6 amazing places in Russia, where there is a lot of snow

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

“According to scientists, the seasons over the last decades have “lagged behind” the classics by exactly one month – otherwise how can we explain the sudden snowfall on May holidays and suspiciously hot September? Everything would be all right, but the New Year in the European part of Russia now passes almost without snow. And bare asphalt and downpours are not what you expect from a festive winter fairy tale. It is good that there are still a lot of places in the country, where the snow cover under the New Year is guaranteed by nature itself. I have collected the most interesting of them in a special pre-winter selection”.

Table of Contents

Arkhangelsk: frosty breath of the Arctic latitudes

Despite the fact that Arkhangelsk is located south of the Arctic Circle, it is considered to be the first “gateway” to the Russian Arctic. Founded as a trading port on Cape Pur-Navolok, at the point where the Northern Dvina flows into the White Sea, over time this city has become the cultural center of the Russian North and an ideal place to first get to know it.

Arkhangelsk combines the distinctive culture of the Pomors, the historical legacy of the Russian Empire and Soviet everyday life. On one street there are century-old two-storey wooden apartment houses, Neo-Russian style temples and an outstanding in every sense example of Soviet modernism – the building of design organizations.

But the most interesting things are outside the city limits – on the banks of the Northern Dvina, in the park-museum Malye Karely and any of the dozens of Pomor villages scattered on the islands of the White Sea.

Salekhard: a holiday on the Arctic Circle

The snow cover in Salekhard lasts more than 210 days a year, so the probability of spending the New Year without snow tends to zero. The capital of Yamal, contrary to preconceptions, is not a cluster of yurts covered with reindeer skins, but quite a modern city, where, of course, traditions are honored, but do not dwell on them.

You can study the history of Salekhard and learn how and why the city appeared in the difficult northern latitudes at the Obdorsky Ostrog museum, which repeats the appearance of the ancient fortress of the XVII century. And then move back a few millennia and get acquainted with mammoth Luba – one of the first “inhabitants” of these places.

Sakhalin: extreme vacation at the edge of the world

Winter Sakhalin is a real exotic: where else can you go ice crabbing or relax in thermae with a view of active volcanoes? In the height of winter the island invites you to admire frozen icefalls in the Tikhoi Bay, conquer the slopes of the ski resort “Mountain Air”, learn to drive a snowmobile or take a ride on a dog sled.

But the main thing is to go down the untouched “puffy snow” right to the ocean. And then change into a wetsuit and take a couple of winter surfing lessons on the beach with magnetic volcanic sand.

Tobolsk: a winter fairy tale in the heart of Siberia

The ancient capital of Siberia, cozy Tobolsk, welcomes you with impregnable walls of the Kremlin, behind which, however, hospitably invites travelers. During the times of the empire, the “soft gold” – the sovereign’s fur treasury – was stored here, and today high-budget movies are filmed here – just remember the recent “Tobol”.

Tobolsk is a city with a complicated destiny: it remembers the most controversial pages of Russian history and is forever inscribed in the biographies of Dostoevsky, Mendeleev, reformer Speransky and painter Perov. Nevertheless, it retains the charm of a provincial Russian city with an open soul that has not been chilled by Siberian frosts.

Perm Krai: the underrated pearl of the Urals

Perm Krai is a real Russian Lapland: kilometers of snow-covered forests and fluffy fir trees with white “paws” surrounded by precipitous cliffs. Here it is easy to feel like a hero of Russian fairy tales – or, to be more precise, of Ural fairy tales.

A fantastic view of the winter forest opens from the top of Mount Polyud, ice patterns “blossom” in the Kungur cave, the Belogorsky Monastery rises majestically above the snow-covered slopes, and the high ski season starts at the resorts “Gubakha” and “Takman”. All this – under guaranteed snow cover and in incredibly photogenic locations.

Kamchatka: New Year for gourmets

Five-minute caviar, sea urchin, venison, Pacific salmon and Kamchatka crab – if all these gastronomic specialties appeal more than olivier, welcome to Kamchatka. The freshest seafood is served here for the New Year’s table, and the holiday itself can be easily met on the shores of the Pacific Ocean.

January 1 is ideal for a snowmobile tour to Khalaktyrsky beach, to Domashniye volcanoes or to Vilyuchinsky waterfall. And you can relax after a busy holiday program in balneological springs: when there is snow all around, it is especially pleasant to soak in warm natural baths.