FROM the taiga to the tundra BY RAIL 

DAY 1 - Syktyvkar

  • Meet-and-greet at either Syktyvkar International Airport or Syktyvkar Central Railway Station (exact meeting time will be communicated well in advance per email in accordance to your flight/train schedule).

  • Introductory briefing about the region, the route and the set of rules to observe while travelling in Komi, an autonomous republic within the Russian Federation named after the Finno-Ugric people still inhabiting it.

  • During the day we'll tour Syktyvkar: Lenin Statue, Red Army Memorial, National Theatre, Komi Republic Museum and plenty of traditional Russian wooden houses and Soviet concrete shapes.

  • Traditional Komi dinner and overnight in Syktyvkar.

DAY 2 - Ukhta

  • In the morning we'll board the Soviet Polar Train to Ukhta, a mining city in central Komi.

  • The train trip is a destination for itself as we'll travel the old-fashioned Soviet way across a fairytale landscape of dark forests, misty moorlands, crumbling wooden villages and rusty Soviet outposts.

  • We'll arrive in Ukhta in the late afternoon and after a short walk around downtown we'll enjoy a traditional Komi dinner flushed down with fresh Baltic beer.

  • Overnight in Ukhta.

Bespoke Experiences • Cooking class and traditional meal with a local Komi family + artistic performance at a local Soviet-era House of Culture.

DAY 3 - Pechora

  • Morning train to Pechora, a subarctic industrial city of weirdly charming dullness, where we’ll spend a few hours of anti-tourism sightseeing before boarding our night train onto Vorkuta, a remote Soviet planned-city indissolubly associated with the Vorkutlag, one of the most notorious forced-labour camps of the Gulag system.

  • Dinner and overnight on the train.

DAY 4 - Vorkuta

  • Early morning arrival in Vorkuta and visit to both the spectral mining settlement of Rudnik and the über-interesting Museum of Local Lore.

  • In the afternoon we'll enjoy an in-depth tour around and about Vorkuta looking for Soviet-era hidden gems, such as the ones harboured in the city’s glorious Palace of Culture.

  • Traditional Polar dinner with a local family and overnight in Vorkuta.

DAY 5 - FAREWELL TO THE ARCTIC  

  • After enjoying a last Komi-style breakfast together, we'll take care of your transfer to Vorkuta Regional Airport for your trip back home and/or your connection to yet another exciting destination in the region such as Finland, Estonia or Kola.

  • End of the tour.

995 €

INCLUSIONS
Double/twin-room accommodation, all breakfasts, private road transport (car/minivan), all train tickets, entrance fees for the attractions listed in the itinerary, English-speaking guiding and translation service, 24/7 in situ and remote assistance.

EXCLUSIONS
Single supplement, international flights, meals, drinks and tips, visas if required, entrance to attractions not listed in the itinerary, insurance.