Standard tour to Oymyakon (7 days/6 nights)

🌄 Day 1. Getting to know Yakutsk

9:30 Meeting with the guide at the hotel lobby, departure for an excursion to the “Us Kut” ethno‑complex, with a short sightseeing tour of the city along the way.

10:00-11:30 Excursion to the ethnographic complex “Us Kut”, performing the ancient blessing ritual “Algys”.

The “Us-Kut” tourist complex, located near Yakutsk, is famous for its good traditions and is based on the hospitality and hard work of the Atlasov family, who have put their love for their native land into it. Tourists can get an idea of the ancient culture of the Sakha people: hear khomus and toyuk, see national rituals — treating spirits, purification, greeting the sun. On the territory of the center there are typical Yakut household buildings.

11:45-12:30 Excursion to the underground complex “Kingdom of Permafrost”.

The “Kingdom of Permafrost” is a complex in a glacier located inside a mountain, with the residence of Yakut Winter, Chyskhaan the Lord of Cold, the Master of the North’s room, exhibition halls of the Ice Sculpture Festival, a large paleontological exhibition of mammoth fauna, an ice slide and an Ice Bar.

12:45-13:30 Climb to the observation deck of the sacred mountain “Chochur Muran”, walk along the mountain.

The mountain offers a beautiful 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 (a national summer holiday) here.

13:45-15:00 Lunch at the restaurant “Chochur Muraan” (national and European cuisine, not included in the tour price).

“Chochur Myran” is an ecological and ethnographic complex built in honor of the Cossack pioneers who explored and annexed all the vast lands beyond the Ural Range to the Russian state. Inside there is a national restaurant, which also serves as a museum. The walls are decorated with hunting trophies, a collection of antique weapons, and dishes.

15:30-16:30 Visit to the farmers’ market in Yakutsk.

This is one of the exotic places of the city and its real landmark. It is home to the world’s coldest outdoor market. In addition, not only frozen fresh products are sold here, but also in the covered part of the market you can buy souvenirs, various meat, fish, and dairy local products and more.

16:30-17:30 Souvenir shop “Ilin Ener”.

17:30 Transfer to the hotel.

🌄 Day 2. Khandyga and the road on bones

08:00 Meeting at the hotel lobby.

Departure from Yakutsk towards Khandyga. Distance from Yakutsk to Khandyga: 365 km.

Along the way we cross the great Siberian rivers Lena and Aldan via an ice road (winter road), driving over frozen channels and riverbeds for more than 25 km.

12:00 Lunch at a roadside cafe in Tyungyulyu (average bill 500 rub., not included in tour price).

16:00 Visit to the Cherkekh Historical and Memorial Museum “Yakut Political Exile” in the village of Cherkekh, Tattinsky Ulus.

Continuation of the journey.

18:00 Dinner at a roadside cafe in the village of Ytyk-Kyuel (not included in tour price).

— Crossing the Aldan River.

21:00 Arrival in Khandyga late in the evening.

Accommodation in an apartment-type hotel. Simple comfort.

🌄 Day 3. On the road to the Pole of Cold

8:00 Departure from the hotel (Khandyga – Kyubume – Oymyakon). Distance from Khandyga to Oymyakon along the highway – 560 km.

9:30 Breakfast at a roadside cafe in the village of Teply Klyuch (not included in tour price).

— A visit to the GULAG museum is possible if the museum is open that day.

Along the way on the Kolyma Federal Highway there will be beautiful views against the background of the Verkhoyansk Range and on sections of roads with breathtaking views: Yellow, Black Cliffs, Hare Loop — these sections once made drivers tremble with their particular difficulty.

10:00 Photo session at Tomporuk Pass, at the memorial cross to GULAG victims.

13:00 Stop at the non‑freezing stream “Tonmot-Uu – Shaman Spring”. Collect healing water from the spring.

— Late lunch‑dinner at a roadside cafe in the village of Kyubume “Kuba” (average bill 500 rub., not included in tour price).

21:00 We will be at the hotel late in the evening.

Accommodation in the village of Tomtor – in a private guest house. Simple comfort.

Late dinner at the hotel, rest.

🌄 Day 4. Oymyakon — the Pole of Cold

8:00 Breakfast, departure for an excursion to the village of Oymyakon (40 km from Tomtor).

10:00 Farm of Yakut cows (Bereg-Yurdy). A special local breed adapted to extreme living conditions, which uses special bras in winter.

11:00 Arrival in the village of Oymyakon. Visit to the “Pole of Cold” Stele with the Winter Bull, where we will meet the fairy‑tale character of Yakut mythology Chyskhaan (the Holder of Cold) and receive from his hands Certificates of visiting the coldest inhabited place on Earth.

12:30 The world’s coldest photo exhibition “Chyskhaan’s Gallery”. Here we will visit the estate of Semyon Sivtsev – a new solid house‑yurt (Yakut balagan), made in the old style.

13:00 Lunch at a guest house.

14:00 Cultural program by Oymyakon youth at the House of Culture. Folklore, sports competitions.

15:30 Tasting of Oymyakon tea varieties. Tea ceremony.

16:30 Departure from Oymyakon village.

18:00 Arrival in Tomtor village. Tomtor Local Lore Museum named after N. Zabolotsky – Chyskhaan.

19:00 Ice mine.

20:00 Dinner at the hotel.

In the evening you can go to the river and plunge into the non‑freezing river. After that — order a bathhouse.

🌄 Day 5. Return to Yakutsk

07:00 Breakfast.

08:00 Departure from Tomtor village.

11:30 Visit to a reindeer herders’ camp. Reindeer sleigh rides. Photo sessions with reindeer. Tour of the area. Meeting with reindeer herders.

12:30 Departure from the camp.

13:30 Lunch in the mountains, at the cafe “Odo” (not included in tour price, average bill 500 rub.).

18:00 Dinner in the village of Ytyk-Kyuel.

22:00 Arrival in Yakutsk.

🌄 Day 6. Lena Pillars

8:00 Meeting with the guide at the hotel lobby and departure to the Lena Pillars Nature Park along the route: Yakutsk – Lena Pillars by car (220 km, estimated travel time 4 hours).

* From December to mid‑February, part of the route runs by snowmobile on the ice of the Lena River, length 3 km. In spring, with strong winds, the road to the Lena Pillars may be covered with snow, then part of the route may also be covered by snowmobile.

The Lena Pillars are a unique natural monument and geological history of the Siberian Platform. They amaze the imagination of a person who finds himself for the first time on the great Siberian river Lena, which has cut its valley into the Lena Plateau of Central Siberia. They stretch with short breaks for 35 km. However, for another 200 km, solitary cliffs are located in isolation against the background of scree or green slopes overgrown with forest. The height of the Lena Pillars is determined by the depth of the incision of the Lena River valley into the Lena Plateau and is about 200 m.

— Lunch (bring your own food).

14:30-16:30 Climbing the Lena Pillars. Excursion. Photography.

16:30 Free time.

18:00-23:00 Departure along the route “Labyrya area – Tit-Ary village – Yakutsk” (190 km).

23:00 Arrival in Yakutsk. Transfer to the hotel.

🌄 Day 7. Way home

— Transfer to the airport.