from RUSSIA to NORWAY ACROSS KARELIA AND THE KOLA PENINSULA
July 01 ⇾ July 13
In addition to our regular group departures to Arctic Russia, we also offer tour services for private travel parties and lone wolves alike. As a traveller-oriented boutique operator, tailored trips and bespoke adventures are our bread and butter. Get in touch for more info on our customised journeys to Arctic Russia!
DAY 1 to DAY 2 - SAINT Petersburg
Meet-and-Greet at Saint Petersburg International Airport, transfer to our accommodation, quick welcome refreshment and begin of our gallivanting around Saint Petersburg aka Leningrad, mostly focussing – you guessed it – on the rich Soviet-era heritage of the city.
Soviet highlights of our sojourn in Leningrad will include: Maxim Gorky Cultural Centre, Novosmolenskaya, Research and Development Institute for Robotics and Cybernetics, Kirov District Council, Red Banner Textile Factory, Postal Workers House of Culture, House of Soviets and the Primorskaya Apartment Blocks.
In addition to the above, we’ll also tour richly decorated Soviet-era metro stations, surprisingly well-preserved socialist-realist mosaics, splendid public artworks, imposing Bolshevik monuments, towering Lenin statues and grandiose WWII memorials.
Overnights in Saint Petersburg.
DAY 3 - Olonets
We’ll have an early start in Saint Petersburg and slowly head east-northeast travelling along the calm shores of Lake Ladoga, the largest freshwater body in Europe that rose to international celebrity thanks to the so-called Road of Life, the winter transport route across the frozen lake, which provided the only access to Leningrad during the 1941-1944 Nazi Siege of the city.
We’ll spend a few hours driving along the E105 Kola National Highway across a fairy-tale landscape of dark forests, wooden villages, abandoned Soviet outposts and tiny fishing stations and make two major stops in Shlisselburg and Novaya Ladoga.
In the early afternoon we’ll then cross the internal border into Karelia, a Finno-Ugric autonomous republic within the Russian Federation, and head for Olonets, a very Soviet version of Twin Peaks.
Once in Olonets, we'll have the chance to meet with its secretive and fascinating Finno-Ugric dwellers and learn more about their endangered culture, mystic traditions and troubled history.
Overnight in Olonets.
DAY 4 - Petrozavodsk
Early morning transfer to Petrozavodsk, the capital Karelia, short walk around the Soviet-shaped city centre and boat ride to Kizhi, an island located near the geometrical centre of the mighty Lake Onega.
Kizhi is famous across Russia and the former USSR mainly for its UNESCO-listed twenty-two-dome Transfiguration Church made entirely out of Scots pine wood without using any single nail: a true wonder of old Russian engineering!
We'll spend the whole day touring the island and its architectonic and natural sights and in the late afternoon we'll head back to Petrozavodsk.
Overnight in Petrozavodsk.
DAY 5 - Medvezhyegorsk
From Petrozavodsk we’ll travel to Medvezhyegorsk, a no-frills industrial town of eerie post-Soviet atmospheres on the northern shores of Lake Onega.
En route to Medvezhyegorsk we’ll make a few stops to admire the vast calmness of the Karelian countryside and visit a few interesting sights of historical, architectural and natural interest, including the small Finno-Karelian town of Kondopoga, the splendid waterfalls near Kivach, and the Soviet-made settlement of Povenets near the White Sea-Baltic Canal.
Overnight in Medvezhyegorsk.
DAY 6 - Solovetsky Islands
Leaving Medvezhyegorsk, we’ll fight our way through the Karelian immensity and head to the White Sea port of Kem.
Today’s major stops along the way will include Segezha (a pretty town of worn-out wooden buildings that was once notoriously known for the extensive gulag network in its surroundings) and Belomorsk (a rough-and-ready port of industrial rustiness and Soviet memorials).
By lunch time we’ll eventually arrive in Kem, where we’ll immediately board our ferry to the Solovetsky Islands, a breathtakingly gorgeous archipelago renowned for hosting the magnificent Solovetsky Monastery, as well as for being the site of the very first Soviet gulag, the Solovki Prison Camp.
Overnight in Kem.
DAY 7 - Apatity
Transfer north to the tranquil lakeside town of Plotina, the last Karelian settlement of our journey before entering the wide and wild territory of Kola, the largest peninsula in European Russia.
After a lunch break in Kandalaksha, we’ll travel further north and make a detour to reach the semi-abandoned Soviet garrison town of Afrikanda, aptly named as such because it is said to be “as hot as Africa” (well, guess what, it ain’t the case).
From Afrikanda we’ll then move on to Apatity and Kirovsk, two exquisitely Soviet mining towns that serve as a gateway to the Khibiny Mountains Natural Reserve, a mineral-rich geological massif with plenty of hiking and trekking opportunities.
Overnight in Kirovsk.
DAY 8 - Sami Heartland
We’ll spend a lazy morning in Kirovsk and then head for Monchegorsk, a copper-and-nickel mining town located on the northern slopes of the Khibiny Massif.
After a short Soviet-themed walk around Monchegorsk, we’ll make a long detour eastward into the heartland of the Sami, indigenous people inhabiting Lapland, the ancestral homeland that today also encompasses large parts of Norway, Sweden, Finland.
We’ll first make a stop in Revda, the largest settlement in the area and one of USSR’s notorious mono-towns, and then head for Lovozero, the cultural and ethnic capital of the Russian Sami, where we’ll visit the Sami Cultural Centre and meet with local Sami reindeer herders.
Overnight in Lovozero.
DAY 9 - Murmansk
Very early start from Lovozero and long-morning drive straight to Murmansk, the largest city in the world above the Arctic Circle and the administrative centre of Murmansk Oblast and, by extension, the entire Kola Peninsula.
Murmansk Soviet Tour: full day devoted to the capital of the Russian Arctic, a surprisingly lively city that boasts a vast plethora of Soviet wonders, including (but not limited to) the colossal Alesha Statue, the impressive Lenin Nuclear Icebreaker and the touching Valley of Glory Memorial Complex.
Overnight in Murmansk.
DAY 10 - TERIBERKA
We’ll spend the entire day travelling through the majestic sceneries of the Kola Peninsula; the quintessentially nordic landscape here is simply astounding and you could be easily forgiven for thinking you have been suddenly catapulted in an Icelandic backcountry.
The Soviet highlight of the day will be the semi-abandoned settlement of Teriberka, a highly photogenic remote outpost located on the Barents Sea coast and the main setting for the award-winning Russian drama Leviathan (Andrey Zvyagintsev, 2014).
Overnight in Murmansk.
DAY 11 - Zapolyarny
From Murmansk we’ll head east-northeast for the once Finnish port town of Liinakhamari, which was handed over to the Soviet Union following the Moscow Armistice between Finland and the Allies in 1944.
On our way to Liinakhamari, we will call at the Valley of Glory, an impressive Soviet-era memorial that commemorates the bloody battle fought here in the summer of 1941 between the Wehrmacht and the Red Army.
Liinakhamari is now famous for its striking Soviet Seamen Memorial and for being the starting point for excursions to the German Peninsula, a tiny comb-shaped foreland that harbours a WWII mystery: puzzling huge concrete rings built by the Germans during their occupation of area.
In the afternoon we’ll then travel back south towards Pechenga and then onto the site of the Kola Superdeep Borehole, the deepest artificial point on Earth, before eventually reaching the Soviet mining town of Zapolyarny.
Overnight in Zapolyarny.
DAY 12 - Kirkenes
Today we’ll leave Zapolyarny and head for Nikel, yet another mining town renowned for (you guessed it) its vast nickel-mining facilities.
Around lunch time we’ll then cross the border into Norway and travel to Kirkenes, the capital of Finnmark County.
Once in Kirkenes, we will pay a visit to the local Soviet memorial honouring the Red Army soldiers who lost their lives liberating the town from the Nazi yoke in 1944.
Overnight in Kirkenes.
DAY 13 - FAREWELL TO THE GREAT NORTH
After enjoying a last Finnmark meal together, we'll take care of your transfer to Kirkenes Regional Airport.
For those wishing to take the bus to reach further destinations: transfer to the local bus station in Kirkenes.
Possible tour extensions to this itinerary include: Finland and/or Soviet Belarus.
End of the tour.
2480 €
INCLUSIONS
Double/twin-room accommodation (breakfast included), private transport in Russia (car/minivan), all entrance fees, English-speaking guiding service, 24/7 on-site and remote assistance.
EXCLUSIONS
Single supplement, international flights, main meals (lunches and dinners), extra drinks, visa fees (if required), tips, travel insurance.
