Today, in the world there are only about 800 representatives of the indigenous Siberian nation of the Tofalars. Once nomads, most of them live compactly in three villages in the Nizhneudinsky district of the Irkutsk region.

This very beautiful and isolated mountainous region located in the Eastern Sayan mountain system in the south of Siberia is called Tofalaria. You can get to it only by air. Tofalaria on Google Maps. Photos by: Slava Stepanov.

fly over Tofalaria

Tags: Irkutsk oblast

Geyzernoye Lake, also known as Blue Lake, is a unique body of water in Siberia located in the Ulagan district of the Altai Republic, near the village of Aktach.

The main feature of this clean and ice-free lake is thermal springs that bring the blue silt to the bottom forming colorful and bizarre pictures – various concentric circles. Geyzernoye Lake on Google Maps. Photos by: Andrei Kireev.

lake with geysers at the bottom

Tags: Altay Republic

The Northern Urals is one of the most hard-to-reach areas of the Urals, but it gradually becomes more popular among tourists primarily thanks to two main attractions: the rock formations on the Manpupuner Plateau and the Dyatlov Pass.

Both of these places are covered with legends. Although one of them was created by nature, and the second – by human tragedy that is still an unsolved mystery. Photos by: Slava Stepanov.

fly over the Northern Urals

Tags: Komi Republic · Perm krai · Sverdlovsk oblast

Nelazskoye is a small village with a population of about 200 people located in the Cherepovets district of the Vologda region, about 30 km north-west of Cherepovets.

The main attraction of the village is the Church of the Assumption of Our Lady – a wooden church of unique shape built in 1694. Nelazskoye on Google Maps. Photos by: Denis Spirin.

beautiful monument of wooden architecture

Tags: Cherepovets city · churches · Vologda oblast

Balovnevo is a village with a population of about 600 people located in the Dankovsky district of the Lipetsk region, 94 km north-west of Lipetsk.

On the territory of the village there are remains of the Muromtsev Estate. Balovnevo on Google Maps. Photos by: Vladimir Malder.

At the entrance to the estate you can see an old gate built of red brick in a classic style in the late 17th century.

stroll through the former estate

Tags: churches · Lipetsk oblast

Dombay is a resort village located at an altitude of about 1,600 meters above sea level in the intermontane basin at the northern foothill of the Main Caucasian Range in the Republic of Karachay-Cherkessia.

The word “dombay” in translation from Karachai means “bison”. In the past, the local forests were inhabited by herds of bison. The settlement arose in connection with the development of tourism in the region in the 1920s. Dombay on Google Maps. Photos by: Konstantin Antipin.

picturesque mountain resort

Tags: Karachay-Cherkessia Republic

Izborsk, a village with a population of about 700 people located in the Pechora district of the Pskov region, 30 km west of Pskov, is one of the oldest Russian towns first mentioned in the chronicles in 862.

Today, this historical-cultural and natural-landscape museum-reserve is a popular tourist destination. Photos by: zhzhitel.

walk around Izborsk

Tags: Pskov oblast

Iturup is an island of the southern group of the Kuril Islands, the largest island of the archipelago and part of the Sakhalin region.

The nature of this island is amazingly picturesque. On the coast you can see beautiful contrast of white pumice cliffs and black hexagonal pillars of volcanic magma. Iturup on Google Maps. Photos by: Sergey Dolya.

natural beauty of Iturup

Tags: Sakhalin oblast

The Volga Bulgaria was a state that existed in the Middle Volga and the Kama basin in the 10th-13th centuries. The capital of the state was located on the bank of the Volga River in the town of Bulghar, about 140 km from Kazan in the present Republic of Tatarstan.

Today, the Bulgarian Historical and Architectural Museum-Reserve is opened on the site of this ancient town. Bulgarian museum on Google Maps. Photos by: Alexander Lipilin.

explore the museum

Tags: Kazan city · museum · Tatarstan Republic

Nilo-Stolbenskaya Pustyn (Nilova Pustyn) is an Orthodox monastery located on Stolbnoy Island on Lake Seliger, 10 km north of the town of Ostashkov in the Tver region. The distance from Ostashkov to the monastery by road is about 25 km.

Founded in 1594, it was one of the largest and wealthiest monasteries in the Russian Empire. At the end of the 1980s, a significant part of the buildings were either lost or in a dilapidated state.

fly over the monastery

Tags: Tver oblast