Travel to Chukotka | Cape Dezhnev, Providence Bay and Bay of the Cross

On this day, most likely early in the morning - the departure time will depend on the weather, we go by speedboat by sea to the most famous landmark of this region - the monument-lighthouse to Semyon Dezhnev next to the abandoned Eskimo village of Naukan on Cape Dezhnev. Until 1958, Naukan was the easternmost settlement in Eurasia, but then, due to the consolidation of settlements, the inhabitants were resettled to other villages, and Naukan gave up this title to Uelen and since then has been a ghost village, gradually collapsing and carrying away its history into the centuries. Well, Cape Dezhnev itself is a coveted place for thousands of travelers who come here, despite its inaccessibility, from all over Russia and even from all over the world.

The one-way trip takes about 3 hours, the sea is often stormy, so it is quite difficult to bear - cold, wind, boat hitting the oncoming wave, bruzgi - get ready for a difficult test. Compensation for the difficulties of sailing will be stunning views of steep banks and beautiful bays, sea lion rookeries on coastal rocks, as well as a large number of whales, which we are almost guaranteed to observe along the way.



After a detailed inspection of the cape, we set off on the return journey to the village of Lavrentiya.

In the morning we get in the car and go to the village of Lorino, located 40 km from Lavrentiy. It is very colorful and is today the largest national village with a population of 1,400 people on the Chukotka Peninsula. There is a bone carving workshop here, where you can buy carved items from walrus bone relatively inexpensively (compared to Anadyr and other cities), and also, if we coincide in time, watch the cutting up of walrus and whale carcasses by a team of rural hunters. The spectacle is not for the faint-hearted, but it is worth seeing once in a lifetime.

We will have dinner with freshly caught salmon fish, which we will buy from fishermen right on the seashore, for lovers of gastronomic exotics - whale steaks, which can also be fried in the kitchen of our apartment in the village of Lorino.

After breakfast, we take a minibus to the Lorinsky hot springs, located 15 km from the village and surrounded by low Chukchi mountains - a wonderful place for rest and relaxation. After swimming and resting, we return to the village. On the way, we will stop at a whale processing plant, where those who wish can buy smoked or fresh whale fat in vacuum packaging, which can be used for food during the trip or taken home as unusual gastronomic souvenirs for friends and family.

After lunch, we walk along the coast of the Mechigmen Bay surrounding the village, admire the beautiful views, take pictures near the skeletons of whales, and those who wish can swim in the ocean. For dinner, again the freshest fish or whale meat.

We return to the village of Lavrentiya and spend the day there. There is a small but very good local history museum, an ecological trail around the village, and also a large section of the bay coastline where you can find a lot of interesting artifacts that, if desired, you can take with you as free souvenirs: whale and walrus vertebrae, beautiful stones...

Departure by local aviation to Anadyr. Delays are possible again, get ready to wait for the plane in not the most comfortable airport in the world (frankly speaking, it looks more like a barn than an airport). At the service of those waiting - a couple of grocery stores nearby, where you can even buy ice cream! But that's all the comfort))

A spare day in case of flight delays to/from Lavrentiya.

In the morning we go to the pier and take the boat "Kamchatka" to Anadyr, where we walk all day. The town gives the impression of being quite nice and cozy, although with its own specifics. In one day it is possible to walk around it all, visiting all the interesting places: Mount Verblyuzhka, from which a view of the entire city opens, the museum center "Heritage of Chukotka", the Holy Trinity Cathedral, look at all the memorials and monuments, sit on the shore of the Anadyr estuary and buy red fish and caviar in a supermarket or at the market, which here, by the way, are cheaper than in Kamchatka, where everything in this area is monopolized. Here you can also buy fish and caviar from fishermen, and the fish is either salted or smoked, or freshly caught, which, by agreement, will be brought to you directly to the airport for your flight.

Closer to the evening we return by boat to our apartment in the village of Ugolnye Kopi.

We are returning to the settlement of Ugolnye Kopi. Today we will have an excursion to Gudym and Portal. These are destroyed towns of the Strategic Missile Forces 20 km from the settlement. Once there were missile silos here, in accordance with the agreements between Reagan and Gorbachev in the 90s on the reduction of strategic nuclear weapons, they were liquidated and then blown up. Only one horizontal 2-kilometer underground mine, popularly called Portal, survived. We will go to it. There are many signs in the mine warning of danger, but today the object does not pose any threat to life - the structure is made for centuries and is quite reliable, there have been no missiles there for a long time, all the equipment has been dismantled, the radiation background is normal. The main thing is not to forget flashlights with you, since the mine is not lit.

Transfer to the airport and flight home. Farewell Chukotka - a wild but beautiful land!

For those who purchased the 1st and 2nd blocks of the tour, this is just a day off - you can go to Anadyr again or walk around the surrounding area.

Arrival at the airport of Anadyr. Accommodation in a rented apartment in the village of Ugolnye Kopi. Walks around the area, acclimatization.

For participants who stayed for the second time after the first - a free day. Walks around the area, conversations, rest.

In the morning we go to the pier and on the boat "Kamchatka" we cross to Anadyr, where we walk all day. The town gives the impression of being quite nice and cozy, although with its own specifics. There is a wonderful museum center "Heritage of Chukotka", the Holy Trinity Cathedral, many memorials and monuments, real paintings on the houses. There are cafes and restaurants

Closer to the evening we return by boat to our apartment in the village. Ugolnye Kopi.

We leave our apartment and go to the airport, which is, however, a 15-minute walk away. Flight to Providence Bay by small aircraft of the Chukotavia company.

From the airport we go by car to the village around Emma Bay. In the village we check into the college dormitory and have lunch in its canteen. After lunch we visit the Bering Heritage Museum, where we learn about the history of the development of Providence Bay. It was discovered back in 1660 by the Russian expedition of Kurbat Ivanov, but then remained nameless for another 2 centuries, until in 1848-1849 the British ship Plover under the command of Captain Thomas Moore spent the winter here. In honor of the first successful wintering in the Bering Sea region, he named the bay Providence.

After the museum - a walk around the village and rest. In the evening you will have dinner in the college canteen.

Today we will get acquainted with the traditions and life of the indigenous population of Chukotka. We will visit the ancient Eskimo settlement of Avan, where you can see the remains of Eskimo dwellings and traditional meat pits - storage facilities for the annual supply of meat for residents, as well as observation posts. On the way there and back, there will be an opportunity to observe walruses, sea lions and seals, as well as gray whales, which often pass by Avan.

Today we will go to Rumilet Bay by TREKOL car, and from there by boat to Ytygran Island. During the voyage we will be able to observe many seabirds - bright guillemots, tufted puffins and horned puffins, and also, if we are lucky, other sea creatures - seals, walruses and whales.

On the island we will see the main attraction of this region - Whale Alley and the nearby ancient settlement of Siklyuk, where sea hunters lived already in 1000 BC!

There are no other structures like Whale Alley anywhere in the Arctic. It is made of the jaws and skulls of more than 50 bowhead whales. What is it, a hunting base, a huge sanctuary, a sports competition site or a transit point? Scientists still cannot understand its purpose and unravel all its mysteries. We will examine an unusual monument, learn its history, and here we will also be told in detail about all the intricacies of whale hunting.

Overnight in a guest house in Gilmimyl Bay, where we will live for the next few days.

Today after breakfast we will go out to sea by boat, we will go to the islands of Merkinkan and Achinkinkan in Penkigney Bay. The coastal cliffs of the islands are loved by hundreds of thousands of seabirds and here you can take excellent shots of birds from a close distance, especially if you have a camera, and not just a phone)) But besides birds, there is something more interesting! Penkigney Bay is a feeding place for humpback whales, so the probability of seeing them here from a close distance is very high.

Then according to the plan, we will land at the mouth of the Pestsovaya River and walk to the old abandoned camp of reindeer herders, and in the evening, having returned to our guest house, we will go to the hot springs to swim and get incomparable pleasure!

Today we are heading to Nuneangan Island, where walruses often rookery, then we will go to Glazenapa Bay on the southwestern tip of Arakamchechen Island. There are beautiful landscapes here, and you can also go up to and examine the grave of sailor Yegor Purin from the clipper "Gaydamak", buried here back in 1875.

A camping lunch in the tundra, after which we will return to our guest house. If you wish, you can again walk to the hot springs and swim, fortunately they are not far away.

Depending on the weather, we will either make a sea crossing to Abolesheva Bay, where you can watch the akiba (ringed seal) and larga (spotted seal), as well as humpback and gray whales, or make a short climb to the top of one of the hills surrounding Providence Bay. From the heights, a magnificent panorama of the bay's coast with picturesque capes opens up.

In the morning we leave the guest house and Gilmimyl Bay, which has already become home, make a return sea crossing along the Senyavin Strait to Rumilet Bay, where we transfer to TREKOL all-terrain vehicles and go to the village of Provideniya. If time permits, on the way from the bay we will stop by the Eskimo village of Novoye Chaplino.

In the village of Provideniya, you check into the technical school dormitory and have lunch in the canteen.

Transfer to the airport and flight to Anadyr. We are accommodated in the same apartment in the village of Ugolnye Kopi near the airport. Rest, walks around the area.

An extra day in case of delays in domestic flights.

Today we will have an excursion to Gudym and Portal. These are destroyed towns of the Strategic Missile Forces 20 km from the settlement of Ugolnye Kopi. There used to be missile silos here, in accordance with the agreements between Reagan and Gorbachev in the 90s on the reduction of strategic nuclear weapons, they were liquidated and then blown up. Only one horizontal 2-kilometer underground mine, popularly called Portal, survived. We will go to it. There are many signs in the mine warning of danger, but today the object does not pose any threat to life - the structure is made to last for centuries and is quite reliable, there have been no missiles there for a long time, all the equipment has been dismantled, the radiation background is normal. The main thing is not to forget flashlights with you, since the mine is not lit.

Transfer to the airport and flight home. Goodbye Chukotka!

For those who purchased the 1st or 3rd blocks of the tour, this is just a day off - you can go to Anadyr again or walk around the surrounding area.

Arrival at the airport of Anadyr. Accommodation in a rented apartment in the village of Ugolnye Kopi. Walks around the surrounding area, acclimatization.

For participants who stayed for the third block after the second - a free day. Walks around the surrounding area, conversations, rest.

We leave our apartment and go to the airport, which is, however, a 15-minute walk away. Flight to Kresta Bay by small aircraft of the Chukotavia company.

We settle into a cottage and then go on a sightseeing tour of the village of Egvekinot.

What is so interesting about the village and why should we fly?

The village is located on the shore of Kresta Bay of the Bering Sea, 32 kilometers south of the Arctic Circle and 39 kilometers east of the 180th meridian, that is, in the Western (!) Hemisphere. The climate is very harsh, due to its location in the zone of influence of two oceans, with complex atmospheric circulation, which differs significantly in the warm and cold seasons. The peculiarity of the climate is the absence of a climatic summer: even in the warmest month - July - the average air temperature does not exceed +11 °C. The period with an average monthly temperature above 0 °C lasts only 4 months.

But the most interesting thing: in the area of ​​the village there is a border between the eastern and western hemispheres! On September 22, 2004, a red pole was installed in the valley of the Tadleoan River - a symbolic sign of the intersection of the Arctic Circle and the 180th meridian. This is the only point located on land, the other points of intersection of the 180th meridian along the equator and the tropics are in the sea.

In the morning we go to the ethnopark on Cape Opasny. Initially it was conceived as a location for filming a historical adventure film about the life of ancient Eskimos on the Chukotka land and their meeting with Russian pioneers. The creators wanted to make a natural decoration and shoot a film in it, subsequently it was supposed to become a tourist attraction. But, in the end, they had to start from the end. First, they made a tourist attraction - an ethnopark, which looks like a settlement of sea hunters of the 146th-19th centuries, and the film... it seems has not been shot yet ))

Sightseeing tour and lunch in the park. Return to the cottage. Dinner in a cafe.

In the morning we go on an excursion and photo session to the calling card of the village of Egvekinot - the arch "Arctic Circle". The arch is a kind of symbol of the urban district of Egvekinot and at the same time one of its main tourist attractions. Back in June 1981, the drivers of the Egvekinot motor depot, the Pogonichev brothers, welded the arch and, with the help of workers of the road enterprise, installed it in a convenient place for the structure - on the 24th kilometer of the highway. The words "Arctic Circle" were made from metal gratings that were supplied from the United States for laying runways at the airfields of the Alaska-Siberia air route Markovo, Tanyurer in 1942.

Visit to Lake Ravkergygytgyn. Translated from Chukchi, the name means "Transparent Lake" and it completely justifies itself: the waters of the lake are transparent, like a child's tear, and the landscapes around are worthy of the brush of a real artist! Photo session in a beautiful natural setting on the lake shore, snack and then return to Egvekinot.

Transfer to the intersection of the Arctic Circle and the 180th meridian. Being at the intersection of the 180th meridian and the Arctic Circle, you can step from "today" to "yesterday" and back, i.e. step from one hemisphere to another. And turning 90 degrees, you can step from the subpolar region to the polar region and back. It is difficult to find a more iconic place on Earth than this! Moreover, such a point is truly and absolutely officially the only one on the globe!

Picnic at the monument at the intersection of the Arctic Circle and the 180th meridian, return to Egvekinot, dinner in a cafe.

Transfer to the airport and flight to Anadyr. Accommodation at the hotel in the village of Ugolnye Kopi, rest.

Visit to Anadyr. In the morning we go to the ferry and sail across the Gulf of Anadyr on the boat "Kamchatka", we spend the whole day in the capital of the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug. And although the city is quite small, there is something to do here throughout the day.

Excursion to Gudym. These are destroyed towns of the Strategic Missile Forces 20 km from the village. Once there were missile silos here, in accordance with the agreements between Reagan and Gorbachev in the 90s on the reduction of strategic nuclear weapons, they were liquidated and then blown up. Only one horizontal 2-kilometer underground silo survived, popularly called the Portal. We will go to it. There are many signs in the silo warning of danger, but today the object does not pose any threat to life - the structure is made for centuries and is quite reliable, there have been no missiles there for a long time, all the equipment has been dismantled, the radiation background is normal. The main thing is not to forget flashlights with you, since the silo is not illuminated.

Transfer to the airport and flight home. Farewell Chukotka - a wild but beautiful land!

Arrival at the airport of Anadyr. Accommodation in a rented apartment in the village of Ugolnye Kopi. Walks around the area, acclimatization.

We leave our apartment and go to the airport, which is, however, a 15-minute walk away. Flight to the village of Lavrentiya by a scheduled light aircraft. The village is located on the shore of the bay of the same name, which was named in 1778 by the British traveler James Cook in honor of St. Lawrence.

There is an ecological trail along the entire village, from which you can observe both the life of the village itself and the Lavrentiya Bay. You can walk along the shore, and also walk around the village, visit a small but very interesting local history museum, where a museum employee who is passionate about his profession will tell you in detail about the life and everyday life of the indigenous people of Chukotka. On the shore, you can buy freshly caught salmon from fishermen to cook for dinner. Often, fishermen give away fish for free, just for kind words))
Since there are no hotels in the villages of Chukotka, we are staying in a rented apartment, where we cook our own food.

On this day, most likely early in the morning - the departure time will depend on the weather, we go by speedboat by sea to the most famous landmark of this region - the monument-lighthouse to Semyon Dezhnev next to the abandoned Eskimo village of Naukan on Cape Dezhnev. Until 1958, Naukan was the easternmost settlement in Eurasia, but then, due to the consolidation of settlements, the inhabitants were resettled to other villages, and Naukan gave up this title to Uelen and since then has been a ghost village, gradually collapsing and carrying away its history into the centuries. Well, Cape Dezhnev itself is a coveted place for thousands of travelers who come here, despite its inaccessibility, from all over Russia and even from all over the world.

The one-way trip takes about 3 hours, the sea is often stormy, so it is quite difficult to bear - cold, wind, boat hitting the oncoming wave, bruzgi - get ready for a difficult test. Compensation for the difficulties of sailing will be stunning views of steep banks and beautiful bays, sea lion rookeries on coastal rocks, as well as a large number of whales, which we are almost guaranteed to observe along the way.



After a detailed inspection of the cape, we set off on the return journey to the village of Lavrentiya.

In the morning we get in the car and go to the village of Lorino, located 40 km from Lavrentiy. It is very colorful and is today the largest national village with a population of 1,400 people on the Chukotka Peninsula. There is a bone carving workshop here, where you can buy carved items from walrus bone relatively inexpensively (compared to Anadyr and other cities), and also, if we coincide in time, watch the cutting up of walrus and whale carcasses by a team of rural hunters. The spectacle is not for the faint-hearted, but it is worth seeing once in a lifetime.

We will have dinner with freshly caught salmon fish, which we will buy from fishermen right on the seashore, for lovers of gastronomic exotics - whale steaks, which can also be fried in the kitchen of our apartment in the village of Lorino.

After breakfast, we take a minibus to the Lorinsky hot springs, located 15 km from the village and surrounded by low Chukchi mountains - a wonderful place for rest and relaxation. After swimming and resting, we return to the village. On the way, we will stop at a whale processing plant, where those who wish can buy smoked or fresh whale fat in vacuum packaging, which can be used for food during the trip or taken home as unusual gastronomic souvenirs for friends and family.

After lunch, we walk along the coast of the Mechigmen Bay surrounding the village, admire the beautiful views, take pictures near the skeletons of whales, and those who wish can swim in the ocean. For dinner, again the freshest fish or whale meat.

We return to the village of Lavrentiya and spend the day there. There is a small but very good local history museum, an ecological trail around the village, and also a large section of the bay coastline where you can find a lot of interesting artifacts that, if desired, you can take with you as free souvenirs: whale and walrus vertebrae, beautiful stones...

A spare day in case of delays of domestic flights, as well as a storm at sea, preventing us from going out to sea and reaching Cape Dezhnev as planned.
If everything goes according to plan, we will spend this day leisurely walking along the sea, cooking food from fresh fish and chatting.

Departure by local aviation to Anadyr. Again, delays are possible, get ready to wait for the plane in not the most comfortable airport in the world (frankly speaking, it looks more like a barn than an airport). At the service of those waiting - a couple of grocery stores nearby, where you can even buy ice cream! But that's all the comfort))

A spare day in case of flight delays to/from Lavrentiya.

In the morning we go to the pier and take the boat "Kamchatka" to Anadyr, where we walk all day. The town gives the impression of being quite nice and cozy, although with its own specifics. In one day it is possible to walk around it all, visiting all the interesting places: Mount Verblyuzhka, from which a view of the entire city opens, the museum center "Heritage of Chukotka", the Holy Trinity Cathedral, look at all the memorials and monuments, sit on the shore of the Anadyr estuary and buy red fish and caviar in a supermarket or at the market, which here, by the way, are cheaper than in Kamchatka, where everything in this area is monopolized. Here you can also buy fish and caviar from fishermen, and the fish is either salted or smoked, or freshly caught, which, by agreement, will be brought to you directly to the airport for your flight.

Closer to the evening we return by boat to our apartment in the village of Ugolnye Kopi.

We are returning to the settlement of Ugolnye Kopi. Today we will have an excursion to Gudym and Portal. These are destroyed towns of the Strategic Missile Forces 20 km from the settlement. Once there were missile silos here, in accordance with the agreements between Reagan and Gorbachev in the 90s on the reduction of strategic nuclear weapons, they were liquidated and then blown up. Only one horizontal 2-kilometer underground mine, popularly called Portal, survived. We will go to it. There are many signs in the mine warning of danger, but today the object does not pose any threat to life - the structure is made for centuries and is quite reliable, there have been no missiles there for a long time, all the equipment has been dismantled, the radiation background is normal. The main thing is not to forget flashlights with you, since the mine is not lit.

Another spare day in case of flight delays and bad weather. Perhaps, if everything goes smoothly (which is unlikely), we won't have much to do that day, but without spare days in Chukotka, alas.

Transfer to the airport and flight home. Farewell Chukotka - a wild but beautiful land!

In terms of physical activity, this is NOT a difficult tour! The difficulties of the tour are related to the morale of the participants: lack of usual comfort, bad weather, time zone changes, delays in local flights and long waits at airports, lack of a usual daily routine and food. If you are used to comfort and everything going according to plan, this tour is CONTRAINDICATED for you!

The weather in Chukotka is not very warm. Even in July and August, sub-zero temperatures are possible at night, and rain, fog, and strong winds are almost guaranteed during our trip! Therefore, take the preparation of your clothes and equipment very seriously.

For this tour, you need to take the following set of clothes with you: a membrane jacket + a light down jacket, waterproof hiking pants, good trekking boots, high rubber boots, thermal underwear, as well as a hat, gloves, warm socks, and a fleece. In addition, you will definitely need a 75-90 liter backpack (you can go with a suitcase, but it will look very strange in Chukotka), a raincoat, a headlamp, a thermos, and rubber slippers. It is advisable to have a camping mat and a sleeping bag, since not everyone has enough sleeping places in rented apartments and has to sleep on the floor. The full list will be provided to you by the instructor when concluding the tour contract. The instructor will also advise you on what NOT to take so as not to carry extra weight.

IMPORTANT! Foreign citizens, including residents of Belarus and Kazakhstan, are required to obtain a special permit to enter the border zone, which is issued by the FSB (Federal Security Service of Russia) for at least two months! There is also a possibility of denial of entry into the territory of the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug without explanation. If you are not a citizen of Russia, please contact us as soon as possible!

1. If you are interested in this tour, leave a request using the form below or call the numbers listed, we will contact you and answer all your questions.
2. To reserve a place, you must make an advance payment of 30% of the tour cost. The advance payment is refundable 45 days or more before the start of the tour and non-refundable, unfortunately, less than 45 days before the start of the tour, if the refund is due to your refusal to participate (for any reason). If the tour does not take place due to our fault, a group not being formed, tickets not being purchased, or force majeure, your prepayment will be guaranteed to be returned to you in any case.
3. In addition to the prepayment for the tour, until March 2024 you will need to pay for air tickets for a domestic flight(s) depending on the number of modules you have selected, since tickets are purchased by the tour organizer centrally for the entire group and strictly on the first day of sales in March or April, after which it will no longer be possible to buy tickets!
4. Tickets to Anadyr and back are purchased by the participants themselves! There are direct flights from Moscow (three times a week) by Aeroflot/Russia (cost for 2024 - 40 thousand rubles round trip), as well as flights with transfers in Novosibirsk, Vladivostok, Khabarovsk, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky.
5. The final payment is made within seven to three working days before the start of the tour.