5 mysterious locations in Russia that you’re unlikely to find in guidebooks

President of Pro-Vision, author of the Vinogradov.story community

“There are places in Russia that can amaze even sophisticated travelers. But not many people know about them – all because most guidebooks and travel blogs pay too little attention to such locations, or even ignore them altogether. I reveal a few undeservedly “forgotten” but very interesting places below.

Vasyuganskie bogs, Western Siberia

In the interfluve of the Ob and Irtysh, on a vast territory comparable in area to some European country, the lowland Vasyugan plain has been swamped for centuries. This is how Russia got its own Amazonia – the Vasyugan bogs. Impassable swamps and mire, wild taiga forests, abandoned villages of peat miners – all this is both dangerous and very attractive.

You can move through the bogs only by off-road vehicles and necessarily accompanied by a local guide. Or go on a helicopter tour, which will allow you to appreciate the scale of the Vasyugan bogs in full – and clearly see their connection with the fictional Hibernation Swamps from Tolkien’s works.

Mir Diamond Mine, Yakutia

A quick glance at a satellite map is enough to form the first and most succinct impression of Yakutia’s Mir open-pit mine: it is much larger than the neighboring town of Mirny. A large diamond deposit was discovered almost by accident: in 1955, a group of geologists noticed a fox hole where a red pyrope – a faithful companion of the diamond – “flashed”.

Over time, the mine grew to 1.4 km in diameter and went down to a depth of 735 meters, becoming an almost inexhaustible “diamond fund” of the USSR. When diamond mining was stopped in 2001, a giant hole was left on the map of Yakutia, attracting adventurers and romantics.

It is not easy to get here, but it is worth it: there is hardly any man-made object in the world comparable not only in scale, but also in its impact on the economy of the whole country.

Pink Lake Sasyk-Sivash, Crimea

Sasyk-Sivash is that rare case when on the way to the sea it is worth to briefly reorganize the route and stop by the lake. However, the typical lake Sasyk resembles only remotely: its water is colored in calm pink and delicate pastel shades of milk, and on the shores there is no lush vegetation – only rare dried steppe grasses.

In addition to its unusual color, the lake is famous for the healing properties of mud, brine and salt, which was once supplied to the imperial table. It is also famous for its colony of birds, which have become a part of the local landscape and gladly allow themselves to be photographed.

Sayano-Shushenskaya HPP, the border of Krasnoyarsk Krai and Khakassia

Located on the border of Khakassia and Krasnoyarsk Krai, Sayano-Shushenskaya HPP is one of the most impressive industrial facilities not only in Russia, but also in the whole world. Its dams pass from 300 to 3800 cubic meters of water every second, which makes the spillway on the Yenisei look fantastic.

A couple of years ago, the hydroelectric power plant became a pioneer of industrial tourism, and they started to take excursions to the crest of the dam. So you should hurry up and get to the station before it becomes the Russian analog of the Spittelau plant in Vienna and gathers thousands of tourists hungry for industrial delight.

Onega petroglyphs, Karelia

Petroglyphs, those mysterious images carved in stone, are scattered in the most beautiful places of Karelia, but massively concentrated on the eastern shores of Lake Onega. If captains are to be believed, navigational instruments often fail here, and to visit this open-air gallery one has to navigate by the light of a lighthouse.

The exact age of the images is difficult to establish, but most scientists date their appearance to the Neolithic era. However, most of the images and scenes are quite understandable to modern people. But the rest you will have to think about – and at the same time study the history and legends of this amazing northern region.