Siberia

Siberia is a huge geographical and historical region of Russia, stretching from the Ural Mountains eastward to the Pacific coast. In the south, the borders of China, Mongolia and Kazakhstan are considered to be the boundaries of Siberia, and in the north – the coast of the Arctic Ocean. Siberian expanses are spread over 13,100,000 km², which is more than three quarters of the area of the Russian Federation or 10% of the total land area on the planet. The territory of Siberia is almost equal to the area of Canada, the world’s second largest country, and far exceeds the area of such large countries as China, India or even Australia, which occupies the entire continent.

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Video: Siberia

Contents

Highlights

The harsh climate makes the Siberian region unattractive for mass settlement. For the most part, these are uninhabited lands where civilization has failed to curb wildlife. Only 36 million Russians live here, with an average population density of less than three people per square kilometer. Meanwhile, 20 Siberian cities have populations exceeding 200,000, and Krasnoyarsk, Omsk and Novosibirsk are millionaire cities.

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Siberia is one of those places on the planet that stir the imagination. Many wonderful writers and travelers who have visited here have left the world fascinating descriptions of this region. Among them are the medieval merchant, Venetian Marco Polo, Norwegian polar explorer Fridtjof Nansen. The Briton Daniel Defoe sent Robinson Crusoe to Siberia in one of his books, and the famous French writer Jules Verne wrote an adventure novel in which the action unfolds precisely in these northern parts of Russia.

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The perfection of nature, the rich recreational, cultural and historical potential of Siberia, the colossal scientific and industrial resource created here – all this contributes to the growing attractiveness of the region for business and tourism. Tourists who have been here will keep bright and diverse impressions forever, because the choice of tours to Siberia is great – from comfortable rest in health resorts with thermal waters to extreme travel to unexplored mysterious places, conquering mountain peaks, risky rafting on mountain rivers. All year round travelers fill ski resorts and tourist bases scattered in the most beautiful corners of Siberia, wander through the best Russian reserves, fishing, hunting, go on cruises on comfortable motorboats on the most beautiful rivers in the world.

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History of Siberia

According to one version, the name of the region came from a consonant word of one of the Turkic languages, meaning “snowstorm”. Other researchers believe that in the toponym Siberia fixed the name of the ancient ruler of the Turks Shibir-khan. Historians have also found out that once there was a powerful tribe of Ugrians in the Irtyshye region, whose self-name was consonant with the word “Siberia.”

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The settlement of Siberia began more than half a million years ago. Stone tools discovered by archaeologists at the oldest site of primitive people in the Altai region are at least 600 thousand years old. Here, in the valley of the Anui River, is the famous cave Neolithic site Ayu-Tash (Denisova Cave), which has become a popular tourist attraction.

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In the 2nd millennium BC, Siberia was already inhabited by various tribes from the Urals to Chukotka. Around the 9th century BC, powerful tribal unions of Huns, Scythians, and Sarmatians began to form here. Their distinctive cultures are known from artifacts found in the burial mounds of that time.

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In the 13th century, much of Siberia was captured by the Mongol-Tatar rulers of the Golden Horde. Later, independent khanates arose here. Beginning in the XV century, the Moscow principality entered the struggle for possession of the northern territories. In the last quarter of the XV century the Moscow voivodes Gavrila Nelidov and Fedor Pestryi conquered the vast Perm region. Then Grand Duke Ivan III sent troops beyond the Urals. The Moscow army conquered the Yugra and Vogul principalities and seized territories up to the Irtysh River. In the middle of the next century, Moscow Tsar Ivan the Terrible conquered the huge Siberian Khanate (part of the territory of the Golden Horde), and when the Siberian Khan Kuchum stopped paying yasak (tribute), a Cossack squad led by Ermak was sent to Siberia. The Khan’s army was defeated and the territory was annexed to the Moscow state.

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By the beginning of the 17th century, Tobolsk, Tyumen, Surgut and other cities were founded in Siberia. Further Moscow detachments moved to the Ob, Yenisei, reached the rivers Indigirka, Kolyma, Lena, the shores of the Sea of Okhotsk, subdued the local peoples and founded Yakutsk, Okhotsk, Irkutsk. By the middle of the century Ataman Khabarov reached the Amur River and went to the borders of China.

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Under Tsar Peter I, Buryatia was conquered in 1703, and thousands of Russian settlers set out to develop southern Siberia. The lively trade with China necessitated the construction of the Siberian Road. This road stretched for more than 8 thousand versts from Moscow to the Amur River through Kazan, Tyumen, Tobolsk, Irkutsk and Nerchinsk. The eastern section of the tract is also known as the “Tea Road.”

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From 1763 to 1771, special “Siberian” money was minted exclusively for circulation in the Siberian region. These coins, in denominations ranging from a half coin to 10 kopecks, were produced by the Kolyvansky Mint. Now Siberian coins – numismatic rarity.

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In the 20s of the XIX century Siberia was divided administratively into two large governor-generalships – West Siberian and East Siberian. Their main cities were Tobolsk and Irkutsk respectively. By this time the mining industry had developed in Siberia, ores, copper, gold, semi-precious and ornamental stones were extracted here. From here the construction timber was exported, the best wood went to the shipyards of the empire.

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At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, the Trans-Siberian railroad was laid, which connected the Far East with the capital St. Petersburg and many Russian cities.

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During the Civil War, Soviet power was not immediately established in Siberia by the Bolsheviks. The government of Tsarist Admiral Alexander Kolchak operated here, and the Far Eastern Republic was proclaimed. At the end of the war, industrialization of the vast region began. In the Kuznetsk basin, the extraction of high-quality coal was organized, large steel plants and other industries appeared.

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The tragic pages of Siberia’s history are associated with the organization in this harsh region of a whole network of Stalinist concentration camps, where hundreds of thousands of repressed citizens of the USSR were sent.

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In the 60-80s of the last century, dams of powerful hydroelectric power plants were built on large Siberian rivers, the Baikal-Amur Mainline was laid, which gave a new impetus to the development of urban development, economy and culture of Siberia.

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Geography and climate

This colossal territory is usually subdivided into two major regions: Western and Eastern Siberia. According to the modern administrative division of the Russian Federation, Siberia is divided into regions, districts, krays, autonomous republics.

Geologists, geologists, and geographers have developed the geography of Siberia.

Geologists and geographers distinguish such zones of this part of Russia – the West Siberian Plain and the Central Siberian mountain plateau, stretching from the Ural and Altai Mountains to the Pacific Ocean. The plains landscapes in the south are characterized by steppe and forest-steppe, while in the north taiga, tundra, mosses and lichens on permafrost predominate.

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Siberian mountains often reach three kilometers in height. The lower parts of the slopes are overgrown with mountain taiga, while high-mountain tundra stretches above. The largest rivers are the Yenisei, Angara, Lena, and Amur. The Ob and Irtysh form the longest river system (5410 km). Its sources are identified in the mountainous region on the border of Mongolia and China, and its mouth is on the coast of the Kara Sea.

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Nowadays Russians under the name “Siberia” means the territory that is part of the Siberian Federal District, but at the beginning of the last century Siberia was also called the north-east of Kazakhstan, and most of the regions of Russia that are now part of the Far Eastern Federal District.

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Climatologists define two main climatic belts of Siberia: temperate in the south and subarctic in the north. The general characteristic of the climate is sharply continental, severe. The average temperature in July in the south reaches +23 °С, in the north – about +5 °С. The average thermometer in January – in the south: -16 °С, in the north: up to -48 °С.

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Weather conditions in Siberia are so diverse that each region has its own temperature records and options for the best time of year for traveling.

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Western Siberia

Western Siberia stretches from the Ural Mountains to the foothills of Altai, Salair, Kuznetsk Alatau, Gornaya Shoria and the mouth of the Yenisei River, with 80% of its territory occupied by the West Siberian Plain. Numerous rivers of Western Siberia belong to the Kara Sea basin. The largest waterways are the Ob and the Irtysh. This grandiose territory has five natural zones: steppe, forest-steppe, forests, forest-tundra and tundra.

Tyumen Oblast

This land, which holds colossal oil and gas reserves and occupies about 60% of Western Siberia, stretches out in the basins of the Irtysh and Ob. Tourists are attracted here by numerous nature reserves, national parks, historical and cultural monuments. Pilgrims go to temples and monasteries, many of which are iconic shrines of Orthodoxy.

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The administrative center of the region, Tyumen, traces its history back to the late 16th century and is one of the first Russian cities erected on this harsh land. Tyumen is home to Siberia’s oldest Orthodox churches, architectural historical sites, and interesting museums.

Tobolsk, founded a little later than Tyumen, for a long time had the status of the capital of Siberia. The city is famous for its ancient Kremlin, old wooden terems with carvings, picturesque cobblestone streets leading to parks and gardens, laid in the century before last. A curious attraction of Tobolsk is a museum-reserve located on the territory of the Prison Castle, built in the middle of the XIX century and known as the Tobolsk Central. From here convicts were sent to hard labor or settlement in even more remote areas of vast Siberia. Not far from Tobolsk, in the tiny ancient village of Abalak is the famous Abalaksky Monastery.

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Other ancient cities of the Tyumen region include Surgut, Yalutorovsk, Ishim, Zavodoukovsk, and the cities of Nizhnevartovsk, Novy Urengoy, Nadym, and Noyabrsk have long been known around the world as the largest oil and gas production centers on the planet. These regions are famous for their healing geothermal springs, reservoirs with therapeutic muds, near which balneological and resort centers are located.

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Vacationing here, do not miss the opportunity to visit the moose farm and recreation center in Turnaevo (Nizhnetavda district). Here you will have a rare opportunity to admire up close the powerful elk with their magnificent horns, feed the animals from your hand. In Turnaevo you can tastefully fish, view the picturesque surroundings on horseback, take a fun ride on a cart pulled by huskies and malamutes, learn to drive a sled.

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Fans of hunting and fishing can head to the reserve “Tugun”, which is 160 kilometers from Tyumen. Here, among the taiga wilds shelter lakes, rivulets, well-equipped guest houses. Hunting farm has its own pheasantry, where to please hunters breed royal birds, famous for their luxurious plumage and tasty meat.

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There are also excellent places for skiing in the Tyumen Oblast. One of the most popular is the modern skiing complex “Kamenny Cape”, located between Surgut and Nefteyugansk. Very close to Tobolsk is the Alemasova ski resort, 30 kilometers from Tyumen – ski center “Kuliga-park.”

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Omsk Oblast

The Omsk Oblast borders with the Tyumen Oblast. Its administrative center is the city of Omsk, located at the confluence of the Irtysh and Om rivers. Founded in the 18th century, today Omsk is a large city known as one of the museum and theater centers of Siberia. Its main historical landmark is the Holy Dormition Cathedral, a significant monument of Russian architecture. During the Civil War, when Omsk was the capital of the White Guard movement, the Cathedral of the Assumption had the status of the main temple of the ascetics of the old regime.

The second largest city in the Omsk region, Tara, is known as one of the first Russian settlements in Siberia. Originally a fortress, the settlement soon became a place of exile for delinquent peasants, posadskiye people, Streltsy. Then Decembrists, revolutionaries-different people and Narodniks were sent here. It is interesting to visit the historical quarters, where two-storey wooden and stone houses of prosperous citizens of the XIX century, when Tara was a typical Siberian merchant town.

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The landscape of the Omsk region is flat, steppes that in the south, closer to the north pass into forest-steppes, then stretch forests, and behind them – swampy taiga. On this land there are botanical, zoological, complex sanctuaries, a natural park, the world’s only rural zoo. There are more than 130 hunting farms in the region, here at different times of the year come to hunt for bear, wild boar, elk, furbearers, waterfowl.

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There are about 16,000 lakes in these parts. The most famous are salty relict water bodies Uljai and Ebeity with deposits of sulfate mud, fresh lakes Saltaim, Tenis, as well as Ik, where the northernmost colony of pelicans on the planet is located. Popular with tourists and the area of “Five Lakes” – here near the reservoirs with the purest water are located recreation centers.

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There are more than 4000 large and small rivers in the Omsk region. Om, Tara, taiga river Shish are famous among rafting enthusiasts, and fans of comfortable water travel are attracted by cruises on a motorboat on the Irtysh.

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Kurgan Region

In the Kurgan region, the plain begins behind the Ural ridges. This area, rich in minerals, in particular uranium, is incredibly picturesque. Its unique look is given by thousands of lakes, the water in many of them is healing. The best health resorts of Western Siberia are located here. Recreation on the Bear Lake is especially popular. The water in it is not inferior to the waters of the Dead Sea in its healing properties. It is so salty that neither fish nor algae live here. Lakes Gorkoye-Zvrinogolovskoye, Gorkoye-Uzkovo, Gorkoye-Victoria are famous for their therapeutic muds.

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In the Kurgan region there are many monuments of temple architecture and holy monasteries. Among them are the Dalmatovsky Holy Assumption Monastery, founded in 1644, the Holy Kazan Chimeyevsky Monastery, the Transfiguration Cathedral – a masterpiece of the “Siberian Baroque”, the Cathedral of Alexander Nevsky (late XIX century), located in the main city of the region – Kurgan.

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Ecotourism lovers enjoy spending time in Belozersky natural zoological preserve with its famous ecological trail, including 26 demonstration objects. A very curious man-made natural attraction is a forest in Zverinogolovsky district, planted in the form of a colossal inscription “Lenin is 100 years old”. The inscription, which can be seen from Earth orbit, was created from 40,000 pine trees.

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Kemerovo Region

Russians prefer to call the Kemerovo Oblast for short – Kuzbass. This name is akin to a trademark: it can be seen in the names of cafes, restaurants, hotels, sports teams. Kuzbass, where three quarters of all Russian coal is mined, is the most densely populated region of Western Siberia. But not only coal mines and metallurgical plants determine the image of this region. Far from the industrial centers, there are protected lands with untouched nature, where the state protects about two dozen wildlife sanctuaries, as well as the famous Kuznetskiy Alatau reserve.

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The most popular among travelers corner of the Kemerovo region is Gornaya Shoria, located in its southern part in the middle of the rocky taiga. Tourists are attracted by ski resorts and the beauty of the Shorsky National Park. Tens of thousands of guests annually visit the mountain resort Sheregesh, famous for its peaks Mustag, Zelenaya, Utuya and Kurgan, at the foot of which are equipped with campgrounds and individual cozy guest houses. In winter people go skiing here, and in summer they go boating on mountain rivers, hiking and horseback riding.

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The largest cities of the region – the administrative center of Kemerovo, Novokuznetsk, Yurga, and the most ancient, leading its history since the XVII century – Mariinsk and Salair. Near the latter there is a holy place – the spring of St. John the Baptist. In the font, arranged at it, even in bitter frosts the water never freezes.

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In 40 km north of Kemerovo, near the Tom River, there is a famous museum-reserve “Tomsk Pisanitsa”. On its territory you can see the rock paintings made by the inhabitants of Pritomie, who lived here in prehistoric times.

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The Kemerovo region has its own “sea” – this is how locals call the Belovskoye Reservoir. In this reservoir they breed crucian carp, carp, fathead carp, and sturgeon.

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Tomsk region

Two-thirds of the Tomsk region is occupied by taiga forests, the rest of the territory is swampy. It is here that one of the largest bogs on the planet, the Vasyuganskoye bog, is located.

Another natural wonder of this region – Talovskie bowls – peculiar natural vessels created from limestone and bernessite. They are filled with water rich in salts and minerals, curing many diseases. Talovskie bowls are located 50 kilometers from Tomsk – the main city of the region, founded in 1604 and known for its monuments of wooden architecture.

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On the right bank of the Ob, in the village of Mogochino, at the end of the last century, the St. Nicholas Nunnery was built. It was erected at the expense of pious benefactors who decided to build a monastery in an ancient Siberian village. Today another community has settled near the monastery, volunteer monks live here. These not so long ago remote places have become a famous for the whole of Siberia pilgrimage center.

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Novosibirsk region

The Novosibirsk Oblast occupies the southeastern part of the West Siberian Plain. Its administrative center, the one and a half million metropolis Novosibirsk, located in the valley of the Ob River, is known as the cultural, business, industrial and scientific center of Siberia, often referred to as the third capital of Russia. The Akademgorodok is home to many world-renowned scientific institutes. There are many museums in the city, and the local opera theater is the largest in Russia. There are few big cities in the Novosibirsk region, but there are plenty of villages, settlements and natural attractions.

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Traveling through this region, visit the huge karst Barsukovskaya cave, touching the walls of which, according to legend, returns a person’s vitality. Another cult place is Lake Karachi, located in the Chanovsky district, which is fed by a bitter-salt healing spring. According to a local legend, after one of the battles Genghis Khan himself healed his wounds in it. Today there is a resort of federal importance, and recently at the sanatorium “Lake Karachi” opened a water and entertainment center with a 25-meter pool, water attractions, waterfalls, Russian and Turkish baths, Finnish sauna.

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The most beautiful natural monument of the Novosibirsk region are considered to be the Berdskiye rocks, located in the Iskitimsky district. Locals have long nicknamed these rocks Zveroboy, thanks to the fact that in summer their slopes are covered with a luxurious carpet woven from thickets of this healing grass.

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Not far from the city of Barabinsk are two large lakes – Chany and Sartlan, favored by fans of summer and winter fishing. The city itself, where the fish factory operates, is simply a klondike for fish lovers. Carp, carp, pelyad, carp for quite a reasonable price are sold here everywhere in fresh, chilled, smoked, salted form.

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Fans of skiing and snowboarding are well known in the vicinity of Novosibirsk, where the ski slopes are equipped, equipped with sports and recreational complexes, snowboard park. The best ski resort – “Novososedovo” – is located 140 km from Novosibirsk, near the city of the same name.

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Altai Republic

The Altai Republic, occupying part of the majestic Altai Mountains, is one of the largest tourist regions in Russia. This land still preserves the memory of the peoples who inhabited it: Scythians, Dinlins, Huns, Turks, Uighurs, Mongols, who formed the local distinctive culture. Everything here breathes patriarchy. Locals are engaged in breeding horses, red deer, closer to Kazakhstan – camels, and the city here is only one – the capital of the Republic of Gorno-Altaisk, or Gorny, as it is more often called. It is located in a picturesque intermountain basin, away from the Chuguisky tract – the main transportation artery of Altai.

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The unique nature of “Russian Tibet”, as Altai is often called, breathes a special energy, and has long been a place of pilgrimage for seekers of “places of power”, adepts of secret wisdom, ufologists. Nikolai Roerich, who organized the Great Central Asian Expedition in search of the mythical country of Shambhala in the 20s of the last century, contributed greatly to the popularization of this region. To this day, his followers go on a journey “to the Roerich places” and, of course, visit the Roerich Museum, arranged in the ancient village of Verkh-Uimon.

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On this land is located and soaring to the clouds sacred mountain Belukha, the highest in Siberia (4509 m), revered by the natives as a living being. Belukha is a center of attraction for mountaineers, photographers, and wonder seekers.

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Steep snow-covered slopes of the Altai Mountains have long been known to fans of winter sports – from amateurs to professionals. The most popular with skiers and snowboarders tracks are located on the Seminsky Pass, on Mount Tugaya.

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Beautiful places are in the vicinity of Lake Manzherok, surrounded by forested mountains Sinyukha and Malaya Sinyukha. The lake is located near the village of the same name, near it flows the main river of Altai – Katun, known among rafting and other water sports enthusiasts for its risky rapids. On the left bank of the river, 7 km away from the village, there is a beach and entertainment complex “Biryuzovaya Katun”, where an aqua park, the first in the Altai region, was recently built. Famous natural attractions of this corner of Altai – Kamyshlin waterfall and Tavda caves.

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On the right bank of the Katun, in its lower reaches, between the villages of Souzga and Chemal, are located campgrounds, campsites, resorts, hotels. From here are laid hiking, biking, horseback riding routes to the most interesting and mysterious sights of this Siberian region.

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Melting glaciers and mountain snow feed the Altai rivers with their many tributaries, and lakes, of which there are not countless. One of the most amazing bodies of water is Lake Teletskoye, which is a tectonic fissure filled with purest water with steep banks and charming bays. Karakol lakes, located in an area where forests are gradually replaced by alpine meadows, glacial Akkem Lake, Shavlinskie lakes with their rocky, bizarrely shaped shores are good.

Popular with travelers and ethno-tours, including a visit to the cult places of the indigenous peoples of Altai. Such expeditions allow you to immerse yourself in the Altai culture, get acquainted with ancient local customs and rituals permeated with shamanic worldview.

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Altai Krai

The region borders the Altai Republic, partially covering the Altai Mountains and Sayan Mountains. Its administrative center is Barnaul, one of the largest in Siberia. The second most important city is Biysk. In both cities there is much to see. There are curious museums, interesting architectural monuments and examples of Russian wooden architecture are preserved in historical districts.

Altai Krai is famous for its natural wonders, outstanding landscapes, caves, protected reserve lands. You can hunt here only if you have a license. One of the most popular with tourists is the natural park Aya, located in the picturesque valley of the Katun River. Its main attraction is the purest warm lake Aya, hidden among green mountains. In summer the water here warms up to +20 ° C, it is one of the few mountain lakes in Altai, where you can swim. On its shore there is a beach, bicycle and boat rentals. The surroundings of the lake with their magnificent mountain landscapes, caves, pine forests have earned the fame of one of the most beautiful corners of Altai. A marvelous panorama of these places will open before you if you climb the rock Chertov Paltz.

Tigirek reserve, one of the youngest in Russia, is located in the middle mountains – where the mountain slopes steeply descend to the valleys of rivers running through gorges and canyons. One of the rivers, the beautiful Inya, is well known to lovers of water rafting.

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A unique natural and archaeological monument – Denisova Cave – is located above the bank of the Anui River. Judging by archeological excavations, it served as a shelter for people and animals in prehistoric times. Recently, a sensational scientific discovery was made: decoding the genome of tissue fragment of human bone found here allowed scientists to claim that even 50,000 years ago the territory of Siberia was inhabited by people who were distant “relatives” of Neanderthals. This ancient population was conventionally called “Denisovets”, or “Altai man.”

The main resort of the Altai Territory – Belokurikha – is located near the town of the same name. This area, which is called “Siberian Davos”, is surrounded by hills covered with dense coniferous forests. The local air, soaked with the aromas of pine needles, flowers and herbs, has an amazing health-improving effect. Belokurikha is included in the register of unique resorts in Russia and boasts a decent tourist infrastructure.

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Altai Krai is well known and gambling enthusiasts. Here, 230 kilometers from Barnaul, there is a gambling zone “Siberian Coin” – the only complex in Siberia where gambling is legally allowed.

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Eastern Siberia

Eastern Siberia stretches east of the Yenisei River and is bounded on the east by mountains that form the watershed between the Pacific and Arctic Oceans. In the bowels of this land lies most of Russia’s total reserves of hard and brown coal, ore, and gold. A huge part of its territory is occupied by taiga forests, and the conifers growing here – larches, pines, cedars, spruces, firs – make up half of all forest resources of the country.

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Irkutsk Oblast

Irkutsk Oblast, which is invariably associated with impassable taiga, majestic mountains, Decembrists, political prisoners, and shock construction sites of the Soviet era, is unofficially called Pribaikal. It is here that Baikal – the pride of Russia, the clearest and deepest lake on Earth (1642 meters) – is located. Its venerable age is determined at 30 million years. The original locals of these places – Mongols and Buryats – call it Baigal Nuur.

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Lake Baikal is not called a sea for nothing. From a geological point of view, it is a narrow and long flooded rift valley that curves like a giant sickle from southwest to northeast for 636 kilometers from southwest to northeast, and from shore to shore you need to swim about 70 kilometers.

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There are many rivers flowing into Lake Baikal, but only one, the Angara, flows out of it. The lake contains about a quarter of the purest fresh water available on the surface of the Earth. Baikal is a unique natural reserve, and its animal diversity amazes many biologists. Some lake inhabitants are endemic.

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Irkutsk region owns only a third of the shoreline of the lake-sea, the rest is on the territory of Buryatia. The shores of Irkutsk Baikal are precipitous, while the coast of Buryatia got sandy beaches. The water in Baikal, even in summer, never gets warmer than +18 ° C.

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Baikal routes, automobile and hiking, fishing, extreme, cognitive, ethnographic – the main directions of tourism in the Irkutsk region. In summer, the water surface of Baikal is traversed by motor ships, yachts, and boats, and in winter lovers of ice fishing, curling, and ice golf rush to the lake covered with solid ice.

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The complete opposite of Pribaikal is represented by the northern districts of the Irkutsk region. Only the most courageous and inquisitive travelers get to these impenetrable taiga places of Siberia, where bears and sables are much more numerous than people. But the areas spread between Baikal and taiga are very attractive for tourists: a trip along the Irkutsk part of the Baikal-Amur Mainline will allow you to see the impassable beauty of this region from the train window, a cruise on the Angara River will give you the opportunity to enjoy the magnificent scenery from the board of a motor ship, trips to the backwoods – to get acquainted with the life of local residents. Irkutsk ethnography is a whole world where Buryats and Golendras, Chuvash, Evenks, Udmurts, Tatars, natives of the Caucasus and Central Asia live in authentic compact settlements.

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The main city of the region – ancient Irkutsk – also deserves a visit, where historic wooden houses built in the style of Siberian baroque are juxtaposed with modern high-rises, and the doors of museums and theaters are open to guests. The Siberian city is especially beautiful in winter, when its snow-covered streets become like an illustration of a fairy tale.

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Republic of Buryatia

Buryatia borders the Irkutsk Oblast along the waters of Lake Baikal and part of the territory of the Transbaikal Reserve, in the south it neighbors Mongolia and is separated from this country by the high ridges of the Eastern Sayan Mountains. As in the Irkutsk region, the center of attraction for tourists in Buryatia is Lake Baikal. The beaches stretching for dozens of kilometers with the finest sand, the color of which varies from snow-white to creamy yellow, are wide, clean and crowded. Most of the Buryat coast of Lake Baikal is a protected area with a strict protection regime, and only recently the rudiments of tourist infrastructure have begun to appear here.

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There are two national parks in Buryatia – “Zabaikalsky” and “Tunkinsky”. The latter occupies the entire district of the same name of the republic, located in the Tunkinskaya Valley, which the locals simply call “Tunka”. Thermal resorts are located here, the most famous of which is Arshan with its radon thermal baths.

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Buryatia is home to the most important Buddhist pilgrimage centers in Eastern Siberia – the functioning Ivolginsky, Tamchinsky and Atsagatsky dat