Russian Winter in Karelia

Do you feel like driving a snowmobile? No panic, you will have a meeting with an instructor before the ride. They will help you with the equipment, show how to run a snowmobile, and remind you of safety rules. Lucky you, you will go through one of the most captivating snowmobile tours in Karelia. We offer a circular snowmobile route: tourist center – village Rubcheila – tourist center, 80 km.

Village Rubcheila has preserved peasants’ wooden houses, which were built by the ancestors of modern Karelian people in the 19th century. These huge houses could allocate about 30 people inside and even their cattle that lived with people on the first floor. Hospitable owners of one of the traditional Karelian houses will prepare dishes of national cuisine for you and share their unique folk culture of the North. After lunch, you will return to the tourist center.

In the evening, you have a chance to experience the real Russian sauna. Just relax after a day full of emotions.

In the morning we depart from the tourist center for an excursion to Kivach Nature Reserve famous for its waterfall. Surrounded by taiga forest, Kivach is the second largest plain waterfall in Europe and the highlight of the Karelia area. It stays unfrozen even in winter. Its milky-white streams are bumping into rocky banks with a roar. Maybe, that is the reason why the locals gave the waterfall such a name (in the Karelian it means ‘mighty and rapid’). Our excursion on the territory of Kivach Nature Reserve includes visiting Kivach Waterfall, the Nature Museum, and the Karelian birch alley.

After lunch, we continue our program with a visit to the extinct volcano Girvas. Though it’s only several meters high, the marks of lava are seen on the surface. Our journey is coming to the end. In the evening the group is driving back to Petrozavodsk. After dinner, the group departs back to Saint Petersburg by evening/night train.