Pearls of Siberia

Day 1. Krasnoyarsk (50 km)

We’ll meet you at Krasnoyarsk airport and head for breakfast downtown. After breakfast, visit the Krasnoyarsk Museum Center “Ploshchad Mira (Peace Square)”—the largest contemporary-art venue east of the Urals, opened in 1987 (originally the 13th branch of the Central Lenin Museum, reoriented to contemporary art in the early 1990s). The building by architect Areg Demirkhanov echoes the nearby Stolby Nature Reserve; its silhouette recalls mountains, the Yenisei flows alongside, and inside is a multi-level labyrinth—some halls preserved as late-Soviet design heritage.

After the museum, check in to our hotel. Post-lunch and a short rest, we take the Torgashinsky Ridge stairs (1,683 steps; 1.2 km route) to sweeping views over Krasnoyarsk and the Bazaikha River valley. Along the ridge we can reach the Krasny Greben (Red Crest) for panoramas of the Stolby cliffs; the most enduring can continue to the ridge’s calling card—the Arka (Arch) Rock. We descend at dusk, when the illuminated staircase resembles a dragon lying on the mountain slope.

Day 2. Krasnoyarsk HPP (440 km)

We begin our road journey with a stop at the Krasnoyarsk Hydroelectric Power Plant viewpoint in Divnogorsk—Russia’s second-largest HPP and among the 13 largest worldwide (featured on the reverse of the 1997 10-ruble banknote). It hosts Russia’s only ship lift and has generated over a trillion kWh; the dam also mitigates downstream flooding. En route we detour to Cape Nikitin to admire the Yenisei. By evening we reach Abakan, capital of Khakassia, for hotel check-in.

Day 3. Snow Leopard Mountain Base (390 km)

Today’s drive runs along the eastern slopes of the Kuznetsk Alatau; after the village of Kubaika the road follows the Ona River. A short off-road section with superb vistas offers plenty of photo stops. Overnight at a mountain tourist center deep in the taiga on the Stoktysh River: cedar-log cabins and, for those who wish, a traditional banya.

Day 4. Aldyn-Bulak. Kyzyl (450 km)

We descend from Kuznetsk Alatau into the steppe landscapes of Tuva. See the “Golden Sands of Iyme” desert and visit the Aldyn-Bulak Ethnocultural Complex (“Golden Spring”)—an open-air “museum” of nomadic culture with guest yurts and chums. Its plan follows a model of the Universe, with yurts arranged by the order of the planets. Ruins of a Buddhist temple with a surviving “OM” mantra were discovered here in 2010; many artifacts on display are genuine finds from nearby excavations. Viewing pavilions offer magnificent Yenisei panoramas. By evening we arrive in Kyzyl, Tuva’s capital on the Upper Yenisei, for an overnight stay downtown.

Day 5. Golden Footprint of the Buddha (380 km)

We visit one of Tuva’s most sacred sites—the Golden Footprint of the Buddha. Local lore says the 14th Dalai Lama, flying over Tuva, saw a luminous footprint and informed local Buddhists, who then found an imprint on a rock; believers say it was once “alive,” later shrinking and turning upright.

In 2013 a suburgan (stupa) was built on a nearby peak; a long wooden staircase with rest platforms leads up. Even non-Buddhists will be moved by the silence and vistas. We then follow part of the Old Usinsky Tract and ascend the Western Sayan slopes.

Overnight at the Ergaki ski resort hotel.

Day 6. Shushenskoye Museum-Reserve. HPP (400 km)

See Russia’s most powerful HPP—Sayano-Shushenskaya (6,400 MW) with the country’s highest dam (242 m). About 9.1 million m³ of concrete were used—enough, as locals say, to build a road from St. Petersburg to Vladivostok; the view is truly impressive. We visit the Shushenskoye Museum-Reserve and the “New Village” Architectural & Ethnographic Complex, then drive an off-road section along the high bank of the Abakan River for striking scenery. Evening at a hotel in Abakan.

Day 7. Biosphere Reserve. Tuim Sinkhole. Lake Shira (290 km)

First stop: Khakassky National Biosphere Reserve; climb 965 steps to the Oglahty Ridge. After descending, continue to the “Siberian Stonehenge” — the Valley of the Kings, with burial mounds of the ancient Tagar culture. Lunch at Khara Sug Ethnocultural Park in a real sixteen-sided yurt-restaurant.

Visit the dramatic Tuim Sinkhole—a technogenic landmark near Tuim: a deep cylindrical chasm in the “copper” Kiyalykh-Uzen mountain with vivid blue water at the bottom, formed by collapse over old mine workings. Stop at the Semiozerka viewpoint for vistas of protected lakes.

By evening, arrive at Lake Shira for overnight.

Day 8. “Sunduki” and the Sacred Lake Uchum (480 km)

We drive back toward Krasnoyarsk, exploring more of Khakassia en route. Visit the Sunduki Museum-Reserve—a ridge of five isolated mesas (up to 200 m high). The northernmost mesa bears the outlier rock “Sunduk” (“Chest”), a parallelepiped that gave the ridge its name. We skirt the sacred Lake Uchum and then continue to our hotel in Krasnoyarsk on the Yenisei.

Day 9. Krasnoyarsk. Until next time!