Tour of Yakutia with a cruise on the Lena (7 days)

🌄 Day 1. Getting to know Yakutsk

— Meeting with the guide at the airport, transfer to 3* hotel. Time difference with Moscow is 6 hours.
 
Check-in to the hotel from 14:00. If guests arrive on a morning flight, check-in can be done after the excursion program. Luggage can be left in the luggage room.
The 3* hotel in Yakutsk is agreed in advance with the tour operator, options: (Lena, Alaas or Orto Doydu)
10:00-11:30 Meeting with the guide in the hotel lobby, departure for an excursion to the ethnographic complex “Us-Kut”. Performance of the ancient blessing ritual “Algys”.
The Us-Kut tourist complex, located near Yakutsk, is famous for its good traditions and is built on the hospitality and hard work of the Atlasov family, who put their love for their native land into it. Tourists can get an idea of the ancient culture of the Sakha people: hear the khomus and toyuk, see national rituals — treating spirits, purification, greeting the sun. The complex features buildings typical of Yakut life.
11:30-12:15 Excursion to the underground complex “Kingdom of Permafrost”
The “Kingdom of Permafrost” tourist complex is a glacier complex located inside a mountain, with the residence of the Yakut Winter, Chyskhaan the Master of Cold, the room of the Lord of the North, exhibition halls of the Ice Sculpture Festival, a large paleontological exhibition of mammoth fauna objects, an ice slide, and an Ice Bar.
12:30-13:30 Climb to the observation deck of the sacred mountain “Chochur Muran”, walk on the mountain.
          From the mountain you can see a wonderful view of the Tuymaada Valley, where Yakutsk — the capital of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) — is located.
          Chochur Muran — from Yakut the name translates as “pointed hill”. The hill is revered as a sacred mountain. According to legends, the first ancestor of the Yakuts in the middle reaches of the Lena River, Elley Botur, first organized Ysyakh (the national summer holiday) here.
 13:45 – 15:00 Lunch (set menu) at the restaurant of the Chochur Muran complex (a la carte orders are not included in the tour price).
The complex is located in a beautiful place at the foot of Chochur Myraan hill, designed as an exact replica of the Yakut Cossack ostrog. The complex is decorated with authentic, original items and objects from those times from private collections, which are rarely found even in museums.
 15:30 Transfer to the hotel. In the evening, prepare luggage for the cruise on the Lena River.
— Free time.

🌄 Day 2. “Tukulan” sand dune and the bison nursery

8:00-9:00 Breakfast at the hotel
9:00-11:00 Departure to the village of Bulgunnyakhtakh.
11:00-11:30 Arrival in Bulgunnyakhtakh village, boarding a motor boat
11:30-12:00 Departure by motor boat to the Sand Dune (Tukulan) “Kyhyl Elekhin” — a huge barchan charming in its uniqueness, formed by winds over thousands of years. The barchan resembles a lying huge dragon, 1.5 km long. The height of the barchan is up to 40 meters. The wind raises sand from the bare bank to a height, forming a huge sand dune, which, moving towards the taiga, absorbs living trees like a predator. The Tukulan digests them in its body and after hundreds of years, dried trees appear on the opposite side of the tukulan…
12:00-13:30 Tour of the dune, free time
— Snack (not included in the price, you can stop at a store or cafe on the way)
13:30-14:00 Departure by boats to the mouth of the Buotama River
14:00-16:30 Safari tour to the giant Forest Bison nursery
The forest bison nursery was opened in 2006 at the mouth of the Buotama River. The animals were brought from Canada, as no bison remained in Yakutia after centuries of hunting them. This nursery is a step towards the revival of the native fauna of these places. It occupies a large area — about 100 hectares, so that the animals do not feel enslaved. The forest bison, a contemporary of the mammoth, is an endangered species listed in the international Red Book.
16:30-17:00 Boarding the boat and departure to the other bank of the Lena River to the village of Bulgunnyakhtakh
17:00-19:00 Departure to Yakutsk. Transfer to the hotel

🌄 Day 3. Yakutsk and cruise on the Lena River to the Lena Pillars

Prepare belongings for checkout and cruise, leave items in luggage storage until the end of the excursion; we will pick up the luggage after the excursion.
8:00-10:00 Breakfast at the hotel. Check-out from the hotel, preparation for the cruise.
11:00-12:30 Meeting with the guide in the hotel lobby, departure for an excursion to the Yakutsk State Museum of History and Culture of the Peoples of the North named after E. Yaroslavsky.         The exhibition includes departments of archaeology, ethnography and nature, including stuffed animals of Yakutia, skeletons of the Tirekhtyakh mammoth and Greenland whale, and much more.
12:30-13:30 A short bus and walking tour of the city and the “Old Town” district, visit to souvenir shops.
13:30 — 15:00 Set lunch at a restaurant (a la carte orders are not included in the tour price).
15:30 – 16:30 Visit to the underground laboratory of the Permafrost Institute
The Melnikov Permafrost Institute of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences is an institute of the Siberian Branch of the Academy of Sciences. The main areas of scientific activity are the study of the evolution of the cryolithozone under the influence of natural and anthropogenic factors, as well as engineering geocryology. The institute has an underground laboratory, a cryo-storage, and a museum.
16:40 Transfer to the river port, picking up luggage from the hotel on the way.
CRUISE “YAKUTSK — LENA PILLARS — YAKUTSK”
19:00 Mikhail Svetlov 20:00 Demyan Bedny — Departure from the river port of Yakutsk. Welcome to guests, information about cabins, life jackets, the ship.
Until 21:15 — Dinner in the restaurant in shifts
21:30-22:30 — Animation children’s evening entertainment program (animator with props) in the music lounge
22:30-23:00 — Cartoon screening in the cinema hall
23:00-01:00 — Evening entertainment program for adults hosted by a presenter with invited artists in the music lounge
01:00-05:00 — Disco in the music lounge with a DJ

🌄 Day 4. Famous Lena Pillars

08:00-10:15 — Breakfast in shifts
09:00-10:00 — Cartoon screening in the cinema hall
10:15-10:45 — Health aerobics in the fresh air under the guidance of an instructor (sun deck)
11:00 — Arrival at the “Lena Pillars” stop
11:00-13:00 — Purification ritual “Algys”, ascent to the top of the Lena Pillars
13:00-15:15 — Lunch in the restaurant in shifts
15:15-17:15 — Children’s program (contests, creative workshops with an animator)
17:15-19:00 — Free program on the shore
19:00 — Departure from the “Lena Pillars” stop
19:00-21:15 — Dinner in the restaurant in shifts
21:30-22:30 — Animation children’s evening entertainment program (animator with props) in the music lounge
22:30-23:00 — Cartoon screening in the cinema hall
23:00-01:00 — Evening entertainment program for adults hosted by a presenter with invited artists in the music lounge
01:00-05:00 — Disco in the music lounge with a DJ

🌄 Day 5. Buluus Glacier and Kuruluur

Note: from August 20, the Buluus Glacier completely melts, so it will be replaced by the open-air ethnographic museum complex “Samartay”.

08:00 Meeting guests at the pier, boarding the car
08:30-09:30 Breakfast. Preparation for departure to the Buluus Glacier.
09:30 Departure to the ferry crossing across the Lena River “Darkylaakh” (Yakutsk – Nizhny Bestyakh village) or depending on the day and the congestion of the ferry crossing, the crossing will be carried out through the village of Mokhsogollokh.
— Then we go towards the Buluus Glacier (from Nizhny Bestyakh 95 km.)
— Lunch at a cafe (or lunch box), not included in the tour price.
          Buluus Glacier — a unique source of groundwater forms ice sheets of clean fresh water that do not melt even on the hottest days. In some years, the ice thickness in July reaches up to 3 m. The place is quite popular among tourists. The ice kingdom seems like complete fantasy on a hot summer day among green grass and tall coniferous trees. And in winter, even in severe frost, water outlets appear on the surface of the blue ice, which spreads over the ice surface and freezes. All these permafrost phenomena cause amazement and enjoyment of beauty.
From August 20, the Buluus Glacier is replaced by the Samartay Museum.
Ethnographic Museum “Samartay” has been operating since 1991. It houses unique exhibits telling about the life and culture of the Yakuts, about the flora and fauna of our region, documents, photographs, exhibits on the history of the region and the village. On the museum grounds there are historical and architectural monuments: the Kazikatskaya Nikolskaya Church from 1890, an old grain dryer, a hexagonal hut “babaaryna”, other buildings from the 18th century, a barn of the Yakut bay (rich man) Kirill (Kirile baay ampaara), built for protection from the “robber” Vasily Manchary.
— Departure to “Kuruluur” — this is a small but deep cascade of waterfalls with rapids and rocky banks, located on the Mende River.
— Visit to the sacred mountain “Turuk Khaya” (meaning steep cliff) — this is one of the holy places of Khangalassky ulus. A monument created by nature itself (Lena Pillars in miniature). 80m high, more than 100m long.
18:30 Departure to the city of Yakutsk.
21:30 Arrival in Yakutsk. Transfer to the hotel.

🌄 Day 6. Museum-Reserve “Druzhba” (Friendship)*

7:00-9:00 Meeting with the guide in the hotel lobby, departure to the village of Kangalassy
9:00-10:30 Crossing the Lena River bed by ferry from Kangalassy village to Ogordotakh village (distance 30 km.)
10:30-12:30 Departure by car to the museum.
— Time for lunch at a cafe (not included in the price).
— Excursion to the Lena Historical and Architectural Museum-Reserve “Druzhba”.
An open-air historical and architectural ensemble located in a very picturesque place of the former Lena ostrog (Yakutsk), founded on the initiative of the people’s writer of Yakutia Suorun Omollon. Famous explorers, including Semyon Dezhnev, Ivan Moskvitin, Yerofey Khabarov, passed through the ostrog.
— In the center of the museum is a copy of the Spasskaya Church of the Zashiversk ostrog, built in 1700.
— A replica of the boat of sotnik Pyotr Beketov, founder of Yakutsk
— Ancient examples of wooden architecture of the 17th century of the peoples of Yakutia
— Household items of the peoples of Yakutia
— Works of folk art
15:30-17:30 Departure to Yakutsk
— Transfer to the hotel

🌄 Day 7. Way home

— Transfer to the airport.