From March 28, 2012, oneWorld member S7 Airlines (Sibir) is launching 1 weekly Yakutsk – Beijing service, and increases to 2 weekly from May 24, 2012, with Airbus A320.
Yakutsk – Beijing Flight Schedule: Read more…
Services
Chernyj Prizhim on the Kolyma Highway, so-called Road of Bones, in Yakutia, Siberia, Russia
I have written a lot about ways between Yakutsk and Magadan, Yakutsk and Oymyakon. Actually, both are the same. They are on the Kolyma Higway, known also as the Road of Bones or M56. I thought it’s time for requests to stop coming. All posts on this theme are filed under Kolyma Highway and Road of Bones.
Instead, I started receiving very specific questions. Love them all. They are specific as their authors are not regular people. Last two messages arrived from companies that focus on extraordinary expeditions. One was from explorers, who do so-called cold climate journeys. Another from the TV show, that arranges and broadcasts breathtaking off-road driving.
Two requests are related tightly to Oymyakon and the way to this place. Actually, questions sound the same.
Often I receive requests from foreign/international journalists, who are coming to Russia and being confused about the required type of the Russian visa. Their questions usually sound like, “I’ve got an assignment and I plan my travel to Russia. What type of the Russian visa I need and how can I get it?” The last one was asked from the USA, and it said, “Do you foresee any hidden obstacles we may run into while bringing journalists on the trip?”
I know examples, when international journalists entered Russia with business or tourists visas. Those, who were assigned by newspapers or magazines to make stories on travel opportunities, didn’t experience any troubles, because they came as travelers, they didn’t take any interviews with officials, they didn’t go to any restricted areas, and they just kept writing harmless travel notes about hotels, restaurants, tours, lifestyle, and etc. Right, behaving that way, they didn’t attract much attention from migration officers and any other services.
However, I know other examples I’ve heard from local travel companies. Journalists acted in the above described manner, everything looked fine, until they went through regular police checks, and they were found out as journalists on assignment, and instead of showing press/media visas, they displayed their travel/business ones. That was the start of their troubles.
I am very interested in international reporters’ coming to Siberia’s Yakutia and making PR pieces. That’s why I am writing this post with the main idea, “To make the travel as smooth as possible, it will be good to arrange everything in the appropriate way.” Believe me, the procedure of getting the press/media visa is pretty simple. Read more…
As you noted by my announcements, I decided to arrange my friends’ roadtrip from Yakutsk to the Pole of Cold, Oymyakon. So… I was forced to come across some technical questions, like visa, air tickets, car rent, transfers, accommodation, etc. Man, so many things are to be done! Praise God, everything goes smoothly so far.
A train in Neryungri, South Yakutia
A few journey participants are already on the way to Yakutsk, they are coming by railways via Neryungri. Yesterday I started receiving urgent questions like “How to order a taxi to Yakutsk in Neryungri? Are there resting rooms at the railroad station?” Well, I immediately provided all the info I had, including those ones in already-published posts “How to get to Yakutsk by train and car?” and “Railroad stations in Yakutia?”
My friend’s next message sounded this way “One more question: Should I order the taxi in advance, or just when I arrive? Is it likely one will depart in the evening when I arrive, or will have have to wait until next morning? OK, that was two questions.”
I said to him. Let me book a cab for you. So I called a Neryungri-based taxi service, asked and… Oh, man! Rejoice, my readers! Everything appears much, much easier than I expected. Read more…
Once I published long-distance taxi rates that can be taken into consideration while traveling within Yakutia. But I’ve never written a post about pecularities of using such a ground transport, precisely about advantages and disadvantages of going from Yakutsk to Magadan via the Road of Bones (Kolyma Highway) by taxi.
UAZ is used as a long distance taxi within Yakutia. Photo provided by Slava Mestnikov.
This time I decided to fill this gap. First, let’s recall the route and list “pros”, then I’ll mention some important things to remember. Read more…
I was frequently asked about hostels/small hotels availability in Yakutsk. There are some, and they are different. At long last, I found time and checked a few.
Here is my current pick. That’s Metro Hostel. It is cheap and clean. It has many big advantages. Let’s list them. Read more…
The journey along the Lena River from its head evokes much travelers’ interest. Reasons vary. Recently I received another request, but from the U.S. this time. An Orthodox priest wrote:
“I want to travel by river to Yakutsk, June 2010 for a sabbatical project because early Orthodox missionaries to Alaska took this route in 1794. Where is the best location to catch a ferry or the hydrofoil on the Lena? I don’t have to recreate the entire journey. Should I take the BAM to Ust’-Kut and then go by river?”
My answer repeated some previous posts partly, however, I decided to add this reply to the existing data base as well. Read more…
Often asked about the tour to the Pole of Cold, Oymyakon. All the time the question sounds different. Some is interested in transfer rates, others in hotel rates, third persons are just wondering what to do and see in the Pole of Cold. So I decided why not just give away the description of the standard tour to the officially acknowledged coldest Siberian place?!
The Indigirka River, Oymyakon, Siberia/Russia. In some parts it is never frozen, even when the temperature goes below -50C.
The tour description was received from a friend of mine, Semen Baishev, an Oymyakon-based travel enthusiast. Actually it is him, who arranges all the travel program in the Pole of Cold for individual tourists and travel agencies’ groups. Oops, travel agencies might “kill” me for disclosing such an info :) Whatever. So… here we go. Read more…
The following useful info on accommodations was provided by Sardana Mikheeva via the Facebook group “Ask-Yakutia-Today” (don’t forget to join the FB group.) I added some info, more details and comments. So here we go. Read more…
There are three options. You can reach Lensk from Yakutsk:
1) by plane,
2) by taxi,
3) hitchhiking (mostly with truck drivers).
