Region

Khakassia republic is located in South Siberia on the left side of the Yenisei basin. It occupies territory of 62 thousand sq.km. Its population is 535 thousand people. Time difference with Moscow is +4 hours.

Khakassia is often called "a huge open-air museum". The history of Khakassia is very great, it counts not only the centuries but thousands of years. The first state of Din Linnes, who lived here in 7-3 centuries BC, left the remembrance about themselves in marvelous burial mounds, mystic rock paintings.

Khakassia is famous for its huge lakes with healing water concentrating in Shira district. Many territories of the republic are devoted to the protected nature reserves, which are inhabited with rare species. Some of them like red wolf, snow leopard and argali are endangered and included into Red list of WWF.

The administrative center of Khakassia is Abakan, a city with population of 160 thousand people. Sightseeing in Abakan: Khakassian national museum, Preobrazhensky cathedral, Lora stele, landscaping park Gardens of the Dream.

How to get

The tour starts in Abakan.

There are direct flights Moscow-Abakan: Aeroflot air company (departure 23.40, arrival 08.10 +1, everyday) and S7 airlines (dep. 22.05, arr. 06.35 +1, everyday).

Return flight: Aeroflot dep. 09.30, arr. 10.20, everyday, S7 flight dep. 07.40, arr. 08.40, everyday).

Besides, to Abakan you can get from Moscow by train #067 via Yekaterinburg, Novosibirsk, from Krasnoyarsk by train #124.

Meeting and seeing off

The guide meets the group in Abakan on the 1 day from 6 am till 9 am, in the airport, railway station or bus terminal.

The tour finishes on the 3 day by 5 pm in Abakan.

Weather

The climate in Khakassia is sharply continental: cold winter, hot summer, with significant variation of temperature and precipitation level. Summer duration in steppes is from the middle of May till the middle of September, in highlands – from the middle of June till the end of August. The hottest month is July (average temperature is 20 C). Sometimes there is “Indian summer” in the end of September.

It's very beautiful in May, as the greenery is still fresh, everything is in blossom, at the same time you can see snow high up in the mountains. It's warm during the day, but rather cool in the evening.

In June everything is in blossom as well, and every week you can various colors of nature. Stable weather is characteristic of this period of time.

July is the hottest month, but sometimes there might rain for a week. The weather is stable and it's warm in the day time and at night. At the end of the month the steppe starts getting dry.

Useful tips

Travelling clothes must be comfortable. Please, take clothes you put on for walking and outdoor activities with you. Make sure you have taken a pair of light sports trainers, shirt with long sleeves and light trousers to protect your skin from spiny plants in steppes. Sunglasses, sun cream will be helpful to defend yourself from high sunburn activity in Khakassia. Swim suite will be needed at bunya (bathhouse). Also one should posses a hat or cap to avoid sunstroke, shorts, T-shirts, cloths and footwear of light colours.

It’s necessary to take with you an agreement, confirming the purchase of the tour, insurance policy, tick-borne encephalitis insurance if you have, medicine for individual needs.

Accommodation

Kyug yurt camp

The yurt complex Kyug is situated near Kuznetsky Alatau on the bank of the river Askiz, on the territory of an ethnographic nature reserve Kazanovka. Abakan city is situated 140 km far from the complex. It consists of 15 wooden yurts, a canteen, a souvenir shop and a health centre with banya. There are also shower cabins and bio toilets on the territory of the complex. Yurts are furnished for 1 or 2 people. There are 2 beds, a cupboard, bedside tables in yurts. At the door you can find a washstand. Russian traditional cuisine includes local cuisine dishes. Extra service includes: the ritual of shamans' kamlanie, banya, horse riding etc.

Meals

During all the tour you will be offered half board (1 day lunch and dinner, 2 day breakfast and dinner, 3 day breakfast and lunch). You will be served with hot food. Alcohol beverages are not included in the price. We can also take into consideration the tourists' preferences in dietary or vegitarian food as far as possible. In order to have it during the tour, you should fill in the questionnarie about pecularities in food and send it to us in advance. In case you don’t complete it, you will be provided with standard European food with elements of national cuisine. Changing of menu during the tour is possible only for extra pay.

The basic food in Khakassia are considered to be meat dishes in winter and diary products in summer. Also an integral part of daily ration in Khakassia is bread, different kinds of soups (ugre) and broths (mun) with boiled meat in it. As for cereals, they prefer soup called “charba ugre’ and barley cereal (koche ugre).

Security

All vehicles along the route are equipped with first-aid kit and all our guides have been specially trained to do primary medical assistance.

Mobile phones on the route

On the most part of the tour the cellular network coverage is available. Mobile phones operated by local operators (MTS, Beeline, Megafon, Tele2) are working alright. There is no mobile connection at yurt camp Kyug.

Transportation terms

Comfortable buses and minivans (for small groups) with air conditioner service in all the programs of the company. In every bus there is air conditioning system.

Guide services

We have highly qualified English speaking guides working in our company, due to this fact the tours of the company Sayan Ring have become so interesting and fascinating. Other languages on request. They say, without a guide any journey, even a short one is nothing more than going some distance, but with a guide it is already travelling.

Ticks and mosquitoes

In Khakassia there are not many mosquitoes, but there can be a lot of mosquitoes because of continuous rains, which is a rare phenomenon for Khakassia. We recommend tourists to make sure their arms and legs are covered in twilight because mosquitoes are enlivened in the evening time. Anti-mosquitoes repellents are recommended.

There are ticks in steppes of Khakassia. The peak of ticks activity is from May to Middle July. Special anty-ticks repellents, tick-borne encephalitis insurance and vaccination are recommended. What is more, we recommend everyone to regularly check your cloths, open skin areas, the head. Most often ticks fasten on legs and then crawl up, sucking to the upper body, above the waist.

Water

Water provided during the tour is clear and doesn’t need any additional purification.

Other information

Information with number of telephone of meeting guide and a detailed program of a tour can be provided 7 days before the beginning of a tour. Your insurance policy and booked railway and air tickets you can get from your guide on the first day of the tour

Guarantees

Sayan Ring is the incoming tour operator in Krasnoyarsk regional, Khakassia and Tuva. The company is in the Federal Register of Tour Operators, according to it our Certificate Number is # МВТ 015694, given by Federal Tourist Agency. We are the member of Association of Russian Tourism Companies.