12 Days Siberian holidays

Meet & greet at the airport. Transfer (20  km) to the Barnaul Hotel. Check in, breakfast in a hotel café, rest. 12 h 30 lunch in restaurant (optional), meet the guides.

City tour with visits to local museums: Altai State History Museum and the Museum of Pharmacy of the Altai Mountains. Dinner on your own. Overnight in Barnaul Hotel. 

Check out. Meet the guide in the lobby of the hotel. Transfer to Manzherok village, where we switch from the bus to a cable car and go to Malay Sinukha Mountain (1196 m). Mineral water spring stop. 

Next transfer to Chemal, a village of 3000 people. 

Overnight in Chemal : Hotel Usadba Kedr (full board). 

Morning stroll in Chemal village and resort. Visit Chemal Hydroelectric Power Station, the first built in the region. Using the goat trail along the bank of the Katun River, walk (2 km) to the rock island Patmos. On Patmos stands the lonely church of John the Apostle of Barnaul's nunnery. The island is connected to the mainland by a suspension bridge. There are a couple of Virgin Mary images carved in the rocks nearby. 

Next we go to a settlement of indigenous people. Travel back in time to the 10th — 13th centuries; the pagan way of life, and the customs of the nomadic Altai tribes, will be presented to us. Lunch. Then we go to the Che-Chkysh tract. At the bottom of narrow gorge there is a clear mountain stream with a small waterfall.

Overnight in Chemal at the Usadba Kedr Hotel (full board).

Check out of the Chemal Hotel. Today we drive along the ancient Silk Road, seeing the Chuysk tract at its highest point — the Seminsky pass (1739 m). Then we visit the Uch-Enmeck Ethno-Park in the valley of the Karakol River. During dinner you will be able to taste traditional cuisine: archi, a cultured milk which tastes like yogurt, and Kurot, the Altai cheese. 

Late in the evening at the bonfire we will be invited to a folk program of throat singing. Some of the singers are winners of international festivals. Later, coming back to the yurt, you will feel like you've been in a time machine traveling back to ancient times. That's especially true if you do what the locals did: prior to going to sleep, make a fire in the center of yurt and watch the smoke streaming out through a hole in the roof.

Overnight in the national park tourist complex Karakol, with its four-bed felt yurts or ails. Facilities are on the territory (full board). 

The native Altai people believe the Karakol Valley is a sacred place. It is believed that the ancient monuments of the valley represent an informational code about laws of the universe. 
There are lots of archeological monuments around in this area: stelas, stone fences, tumuli (kurgans) with balbals (round stone images of ancestors) — most of them oriented to Uch-Enmek Peak. 

Departure to the Katun and Chyia rivers. Visit Kalbak-Tash Hole and see rock paintings — petroglyphs. More than 5000 pictures are drawn on 500+ formations. The most ancient ones date to the 8th century BC. Arrival at the tourist complex "Nomad".

Overnight in quadruple Mongolian yurts. Facilities on the territory (full board). 

Drive on Chui Trakt towards the Mongolian border. On the way back a short hike to the picturesque Geyser Lake. This lake is the only one of its kind in the Altai — a rare beauty, clean, non-freezing even in winter, an amazing turquoise color. There, in the mysterious depths, geysers spring to life, throwing on the surface a mixture of bluish clay and sand that forms visible concentric circles at the bottom. 

Return to the tourist camp. Lunch. Walk in camp vicinities.

Overnight in quadruple Mongolian yurts in the tourist complex "Nomad". Facilities on the territory (full board).

After breakfast you'll make an excursion to Ulagan District. Pass the Red Gates, where the road goes through a narrow passageway between two rocks of reddish color. Visit the world famous Pazyryk Tumuli (kurgans) with ancient Scythian burial mounds, their excavated treasures now proudly displayed in the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg. The serpentine road here curves through steep cliffs several hundred meters high. We descend 4km on foot (altitude 1200m). Arrival at the tourist camp "Ezen" in the Chulyshman Valley.

Overnight in tourist camp "Ezen" lodge houses. Facilities outside (full board). 

Breakfast. Hiking to the 30m-high waterfall Kurkure ("violent" in Altaic), located on a tributary of the Chulyshman River. People living in the surrounding area worship this marvel of nature and consider it to be sacred. Therefore, no cattle are allowed in an area covering several kilometers! Hiking to and from the waterfall takes about 4 hours. Return to the camp. Lunch. In the afternoon, walking around, active outdoor games.

Overnight in tourist camp "Ezen" lodge houses. Facilities outside (full board). 

Early breakfast. Hike to the Karasu River ravine to see a unique natural object — "Stone Mushrooms". There are cones rising above the slope of the valley on top of which, as if by magic, lie huge rocky plates. Some "mushrooms" rise up to 10 or more meters. Comfortable trekking shoes advisable. Return to the campsite, lunch. 

Move to Teletskoye Lake and Cape Kyrsay. Arrive at the tourist camp Kyrsay.

Overnight in tourist complex "Kyrsay", lodge house for two, facilities outside (full board). 

Take a boat and sail along northern part of Teletskoye Lake (78km long). Teletskoye is the 20th deepest lake in the world (325m). About 70 rivers flow into the lake, which feeds the Biya and Ob rivers. Today we also visit the 12-meter-high Korbu Waterfall.We will lunch on the northern shore in a cafe. Walking around Artybash village. There will be an opportunity to purchase honey, local herbs, art, and items made of cedar.

Accommodation in the Artybash Hotel, situated at the mouth of the Biya River (full board). 

Breakfast. Departure to Gorno-Altaisk where we invite you to visit the National Museum with its mausoleum for the Siberian Ice Maiden, the Princess of Ukok, the Altai Princess. It is a mummy of a woman from the 5th century BC, found in 1993 in Pazyryk Kurgan in Altai. It was among the most significant Russian archaeological findings of the late 20th century. Lunch in the Gorno-Altai cafe. Arrival in Barnaul. Overnight in the Barnaul Hotel. 3*. (half board) 

Breakfast in the hotel free at leisure till transfer to the airport.

WE FROM ABOVE-5.COM HOPE YOU HAVE ENJOYED YOUR HOLIDAY AND WE LOOK FORWARD TO WELCOME AND TO SERVE YOU AGAIN IN THE NEAR FUTURE.