Experience the power of eternal permafrost, watch bison, visit a city on the edge of an abyss, walk on ice in the heat, see rivers that don't freeze at -60 ℃, and catch zen to the sounds of a jaw harp — adventures for those who think they can't be surprised.
Yakutia, or the Sakha Republic, is Russia's coldest, least populated, and largest region. It is larger than India, the seventh-largest country in the world by area.
Most of Yakutia is dominated by permafrost, and due to the harsh climate, only indigenous people lived here for years. But then it was discovered that beneath the ice and taiga lay rich diamond deposits, and cities began to emerge in the republic. The capital, Yakutsk, is built on stilts. This was necessary so that the buildings wouldn't sink, as the heat emanating from them melts the permafrost. Yakutsk is the only major city in the world where such architecture predominates.
Yakutia is not only cold but also warm in every sense. In summer, there is almost tropical heat here — temperatures rise to +40 °C. And many visitors to the region particularly note the kindness and hospitality of the locals: the warm-heartedness of the Yakuts can melt any ice.
Kisilyakh — stone figures created by nature
In Yakutia, there is a sacred place for its inhabitants in the Verkhoyansk Mountains. Aborigines were not allowed to go here — only shamans could. The slopes are strewn with stone pillars that resemble human figures, and the Yakuts have eerie legends about their origin. They tell that it used to be very warm here, but then the climate changed and the locals started migrating south. Opinions diverge: some say that the gods got angry and turned the migrants into stones, others — that people froze in place on their way and gradually became covered with stone.
Of course, this is fiction. Such "stone men" have a natural origin and are found not only in Yakutia but in many regions of the world. However, the atmosphere around these mountains is still mystical. For miles around, there are no people or signs of civilization, just lone stone pillars.
Kisilyakhs are worth the effort to travel the challenging road to get here: in the warm season — by boat or on foot, in the cold — by snowmobile or all-terrain vehicle, a more expensive but spectacular option — by helicopter from Batagai Airport.
Many of Yakutia's interesting attractions are gathered in one place — the "Lena Pillars" park 180 kilometers from Yakutsk.
Of course, most people come here for the famous Lena Pillars, included in the UNESCO World Heritage list.
Millions of years ago, there was a prehistoric sea here, at the bottom of which limestone deposits formed. The water receded, and wind, precipitation, the scorching sun, and soil erosion gave the limestone a whimsical shape. Similar natural objects are found in the Krasnoyarsk region and the Republic of Komi, but the Lena Pillars significantly surpass them in number and size — the entire 40-kilometer coastline of the Lena is dotted with 100- and 200-meter cliffs!
About 20 kilometers away, on the Sinyaya River, are the equally impressive Sinyaya Pillars. Another river, Buotama, also flows through the park, on the banks of which is a nursery for forest bison — rare animals contemporaries of the mammoth.
Bison lived in the local taiga but disappeared 5,000 years ago. In Yakutia, they were brought in 2006 from Canada, and now at the "Ust-Buotama" bison nursery, you can observe the powerful bulls in their natural habitat.
Another local wonder is the Saamys Kumaga tukulan, a huge sand dune in the middle of the taiga. In Yakutia, where eternal permafrost reigns and everything is covered with impassable forests, you don't expect to encounter a desert, yet this place is an exception.
Finally, the park organizes tours to caves with petroglyphs — ancient rock paintings. They depict animals, people, runes, riders with banners — the latter even boasts on the modern coat of arms of the Sakha Republic.
"Oymyakon is the pole of cold in Yakutia," we know from childhood. However, this is not quite accurate. Officially, the coldest town in the world is considered to be Verkhoyansk, located to the northwest.
In February 1892, a record low temperature of -67.7 °C was registered there. And the pole of cold here is not of the entire planet, but only of the Northern Hemisphere. Either way, both in Verkhoyansk and in Oymyakon, the frost is insane, and yes, that's exactly why it's worth visiting here especially in winter. Because the main local attraction is the cold!
In the cold, it's interesting to conduct experiments: soap bubbles beautifully freeze, wet fabric takes on whimsical shapes, and with a frozen banana, you can hammer a nail. And what incredible photos can be taken if you throw a bucket of hot water into the air! You can test your endurance and plunge into a hole in the ice — just some 0 °C. Trivial, when outside it’s -60 °C!
Interestingly, the cold name of Oymyakon translates as "non-freezing water": here are indeed rivers and streams that do not freeze even in the harshest frosts because they are heated by underground sources.
In these places, you can try kumys, reindeer meat, and stroganina — frozen fish sliced into shavings.
The ethnographic complex "Chochur-Muran", which is located near Yakutsk. Here is the atmosphere of old Yakutia — as it was many years ago, when Russian explorers of Siberia first stepped onto these lands. The main building — an old merchant house with a completely original interior. It houses a restaurant with dishes from the gifts of the taiga, an Evenk birch bark tent, and an exhibition of Yakut curiosities: a shaman's costume, footwear made from reindeer hooves, a moose hide drum.
At "Chochur-Muran" you can spend the night in a barn, relax by the stove in a hunting log cabin, and become an expert in sled dogs: first learn the theory in the musher's house, then apply the knowledge in practice, riding a sled pulled by huskies.
Ysyakh is the most grandiose and spectacular festival of the Sakha Republic. Every June, people of all ages dress up in traditional costumes and head out of town for a few days to the summer and sun festival.
"Mir" Mine — a hole in the ground visible from space
Not all beautiful and unusual places in Yakutia are created by nature.
There are also amazing human creations. For example, "Mir" — one of the largest diamond mines on the planet, included in the list of nominees for the competition "Seven Wonders of Russia". It is located near the town of Mirny.
Diamond mining here began in 1957. It is said that geologists found a fox's den, the color of the earth at depth was blue. This is how scientists understood that kimberlite could be mined here.
True or not, but since then the fox's den has significantly increased in size. Today, flying a helicopter over the mine is even prohibited — a hole nearly 600 meters deep and about a kilometer in diameter creates turbulence, literally sucking in air transport. So it's better to admire "Mir" from an observation deck, which you can walk to directly from "Mirny" airport. And at night, the quarry is illuminated.
Buluus Glacier: walking on ice on a hot day
Even if your journey through Yakutia happens in summer, if you wish, you can still find a piece of winter here. A few hours' drive from Yakutsk is a glacier that does not melt completely even in the heat. Underground waters, coming to the surface in cold weather, form several-meter-thick ice, which does not have time to melt and even in July can reach three meters in height! And the water here is very clean and tasty.
Yakutia — the land of eternal permafrost, and therefore here are so often found perfectly preserved remains of ancient animals. The perfect place for the world's only mammoth museum. Huge skeletons, mummies, and models of mammoths, saber-toothed tigers, ancient horses, and bison that lived 40-50 thousand years ago — until you see it with your own eyes, you won't believe that such animals really existed.
You can feel the power of the Yakut cold, which preserved animals for so many years, in the "Kingdom of Permafrost" complex. They turned the glacier, which does not melt all year round, into a tourist complex with colorful illuminated caves and ice figures. Inside, you are awaited by the Yakut Santa Claus Chyskhaan, traditional rites, a small paleontological collection, and a bar where drinks are served in ice dishes, stroganina, and local ice cream. In summer, it's pleasant to cool down at a temperature of -5 °C, and in winter — to "warm up" at -10 °C, when outside there are bone-chilling -40 °C.
Turbulent rivers, canyons, polar forests, harsh peaks — this is one of the places in Russia where you can truly feel like an explorer. Along the way, you will encounter deer and rare settlements of Yakuts, which have not changed much over the centuries.
Yakutia has not yet become a popular tourist region — after all, the climate is not the simplest, accessibility is difficult, and attractions are located at great distances from each other: for example, from Yakutsk to Oymyakon it is about 16 hours by car. However, this amazing land has huge potential — it's interesting to visit another world without leaving Russia!
Tourism in Yakutia is developing, and every year more and more people come to see the Lena Pillars, test their endurance at the pole of cold, and have fun at the Ysyakh festival.
