowly being replaced with a coin). It was designed in 1855 by Konstantin Thon, the architect behind Moscow's Christ the Saviour Cathedral. At midday a deafening one-gun salute is fired from just below the chapel.

Roev Ruchey ZooZOO

(Зоопарк Роев ручей GOOGLE MAP ; www.roev.ru; adult/child R300/100; h9am-9pm)

Take bus 50 or 50A to this animal-friendly zoo near the Bobrovy Log Ski Resort to see numerous Siberian species.

Revolution SquareSQUARE

(pl Revolyutsii; MAP GOOGLE MAP )

The city's vast central square showcases Soviet-era architectural classics in all their Stalinist glory – complete with colonnaded government buildings and a statue of Lenin, who extends one hand as if inviting visitors for a stroll in Dubrovinsky Park of Culture and Leisure, another compulsory element of any Soviet city. Untouched by Moscow-style gentrification, the park is dotted with tacky 1990s funfair attractions and abuts in pleasantly revamped Levobereznaya nab – a riverside promenade, great for both walks and cycling.

A Ferris wheel is useful for photographers keen to snap a winning shot of the Yenisey and the foothills of Sayan mountains beyond it.

Resurrection ChurchCHURCH

(Благовещенская церковь MAP GOOGLE MAP ; ul 9 Yanvarya)

The top-heavy but elegant Resurrection Church (1804–22) was decapitated in the 1930s but given a new tower in 1998–99. Its icon-filled interior billows with incense.

Surikov Museum-EstateMUSEUM

(Музей-усадьба Сурикова MAP GOOGLE MAP ; www.surikov-dom.com; ul Lenina 98; R200; h10am-6pm Tue-Sun)

The Surikov Museum-Estate preserves the house, sheds and vegetable patch of 19th-century painter Vasily Surikov (1848–1916). The heavy-gated garden forms a refreshing oasis of rural Siberia right in the city centre. More of Surikov’s work is on show at the old-school Surikov Art Museum.

2Activities

Bobrovy Log Ski ResortSNOW SPORTS

(Лыжный курорт Бобровый Лог GOOGLE MAP ; www.bobrovylog.ru; ul Sibirskaya 92; ski pass per hour/day R350/1300, ski hire from R450)

Below the Stolby the slap and swish of skis and snowboards can be heard at the Bobrovy Log Ski Resort. Snow cannons keep the slopes going well into May, and in the summer months the Roedelbahn (a kind of downhill forest roller coaster), a pool and regular sports events keep the fun level high.

Cable car provides access to Stolby Nature Reserve observation point and hiking trails. The resort is also the location of one of the city's finest restaurants, Khozyain Taygi. To get here, catch bus 37 that runs from the train station direct to the resort via pr Mira and Predmostnaya pl. An Uber ride from the centre costs R140.

TTours

SibTourGuideTOURS

(%391-251 654, 8-913-534 2654; www.sibtourguide.com)

Experienced tour guide Anatoly Brewhanov offers personalised hiking trips into the Stolby, imaginative tours around Krasnoyarsk and general travel assistance. He also provides authentic ‘rural experiences’ at his dacha (summer country house), organises cruises along the Yenisey and leads trips to the site of the Tunguska Event, all while maintaining an info-packed website.

His great apartment hostel is sadly no more, but he was eyeing the possibility of launching a new accommodation project at the time of research.

Sayan RingTOURS

( MAP GOOGLE MAP ; %391-223 1231; www.sayanring.com; ul Uritskogo 117, office 2-01; h10am-7pm Mon-Fri)

Agency specialising in Tuva and Khakassia tours.

zFestivals & Events

Zelyony FestivalMUSIC

(Зелёный фестиваль http://gorodprima.ru; hJun)

Usually held in June on Tatyshev island, this giant picnic celebrates modern art and street food in addition to lots of good music.

4Sleeping

oHovel HostelHOSTEL$

(Хостел Ховел MAP GOOGLE MAP ; %8-929-309 4020; www.hovel24.ru; ul Lenina 52 (enter from ul Markovskogo); dm/d without bathroom from R400/1400, q R2200; W)

A sparkling oasis for budget travellers who have made it all the way here through Siberia’s snowy wilderness, this boutique hostel features a large kitchen, a common area with comfy couches, and a range of rooms from dorms and cosy doubles to an airy two-level studio, ideal for a family with children.

oIrisBOUTIQUE HOTEL$$

(Ирис MAP GOOGLE MAP ; %391-227 2292; www.iris-apart-hotel.ru; pr Mira 37; s/d R3600/4000; W)

Housed in a 19th-century former religious school for girls, the romantic French theme and impeccable personal service set the Iris apart from most Siberian hotels. The 10 rooms are done out in soothing beiges and light browns but the pièces de résistance here are the two romantic design suites, all period wallpaper, belle époque furniture and mock chateau elements.

Dom NeoHOTEL$$

(Дом Нэо MAP GOOGLE MAP ; %391-223 9360; www.dom-hotel24.ru/hotel/neo; ul Krasnoy Armii 10 str 5; r from R2800; aW)

Definitely the brightest-coloured building in central Krasnoyarsk, this progressive hotel achieves an optimal value for money ratio by cutting out optional amenities, such as minibars, and focusing entirely on the essentials – the bed, the bathroom and the light. Everything is sparkling new and designed in a futuristic style. A filling set-menu breakfast is an extra R350 at Cafe Benedikt downstairs.

Hotel OktyabrskayaHOTEL$$$

(Гостиница Октябрьская MAP GOOGLE MAP ; %391-223 0808; www.hoteloctober.ru; pr Mira 15; s/d from R3800/4200; W)

Comfortable and professionally run with rooms approximating Western standards, albeit without air-conditioning. Satellite TV includes Western channels and some English is spoken. The trendy lobby area has a stylish juice bar. Includes breakfast.

Dom HotelHOTEL$$$

( MAP GOOGLE MAP ; %391-290 6666; www.dom-hotel24.ru; ul Krasnoy Armii 16a; s/d from R4200/5900; iW)

Centred around a rather characterless courtyard, the 81 light-filled rooms at Krasnoyarsk’s top business hotel are immaculately maintained and have become a firm favourite among foreigners looking for Western comforts. Staff are courteous and there is an inexpensive on-site restaurant. Breakfast costs extra.

Soft HotelHOTEL$$$

( MAP GOOGLE MAP ; %391-228 2700; www.softhotel.ru; ul Surikova 16; s/d from R3900/4600; aW)

With its European business-standard facilities, waxy antique-style furniture, 21st-century bathrooms (with bidets!) and high-flying ceilings, taking the soft option might be the way to go now in Krasnoyarsk. Efficient service and good value for money – only the views and the nonbuffet breakfast disappoint slightly.

5Eating

Vinegret BufetCAFETERIA$

(Буфет Винегрет MAP GOOGLE MAP ; %391-2311 989; https://vk.com/vinegretbufet; ul Surikova 12; mains R100-150; h10am-10pm)

A vast and modern rustic-themed cafeteria, Vinegret lures white-collar workers with a large salad bar and a grill station. Pancakes with a variety of fillings make a good breakfast option.

o0.75 pleaseRUSSIAN$$

( MAP GOOGLE MAP ; %391-215 2913; www.facebook.com/075please; pr Mira 86; mains R480-640; hnoon-2am)

This gem is two in one – a wine bar and an Arctic-themed restaurant that upgrades traditional Siberian staples to near-Michelin levels. Nelma stroganina (a kind of frozen ceviche) quite literally melts in your mouth. Reindeer steak with cheese and pear makes a star duo with homemade chokeberry liquor. Crème brûlée with sea buckthorn sorbet is nothing short of Elysian.

Bar BulgakovFUSION$$

(Бар Булгаков MAP GOOGLE MAP ; %391-272 8778; http://barbulgakov.ru; ul Surikova 12; mains R250-700; hnoon-2am; Wv)

This delightfully bizarre space decorated with Soviet vanguard art and presided over by a Soviet-era female rower statue that holds a giant fork instead of an oar is best for late-night alcohol-infused dinners. The inventive fusion menu is permeated with Caucasian motifs and includes such wondrous concoctions as lamb and aubergine stew cooked in a clay pot with a rye bread cap.

A great set-menu lunch served from noon till 4pm costs R370.

Mike & MollyITALIAN$$

( MAP GOOGLE MAP ; www.mikeandmollycafe.ru; ul Diktatury Proletariata 32a; mains R200-500; h11am-midnight)

The stylishly unassuming interior of this Italian job suggests the focus is firmly on the food, and that assumption would be right. Possibly Krasnoyarsk’s best lasagnes, pastas, salads and proper starters land promptly on your table as you kick back on the black-cloth wall sofas with a glass of Chianti.

Svinya i BiserEASTERN EUROPEAN$$

(Свинья и бисер MAP GOOGLE MAP ; %391-290 4040; http://bellinigroup.ru/rest/pig-and-beads; ul Krasnoy Armii 16a; mains R250-600; h7am-1am)

Its wood-rich interior strives to convey the ambience of old Europe. The menu at 'Pig & Beads' is carnivore concerto grosso, with pork playing the first violin. Sausages, shashlyk (meat kebabs), burgers, steaks, schnitzels – the menu seems to cover every existing method of preparing meat. Excellent buffet breakfasts are served from 7am (R450).

Shiv GangaINDIAN$$

(Шив ганга MAP GOOGLE MAP ; %391-293 0064; https://vk.com/shivgangacafe; ul Diktatury Proletariata 28; mains R320-470; h11am-11pm)

A small eatery run by actual Indians (rather than Russian esotericists, as often happens) comes as a pleasant surprise, especially for vegetarians. Inevitable problems with getting authentic spices does affect the taste of curries, but the overall quality is impressive.

Khozyain TaygiRUSSIAN$$$

(Хозяин Тайги GOOGLE MAP ; %391-256 8649; www.bobrovylog.ru; ul Sibirskaya 92; mains R560-1100; hnoon-midnight)

Siberian taiga, in the form of Stolby Nature Reserve, begins right outside this refined restaurant, entirely dedicated to the kind of food one can catch or forage in the world's largest forest. A sample menu could include mousse made of, well, moose for starters, nelma (Arctic salmon) as second course and terrific frozen red whortleberries mixed with cedar nut for dessert.

6Drinking & Nightlife

oСhaynaya YurtaTEAHOUSE

(Чайная юрта MAP GOOGLE MAP ; %391-297 6037; https://vk.com/yurtea; pl Mira 1; hnoon-midnight)

Literally a yurt occupying a prime riverside spot next to the city’s best museum, this place celebrates the tea culture of Siberian nomads. Try Orlan Sagaan tea, which contains the sagaan-dalya (a ubiquitous East Siberian herb rhododendron) or Tuvan tea with talgan (barley flour), milk and butter. The food menu is equally exotic.

Kofeynya KulturaCOFFEE

(Кофейня Культура MAP GOOGLE MAP ; https://vk.com/culture_krsk; pr Mira 56; h8am-10pm)

As the name suggests, this is a den of coffee nerds who see the dark brew as an agent of cultural revolution and who perpetually experiment with brewing techniques and equipment. Besides that, it is a pleasant modern environment to spend some time in the company of a friend or a gadget.

TovarishchCRAFT BEER

(Comrade; MAP GOOGLE MAP ; %8-913-836 5949; https://vk.com/clubtkbkrsk; ul Oborony 2a; h1pm-midnight)

A few dozen brands of Russian and international beers, both draft and bottled, are on offer in this dim-lit bar with crypto-Maoist subtext ciphered in the decor. Zolotoy Yarlyk lager and Black Jack stout are among the most popular brews.

Zalech na Dno v GamburgBEER HALL

(Lying Low in Hamburg; MAP GOOGLE MAP ; %391-286 3355; http://berrywoodfamily.ru/blog/zalech-na-dno-v-gamburg; ul Surikova 12 k6; hnoon-2am)

A vast vaulted cellar contains a German biergarten with a Siberian twist. There is a good dozen German, Czech and Belgian beers on tap, which you can top up with wurst and sauerkraut, or – more experimentally – with suguday (frozen raw fish with onion) served in a jar.

KremCAFE

( MAP GOOGLE MAP ; %391-258 1538; pr Mira 10; h24hr; W)

One of Krasnoyarsk’s classiest coffee houses has black-and-white photography, dark-wood furniture, a belt-stretching dessert menu and reasonably priced lattes and espressos.

3Entertainment

Dom KinoCINEMA

(Дом кино MAP GOOGLE MAP ; %391-227 2637; www.filmshouse.ru; pr Mira 88)

A place to watch sophisticated art-house cinema, often shown in the original language, with Russian subtitles.

Mod's BarLIVE MUSIC

( GOOGLE MAP ; http://themodsbar.ru; ul Aviatorov 19; h6pm-morning)

This new and smarter-than-usual nightlife venue, located inside Grand Hall Siberia in Vzlyotka area (east of the centre), runs DJ and live-music events, as well as dance and art performances during weekends. Thursday karaoke night features a live band that can smooth out even the lousiest singing.

Burton BarLIVE MUSIC

( GOOGLE MAP ; %391-214 0224; https://vk.com/burtonbar; ul Televizornaya 1 str 26)

A far-flung indie rock and 'intellectual hip-hop' (whatever that is!) venue run by fans of the film director Tim Burton.

Opera-Ballet TheatreTHEATRE

(Театр оперы и балета MAP GOOGLE MAP ; %391-227 8697; www.opera.krasnoyarsk.ru; ul Perensona 2)

The architecturally nondescript Opera-Ballet Theatre has daily performances of productions such as Carmen, Swan Lake and Romeo and Juliet starting in the early evening, October to June.

Rock-Jazz KafeLIVE MUSIC

(Рок-Джаз Кафе MAP GOOGLE MAP ; %391-252 3305; https://vk.com/rockjazzcafe; ul Surikova 12; h4pm-6am Tue-Sun)

This dark venue showcases live bands around an upturned motorcycle from 10pm most days.

PhilharmoniaLIVE MUSIC

(Филармония MAP GOOGLE MAP ; %391-227 4930; www.krasfil.ru; pl Mira 2b)

The Philharmonia has three concert halls showcasing folk, jazz and classical music.

Puppet TheatrePUPPET THEATRE

( MAP GOOGLE MAP ; %391-211 3000; www.puppet24.ru; ul Lenina 119)

Classic Russian puppet shows such as Chuk i Gek, Doktor Aybolit and Goldilocks for kids and adults alike.

8Orientation

The city centre’s grid layout, which makes Krasnoyarsk look a bit like US cities, is easy to navigate. The zoo, ski resort and Stolby Nature Reserve are over 10km west along the Yenisey’s south bank.

8Information

Rosbank ( MAP GOOGLE MAP ; pr Mira 7; h9am-6pm Mon-Thu, 9am-4.45pm Fri) Currency exchange and 24-hour indoor ATM.

Sberbank (Сбербанк MAP GOOGLE MAP ; ul Surikova 15; h10am-7pm Mon-Sat) Currency-exchange window and ATM.

Post Office ( GOOGLE MAP ; ul Lenina 62; h8am-8pm Mon-Fri, 9am-6pm Sat)

Prospekt Mira (https://prmira.ru) is a Russian-only online publication that covers upcoming cultural events.

8Getting There & Away

Air

A new sparkling Yemelyanovo Airport ( GOOGLE MAP ; %391-255 5999; www.yemelyanovo.ru) terminal was about to open at the time of writing. Services to almost anywhere in Siberia and the rest of Russia are available. International destinations include Bangkok and several Chinese airports.

TSAVS (ЦАВС MAP GOOGLE MAP ; www.krascavs.ru; ul Mira 112; h8am-8pm) is a centrally located one-stop shop for all bus, train and air tickets. Krasnoyarsk has the following flight connections:

AIrkutsk from R8000, two daily

AKyzyl from R7700, four weekly

AMoscow from R7500, up to seven daily

ANovosibirsk from R5600, two daily

Boat

Every few days in summer, passenger boats from Krasnoyarsk’s spired river station (Речной вокзал GOOGLE MAP ) ply the Yenisey to Dudinka (1989km, 4½ to five days) but foreigners may not proceed beyond Igarka. SibTourGuide can arrange tickets.

Bus

The main bus station (Автовокзал GOOGLE MAP ; www.krasavtovokzal.ru; ul Aerovokzalnaya 22) is to the northeast of the city centre and is best reached by Buses 49, 24 and 53 from ul Karla Marksa. Destinations:

AAbakan R920, five hours, frequent

AKyzyl R1800, 14 hours, three daily

ATomsk R1300, 11 hours, daily

AYeniseysk R800, seven hours, 10 daily

Train

TSAVS is the most central booking office, though the station itself is relatively central and often queue-free. Krasnoyarsk has the following rail connections:

AAbakan platskart/kupe R1800/R2150, 11½ hours, one daily

AIrkutsk platskart R1600, kupe R3300 to R5800, 18 hours, up to nine daily

AMoscow platskart R7200, kupe R11,000 to R15,000, 64 hours, up to seven daily

ANovosibirsk platskart R2000, kupe R2600 to R4000, 12 hours, up to 11 daily

ASeverobaikalsk platskart/kupe R3250/R6700, 27 to 35 hours, three daily

ATomsk platskart/kupe R1900/3250, 18 hours, every other day

8Getting Around

There is no public transport between the airport and the city, except for rare and inconvenient buses stopping on the way between Cheremshanka and Krasnoyarsk bus station (one hour, R82, four to six daily). Taxis charge between R600 and R1000 for the ride into town.

Within the city centre, almost all public transport runs eastbound along ul Karla Marksa or pr Mira, returning westbound on ul Lenina. Frequent, if slow, trolleybus 7 trundles from the train station through the city centre via ul Karla Marksa. Useful bus 50 starts beyond the zoo, passes the Turbaza Yenisey and comes through the centre of town.

All major taxi app services – Gett, Uber, Yandex Taxi and Maxim – are represented. A typical Uber ride within the centre costs R80.

WORTH A TRIP

YENISEYSK ЕНИСЕИСК

Easily reachable by bus, historic Yeniseysk makes an engaging excursion off the Trans-Sib from Krasnoyarsk, 340km away. Now being spruced up for its 400-year anniversary (due in 2019), it was once Russia’s great fur-trading capital, with world-famous 18th-century August trade fairs (recently revived for tourists), and 10 grand churches punctuating its skyline. Eclipsed by Krasnoyarsk despite a burst of gold-rush prosperity in the 1860s, the town is now a drowsy backwater with an unexpectedly good Regional Museum ( GOOGLE MAP ; ul Lenina 106, Yeniseysk; R100; h9am-5pm Mon-Sat), some faded commercial grandeur along ul Lenina and many old houses; over 70 are considered architectural monuments. Most appealing of the surviving churches are the walled 1731 Spaso-Preobrazhensky Monastery ( GOOGLE MAP ; ul Raboche-Krestyanskaya 105, Yeniseysk) and the Assumption Church (Uspenskaya tserkov; GOOGLE MAP ; ul Raboche-Krestyanskaya 116, Yeniseysk) with its unusual metal floor and splendid antique icons.

To reach Yeniseysk, take a bus (R620, seven hours, 10 daily) from Krasnoyarsk's bus station. The journey time makes a day trip impossible so organise accommodation beforehand through SibTourGuide in Krasnoyarsk.

From mid-June to early October, passenger ships slip along the Yenisey River from Krasnoyarsk to Dudinka in the Arctic Circle (4½ days) via Yeniseysk (17 hours) and Igarka (three days and two to seven hours). There are three to four sailings per week, most departing early morning. Returning upstream, journeys take 50% longer so most independent travellers choose to fly back to Krasnoyarsk. Foreigners are not allowed beyond Igarka, as Dudinka and nearby Norilsk are ‘closed’ towns. Contact SibTourGuide in Krasnoyarsk for timetables, tickets and round-trip tours.

Divnogorsk & Ovsyanka Дивногорск и Овсянка

From Krasnoyarsk, a popular day trip by bus follows the Yenisey River 27km to Divnogorsk town through a wide, wooded canyon. Some 5km beyond Divnogorsk’s jetty is a vast 90m-high dam. Turbine-room visits are not permitted, but if you’re lucky you might see ships being lifted by a technologically impressive inclined plane to the huge Krasnoyarsk Sea behind. A few kilometres beyond you can observe ice fishing from December to March or, in the summer, boats and yachts can be hired.

The Krasnoyarsk–Divnogorsk road has a panoramic overlook point at km23 and passes quaint Ovsyanka village. From the main road walk 100m (crossing the train tracks) to Ovsyanka’s cute wooden St Inokent Chapel ( GOOGLE MAP ; ul Shchetinkina, Ovsyanka) then 50m right to find the house-museum ( GOOGLE MAP ; ul Shchetinkina 26, Ovsyanka; R100; h10am-6pm Tue-Sun) of famous local writer Victor Astafiev, who died in 2001. Directly opposite in Astafiev’s grandma’s cottage-compound is the more interesting Last Bow Museum ( GOOGLE MAP ; ul Shchetinkina 35, Ovsyanka; R100; h10am-6pm Tue-Sun) giving a taste of rural Siberian life.

Regular marshrutky (R100) leave from Krasnoyarsk’s bus station. Ask the marshrutka driver to drop you off at Ovsyanka, 30km away from Krasnoyarsk. SibTourGuide in Krasnoyarsk offers various tailored excursions in English or will include the Divnogorsk loop as part of its ‘Ten-Rouble Tour’.

Abakan Абакан

%3902 / Pop 167,500 / Time Moscow +4hr

Founded as a foothold ostrog (Cossack fort) in 1675, Abakan remained overshadowed until the 1930s by neighbouring Minusinsk, once the region’s centre of European civilisation. With the tables now firmly turned, today the Khakass capital is a leafy, rapidly modernising place with a handful of undemanding sights and a population that will be (perhaps pleasantly) surprised to see you. Probably not worth a special trip on its own, Abakan does serve as a handy base for trips into Sayan mountains and Tuva.

1Sights

Khakassia National MuseumMUSEUM

(Хакасский национальный краеведческий музей GOOGLE MAP ; http://nhkm.ru; ul Pushkina 96; R200; h10am-6pm Tue-Sun)

The highlight at the National Museum is the atmospherically low-lit hall containing a striking exhibition dedicated to Khakassia’s wealth of standing stones. Curators have erected a kind of mini Stonehenge in the middle of the space, with the walls around lined in 2000-year-old stone fragments – altogether a surprisingly impressive effort. A clearly underfunded collection of random period furniture, shaggy shamanic bric-a-brac and dubious art makes up the rest of the museum.

Railway MuseumMUSEUM

(Музей Истории Красноярской железной дороги GOOGLE MAP ; Station concourse; h1-4.45pm Mon-Fri)F

Worth visiting just to experience a Siberian attraction that doesn’t charge admission. Train buffs will find the scale model of Abakan station in 1925, the collection of period railway uniforms and the various oversize chunks of obsolete equipment suitably captivating. Some display cases have been designed to resemble old carriage windows – similar also in that they’re bolted firmly shut.

WORTH A TRIP

SALBYK САЛБЫК

This Stonehenge-sized remnant of a 'royal' kurgan is Siberia's most impressive ring of standing stones. Excavated in 1956, it's in open fields, 5.6km down unsurfaced tracks south of km38 on the Chernogorsk–Sorsk road. About 2km before Salbyk notice the large, grassy dome of the unexcavated 'Princess' kurgan it once resembled. Taxis from Abakan ask at least R2000 return. Admission to the site is R50.

4Sleeping

Lucomoria HostelHOSTEL$

( GOOGLE MAP ; %3902-397 069; www.lucomoria.ru/hostels/abakan; ul Torosova 12, apt 31h; dm from R350, d with shared bathroom from R900)

A renowned Tomsk hostel has planted its clone inside an apartment block near the airport, 3km from the centre. Rarely full, dorms accommodate a maximum of six guests who can enjoy a degree of privacy by pulling down green curtains on their bunk beds. That, along with a small kitchen and common area, gives the place a sufficiently homey feel.

Guest House on LikhachevaGUESTHOUSE$$

(Гостевой дом на Лихачёва GOOGLE MAP ; %8-961-896 7989; www.lihacheva-abakan.otelic.ru; ul Akademika Likhacheva 1v; s/d incl breakfast R1900/2500; aWs)

This glass structure looks like an alien spacecraft amid the uninspiring suburbia on the outskirts of Abakan. The interior is even more unusual. Large rooms have pebble tile floors and black wallpaper, which subdues the light flooding in through panoramic windows. A sauna and a small pool are free of charge. A taxi to the centre costs R140.

PersonaHOTEL$$

(Персона GOOGLE MAP ; %3902-357 005; www.persona-abakan.ru; Sovetskaya ul 33; hs/d R2500/3100; aW)

Convenient for the bus station and close to a nice park, this modern if slightly bland facility has large rooms decorated in all shades of beige and sparkling bathrooms with human-size bathtubs. Breakfast, which needs to be ordered the night before, is served in a German-themed cellar restaurant.

Hotel AbakanHOTEL$$

(Гостиница Абакан GOOGLE MAP ; %3902-203 025; www.abakan-hotel.ru; pr Lenina 59; r incl breakfast from R2600; W)

There’s a bamboozling array of room categories at what was Abakan’s first hotel, from the five unrenovated ‘third class’ pits to the 19 fully renovated, almost Western-standard doubles and beyond. The Soviet past pops up here and there but is slowly being smothered in fluffy white towels and dressing gowns. Big discounts on weekends.

Aziya Business HotelHOTEL$$$

( GOOGLE MAP ; %3902-215 777; http://asia-hotel.ru; ul Kirova 114 str 1; s/d incl breakfast from R3700/4800; aW)

Abakan's slickest sleeping option is this top-notch business hotel with large and tastefully furnished rooms and two sophisticated restaurants on the premises. It's a short walk from central streets.

ChalpanHOTEL$$$

(Чалпан GOOGLE MAP ; %3902-215 302; www.chalpan.ru; proyezd Shchorsa 5a; s/d R3780/4300; Ws)

One of the loveliest hotels in Abakan, the purpose-built Chalpan is colourful but not gaudy, with imaginatively designed rooms, flashy bathrooms, free tea and coffee in the rooms, a sauna, a pool (!), simple pricing and breakfast. It’s well worth enduring the walk along pr Lenina and the staff’s slightly indifferent attitude.

5Eating

Stolichny SupermarketSUPERMARKET

(Супермаркет Столичный GOOGLE MAP ; ul Chertygasheva 108; h8am-11pm)

For picnickers and self-caterers, the self-service Stolichny Supermarket is the city centre’s best-stocked grocery.

Georgian Pastry from USSRGEORGIAN$

(Грузинская выпечка из СССР GOOGLE MAP ; %8-923-350 0005; ul Shchetinkina 32; pastry R80-150; h8am-10pm)

Not terribly authentic (perhaps the unnecessary Soviet nostalgia ingredient is to blame), but still quite tasty khachapuri along with other, less iconic Georgian bread and molten-cheese concoctions are a good reason to drop by this bakery and stock up for long train or bus journeys out of Abakan.

Vilka-LozhkaEASTERN EUROPEAN$

(Вилка-ложка GOOGLE MAP ; %3902-214 261; ul Vyatkina 13; mains R90-120; h9am-9pm)

Chebureki (Tatar-styled pastry with meat and cheese filling) is the main draw in this slick modern stolovaya (canteen), which also serves standard Russian home-style fare to youthful clientele.

oFood & Bar 114ASIAN$$

( GOOGLE MAP ; %3902-306 039; www.asia-hotel.ru/food-bar-114/; ul Kirova 114/1; mains R340-510; hnoon-midnight; W)

With its imaginative Asian-themed menu, this ain't your usual hotel restaurant. Turkish pea and quinoa salads provide relief to those suffering under Siberia's carnivore dictatorship. You can also go full Khakassian by ordering potkhi (warm sour cream dip) for starters, followed by myun lamb soup, khan blood sausage and irben tea with thyme, cream and honey.

Mama RomaITALIAN$$

( GOOGLE MAP ; %3902-223 122; www.abakan.mamaroma.ru; pr Lenina 59; mains R230-520; h7am-midnight)

A reliable source of quality pizzas, pastas and other Apennine fare, this chain restaurant occupies a prime location in the centre of Abakan. It is also about the best breakfast option in town.

ProstoGASTROPUB$$

(Просто GOOGLE MAP ; %3902-397 704; ul Shchetinkina 32; mains R250-350; h11am-midnight)

Tasty European food and local craft beer come together in this tiny new gastrobar. The super-tender lamb fillet with vegetables is our fave.

6Drinking & Nightlife

Travel CoffeeCOFFEE

( GOOGLE MAP ; www.instagram.com/travelcoffeeabakan; pr Lenina 63; h8am-10pm Mon-Fri, from 9am Sat & Sun)

Surfboards that greet you at the entrance perhaps embody the ultimate travel dream one might conceive in a place that can’t be further removed from the nearest ocean. Great hot chocolate and cocoa, as well as unusual guest drinks such as birch tree sap, on top of competently prepared coffee standards.

KotofeyCAFE

(Котофей GOOGLE MAP ; cnr ul Yarygina & Sovetskaya ul; h9am-midnight Mon-Fri, from 11am Sat & Sun)

Unusually big-windowed corner cafe with frilly lace curtains, proper European-style cafe chairs, the odd leathery bench and decent brews.

8Information

Main Post Office ( GOOGLE MAP ; ul Shchetinkina 20; h8am-10pm Mon-Fri, 9am-6pm Sat & Sun)

8Getting There & Away

Air

Abakan’s old-fashioned little airport (www.abakan-airport.ru) is 4km northwest of the city centre. There are flights to Moscow (R15,000, two daily) and Novosibirsk (R4800, four weekly). Buy tickets from the train station Aviakassa ( GOOGLE MAP ; %3902-239 170; h8am-5pm Mon-Fri) or TSAVS (Билетные кассы ЦАВС GOOGLE MAP ; %3902-223 736; www.krascavs.ru; ul Chertygasheva 106; h8am-8pm).

Bus

Abakan’s fairly well-regimented bus station (Автовокзал GOOGLE MAP ; ul Shevchenko) has connections to the following destinations:

AKrasnoyarsk R920, 6½ to nine hours, hourly

AKyzyl R850, 6½ hours, at least two daily

AMinusinsk R55, 25 to 40 minutes, frequent

ASayanogorsk R180, two hours, frequent

AShushenskoe R175, 1½ hours, hourly

Train

Abakan has the following rail connections:

AKrasnoyarsk platskart/kupe R1800/2150, 11½ hours, daily

AMoscow platskart/kupe R8000/10,000, three days and three hours, daily

ANovokuznetsk platskart/kupe R1300/2300, nine hours, daily

ANovosibirsk platskart/kupe R2600/3200, 22 hours, daily

ONWARDS TO KYZYL

With the new railroad to Kyzyl on hold, road is the only way to get in and out of Tuva. Although you can catch a regular bus from the bus station, it is often more convenient to use transport services operating from the far southeastern corner of the square in front of Abakan’s train station. The ticket kiosk for the official minibus service (R1300, around five hours) is close to the departure point; departures are at 7.50am, 3.30pm and 7pm daily but it's a good idea to buy a ticket at least a day in advance. Shared taxis asking around R1500 per seat do the trip slightly faster. The best time to catch a ride is early morning when train 124 (Krasnoyarsk–Abakan) pulls in. At other times of day you could wait several hours for the vehicle to fill up.

Sayan Ring in Krasnoyarsk also offers prearranged transfers, but these are only cost-effective for groups.

8Getting Around

Maxim and Gett taxi apps work well in the city; a typical ride costs R80.

Around Abakan

Minusinsk Минусинск

%39132 / Pop 68,300 / Time Moscow +4hr

Minusinsk’s scattering of partly derelict 18th- and 19th-century buildings offers more architectural interest than Abakan, and its grand, crumbling mansions and timber dwellings come as a pleasant surprise. Virtually abandoned during the communist decades, Minusinsk’s old town is located across the protoka Minusinskaya waterway from the communist dystopia of the new town, 25km east of Abakan.

1Sights

Martyanov MuseumMUSEUM

( GOOGLE MAP ; %39132-22 297; http://музей-мартьянова.рф; ul Martyanova 6; R80; h10am-6pm)

Filling three distinct buildings, the countless halls crammed with local taxidermy, Bronze and Iron Age finds, Tuvan and Khakass standing stones, traditional stringed instruments and shaggy shaman costumes just keep on coming at this admirable repository of the region’s past. Away from the obvious prehistoric highlights, more off-beat exhibitions look at the construction of 1970s new Minusinsk and ethnic minorities from Europe that colonised Khakassia in the 19th century.

Allow around two hours to see everything and don’t even think of veering off from the prescribed tour route. The museum has two other small branches in town, the Decembrist Museum ( GOOGLE MAP ; %39132-206 44; ul Oborony 59; R40; h9am-6pm Mon-Fri) and Krzyzanovsky & Starkov Flat Museum ( GOOGLE MAP ; ul Oktyabrskaya 73; R40; h9am-5pm Mon-Wed & Fri, 10am-5pm Thu).

Saviour’s CathedralCHURCH

(Spassky Sobor; GOOGLE MAP ; ul Komsomolskaya 10)

This elegant 1803 church is across the square from the superb Martyanov Museum.

4Sleeping & Eating

Hotel AmylHOTEL$$

(Гостиница Амыл GOOGLE MAP ; %39132-20 106; www.hotelamil.ru; ul Lenina 74; r R1000-2500)

The town’s only decent digs reside in the fading grandeur of a 19th-century palace, half a block southeast of the Martyanov Museum. The 24 rooms range from basic to oddly characterful with comfy sofas, real potted plants and lots of carved wood. There’s a tiny weekday-only zakusochnaya (pub-cafe) and useful town maps are sold in reception.

Blin.comRUSSIAN$

( GOOGLE MAP ; www.cafe-blin.com; ul Krasnykh Partizan 16; crepes R60-120; h10am-8pm)

A convenient pit stop in the centre of Minusinsk, this crêperie churns out pancakes with dozens of meaty, veg and sweet fillings.

8Getting There & Away

To get here from Abakan, take bus or marshrutka 120 (R50, 25 to 40 minutes) direct to old-town Minusinsk. These leave from the left-hand side of the bus station. Buy tickets from the small ticket booth nearby. Catch returning services from opposite the cathedral.

Shushenskoe Шушенское

%39139 / Pop 16,850 / Time Moscow +4hr

As every Soviet schoolkid was once taught, leafy Shushenskoe played host to Lenin for three years of (relatively comfortable) exile. For the 1970 centenary of Lenin’s birth, a two-block area of the village centre was reconstructed to look as it had in 1870. These well-kept ‘old’ Siberian houses now form the Shushenskoe Ethnographic Museum ( GOOGLE MAP ; www.shush.ru; ul Novaya 1; adult/child R300/100; h10am-6pm). Many are convincingly furnished, and in summer costumed craftsmen sit around carving spoons. It’s gently interesting, but as all trips are guided (in Russian) the visit can drag and you’re locked into spending over 1½ hours seeing everything. You might also want to swing by Peter & Paul Church (Церковь Петра и Павла GOOGLE MAP ; ul Novaya; h10am-3pm), where in 1898 Lenin was married.

Around 25,000 music fans make camp in Shushenskoe during the annual Mir Sibiri, previously known as the Sayan Ring Festival. The three-day-long folk-music bash attracts ensembles from across Siberia and the occasional overseas act.

4Sleeping & Eating

Novaya DerevnyaHOTEL$$$

(Новая деревня GOOGLE MAP ; %8-983-618 2210, 39139-34 433; www.shush.ru/nevderev; ul Novaya 1; d R4500-5500)

You can get yourself exiled like Lenin in tidy 19th-century log houses that form a part of the Shushenskoe Ethnographic Museum.

Kofeynya SadkoCAFE$

(Кофейня Садко GOOGLE MAP ; %39139-37 199; ul Pervomayskaya 1; mains R200-300; h11am-midnight Sun-Thu, to 2am Fri & Sat)

The only place in town for a sit-down meal is the unexpectedly bright Kofeynya Sadko, opposite the church, where petite portions of flavoursome food arrive on trendy square plates. As virtually the only source of sustenance for visitors, it’s often crammed to the gills.

8Information

The post office ( GOOGLE MAP ; Polukoltsevaya ul 5; h8am-1pm & 2-8pm Mon-Fri, 9am-6pm Sat) offers internet and telephone connections, and sells rail and air tickets.

8Getting There & Away

Buses serve Abakan (R185, 1½ hours, eight daily) and Krasnoyarsk (R1200, 10½ hours, four daily). While waiting for buses, take time to admire the bus station’s spectacular chunk of socialist realism: a gigantic collage celebrating the USSR’s achievements, now partially obscured by kiosks.

Sayanogorsk Саяногорск

%39042 / Pop 48,300 / Time Moscow +4hr

Purpose-built to accommodate hydroelectric workers, tidy Sayanogorsk serves as a gateway to Sayano-Shushenskaya Dam, located 36km south near the town's outlying neighbourhood of Cheryomushki. Sitting at the foothills of Sayany mountains, Sayanogorsk is in fact several mikrorayony districts scattered around the Yenisey valley. Snowy peaks rise majestically from the yellow steppe as you drive from Abakan. There are popular hiking routes and a modern ski resort in the area.

Communism, Lenin famously said, is the Soviet government plus the electrification of the entire country. Abbreviated as GOELRO, the plan to make electric power available in every corner of Russia was inspired by his Bolshevik friend, electrical engineer Gleb Krzyżanowski, who had spent a few years exiled in Minusinsk. HG Wells, who interviewed Lenin in 1920, dubbed him 'the Kremlin dreamer', being convinced that the plan was utterly utopian. A couple of decades later, all major rivers in Russia were dammed and what Russians know as 'Ilyich lamps' lit up in every household.

A 1970s tribute to that utopian spirit and the most visually striking of Soviet hydroelectric projects, Sayano-Shushenskaya Dam is symbolically located near both Lenin's and Krzyżanowski's places of exile.

1Sights

Sayano-Shushenskaya DamDAM

(Саяно-Шушенская ГЭС GOOGLE MAP ; www.sshges.rushydro.ru/hpp/sshges)

Completed in 1985, this stunning feat of engineering blocks a beautiful forested canyon cut through the Sayan mountains by the mighty Yenisey. At 242m, the dam is the world's 17th tallest, and the hydropower station is the world's ninth in production capacity. The six bronze figures that comprise the striking monument to Sayano-Shushenskaya Dam builders stand at a prime observation point about 500m from the dam. A gigantic water discharge facility is built into the rock on the other side of the river.

The dam is fresh from a thorough reconstruction that followed the 2009 catastrophe caused by a turbine breakdown, which killed 75 people trapped in the flooded machine hall.

2Activities

Cheryomushki is the gateway to a section of Shushensky Bor National Park (admission R30), centred around the Borus range, a popular hiking destination for local adventure tourists. Sayanogorsk taxis can bring you to Talovka visitors centre, from where trails lead to a couple of nice lakes, waterfalls and a mountain pass with a view of Borus. From Cheryomushki, it is a 3km walk along a trail that starts at the end of the bridge across the Yenisey. English-speaking Maria Zavorina (Мария Заворина %8-903-077 9647; https://vk.com/sayan_turism; treks per group R2000-3000), who works in the park, guides four- to six-hour treks to the main park sights. Many people come here to climb the Borus range, which requires overnighting in the valley below.

The popular Gladenkaya Ski Resort (Горнолыжный комплекс Гладенькая GOOGLE MAP ; %8-923-393 3300; http://ski-gladenkaya.ru/ski.html; Babik valley), 18km from Sayanogorsk, frequently hosts national skiing competitions. The signposted turn to Gladenkaya comes at Mayna, halfway between the bus station and Cheryomushki.

4Sleeping & Eating

Hotel SayanogorskHOTEL$$$

(Отель Саяногорск GOOGLE MAP ; %39042-61144; http://sayanhotel.ru; mkr Tsentralny 50; s/d from R3600/4200; aWs)

A funky piece of architecture, this triangular-shaped hotel has modern rooms with large comfy beds and attic-like reclining ceiling. There is a restaurant and a spa with a sauna and a small pool on the premises.

Cafe TorontoINTERNATIONAL$$

(Кафе Торонто %39042-68 088; mkr Internatsionaly 23a; mains R200-400)

This grill restaurant is reputed to be the most decent eatery in Sayanogorsk. It's about 800m from the bus station – walk north on ul Yarygina and turn into Pionerskaya. What Canada has to do with it remains a mystery.

8Getting There & Away

Marshrutka buses 2 and 2A ply the route between Sayanogorsk and Vtoraya Terrasa bus stop, from which it is a 5km walk along the river to the power station. If you are lucky, you may get a free ride on an infrequent tram that takes workers from Vtoraya Terrasa to an observation square under the dam. A taxi from the bus station to the observation point costs at least R1000 return (including wait) or R500 one way.

Buses to/from Abakan run every 30 minutes (one hour, R180). There are four services to Shushenskoe daily (1½ hours, R170), the most convenient departure times being 11.10am and 2.30pm.

WORTH A TRIP

USINSKY TRAKT УСИНСКИЙ ТРАКТ

Built between 1914 and 1917, the Usinsky Trakt (now the M54 federal highway) is the main road between Minusinsk and Kyzyl in Tuva. Until the Kuragino–Kyzyl railway is completed (if it ever is), this narrow but smooth ribbon of asphalt through the Yergaki Mountains will remain essentially the only route in and out of Tuva for people and goods, most notably Tuva’s much-valued coal and other precious minerals.

Around two hours out of Abakan, the road skirts the modest historical township of Yermakovskoe and passes the fruit-growing villages of Grigoryevka and Chyornaya Rechka before climbing into pretty birch-wood foothills. After a shashlyk (kebab) stop in Tanzybey (km560), the route climbs more steeply.

A truly magnificent view of the crazy, rough-cut Yergaki range knocks you breathless just before km598, and illustrates just why its Turkic name means ‘fingers’. Dramatically impressive views continue to km601 and resume between km609 and km612. Expect heavy snowfalls here as late as early June.

A roadside cross (km603-04) marks the spot where former Krasnoyarsk governor Alexander Lebed (who negotiated an end to the first Chechen War in 1996) died in 2002 when his helicopter snagged power lines. Walk 1.5km up the steep track towards the radar station above for fabulous views from the ridge.

Seven kilometres further along the route, Yergaki Ski Resort ( GOOGLE MAP ; http://ergaki.com) is a year-round holiday destination popular with Krasnoyarsk and Abakan urbanites.

As the track descends, the scenery morphs through wooded river valleys into Tuva’s panoramic roller-coaster grasslands. There’s a police checkpoint at Shivilig (km703), but the first real settlement the road bisects within Tuva is Turan, a ramshackle village of old wooden homes largely inhabited by ethnic Russians. A road barrelling west just before the village heads towards Arzhaan through Tuva’s spectacular Valley of the Kings. From Turan the road scales one final mountain pass before hurtling down into Kyzyl.

Tuva Тува

Nominally independent before WWII, fascinating Tuva (Тува in Russian, Тыва in Tuvan) is culturally similar to neighbouring Mongolia but with an international cult following all its own. Philatelists remember Tannu Tuva’s curiously shaped 1930s postage stamps. World-music aficionados are mesmerised by Tuvan throat singers. And millions of armchair travellers read Ralph Leighton’s Tuva or Bust!, a nontravel book telling how irrepressible Nobel Prize–winning physicist Richard Feynman failed to reach Soviet-era Kyzyl despite years of trying. With forests, mountains, lakes and vast undulating waves of beautiful, barely populated steppe, Tuva’s a place you’ll long remember.

History

Controlled from the 6th century by a succession of Turkic empires, in the 1750s Tuva became an outpost of China, against whose rule the much-celebrated Aldan Maadyr (60 Martyrs) rebelled in 1885. Tibetan Buddhism took root during the 19th century, coexisting with older shamanist beliefs; by the late 1920s one man in 15 in Tuva was a lama.

With the Chinese distracted by a revolution in 1911, Russia stirred up a separatist movement and took Tuva ‘under protection’ in 1914. The effects of Russia’s October Revolution took two years to reach Tuva, climaxing in 1921 when the region was a last bolt-hole of the retreating White Russians, swiftly ejected into Mongolia by ‘Red Partisans’. Tuva’s prize was renewed independence as the Tuvan Agrarian Republic (Tyva Arat Respublik, TAR), better known to philatelists as Tannu Tuva. However, to communist Russia’s chagrin, Prime Minister Donduk’s government dared to declare Buddhism the state religion and favoured reunification with Mongolia. Russia’s riposte was to install a dependable communist, Solchak Toka, as prime minister, and later to force Tuvans to write their language in the Cyrillic alphabet, creating a cultural divide with Mongolia.

Having ‘voluntarily’ helped Russia during WWII, Tuva’s ‘reward’ was incorporation into the USSR. Russian immigration increased, Buddhism and shamanism were repressed, and the seminomadic Tuvans were collectivised; many Tuvans slaughtered their animals in preference to handing them over. When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, Tuva was one of only two republics (the other being Chechnya) that looked to secede. Many Russians left for the motherland and most still regard Tuva as a hostile place, with one notable exception – President Putin, who has made several trips to the region, one of which involved his (in)famous bare-chested photo shoot.

Tuvan Culture

Of the republic’s 308,000 people, over two-thirds are ethnic Tuvans; they are Buddhist-shamanist by religion, Mongolian by cultural heritage and Turkic by language. Tuvan Cyrillic has a range of exotic extra vowels and most place names have different Russian and Tuvan variants.

Colourful khuresh is a form of Tuvan wrestling similar to Japanese sumo but without the ring, the formality or the huge bellies. Multiple heats (rounds) run simultaneously, each judged by a pair of referees, flamboyantly dressed in national costume. They’ll occasionally slap the posteriors of fighters who seem not to be making sufficient effort. Tuvans also love Mongolian-style long-distance horse races but are most widely famed for their khöömei throat singers. Khöömei is both a general term and the name of a specific style in which low and whistling tones, all from a single throat, somehow harmonise with one another. The troll-like kargyraa style sounds like singing through a prolonged burp. Sygyt is reminiscent of a wine glass being rung by a wet finger: quaintly odd if you hear a recording but truly astonishing when you hear it coming out of a human mouth. Accompanying instruments often include a Jew’s harp, a bowed two-stringed igil or a three-stringed doshpular (Tuvan banjo). Rhythms often remind listeners of horses galloping across the steppe.

The biggest throat-singing ensembles are all-star Chirgilchin, inventive Alash (www.alashensemble.com), Kaigal-ool’s Huun Huur Tu, ethno-rock band Yat-Kha (www.yat-kha.ru), Khögzhümchü and the girl band Tuva Kyzy (www.tyvakyzy.com). Many members of these bands also perform with the Tuvan National Orchestra. Until his untimely death in 2013, Kongar-ol Ondar was the best-known throat singer outside Tuva. He collaborated with Frank Zappa and worked on the soundtrack for the Oscar-nominated film Genghis Blues.

Learning khöömei has become surprisingly popular among foreigners in recent years; arranging lessons is now much simpler than it once was.

Tuvan Food

Almost every rural household keeps a vat of khoitpak (fermented sour mare’s milk), which tastes like ginger beer with a sediment of finely chopped brie. Khoitpak is drunk as is or distilled into alcoholic araka. Roast dalgan (a cereal, similar to Altai’s bran-rich talkan) can be added to your salted milky tea or eaten with oreme (sour cream). Local cheeses include stringy byshtag and rock-hard Kazakh-style kurut balls.

Tuvans are said to have learned from Chinggis Khaan a special way to kill their sheep without wasting any of the animal’s blood. Collected with miscellaneous offal in a handy intestine, this blood makes up the local delicacy khan sausage. Beyond Kyzyl, truck stops, pelmeni (meat ravioli) steamers and temperamental but incredibly cheap village stolovye (canteens) are your best hopes for a hot meal unless you’re staying with families. Kyzyl residents often take their own supplies when travelling to the provinces.

EXPERIENCING KHÖÖMEI

Without doubt, Tuva’s great draw is throat singing, aka khöömei. If you're interested in seeing a performance, by far the best place to start is the spanking-new Centre for Tuvan Culture, a two-storey timber building opened in late 2011 on the site of the old museum. The current director, Igor Koshkendey, who speaks English, is the first point of contact at the centre.

For a more hands-on experience, take a throat-singing or doshpular (Tuvan banjo) lesson with National Orchestra member Evgeny Saryglar, who is also always in the know about upcoming khöömei performances in Kyzyl and beyond.

zFestivals & Events

Ask at the Centre for Tuvan Culture about local festivals, as reliable information is usually impossible to find anywhere else.

ShagaaCULTURAL

(hFeb)

Tuvan New Year (February) is the biggest festival of the year, with sangalyr (purification ceremonies), including a huge spring cleaning, gift giving, visits to relatives and temple rituals.

Khöömei SymposiumCULTURAL

(hJun)

An erratically held, though possibly now-annual event for enthusiasts, anthropologists and musicologists (and anyone else interested) including lectures, talks, demonstrations, competitions and performances, all with a throat-singing theme.

Ustuu KhureeMUSIC

(www.ustuhure.ru; hJul)

Large world-music festival held in and around the Ustuu Khuree temple near Chadan in western Tuva.

NaadymCULTURAL

(hJul/Aug)

Tuva’s most dramatic festival is Naadym, usually held in and around Kyzyl in the summer months. Vastly less touristy than the Mongolian equivalent, Naadym is a good opportunity to hear khöömei concerts, watch horse races and see khuresh wrestling in the flesh.

8Dangers & Annoyances

Meeting locals is the key to experiencing Tuva, but be aware that Tuvans are notorious for their reaction to alcohol, becoming disproportionately aggressive, even among friends. Although the situation is improving, travellers should still take extra care wherever they travel in Tuva, making sure to steer well clear of drunks and avoid drinking vodka with local ‘friends’. Wandering Kyzyl’s streets after dark without local company is also not recommended.

8Information

Friends of Tuva (www.fotuva.org) A useful collection of information about the republic.

VisitTuva (www.visittuva.ru) Official tourism site.

VALLEY OF THE KINGS ДОЛИНА ЦАРЕЙ

This broad grassy vale begins a few kilometres beyond a turning off the M54 highway north of Turan. It’s famous in archaeological circles for its pancake-shaped Scythian kurgany (burial mounds) named after the village of Arzhaan at the end of the paved road. These have produced the most significant archaeological finds ever made in Tuva, now displayed in Kyzyl’s National Museum.

The first roadside kurgan is Arzhaan II, which lies opposite shimmering Ak Khol (White Lake). During excavations in 2001 archaeologists unearthed some magnificent artefacts in several graves dating from the 7th century BC. Less well maintained, Arzhaan I, a little further along the road, is the largest kurgan in Tuva. A dig in the early 1970s turned up thousands of gold and silver artefacts plus the graves of two Scythian VIPs, 16 servants and 160 horses, but today only a large disc of clacking stones remains. The valley holds an amazing 700 burial sites and eight large kurgany await the archaeologist’s trowel. However, digs are unpopular with local villagers and shamans who believe the spirits should be left undisturbed.

Kyzyl Кызыл

%39422 / Pop 112,700 / Time Moscow +4hr

Fancifully located at the ‘centre of Asia’, the Tuvan capital is where the vast majority of travellers begin their exploration of this captivating republic. Although the city’s Soviet-era concrete lacks any architectural charm, in recent years the purpose-built National Museum and the superb cultural centre have provided attractive focus for those interested in the country’s mesmerising traditions.

The key to enjoying Kyzyl (and all of Tuva) is contacting tour companies and Kyzyl-based English-speaking helpers well in advance – up to two months ahead if you’re planning to go anywhere near the Mongolian border, an area for which special permits are needed.

Kyzyl

1Top Sights

1National MuseumA2

1Sights

2Centre for Tuvan CultureC2

3Centre of Asia MonumentC1

4National TheatreB2

5Tsechenling DatsanC1

2Activities, Courses & Tours

6Alash TravelB2

Tsentr AsiiB1

4Sleeping

7Hotel OdugenB1

5Eating

8Coffee ManD2

9FusionB2

10SubedeyC2

11Tos-KarakC2

12VostorgC1

3Entertainment

Tuvan National OrchestraC2

7Shopping

13SheverC2

8Information

14RosbankB1

15SberbankC2

16Tourist Information CentreC1

17Tourist YurtA2

Transport

18Aziya-99A2

19Bus StationD2

1Sights

oNational MuseumMUSEUM

(Национальный музей MAP GOOGLE MAP ; www.museum.tuva.ru; ul Titova 30; R300; h10am-6pm Wed-Sun)

One of Tuva’s ‘must sees’, the National Museum’s huge modern home contains the usual arrangements of stuffed animals, WWII artefacts and dusty minerals, as well as more impressive halls dedicated to shamanism, Buddhist art and traditional Tuvan sports. However, all of this is just a teasing appetiser before the main course: a single, atmospherically lit and well-guarded room containing kilograms of Scythian gold jewellery, unearthed at Arzhaan I in the Valley of the Kings.

The 3000-year-old gold pieces, which can only be seen on a 40-minute Russian-language guided tour (interpreters available or bring your own), are exquisitely displayed against dark-blue felt and seem to illuminate the room with their ancient gleam. Look out for the 1.5kg solid-gold torque, never removed by the Scythian emperor, and thousands of millimetrically fashioned sequins, the likes of which modern-day jewellers claim not to have the skills or tools to reproduce.

Centre for Tuvan CultureARTS CENTRE

(Центр традиционной тувинской культуры/Тыва ундезин культура тѳву MAP GOOGLE MAP ; %39422-23 571; cnr ul Internatsionalnaya & ul Lenina)

The attractive two-storey timber building of the Centre for Tuvan Culture was founded in 2012 by legendary Tuvan musician Kongar-ol Ondar, who was its first director until his untimely death in 2013. The government-funded institution brings together all of Tuva’s ensembles, the amazing National Orchestra, traditional costume-makers, metalworkers and sculptors in a single one-stop shop and makes accessing the extraordinary culture of Tuva much simpler than before.

On the ground floor there’s a 150-seat concert hall, venue for the monthly concert given by one of Tuva’s ensembles and decorated in motifs inspired by the Scythian gold in the National Museum. The basement hosts rehearsal rooms belonging to the different ensembles, and upstairs is the large studio used by the Tuvan National Orchestra ( MAP GOOGLE MAP ; www.tuvanorchestra.ru) – between 10am and 2pm most weekdays, tourists are welcome to sit in on their rehearsal sessions. Just along the corridor is the International Scientific Centre of Khöömei.

The current director, Igor Koshkendey, speaks English and is keen to see more tourists coming to the centre. Through him, his staff and members of the National Orchestra, it’s possible to access any aspect of Tuvan culture, find out about events and even arrange throat-singing lessons.

Centre of Asia MonumentMONUMENT

(Памятник “Центр Азии” MAP GOOGLE MAP ; Yenisey Embankment; h7am-11pm)

If you take a map of the world, cut out Asia and balance the continent on a pin, the centre of gravity would be Kyzyl. Well, only if you’ve used the utterly obscure Gall’s stereographic projection. However, that doesn’t stop the city from perpetuating the ‘Centre of Asia’ idea first posited by a mysterious 19th-century English eccentric and now marked with a monument standing in the middle of a manicured park that looks at the confluence of the two Yeniseys.

The creator of the monument, Buryat sculptor Dashi Namdakov, whose Chinggis (Genghis) Khaan sculpture stands near London's Marble Arch, drove inspiration from the Skythian gold finds, now housed at the Tuvan National Museum. The equestrian monument depicts a Skythian prince and his Amazon-like wife, who were put to rest with all their gold in a burial mound north of Kyzyl.

National TheatreTHEATRE

( MAP GOOGLE MAP ; %39422-11 566; ul Lenina 33)

This Tibetan-styled white building with oriental wooden flourishes is the city’s most architecturally distinctive structure.

Tsechenling DatsanBUDDHIST TEMPLE

(Буддийский храм Цеченлинг MAP GOOGLE MAP ; ul Shchetinkina-Kravchenko 1)

Brightly coloured prayer flags flutter in the breeze outside this white pagoda-style Buddhist temple, but it’s disappointingly plain inside. There's a basic canteen and a Buddhist souvenir shop in the grounds.

2Activities & Tours

Evgeny SaryglarCOURSE

(ana-saryglar@yandex.ru)

Gives throat-singing and igil lessons. Have a few introductory sessions via Skype before you arrive.

Tsentr AsiiTOURS

(Центр Азии MAP GOOGLE MAP ; %39422-32 326; Hotel Odugen, ul Krasnykh Partizan 36; h9am-6pm)

Helpful agency that can arrange air tickets and vehicle transfers.

Alash TravelTOURS

(Алаш-Трэвел MAP GOOGLE MAP ; %39422-21 850; alash@tuva.ru; ul Kochetova 60/12)

Alash offers full-scale rafting and climbing expeditions, and can arrange horse-riding trips between Tuva and Altai. There is, unfortunately, a lack of English speakers in the office.

4Sleeping

With a couple of notable exceptions, Kyzyl’s limited range of hotels is not much to throat sing about. They’re also habitually full, so for a much jollier experience try to arrange a homestay (around R2000) through one of Kyzyl’s helpers or tour companies, or stay in an apartment. High-end travellers should be able to check out the new four-star hotel Ene-Say: its construction was reaching the final stage when we visited.

oAldyn Bulak Yurt HotelYURT$$

( GOOGLE MAP ; %39422-20 628; km45 Kyzyl–Ak-Dovurak Rd; per yurt R2500-5000, dm tepee/yurt R300/650; a)

Cupped by bare hills at an attractively sacred site by the Yenisey River, the luxury yurts at this upmarket complex have flushing toilets, air-conditioning, hot showers and underfloor heating, while a more authentic experience is provided by basic yurts and tepees. Book through the Tourist Information Centre. The huge yurt restaurant offers the best Tuvan food you'll taste anywhere in the republic.

Start the day with a climb up to the viewing points for spectacular vistas from the cliffs above the swirling river before paying your respects at the nearby ovaa (shamanist holy site) dedicated to khöömei. The site is 45km west of Kyzyl, clearly signposted off the main Kyzyl–Ak-Dovurak road. The hotel offers prearranged transfers from Kyzyl for a symbolic R100. Due to the remote location there's no wi-fi.

Hotel OdugenHOTEL$$

(Гостиница Одуген MAP GOOGLE MAP ; %39422-32 518; ul Krasnykh Partizan 36; s/tw R2300/4000)

In a peaceful location by the Yenisey, this rapidly renovating hotel offers 28 en-suite rooms of varying standards. Whatever you choose, make sure you get one of the rooms with a balcony, from where there are spectacular river and mountain views. One of Kyzyl's best bars and a decent terrace cafe are also on the premises.

Hotel Buyan BadyrgyHOTEL$$$

(Гостиница Буян Бадыргы GOOGLE MAP ; %39422-56 420; www.badyrgy.ru; ul Moskovskaya 1; s/d from R2000/4000; aW)

Kyzyl’s most comfortable sleep is a R100 taxi ride from the city centre (or a short trip on airport-bound marshrutka 1A). The 37 standard rooms are clean and often smartly fitted out, but some bathrooms could do with an update. The price-to-quality ratio makes this a traveller favourite and a preferable choice to Kyzyl’s hit-and-miss central hotels.

5Eating & Drinking

Note that no alcohol is on sale from shops after 7pm, in attempt to curb drunkenness and brawling.

Coffee ManCAFE$

( MAP GOOGLE MAP ; ul Kochetova 2; mains R100-250; h10am-11pm)

Once the place to get a cuppa joe in Kyzyl, Coffee Man is now just another cafe, but one with filling pancakes and an English menu.

VostorgFAST FOOD$

(Восторг MAP GOOGLE MAP ; ul Shchetinkina-Kravchenko 35; mains R40-90; h8am-11pm)

Perched above a supermarket of the same name, Kyzyl’s best cheap eat is a plasticky no-frills self-service cafeteria where cash-strapped students and office workers fill up for a few roubles on generous platefuls of pelmeni, bliny, meatballs, plov (meat and rice), pork roast and golubtsi (cabbage rolls stuffed with rice and meat). Fresh doughnuts and pastries make this a decent breakfast spot.

Tos-KarakRUSSIAN$$

(Тос-Карак MAP GOOGLE MAP ; ul Lenina; R300-500; h11am-11pm)

Full range of meat- and intestine-heavy nomad dishes, along with salads and other vegetarian options, in this yurt restaurant frequented by throat singers from the nearby Centre of Tuvan Culture.

SubedeyRUSSIAN$$

(Субедей MAP GOOGLE MAP ; ul Druzhby 149; mains R400-600; h10am-1am; a)

If your palate craves gastronomic adventure, head to this oversize Mongolian yurt in the market area for some authentic Tuvan cooking. Khoorgan khoy edi is fried mutton, dalgan usken bydaa is Tuvan noodle soup and there are milk-based desserts, khoitpak (fermented milk) and araka (milk vodka) to finish off. The first half of the menu features more European-style mains.

FusionINTERNATIONAL$$

(Кафе Фьюжн MAP GOOGLE MAP ; www.kyzylcafe.ru; ul Tuvinskikh Dobrovoltsev 13; mains R200-400; hnoon-midnight; aW)

If you just wanna hang out with your wireless-enabled device over a brew (of the bean or hop variety) in an unchallengingly stylish, faux-cosmo setting, Fusion is the place to install yourself. The pizza and sushi contain no intestines, the Russian fashion TV no politics and the service is competent if slow.

7Shopping

SheverGIFTS & SOUVENIRS

(Шевер MAP GOOGLE MAP ; Komsomolskaya ul 23a; h10am-6pm Mon-Fri, to 4pm Sat)

Souvenir and craft shop selling top-quality handmade items such as small pieces of sculpture made from a soft stone called agalmatolite, silver jewellery from Ak-Dovurak, Jew's harps, ‘I’ve-been-to-Tuva’ T-shirts and handy city maps.

8Information

ATMs are now plentiful in Kyzyl; changing currencies other than euros and dollars could be tricky.

Rosbank (Росбанк MAP GOOGLE MAP ; ul Tuvinskikh Dobrovoltsev 10; h9am-6pm Mon-Fri) Twenty-four-hour ATM accepting almost every kind of card.

Sberbank (Сбербанк MAP GOOGLE MAP ; ul Kochetova 34a; h8.30am-7pm Mon-Fri, 11am-4pm Sat) Exchange counter and ATM inside.

Post Office ( GOOGLE MAP ; ul Kochetova 53; h8am-10pm Mon-Fri, 9am-6pm Sat & Sun) Has an internet room.

Sai-Khonash Travel (%8-923-383 7109, 8-923-542 6566; https://saixonash.wordpress.com/) Tuva National Orchestra musician Evgeny Saryglar and his wife Anay-Khaak run an excellent yurt camp in a difficult-to-access part of western Tuva. They can also pretty much tailor a trip around Tuva for you. There is no office, just write to them or call. English and French are spoken.

Tourist Information Centre ( MAP GOOGLE MAP ; http://visittuva.ru; Centre of Asia; h9am-1pm & 2-6pm Mon-Fri) In theory (we visited shortly after it was opened), this slick government-run office with young enthusiastic staff should be your first point of call in Tuva, since they can put you in touch with tourist service providers anywhere in the republic and pretty much tailor your trip. There’s a nice cafe and an art gallery on the premises, inside Centre of Asia.

Tourist Yurt ( MAP GOOGLE MAP ; www.visittuva.ru; National Museum grounds; hJun-Aug) Summer-only yurt in the grounds of the National Museum. English-speaking staff can assist with accommodation and transport, and also distribute free maps and leaflets.

8Getting There & Away

Opinions differ on whether the railway line to Kuragino will ever be completed. Even if it is, there’s some confusion as to whether passenger services will run on the line. No developments are expected for some years, or at least until an investor is found.

Air

Kyzyl’s shockingly up-to-date but sorely underexploited airport handles flights to Krasnoyarsk (daily) and a handy service to Irkutsk (three weekly). Moscow flights were suspended again in 2013 and don't look like making a return any time soon. Marshrutka 1A will get you to the airport.

Aziya-99 (Азия-99 MAP GOOGLE MAP ; %39422-22 214; www.asia99.ru; ul Lenina 58; h8am-7pm Mon-Fri, 9am-6pm Sat & Sun), opposite the National Museum, sells air tickets for all flights, including services departing from Abakan and Krasnoyarsk.

Bus

For the spectacularly scenic drive to Abakan, unofficial minibuses (R1300, five hours) leave when full from near the bus station ( MAP GOOGLE MAP ). Official buses leave at least twice a day from within the bus station compound (R850, six hours).

Abakan-bound shared taxis and others heading to destinations within Tuva congregate in and around the chaotic car park behind Hotel Mongulek, but you’d be well advised to prearrange private transfers (along with accommodation) to places such as Ak-Dovurak and destinations south along the M54.

Around Kyzyl

On the Yenisey’s northern bank, multiple springs gurgle straight from the rocks amid totem poles and trees heavy with prayer flags at cliff-side Bobry Istochnik (Beaver Spring). This popular barbecue and picnic spot with picturesque Kyzyl views can only be reached by taxi (at least R1000).

The giant Kadarchy Herder Statue surveys the city from a bare hill, five minutes’ drive from Kyzyl’s southernmost edge. Beyond, prayer flags photogenically deck the Tos Bulak Spring, which is the closest arzhaan (sacred spring) to the capital. To get a taste for the steppe, consider the relatively easy excursion to mirage-like Cheder Salt Lake, 42km away. The popular but slightly ramshackle lakeside Cheder Health Spa ( GOOGLE MAP ; %39422-644 47) has basic en-suite rooms, but book well ahead as the summer months see hundreds of locals invade this remote location to take mud cures and cool off in the briny waters.

Isolated amid endless grassy steppe 65km from Kyzyl, Lake Dus Khol is crowded with comically mud-blackened vacationers; its waters are so salty that you float Dead Sea style. Larger Lake Khadyn nearby is great for summer swimming and camping, though the water is still too salty to drink or use for cooking. To reach both, turn off the M54 at the km840 marker and head 20km along sandy, unsurfaced access tracks; arrange a prepaid private transfer with a Kyzyl agency if you don’t fancy putting yourself at the mercy of local taxi drivers.

Following the Ka-Khem (Maly Yenisey) River southeast of Kyzyl, the steppe gives way to agricultural greenery around low-rise Saryg-Sep, beyond which an appallingly rutted road continues through woodland to the pretty Old Believers’ village of Erzhey. Despite the extraordinary inaccessibility, there are several bungalow-hotels and hunting lodges en route and beyond. Kyzyl-based agencies organise trips to Old Believers' villages – check with the Tourist Information Centre.

Western Tuva Западная Тува

The spectacularly picturesque and virtually traffic-free grassland routes that connect lonely settlements in the sparsely populated west of the republic are lined with sacred mountains, nomads’ yurts and newly raised stupas. The area is likely to start getting more visitors after Russia and Mongolia complete the reconstruction of the Khandagaity–Borsho border crossing, so it can be used by everyone, not only nationals of the two countries.

The route looping round to Abakan from Tuva via Askiz is scenically varied, often beautiful and mesmerisingly vast in scale, though the Chinggis Khaan stone near Ak-Dovurak is virtually the only real ‘sight’. While independent travel is feasible, you’ll see a lot more in Tuva’s west in the company of a local or a guide hired in Kyzyl. The Sayan Ring agency in Krasnoyarsk comes this way. The Yenisey federal highway (R257), which begins in Krasnoyarsk, is now being extended from Kyzyl to the border.

1Sights

Regional MuseumMUSEUM

(Culture Centre, ul Khomushku Vasily 23; admission by donation; hon request)

Delicately etched ancient stonework is the star attraction at this museum in Kyzyl-Mazhalyk, alongside an independence-era newspaper printed in the Tuvan Latin script, a mock-up of a yurt and figures sculpted in a kind of soapstone, a tradition practised in the area since Scythian times.

4Sleeping

Say-Khonash Yurt CampYURT$$$

(%8-923-383 7109, 8-923-542 6566; www.saixonash.wordpress.com; full board R1500)

Located 55km north of Ak-Dovurak, the Say-Khonash Yurt Camp is the quintessential nomadic experience and brings visitors as close to the authentic rural lifestyle as they’re ever likely to get without having to acquire Tuvan in-laws first. The six traditionally furnished yurts sleeping 12 are surrounded by real nomads’ dwellings and their assorted animals in a jaw-slackeningly remote location few would ever chance upon.

The English-speaking owners (Evgeny and Anay-Khaak) and their extended family give masterclasses in felt production, yurt construction, traditional sheep butchery and Tuvan music, as well as organising multiday horse-riding and hiking trips to fantastically off-the-map locations.

No road, never mind public transport, goes anywhere near this place, so transfers from Kyzyl (or Abakan/Krasnoyarsk) must be arranged in advance with Sai-Khonash Travel.

Kyzyl to Mongolian Border

Some 80km out of Kyzyl, dramatic Mt Khayyrakan (1148m), a spiky ridge blessed by the 14th Dalai Lama in 1992, comes into view but isn’t reached until km107. Climb towards the stupa at the base of the mountain from the roadside cafe where buses make a brief stop. The small town of Chadan (Chadaana) is attractively dotted with wooden cottages and there’s an appealing little museum. Apart from being the birthplace of Russia's current minister of defence, Sergei Shoygu, the town is most famous as Tuva’s former spiritual centre; the once-great Ustuu Khuree Temple 6km south of Chadan was utterly devastated in the Soviet era but has since been rebuilt and now hosts a large annual music festival in mid-July, embracing everything from khöömei to grunge rock. Participants camp in tents and yurts. Ak-Dovurak and Kyzyl-Mazhalyk are another hour’s drive west. Beyond Chadan, the Yenisey federal highway turns to Khandagayty, the location of a major checkpoint on the Mongolian border.

Western BAM

The official start of the 3100km-long Baikal–Amur Mainline (Baikalo-Amurskaya Magistral, BAM) is Tayshet, Siberia's busiest railway junction and a former Gulag town. From there the BAM crosses almost virgin territory that is more impressively mountainous than anything along the Trans-Siberian main line. Most travellers' top BAM stop is Severobaikalsk, an almost-tourist-ready hub for visiting Baikal's stunning north, with thermal mini spas nestling amid dramatic nameless peaks.

HERO PROJECT OF THE CENTURY

The BAM is an astonishing victory of belief over adversity (and economic reason). This ‘other’ trans-Siberian line runs from Tayshet (417km east of Krasnoyarsk) around the top of Lake Baikal to Sovetskaya Gavan on the Pacific coast. It was begun in the 1930s to access the timber and minerals of the Lena Basin, and work stopped during WWII. Indeed, the tracks were stripped altogether and reused to lay a relief line to the besieged city of Stalingrad (now Volgograd).

Work effectively started all over again in 1974 when the existing Trans-Siberian Railway was felt to be vulnerable to attack by a potentially hostile China. The route, cut through nameless landscapes of virgin taiga and blasted through anonymous mountains, was built by patriotic volunteers and the BAM was labelled ‘Hero Project of the Century’ to encourage young people from across the Soviet Union to come and do their bit. But as cynicism began replacing enthusiasm in the late Brezhnev years, 'project of the century' turned into an ironic expression meaning a project that takes eternity to be completed. Building on permafrost pushed the cost of the project to US$25 billion, some 50 times more than the original Trans-Siberian Railway.

New ‘BAM towns’ grew with the railway, often populated by builders who decided to stay on. However, the line’s opening in 1991 coincided with the collapse of the centrally planned USSR and the region’s bright Soviet future never materialised. While Bratsk and Severobaikalsk survived, many other smaller, lonely settlements became virtual ghost towns. Today only a handful of passenger trains a day use the line.

Tayshet Тайшет

%39563 / Pop 35,500 / Time Moscow +5hr

All Siberian roads, or railway lines at least, lead to Tayshet, a major rail junction where the Trans-Siberian, BAM and Tayshet–Abakan line collide. A child of the Trans-Sib, Tayshet had a difficult upbringing as the Gulag capital of Eastern Siberia. Between the late 1930s and the mid-1960s, numerous camps and prison colonies occupied bits of town, with everyone from 39,000 Japanese prisoners of war to well-known Moscow intellectuals passing through at various points. Not much remains of the camps today except for a few rows of prisoner-built wooden houses.

Tayshet is now becoming known as the gateway to fascinating Tofalaria – an excruciatingly remote land inhabited by Tofy, Russia’s smallest ethnic group.

1Sights

Apart from the museum, Tayshet’s other main sight is its modernised railway station, where a huge L-series loco stands beached to the right of the building and an Italian-built water tower rises in architectural incongruity behind. A pretty macabre Lenin monument next to the station features the communist leader's gold-painted head placed on a podium made of reflective black stone.

MuseumMUSEUM

( GOOGLE MAP ; ul Kalinina 1, Biryusinsk; R100; h9am-6pm Mon-Sat)

Leaving Tayshet’s dusty/muddy streets and loco whistles, an interesting excursion is to neighbouring Biryusinsk, once a prosperous timber-processing town on the Trans-Sib. The local museum has some interesting rural knick-knacks, old samovars, a mock-up of a Siberian izba (log house) and a 1950s Soviet nostalgia section. The graves of Lithuanian exiles lie in the cemetery nearby. Biryusinsk is an R31 marshrutka ride from in front of Tayshet station.

Regional MuseumMUSEUM

( GOOGLE MAP ; ul Lenina 115; R20; h10am-6pm Tue-Sat)

To learn more about the town’s (dark) past visit the Regional Museum, where easily musterable local historians are desperate to tell foreigners their story. There are also some exhibits belonging to Tofalaria.

4Sleeping & Eating

Igor ShalyginHOMESTAY$$

(%8-924-716 4004; www.facebook.com/pg/Transsib-baikal-transit-319120791457041; per person R1000)

The best reason to get off at Tayshet is Igor Shalygin, an English- and German-speaking travel enthusiast who runs a cosy homestay in the old town, particularly popular with motorcycle overlanders. He can take you out to various beauty spots, romantically lost bits of the Trans-Sib and the old trakt, and give you a taste of authentic rural Siberian life.

The latter includes a superb banya (bathhouse), where the host performs the role of steam and twig master. In summer, Shalygin runs boat trips on the placid Biryusa River. In winter, when the river turns into an ice road, he can set up a trip to the reindeer herders and hunters of Tofalaria.

Kofeynya ParisCOFFEE

( GOOGLE MAP ; Taishet railway station; h9am-1am)

This surprisingly metropolitan cafe inside the train station serves good coffee and snacks till the last night train is gone.

Bratsk Братск

%3953 / Pop 234,150 / Time Moscow +5hr

Unless you’re a fan of BAM or hydroelectric projects, Bratsk is perhaps not worth leaving the ‘comfort’ of your carriage bunk, though it does neatly break up the journey from both Irkutsk and Krasnoyarsk to Severobaikalsk. The city’s raison d’être is a gigantic dam (GES), which drowned the original historic town in the 1960s. New Bratsk is an unnavigable and heavily polluted necklace of disconnected concrete ‘subcities’ and belching industrial zones, with the spirit-crushingly dull Tsentralny area at its heart.

1Sights

Angara VillageMUSEUM

( GOOGLE MAP ; www.bratskmuseum.ru; ul Komsomolskaya; R150; h10am-4.30pm Wed-Sun)

Some 12km from Tsentralny, this impressive open-air ethnographic museum contains a rare 17th-century wooden watchtower and buildings rescued from submerged old Bratsk. A series of shaman sites and Evenki chumy (tepee-shaped conical dwellings) lie in the woods behind. Take a taxi or arrange a visit through Taiga Tours.

Bratsk DamLANDMARK

(Братская ГЭС GOOGLE MAP ; www.irkutskenergo.ru)

A ferro-concrete symbol of the USSR’s efforts to harness the might of Siberia’s natural assets, between 1967 and 1971 the Bratsk hydroelectric power station was the world’s largest single electricity producer. Slung between high cliffs and somehow holding back the mammoth Bratsk Sea – no one can deny it’s a striking spectacle, especially from the window of BAM trains that pass right across the top.

Take any marshrutka from Tsentralny to Gidrostroitel, the closest slab of Bratsk to the dam. The only way to access the turbine rooms is through a local tour agency.

TTours

Taiga ToursTOURS

( GOOGLE MAP ; %3953-416 513; www.taiga-tours.ru; 2nd fl, Hotel Taiga; h10am-6pm Mon-Fri)

Permits and guides to visit the dam’s turbine rooms.

4Sleeping & Eating

Hotel ShvedkaHOTEL$

(Гостиница Шведка GOOGLE MAP ; %8-902-179 0580; www.hotel-shvedka.ru; ul Mira 25; s/d from R1050/1400; W)

Rooms here range from battered and cheap to almost design standard. Ask to see which you’re getting before you commit. Breakfast is extra and is taken in the hotel's own cafe.

Vremena GodaHOTEL$$

(Времена года GOOGLE MAP ; %3953-414 777; www.hotelbratsk.ru; ul Podbelskogo 12; d from R3500)

The city's most elegant hotel occupies an Alpine-styled wooden chalet with tastefully designed rooms, where the smell of natural wood all but suppresses the industrial odours that prevail outside. Paper-thin walls mean you can eavesdrop on neighbours' Skype calls and stay informed about the rest of their activities.

AmritaVEGETARIAN$

( GOOGLE MAP ; %3953-454 097; www.amritacentr.ru; ul Pionerskaya 5; mains R80-120; hnoon-7pm; v)

In a gloomy macho town like Bratsk, this tidy vegetarian cafeteria comes as a pleasant surprise. Admittedly the lentil soup and samosas have lost any signs of their Indian roots, but perhaps it is the beginning of Siberia's own vegetarian cooking style.

Rock GarretEASTERN EUROPEAN$$

(Рок Гаррет GOOGLE MAP ; %3953-411 417; www.cherdak-bratsk.ru; ul Mira 43; mains R300-400; h10am-2am)

A restaurant, a pub and a rock-music venue – this all-in-one place is about the best option for an evening out in Bratsk. The menu is a carnivore's delight with a few Siberian elements, such as moose cutlets. Home-brewed lager, as well as English and Belgian ales, are on tap.

8Getting There & Away

For Tsentralny, get off BAM trains at the Anzyobi (Анзеби) station and transfer by bus or elektrichka (suburban train). Bratsk has the following rail connections:

AIrkutsk platskart/kupe R2500/2650, 16½ to 18½ hours, daily

AKrasnoyarsk platskart/kupe R2000/2100, 12½ hours, up to four daily

AMoscow platskart/kupe R8350/10,000, three days and three hours, one or two daily

ASeverobaikalsk platskart/kupe R2100/2300, 14 to 17 hours, up to four daily

Irkutsk can also be reached by Western-standard coach (R1100, 10½ hours) from the Tsentralny bus station (ul Yuzhnaya) and summer hydrofoil from a river station in southeast Tsentralny. Check VSRP for details of the latter.

Severobaikalsk Северобайкальск

%30130, 30139 / Pop 23,900 / Time Moscow +5hr

Founded as a shack camp for railway workers in the mid-1970s, Severobaikalsk has grown into the most engaging halt on the BAM, where travellers vacate stuffy railway compartments to stretch legs in the taiga or cool off in Lake Baikal. The town itself is a grid of soulless, earthquake-proof apartment blocks with little in between, but the mountainscape and nameless wildernesses backing the lake quickly lure hikers and adventurers away from the concrete. They discover a land more remote, less peopled and generally more spectacular than Baikal’s south, a place where lazy bears and reindeer-herding Evenki still rule in timeless peace, despite the best efforts of Homo sovieticus.

1Sights

Railway StationNOTABLE BUILDING

( GOOGLE MAP ; pr 60 let SSSR; h5am-midnight)

The epicentre of SB’s world is a striking construction with a nostalgically stranded steam locomotive standing guard to the right. The sweeping architectural design of the brave-new-world station resembles a ski jump, but it's really meant to look like a ship. As with the rest of Severobaikalsk, it was designed by architects from Leningrad, who tried to convey the sense of both places being united by the nautical theme.

An overhead bridge to the right of the station leads across the tracks towards a scenic clifftop trail that skirts the coast.

BAM MuseumMUSEUM

(Музей БАМа GOOGLE MAP ; per Proletarsky 5; R50; h10am-1pm & 2-6pm Tue-Sat)

Having moved into larger premises, the town’s friendly museum has exhibits on BAM railway history (workers’ medals, grainy black-and-white photos, ‘old’ BAM tickets), some Buryat artefacts and a few mammoth bones. An adjacent room houses an art gallery where local artists display their works. There is also a souvenir shop that peddles shaman drums amid kitschy bric-a-brac.

God's Mother of Kazan CathedralCHURCH

( GOOGLE MAP ; ul Mira 10)

A strange sight in a town built by Komsomol (Youth Communist League) enthusiasts, the town's new Orthodox church sports two impressive onion domes in gleaming gold and a monster chandelier inside. It stands just beyond the town’s grey-concrete war memorial.

2Activities

Severobaikalsk is the base for trekking expeditions along the Great Baikal Trail on the ice in winter. These, along with visits to Evenki reindeer herders, can be organised with the help of local tourist agencies and hotel owners.

Seismic activity in the northern Baikal area shakes free lots of thermal springs, around which tiny spas have sprouted. These are great places to soothe aching muscles after days of contortion in your BAM carriage bunk, though facilities are pretty basic. Costs are low for accommodation, food and bathing.

Frolikha Adventure Coastline TrailTREKKING

( GOOGLE MAP )

Part of the Great Baikal Trail, this incredible, relatively demanding 100km adventure trekking route runs between the delta of the Verkhnyaya Angara River and the spa hamlet of Khakusy on Baikal’s eastern shore. You’ll need a boat to find the start of the trail at the mouth of the river, from where it takes eight days to reach Khakusy via countless lonely capes and bays, wild camping by the lake all the way.

Exhilarating river crossings (including a biggie – the River Frolikha), deserted beaches and show-stopping Baikal vistas punctuate the trail, and from Ayaya Bay a there-back hike to remote Lake Frolikha beckons.

For more information and trail maps, contact Severobaikalsk tour agencies, the Baikal Trail Hostel or Dresden-based Baikalplan.

Khakusy SpaSPA

( GOOGLE MAP ; www.hakusy.com)

To land at this idyllically isolated hot-spring turbaza (holiday camp) requires permits in summer (available through Severobaikalsk tour companies and hotels), but these are waived in February and March, when it takes about an hour to drive across the ice from Severobaikalsk. Bathing is fun in the snow and frozen steam creates curious ice patterns on the wooden spa buildings.

In summer, make sure you book the ferry well in advance as it’s a popular trip among Russian holidaymakers. An alternative way to reach Khakusy is along the 100km Frolikha Adventure Coastline Trail.

TTours

Severobaikalsk has a surprising number of agencies and individuals that can arrange accommodation and backcountry excursions.

Rashit Yakhin/BAM TourTOURS

( GOOGLE MAP ; %8-914-833 1646, 30139-21 560; www.gobaikal.com; ul Oktyabrya 16/2)

This experienced full-time travel-fixer, guide and ex-BAM worker suffered an immobilising stroke in the mid-1990s, rendering his spoken English somewhat hard to follow. Nonetheless, Rashit is quick to reply to emails and able to set ice-cycling and skiing trips on Baikal in winter as well as catamaran trips in summer. Dacha (private summer cottage) visits are also on offer.

Maryasov FamilyTOURS

(%8-924-391 4514, 8-908-597 5988; www.baikaltrail.ru)

The English-speaking family of Yevgeny Maryasov, a cofounder of the Great Baikal Trail, runs a homestay, information centre and tourism association, and also organises guided treks to Baikalskoe and Lake Frolikha, seal-spotting trips to Ayaya Bay and fascinating trips to the camps of Evenki reindeer herders.

EcolandTOURS

(%8-902-162 1623, 30130-36 191; www.ecoland-tour.ru)

This award-winning tour agency specialises in horse-riding trips, Baikal boat excursions and trekking.

4Sleeping

Dad's HouseHOSTEL$

(Папин дом GOOGLE MAP ; %8-983-430 9817, 8-950-060 7343; azubina@mail.ru; ul Promyshlennaya 17; dm R750)

A pretty little cottage in an unpretty industrial neighbourhood, not far from the centre, this new hostel has eight bunk beds and offers sumptuous breakfasts for an extra R250.

Baikal Trail HostelHOMESTAY$

( GOOGLE MAP ; %30130-23 860, 8-924-391 4514, 8-924-779 2805; www.baikaltrailhostel.com; ul Studencheskaya 12, apt 16; tr per person R900; iW)

Run by the younger generation of the Maryasov family in their own flat, SB's original hostel is now reduced to a three-bed homestay. Kitchen, washing machine and a communal climbing wall are at visitors' disposal. It’s one of the best places in town to arrange back-country treks and trips into the wilds around the northern end of Lake Baikal.

oZolotaya RybkaGUESTHOUSE$$

(Золотая Рыбка GOOGLE MAP ; %30130-21 134; www.baikalgoldenfish.ru; ul Sibirskaya 14; d from R2300; W)

Well signposted from ul Olkhonskaya, SB’s best guesthouse maintains immaculate and imaginatively designed rooms in three buildings, providing glimpses of Lake Baikal through the trees. There are spotless toilets and showers throughout, guests have access to kitchens and a cook prepares a restaurant-standard breakfast on request (R300 extra). Owner offers trips to Evenki reindeer herders.

Dom u BaikalaGUESTHOUSE$$

(Дом у Байкала GOOGLE MAP ; %30130-239 50, 8-950-119 7380; www.baikal-kruiz.narod.ru; pr Neptunsky 3; d with/without bathroom R2600/2200; W)

Located in the pleasant lakeside residential area of Severobaikalsk, this cottage contains several clean and well-equipped if uninspiring rooms. The English-speaking owner runs tours of main northern Baikal attractions.

Hotel OlympHOTEL$$

(Гостиница Олимп GOOGLE MAP ; %30130-23 980; www.hotelolymp.ru; ul Poligrafistov 2b; s/d from R2200/2600, with shared bathroom from R1200/1500; W)

Severobaikalsk’s smartest sleep has spotless, cool, airy rooms, though the plumbing could be more professionally screwed down. For this price you might expect breakfast and free wi-fi – you get neither.

5Eating

For quick and cheap eats – pozi (dumplings), shashlyk, plov and beer – try makeshift Buryat and Kyrgyz eateries in the shop row east of the station on pr 60 let SSSR.

Bar BisonGRILL$$

( GOOGLE MAP ; %8-950-399 9359; www.vk.com/bizonsbk; Leningradsky pr 8; mains R200-600; h11am-1am)

There are all kinds of shashlyk and other grilled meat in this little restaurant-bar located in what looks like a construction-site cabin by the town's market. Local Tikhonov & Sons beer is on tap. Gets a little rowdy on weekends.

RialtoITALIAN$$

( GOOGLE MAP ; %8-924-652 4151; ul Studencheskaya 8; mains R200-600; h9am-9pm Mon-Thu, 10am-10pm Fri-Sun)

Pizzas, pastas and really good coffee served in pleasant Italianesque premises, decorated with pictures of Venice and Rome. Sometimes closes for banquets on the weekend.

7Shopping

MarketMARKET

( GOOGLE MAP ; Gorodskoy Rynok)

Baikal fish, smoked and sun-dried, cedar pine nuts, sagaan-dalya and other local herbs – you'll find all of this in the small but bustling market located in the heart of town.

8Information

There are ATMs at the railway station, in the Zheleznodorozhnik Culture Centre and at the Leningradsky pr branch of the VIST Supermarket.

Baikalplan (www.baikalplan.de)

Post Office (Почта Leningradsky pr 6; h9am-2pm & 3-7pm Mon-Fri, 9am-2pm Sat)

Warm North of Baikal (www.privet-baikal.ru; Leningradsky pr 5; h10am-6pm) The local tourism association has turned the town's library into an informal hospitality centre, where – in theory – someone should always be available to help travellers with accommodation and local tours. It also runs an English-language website with tons of information and listings.

8Getting There & Away

Air

With hydrofoil services from Irkutsk and Olkhon suspended, two weekly flights from Irkutsk (R3750) and Ulan-Ude (R6500) operated by Angara airline provide the only fast option of getting into and out of Severobaikalsk.

Bus

Marshrutky cluster outside Severobaikalsk’s train station and run to the following destinations:

ABaikalskoe R70, 45 minutes, two daily

AGoudzhekit R120, 45 minutes, three daily

ANizhneangarsk Airport R50, 50 minutes, half-hourly

Train

Severobaikalsk has the following rail connections:

ABratsk platskart/kupe R2100/3700, 14 to 16 hours, three daily

AIrkutsk platskart/kupe R3800/7000, 38 hours, daily

AKrasnoyarsk platskart/kupe R3300/5600, 28 hours, three daily

AMoscow platskart/kupe R9300/10,080, three days 18 hours, one or two daily

ATynda platskart/kupe R3000/3200, 26 hours, daily

8Getting Around

Taxi drivers charge a standard fare of R80 before 10pm and R100 during the night for trips anywhere around town. Taxi Milent (%30130-255 33) is a very reliable service.

Around Severobaikalsk

Nizhneangarsk Нижнеангарск

Until the BAM clunked into town, Nizhneangarsk had led an isolated existence for over 300 years, cobbling together its long streets of wooden houses and harvesting Baikal’s rich omul (a type of fish) stocks. If truth be told, not much changed when the railway arrived, but despite the appearance of now larger Severobaikalsk 30km away, the 5km-long village remains the administrative centre of northern Baikal.

The Regional Museum ( GOOGLE MAP ; ul Pobedy 37, Nizhneangarsk; R100; h10am-6pm Mon-Fri) chases the history of the region back to the 17th century and includes several Evenki exhibits. The museum often hosts performances by the local Evenki folklore collective Sinilga, which can be arranged through the Maryasov family in Severobaikalsk.

To the east of the town, a long spit of land known as Yarki Island caps the most northerly point of Lake Baikal and keeps powerful currents and waves out of the fragile habitat of the Verkhnyaya Angara delta. You can walk along its length.

Scenic low-altitude flights cross Lake Baikal to Irkutsk and Ulan-Ude when weather conditions allow.

Marshrutky (R70, 50 minutes) from Severobaikalsk run every 30 minutes along ul Pobedy then continue along the coast road (ul Rabochaya) to the airport.

Baikalskoe Байкальское

This timeless little fishing village of log-built houses 45km south of Severobaikalsk has a jaw-droppingly picturesque lakeside location backed by wooded hills and snow-dusted peaks. Your first stop should be the small, informal school museum (Baikalskoe; R100; h10am-4pm). The only other sight is the wooden Church of St Inokent, which strikes a scenic lakeside pose.

Most visitors come to Baikalskoe on a day trip from Severobaikalsk, but if you do want to stay the night, arrange a homestay through tour agencies and fixers in Severobaikalsk. The Maryasov family in Severobaikalsk can put you up in the house of Gertrude Freimane, a Latvian deportee, who cooks excellent wild-berry cakes. There’s no cafe in the village, just a couple of shops selling basic foodstuffs.

Marshrutky (R100, 45 minutes) leave from outside Severobaikalsk train station every day early in the morning and in the early evening, returning an hour or so later.

A section of the Great Baikal Trail heads north from the fishing port 20 minutes up a cliff-side path towards the radio mast atop cape Ludar, from which there are particularly superb views looking back towards the village. Beyond that, Baikalskoe’s shamanic petroglyphs hide in awkward-to-reach cliff-side locations and can only be found with the help of a knowledgeable local. The well-maintained trail continues another 18 scenic kilometres through beautiful cedar and spruce forests and past photogenic Boguchan Island to chilly Lake Slyudyanskoe, next to which stands the small Echo turbaza (holiday camp) – book through the Maryasov family.

The hike makes for a rewarding day trip and, with the path hugging the lake most of the way, there’s little chance of getting lost. From the Echo turbaza head along a dirt track through the forest to the Severobaikalsk–Baikalskoe road to hitch a lift, or prearrange transport back to Severobaikalsk. Alternatively, some hikers tackle the day the other way round, catching the morning marshrutka to Echo turbaza, then timing the hike to make the evening marshrutka back to Severobaikalsk.