Yamal is a unique region of Russia. Here you can see the pristine beauty of the Arctic with tundra, mountains, glaciers and northern lights, get acquainted with nomadic customs, warm yourself by the hearth in a tent and ride a reindeer sled. "Izvestia" tells what Yamal is ready to surprise its guests in 2025 and what should be taken into account when going on a trip beyond the Arctic Circle.
Yamal: how to get there and what to do
The Yamal-Nenets Autonomous District is located in the very center of the Russian Arctic. Most of it is located above the Arctic Circle. The word "Yamal" means "edge of the earth" in Nenets.
It is quite easy and quick to get to Yamal. From Moscow, the easiest way is by plane - a flight to Salekhard (the administrative center of the district) will take from 2 hours and 45 minutes, and the cost of tickets in February starts from 14.8 thousand rubles. You can also take a train to Labytnangi, but it will take about two days to get there. A ticket in a parlor car costs from Br4.7 thousand.
For accommodation on Yamal there are both comfortable hotels (from 3.9 thousand rubles per day) and extreme-ethnic options - you can spend the night at a camp outside the city in a tent for tourists (5 thousand rubles). Or even in the plague of a real reindeer herder, but for this it is better to contact a guide and buy a special excursion (another option is to get acquainted and make an agreement with the family on the Reindeer Herder's Day, but this is discussed further on).
"Izvestia" visited Yamal together with the winners of the Rosmolodezh program "More than a trip". And made sure that over the weekend here you can have time to do a lot of interesting things - to get acquainted with bright and cozy Salekhard, to see the skeleton of a mammoth, to assemble a tent, to ride a reindeer sled and taste the real northern cuisine.
What to see in Salekhard?
Salekhard is the only city in the world that is located right on the Arctic Circle. Everyone can cross it by driving up to the stele "66th parallel" (located halfway from the airport). For tourists, this is a kind of ritual - they are given a whole performance, where you can make a wish, take a step and find yourself in the Arctic Circle.
Salekhard itself is built on permafrost, further on - forest tundra and arctic deserts. At the same time, the city is very comfortable and cozy: the facades of houses are decorated with bright mural with mammoths and icebreakers, the streets themselves are brightly lit in the evenings.
Warm public transportation stops have been installed for the convenience of residents. This is very relevant in Yamal, where winter frosts of up to minus 40 can occur - although on the eve of 2025, the weather suddenly turned out to be comfortable even for long walks.
In Salekhard there are still boardwalk barracks of the 1950s, though only a few, and low houses illuminated with garlands. But the pearl of wooden architecture is the Obdorsky ostrog on the bank of the Polui River. It is an exact reconstruction of the Cossack stockade of the XVII century - the era of Siberia exploration. On the territory there are classic wooden temples of the North, towers and a forge where you can forge a coin as a souvenir.
The city has several interesting museums dedicated to the culture of indigenous people and the history of Yamal exploration, as well as the Museum of Polar Aviation, which is located near the airport. Soviet airplanes and helicopters, which once provided uninterrupted air service between cities and settlements, are displayed there in the open air.
Another popular museum is the Ivan Shemanovsky complex. In it you can see a collection of minerals, items of nomadic life, skeletons of woolly rhinoceros and Monchegorsk mammoth. But the main celebrity is the mummy of the mammoth cub Lyuba, found in 2007. Lyuba lived about 42 thousand years ago and died at the age of three months, by then she was about the size of a dog. For comparison, the skeleton of an adult mammoth, set nearby, is more than 3 meters tall. And the animal weighed about 5.5 tons.
- The mammoth was found in the tundra by a Nenets reindeer herder when he and his son went hunting. According to beliefs, such a meeting is a bad omen, but the Nenets still reported it to the head of the nearest village. As a result, the mammoth was named in honor of the reindeer herder's wife," says our guide German Bardin.
Also in Salekhard you can see a huge sculpture of mammoth Mitya, visit the largest temple in the Arctic and just walk around the center - along the elegant Lenin Street to the city park, decorated with installations of plagues and animal figures. And in between, enjoy the real winter - with crisp white snow (said to be the purest in the country) and trees with frosted white paws.
How to visit a plague?
The indigenous peoples of Yamal still maintain a nomadic way of life. You can get acquainted with their culture in the ethno-sanctuary "Muv Tai", which is located near Salekhard - about 25 minutes by car. But it is better to prepare for a winter trip there: put on warm clothes and shoes, don't forget about a hat and gloves with mittens (it is advised to put one under the other in order not to freeze your hands). After all, the guests will have to spend the day outdoors.
At the camp you can visit a real tent (if you wish - even spend the night in it, covered with a warm reindeer skin) or try to install it from scratch, assemble sledges, ride in a sled, taste stroganina, venison and northern berries. You can warm yourself at the hearth, sitting at a large table, and listen to stories about the life of indigenous peoples.
- Reindeer herders are nomads. In winter, they pack up the tent and all their belongings and move to the south, where there is more jagel for the reindeer. By summer, on the contrary, they go to the north - the reindeer are saved from bites. They leave their winter things in a prominent place, on a hill, to make it easier to get there," says guide German Bardin.
A woman always assembles a tent in a new place. In summer she manages in 40-50 minutes, in winter she needs about an hour and a half. After all, it is hard physical work - reindeer skins are very heavy. And it takes about 40 of them to cover the plague.
- If in the tundra the owner is a man, in the plague - a woman. She cooks food, cleans, sews clothes for everyone, brings up children (families in the tundra usually have many children, from three to six or more). At the same time, the man tends reindeer, hunts and fishes. Parents are helped in everything by their children - already from the age of 4-5, girls learn household chores, and boys can carry water, count and drive reindeer with their father," Bardin adds.
Later, by the age of 7-8, children are sent to boarding schools. They are taken from the tundra by helicopter and returned to their parents' tent for the summer. Sometimes, says the guide, after graduation young people do not want to return to the nomadic way of life. But on the whole there is no outflow of population - in many respects this is facilitated by the measures of support of indigenous peoples by the state.
....While we are talking at the table, seated on soft skins, wood is crackling in the stove. The hostess is serving hot tea with shanogi and frozen lingonberries. The food here is especially tasty - maybe because it is natural. They freeze the berries themselves, outside, and take water directly from the river - they cut and melt the ice. All this is the routine of those who live permanently in the tundra.
It's snowing outside in large fluffy flakes, the smoke from the stove rises above the tent, and a little further away the reindeer are resting. Someone says: "It's beautiful, but it's a pity that the sky is overcast. Otherwise, there is such a bright glow here.
What else is there to see in Yamal?
In Yamal you can see the northern lights, catch the polar night in winter and the polar day in summer, visit the majestic mountains of the Polar Urals. In spring, the main holiday in the region - Reindeer Herder's Day - is held here. At this time reindeer herders gather the fastest reindeer in harnesses, put on the best malitsa, load the whole family on sleds and go to the nearest towns and villages. The fun is accompanied by various competitions, tasting of traditional dishes, reindeer sledding and snowmobile rides.
- Yamal is unique for the preserved culture of the northern small-numbered peoples. Almost 17 thousand people here lead a traditional way of life, speak their native languages and observe the customs of their ancestors, - says Irina Gryaznova, Deputy Director of the Department of Economics of the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous District. - This is what attracts tourists from all over Russia to the region. In 2023, 240 thousand people came to us, and at the end of last year the tourist flow will reach 250 thousand. We are ready to increase the tourist flow further - the average annual hotel occupancy rate is now about 30%.
According to her, many tourists come to Yamal for its unique nature. One of the most popular places is Ingilor Park (translated from the Nenets language as "ice lake"). This is a specially protected area of more than 900 thousand hectares, where there are mountains and waterfalls, lakes, glaciers and relict forests, and also there is the world's largest nursery of musk oxen. The animals have been bred for two decades and then released into the natural environment.
In "Ingilor" you can see the Arctic in its pristine beauty. You can climb a mountain, go up to a glacier or navigate through the turbulent rivers. However, the very road to the park is also a whole adventure, because you can get there only as part of a tour on snowmobiles, which can move through the moss-covered tundra and overcome water obstacles without harming nature.
Tours to the park can be purchased from local tour operators. They offer both one-day hikes (for example, to mountain waterfalls, Krestovaya Mountain and the Romantikov Glacier) and two-day hikes (to the musk ox nursery) and even week-long hikes. The latter are designed for physically prepared people and may include mountain hiking, rafting and surfing in the icy water of the most beautiful lakes.
Izvestia Reference:
The program "More than a Trip" is implemented by the Federal Agency for Youth Affairs (Rosmolodezh). It is part of the line of projects of the presidential platform "Russia - a Country of Opportunities" and is implemented with the support of the all-Russian public and state movement of children and youth "Movement of the First", the Russian society "Znanie", the Ministry of Education and Science, the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Education and Science, the Ministry of Economic Development of Russia and Rossotrudnichestvo.
Thanks to the More Than a Trip program, over 200,000 people were able to see the unique places of the country. The participants included prize winners and winners of all-Russian projects: schoolchildren, students, young professionals from the regions and members of military families.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
