Krasnoyarsk Territory is the largest region of Central Siberia.
Although its administrative borders cover a vast territory from the
Sayan Mountains to the Arctic Ocean, geographically and culturally the
Krasnoyarsk Territory is divided into three approximately equal parts.
This guide is dedicated to the southern one, which extends to Yeniseisk
and Angara. To the north is the taiga Evenkia, and even further north is
the harsh polar Taimyr.
The south of the Krasnoyarsk Territory is
one of the most beautiful corners of Siberia. The mountain taiga on the
Sayan spurs closely borders here with beautiful forest-steppe. The
region is deserted in a Siberian way, but at the same time it is not
deprived of transport: moving around it is only a little more difficult
than somewhere in Central Russia. People come here most often for the
sake of natural beauty, although there are also interesting historical
cities in the south of the Krasnoyarsk Territory.
Krasnoyarsk is not a popular tourist
destination, although there is a lot to see. The city is interesting for
its antiquity: there are no less pre-revolutionary houses in it than in
Yeniseisk; Among them are carved wooden ones, merchant stone ones, and
even large shopping arcades of a metropolitan scale. Another, no less
interesting aspect of Krasnoyarsk is natural. The city stands on the
slopes of the Eastern Sayan Mountains, which together with the Yenisei
create a unique topography: bare hills and taiga-covered rocks. It’s
worth staying in Krasnoyarsk for at least a couple of days, one of which
is dedicated to the surrounding area: the famous Pillars or a trip along
the Yenisei towards the Krasnoyarsk Hydroelectric Power Station.
Achinsk welcomes those who travel to the Krasnoyarsk Territory from the
west. At its core, it is an industrial city that grew up around a giant
alumina refinery, although there is also an old part in Achinsk -
quarters of good merchant buildings, decorated with wonderful stone
carvings. Closer to the outskirts there is a pre-revolutionary military
town, the only one in Central Siberia. The city also owes its industry
to another, less traditional attraction - its own tram system that
delivers workers to the plant. In Achinsk the roads to Krasnoyarsk and
Abakan diverge, and the latter passes through most of the interesting
places in Khakassia.
Divnogorsk is a city on the Yenisei in the
vicinity of Krasnoyarsk, interesting for its picturesque rocky
landscapes and proximity to the majestic Krasnoyarsk hydroelectric power
station, the lower of the cascade of three Yenisei power plants. In one
direction from Divnogorsk, it’s a stone’s throw to the Krasnoyarsk
Reservoir, a favorite vacation spot, along the banks of which there are
several caves. In the other direction, downstream, is the village of
Ovsyanka, the birthplace of the writer Viktor Astafiev, where a memorial
museum is located. In addition to the wonderful scenery on the road
connecting Krasnoyarsk with Divnogorsk, there are several places where
you can buy Yenisei fish or taste it cooked in the best traditions of
Siberian cuisine.
Yeniseysk is the
ancient capital of Eastern Siberia and the first Russian city on the
Yenisei. Having grown up on river trade, Yeniseisk completely lost its
significance when the Trans-Siberian Railway passed through Krasnoyarsk,
and was literally mothballed somewhere out of time with all its wooden
houses, old signs and way of life that had not changed for decades. This
alone, along with the majestic Yenisei, is worth crossing the 300 km of
emptiness that separates Yeniseisk from Krasnoyarsk. Another, no less
interesting attraction of the city is the old temples, built in a
special type of Baroque style. North of Yeniseisk all roads end, and the
real Siberian taiga begins, where there are more animals than people.
Kansk is located in the east of the
Krasnoyarsk Territory on the road to Irkutsk. The most dramatic events
of the civil war on Krasnoyarsk soil took place in the city, so many
died here, and the Czech writer Jaroslav Hasek only stayed late and
managed to get married. In recent years, the city has been chosen as the
venue for an alternative film festival - of course, Kansky: with all the
accompanying, no less ironic attributes. The city behind these
curiosities is less interesting than, for example, Achinsk or Minusinsk,
but it has its share of old buildings, including wooden ones. Nearby is
the Ilanskaya station, where all Trans-Siberian trains stop for a long
time to change locomotives.
Lesosibirsk is a natural and
inevitable addition to the ancient Yeniseisk. The city, which grew up
around timber processing plants, has long surpassed its historical
neighbor both in the number of residents and in the existing
infrastructure: there are decent hotels and good city cafes, which have
never existed in Yeniseisk and most likely never will. In recent years,
Lesosibirsk has decided to acquire its own attractions, and although it
remains a city “worth visiting if you have time,” two beautiful newly
built churches are among the best monuments of this kind in Siberia, and
the local museum of contemporary Christian art in Russia is almost not
the only one. Not far from the city is the picturesque spit of the
Yenisei and Angara.
Minusinsk is a
neighbor of Abakan and the oldest city in southern Siberia. Its fate is
somewhat similar to Yeniseisk: in the 19th century it was a major center
of trade and in fact the capital of the endless Khakassian steppes, but
then it found itself away from the railway and fell into oblivion, from
which, however, it emerged with the construction of a bridge across the
Yenisei and the long-awaited launch of trains. Minusinsk has a
well-preserved historical center with all the attributes of a wealthy
pre-revolutionary city, including, for example, a theater. No less
interesting is the local museum of local lore, the collection of which
is not inferior to the one in Krasnoyarsk. The road from Minusinsk leads
straight to Tuva, although you can stay longer - for example, in
Shushenskoye.
The Yenisei is one of the main Siberian rivers. Stretching for 3.5
thousand km from the Sayan Mountains to the Arctic Ocean, it serves as
the only transport corridor in these parts, connecting the vast northern
regions with the mainland. In the southern part of the Krasnoyarsk
Territory, it is easy to drive up to the Yenisei by car, and north of
Krasnoyarsk you can take a “cruise” along the river on a regular ship
and see hard-to-reach places, almost untouched by civilization.
Ergaki is a mountain range in the Western Sayan Mountains, conveniently
located in the area of the Abakan-Kyzyl highway. At altitudes of
1500-2000 m above sea level, you will encounter a variety of landscapes:
taiga, alpine meadows, mountain lakes, rocky tundra and just rocks of a
characteristic, unusually sharp shape - one of the calling cards of this
area. The Ergaki massif belongs to natural parks; in the valley next to
the road there are tourist centers and a visitor center, where tourists
will be provided with all the necessary information, but otherwise these
are ordinary, wild mountains, where you need to go on a hike for at
least a day, taking with you provisions and taking the necessary
precautions.
Krasnoyarsk Pillars is a nature reserve on the spurs
of the Eastern Sayans in the vicinity of Krasnoyarsk. It is unusual for
its huge rocky outcrops, which equally attract experienced rock climbers
and ordinary travelers who come here to see magnificent mountain scenery
just a stone's throw from a large Siberian city. The pillars are
gradually being overgrown with infrastructure, a year-round chairlift
has also been built for them, but the traditional (also the most
correct) way to visit the pillars still involves a hike from the city,
followed by a walk through the mountain taiga and, possibly, rock
climbing. This is the main excursion site in the Krasnoyarsk region.
The Sayano-Shushensky Nature Reserve is located in the flood zone of
the reservoir of the same name - in the place where the Yenisei crosses
the Western Sayan Mountains. Although this is happening in the very
south of Siberia, getting here is no easier than somewhere in Taimyr:
there are harsh mountains around, and there are no roads and no roads in
sight. You need to go to the reserve on a multi-day hike with a
difficult entry and exit - the reward will be breathtaking rocky
landscapes and the majestic Yenisei.
Shushensky Bor is a national
park in the Western Sayan Mountains, a light version of the
Sayano-Shushensky Nature Reserve. The flat part of the park (Perovskoye
forestry) is located right on the outskirts of the village of
Shushenskoye, and you can easily go there for a walk for an hour, which,
by the way, was not disdained by the most famous resident of this
village, V.I. Lenin. More interesting is the mountain forestry area
directly adjacent to the Sayano-Shushenskaya hydroelectric power
station, where you will see a reservoir surrounded by rocks and be able
to conquer the Borus ridge. All this, however, requires at least a
one-day hike in a completely autonomous mode, since there is no
infrastructure in the park.
Shushenskoye is a village in the
south of the Krasnoyarsk Territory, which has become synonymous with the
wilderness, not least due to the fact that it was here that V.I., who
was in Siberian exile, spent three years. Lenin. Having gotten rid of
the taint of ideology, Shushenskoye has turned into a nice and unique
ethnographic museum in the entire Krasnoyarsk region, where you will see
a reconstruction of an old Siberian village. Along with the neighboring
village of Ermakovskoye, Shushenskoye is the southernmost regional
center of the Krasnoyarsk Territory. Then the route goes into the
mountains and, having crossed them, leads to Tuva.
Putorana Plateau
Sayano-Shushensky nature reserve
In addition to the obvious route to Krasnoyarsk, you can come to the
south of the Krasnoyarsk Territory through Abakan, which has its own
airport that receives a couple of Moscow flights. The Trans-Siberian
Railway passes through Achinsk, Krasnoyarsk and Kansk. Abakan (and
neighboring Minusinsk) has its own railway, which carries direct trains
not only from the Trans-Siberian Railway, but also from the Kemerovo
region.
There are fewer roads. The Krasnoyarsk region is
connected to the rest of Russia by the only thread of the P255 highway,
which in the west comes from Mariinsk (where roads from Tomsk and
Kemerovo converge), and in the east it goes further to Irkutsk. All
other interregional roads, if they exist at all, are considered extreme:
you should not drive there without prior preparation.
Trips in the northern and southern parts of the Krasnoyarsk Territory
differ radically. If in the south there are roads, intercity buses and
even trains, and the journey is not fundamentally different from other
Russian regions, then to the north of Yeniseisk and Angara year-round
roads disappear, and regular transport even more so, so the journey
takes on the character of an expedition that requires serious
preparation.
By plane
There is a lot of local aviation in
Krasnoyarsk, which is focused on hard-to-reach northern areas. In the
south of the Krasnoyarsk Territory, aircraft are in little demand. A
couple of times a week there are flights to Kodinsk, Boguchany and
Motygino located on the Angara, as well as to the village of
Severo-Yeniseisky, lost among the taiga - there are year-round roads
there, but often of poor quality and broken by ferry crossings. In
places where tourists usually go, there are airports in Yeniseisk and
Shushenskoye, but there are no regular flights from Krasnoyarsk, and
traveling by land is much more interesting.
By ship
By a large
margin, the easiest and most convenient way to travel around the
Krasnoyarsk Territory is the passenger ships “A. Sailors" and "V.
Chkalov", plying along the Yenisei. They go from Krasnoyarsk to Dudinka
and provide the opportunity to take a river cruise, although you won’t
have time to explore individual cities and towns along the way, unless
you stay there for a few days until the next ship (and they go once
every 5 days or even less often ). Motor ships, like all other (small)
passenger shipping on the Yenisei, are operated by the
PassengerRechTrans company. Previously, it was difficult to buy a ticket
from another city, but in 2020 tickets are sold on the website
http://prt24.ru. You just need to come to the gate with a printed
receipt, and that’s it, you don’t need to get a paper ticket. Departure
from Krasnoyarsk is scheduled at 7 am. You can board in Krasnoyarsk in
the evening, and upon boarding you can pay extra for an overnight stay
in a cabin. The ship arrives in Dudinka in the evening, and you can
spend the night on it only if you are sailing from Dudinka.
Cruises along the Yenisei are a ploy from travel agencies that organize
an excursion program in Norilsk, and then put tourists on a regular ship
to Yeniseisk itself, from where the bus tour begins. You can organize
all the same things yourself and for much less money by taking a regular
ticket for a ship. There are offers of cruises on a special,
non-scheduled ship with an unusual excursion program, but this is a
VIP-level event, and such cruises cost more than a week-long tour to the
other side of the world.
There is no regular passenger shipping
on the tributaries of the Yenisei, and any other has its own specifics,
since even large rivers like the Lower Tunguska are navigable only
during high water. The main means of transportation here are motor
boats.
Land transport
In the south of the Krasnoyarsk
Territory there are several asphalt roads, and this is generally
sufficient for exploring the cities. There are no roads north of
Podkamennaya Tunguska, except for the lonely highway connecting Norilsk
with Dudinka and the airport. In the interval, i.e. approximately from
the Angara to the Podkamennaya Tunguska, there are several winter roads
connected to ice crossings across large rivers. Current information
about this road infrastructure is available on the website of the
Krasnoyarsk Road Administration.
Bridges across the Yenisei exist
only in Krasnoyarsk and Divnogorsk. The only bridge across the Angara in
the Krasnoyarsk Territory is in Boguchany. There are dozens of ferry
crossings; their schedules are on the website of the same road
administration and passenger shipping company.
The southern part
of the Krasnoyarsk Territory can be explored by car: the roads (if there
are any) are in decent condition, and long distances are compensated by
the low congestion of the roads and the views from them. There are car
rental points in Krasnoyarsk, and you can also rent a car in Abakan and
go from there to the very south of the region - to Shushenskoye and
Minusinsk.
Routes
The Sayan Ring is a tourist route passing through the
cities of the Krasnoyarsk Territory, Khakassia and Tuva.
The
Sayan Ring includes five main settlements - Krasnoyarsk, Divnogorsk,
Abakan, the village of Shushenskoye and Kyzyl. The rest of the list
(Minusinsk, Sayanogorsk, Kyzyl-Mazhalyk, Askiz, etc.) is debatable.