Sakhalin-Iturup, 10 days
Sakhalin. Here, the island silence will help you to forget about the bustle of big cities and take a break from the constantly buzzing and rushing cars. Here, in general, you can forget about everything for a while and just relax your soul at your pleasure at any time of the year. Here you don't have to worry about the problems that you left in the big city, recuperate and just enjoy the pristine beauty of nature!
Day 1. Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk.
Arrival, meeting with guide at the airport. City-tour (about 3 hours). Visiting the Museum of Local Lore (except Mon), the Cathedral of the Nativity of Christ, Victory Square. Our guide will tell you about the history of the island, what it is famous for.
13:00-14:00 Stop for lunch at one of the city's restaurants.
14:00 Continuation of the tour. Then we will go up by cable car to the observation deck of the ski resort "Mountain Air", located in the city (works Fri, Sat and Sun). At the end of the program, transfer to the hotel, accommodation and rest after the flight. Dinner on your own in one of the hotel restaurants.
Day 2. Cape Giant.
Breakfast. Today an excursion to Cape Velikan (Giant) will be organized for you. The place is difficult to access, we will get there by specially prepared off-road vehicles, and we begin our journey to Cape Ptchiy (Birds’) almost off-road, through a dense forest, overcoming hills and passes, and at the end we find ourselves on the shores of Okhotskoe Sea.
Cape Velikan - a natural monument, which received its status in 1990, is located in the Korsakov region on the eastern coast of the Tonino-Aniva Peninsula. This is one of the most beautiful and amazing sea coasts of Sakhalin with postcard and most recognizable views of Sakhalin.
Bizarre rocks, in the outlines of which someone sees a lion emerging from the sea, someone sees a mysterious castle, and someone sees the head of a giant hero, dozing at the water's edge, rise along the entire coast from Cape Birds’ to Cape Giant. Stone arches, created by the greatest architect – The Nature, amaze with their grandeur. Noisy gulls bustle about on the tops of rocks and arches, cormorants sit proudly and swifts scurry about. Spruce and fir forests stretch along a narrow strip of sandy beach on the sea terrace, where fir trees diligently hide from the cold sea wind, "turning their backs" to the Okhotskoe Sea.
Walking along the coast to Birds’ and Velikan Capes, bird market. Lunch - picnic on the beach. Return to the city. (on the road from the city to Cape Velikan is about 2-2.5 hours one way)
Day 3. Flight to Iturup Island. Volcano Baransky
Breakfast at the hotel. Airport transfer. Flight to Kurilsk. Arrival at Yasny airport, Kurilsk. Transfer to the hotel. Accommodation, lunch in a cafe.
14:00 Trip to the foot of the Baransky volcano. Bathing in natural and artificial baths and in the waterfalls of the sulfuric Boiling river with a water temperature of about 42 degrees. Distance to the volcano is about 20 km
Before leaving, briefing on safety precautions when visiting the route. On the way, stop at the observation deck Trinoga at an altitude of 417 m. From the top of Trinoga, a wonderful panoramic view of the central part of the island opens: Bogdan Khmelnitsky volcano, Kurilsky Bay, Kurilsk town, Yasny Airport, Prostor Bay, the village of Reidovo, the Kurilka River and its source , Grozny Ridge with its volcanoes (Baransky, Tebenkova, Dragon, Ivan the Terrible, Ermak), Mount Volchok, Sloping Lake.
At the foot of the volcano, a stop near the first site of the Okeanskaya GeoTPP, where you can observe hot sulfur springs, mud pots with gurgling blue clay, steam hydrotherms, sulfur deposits. The next stop is in the area of two small lakes with boiling water (temperature 96 degrees), which have the popular name Emerald (Blue) Eyes, with the color of the water of an emerald or blue hue. The next stop is the final one - a recreation area on the sulfuric river Boiling, with a water temperature at the bathing place of about 42 degrees (the river originates from the slopes of the Baransky volcano and flows next to boiling lakes, mixes with their water and in the area of the built recreation area reaches a comfortable bathing area temperature). For swimming, you must have a bathing suit, bath slippers and towel.
20:00 Return to Kurilsk.
Day 4. Excursion Olya Bay, Black and White Rocks, Kasatka Bay
09:00 In the morning after breakfast, we will go to Olya Bay, where we will have an excursion to the Black and White Rocks in Prostor Bay (15 km from the village of Reidovo)
The Black and White Rocks in Prostor Bay are unique rock formations, the places are fabulously beautiful. Black rocks - extrusive lava outcrops of basalt volcanic rocks. White - pumice. The rocks are among the most remarkable natural monuments of the Kuriles and the Sakhalin region. Several kilometers of bizarre rocks with green caps of grassy vegetation, white quartz sand mixed with black titanium-magnetite, emerald-colored sea...
13:30 Lunch at a cafe in Kurilsk.
14:30 Departure to Cape Kasatka, Pacific coast. On the way, stops at the observation decks Bolshaya Podkova and Kuibyshevka.
Kasatka Bay (Japanese name - Hitokappu) - during the Second World War, on November 26, 1941, the Japanese aircraft carrier squadron and support ships left from here to defeat Pearl Harbor, the US naval base in the Hawaiian Islands. On the shore of the bay there was a Japanese naval base with an airfield (which was located in the area of the modern Burevestnik airfield).
From here, in the winter of 1960, a self-propelled barge with four servicemen was torn off the moorings by a hurricane wind. The barge dangled across the ocean for 49 days until it was picked up by an American aircraft carrier one and a half thousand nautical miles from the launch site.
In addition, there is an interesting geological object in the bay - Devil's Rock (Chertovka) - an extrusive outcrop of volcanic rocks, forming an impenetrable cape (Tunnel), in which the Japanese dug tunnels for a through passage, as well as for military purposes. Remains of these structures are still preserved. One of the structures is popularly called the "hospital" - a large cavity, invisible from the shore, in which, according to unconfirmed rumors, there was one of the military laboratories where bacteriological weapons were created.
The sandy shore of the bay has several local names - Mirror Beach, Ebb, and until recently - Kuril asphalt ...
19:30 Visiting the health complex "Hot Waters" or "Baths", where we will enjoy the thermal baths.
21:00 Return to the hotel. Dinner.
Day 5. Yankito lava plateau, flight to Sakhalin.
09:00 In the morning after breakfast, departure to the Yankito lava plateau. The Yankito lava plateau is a heap of bizarre pointed rocks on the seashore, formed from the hardened lava of the Bogdan Khmelnitsky volcano, the visiting card of the city of Kurilsk, because the town is located almost at its very foot. It is located in the central part of the island on the Chirip peninsula, and together with the Chirip volcano forms the Two-Hump Range. The height of the volcano above sea level is 1585 meters.
12:30 Transfer to the airport, flight to Sakhalin. Arrival and transfer to the hotel, free time.
Day 6. Aniva lighthouse
Breakfast in the hotel. We invite you to visit the legendary Aniva lighthouse, which is included in the list of the most mysterious, interesting and enigmatic places on Earth. It is located in a remote place, at the junction of two water elements of Japanese Sea and Okhotskoe Sea. The lighthouse was built by the Japanese in 1939 on the Sea Lion rock. The height of the lighthouse tower is 31 meters, and the height of the fire is 40 meters above sea level.
The Aniva lighthouse is considered one of the most complex technical structures, because part of the lighthouse is made of rock, and part is man-made. We invite you to walk with us through the rooms of the lighthouse, walk along the spiral staircase and feel the time when life was still in full swing at the lighthouse: diesel generators were working, the staff was preparing food in the kitchen, and in the radio room on the second floor they received information from ships ...
The road to the Aniva lighthouse runs along the Aniva Bay, where you will enjoy the beauty of the magnificent mountains, sea air and waterfalls falling down, and along the way, if you are lucky, you will be accompanied by killer whales, dolphins and seals, until it appears on the horizon ... a ghost lighthouse, peeking through the fog...
Approximate timing of the day
06:30-09:00 Departure to Novikovo village (box-breakfast)
09:00-09:30 Transfer to motor boats and departure to the Aniva lighthouse
11:30-12:30 Aniva lighthouse tour
13:30-14:30 box-lunch at Marble Cape
14:30-15:30 return to Novikovo
15:30-18:00 return trip to Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk
Day 7. Amber Coast, Tikhaya (Quiet) Bay
Today we will get into SUVs and visit the most legendary beach in Russia!
There is a place on Sakhalin, a secluded corner of nature, in which the silence is only occasionally broken by the sound of waves and the cries of seagulls. This place is Tikhaya Bay. A stunning place, closed from the cold winds blowing from the north and northeast. Incomparable silence, amazing views, pleasing to the eye, the unique beauty of nature - all this is Quiet Bay!
On the way to Tikhaya Bay, we will stop in the village of Starodubskoye, on the amber coast of Sakhalin. There are few places in Russia where you can easily find amber that you can collect with your own hands. One of them is located in Kaliningrad, the other is at the opposite end of the country on the coast of Okhotskoe Sea. Amber is credited with magical properties and used for various rituals. It is considered a talisman and is often called the stone of the sun. There is even a legend that if you squeeze the stone tightly in your hand, you will feel warm, because it stores the energy of the sun. Want to check it out? We invite you for a walk along the beach, where you can collect amber with your own hands and keep a piece of Sakhalin energy in your home forever.
Next, we will visit the remains of a Japanese temple located in Vzmorye village, we will pass through the Torii gate. In the village itself, we will buy the freshest seafood for lunch - crabs, shrimp and much more.
Crab picnic lunch with spectacular views.
During the walk you will be able to see fairy-tale characters that are frozen in stone on the sea coast, watch the bird colony on the small rock-island and feel the fabulous atmosphere of the place where it seems that time has stopped... which is a picturesque monument of Sakhalin nature. It is always good here, regardless of the time of year and weather. Return to Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk.
Approximate timing of the day:
09:00 departure from the hotel
10:00 arrival in Starodubskoye
10:00 – 10:30 walk along the shore in search of amber
10:30 - 11:20 transfer to Vzmorye village
11:30 - 12:30 walk to the temple and Torii gate
12:30 – 13:15 transfer to Tikhaya Bay
13:15 – 15:30 walk along the Bay and picnic lunch
15:30 - 18:00 return to Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk
Day 8. Busse lake.
Today we will go for a gastronomic delight to Lake Busse (about 2.5 hours on the way). This is one of the most delicious excursions that you simply have to visit, because Sakhalin is famous for this throughout Russia - delicious and fresh seafood that you can collect yourself and eat.
Lake Busse (or as it is also called - the lagoon), is a natural monument of regional importance. Giant oysters, scallops, sea urchins, trepang, crabs, trumpeter and many other species of marine life live here, in this unique place in every sense. Picnic lunch. During this lunch, you will have to try almost all the variety of Sakhalin seafood that our chef will prepare for you (according to the season), including giant oysters, which people from all over the world aspire to taste here. In your free time on the lake, we offer you to actively relax by going on a boat to an oyster bank or go fishing. Do not forget to give the caught catch to the chef for cooking.
Return to Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk (about 2.5 hours).
Day 9. Expedition by helicopter and SUVs to the Crillon Peninsula (Cape Kuznetsov).
09:00 Transfer to the heliport, boarding a Robinson 44 helicopter (for 3 passenger seats). Flight to Cape Kuznetsov (2 hours). Here a specially trained off-road vehicle and a guide will be waiting for us, and we will continue our journey to the Crillon Peninsula (1.5 hour drive one way)
Forcing rivers without bridges on off-road vehicles; off-road driving, passes, including a picturesque trip along the sea coast; colorful views of Sakhalin nature.
Picnic lunch (lunch box or private catering)
Jeep safari on the hills. Excursion with a visit to the old lighthouse, the Soviet and Japanese military fortifications.
Departure to Nevelsk (about 100 km). The first part of our journey lies right along the coastline of the Tatar Strait. Forcing 6 rivers without bridges on off-road vehicles; off-road driving, including a picturesque trip along the sea coast and colorful views of Sakhalin nature. In about 20 minutes, we will have a photo stop for a short rest and a snack (tea sandwiches) at Cape Windis, nicknamed “Kovrizhka” (cake, pie) by Sakhalin residents for its unusual shape.
18:00 Arrival in Shebunino village, departure to the paved road.
20:30 arrival to Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk
Day 10. Departure.
Breakfast. Check-out from the hotel. At the appointed time transfer to the airport.