Kamchatka Discovery

Itinerary

Day 1 – Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky
Arrive in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky and transfer to your hotel. The rest of the day is free to relax after your long flight. Overnight Geyser Hotel or similar.

Day 2 – Avachinskaya Bay - Mutnovsky Volcano
We take boats into Avachinskaya Bay with excellent opportunities for spotting sea mammals including whales, dolphins and seals. Later we drive to Mutnovsky Volcano, considered the most impressive in the area and permanently active. Overnight camping. (BLD)

Day 3 – Mutnovsky Volcano
We ascend the crater of Mutnovsky volcano (2322 m), entering its crater with its powerful gas and steam spurts and boiling mud cauldrons. Overnight in tents. (BLD)

Day 4 – Gorely Volcano
Ascend Gorely volcano (1829 m) with its acid and freshwater crater lakes, before heading to Paratunka to spend the night. Overnight Helios Lodge or similar. (BLD)

Day 5 – Paratunka – Optional Valley of the Geysers excursion
Free day to relax or take an optional helicopter excursion over the jaw-droppingly impressive Valley of the Geysers. In the evening we transfer to Malki Hot Springs. (BLD)

Day 6 – Great Tolbachik Fissure - Lunokhodchik
A long day’s drive by 6WD bus towards the Klyuchevskaya volcano group, stopping for a lunch in Milkovo settlement. We cross the Kamchatka river by ferry and continue off-road to the foothill of one of the most beautiful and majestic volcano ranges – Ploski Tolbachik and Ostry Tolbachik. In the evening, we visit the site of the Great Tolbachik Fissure Eruption, which took place in 1975-76 and gives an idea of the real scale of a volcano eruption. Its impressive after effects include immense ash fields, amazing multi-coloured volcanic cones with hot summits, hardened lava streams, and ash-burned forest. Overnight in tents at Lunokhodchik camp, so called because the first Soviet lunar vehicles were tested here. (BLD)

Day 7 – Ploski Tolbachik Volcano
Ascend Plosky Tolbachik volcano (3085 m). From Ploski Tolbachik crater (1.8 km diameter) is a great panoramic view of the Klyuchevskaya volcano group (volcanoes of 3900 m – 4750 m). Overnight in tents. (BLD)

Day 8 – Tolbachik region
Trip by off-road vehicle to the Northern cones, a collection of miniature fuming volcanoes boasting incredible colours. See the Dead Forest killed by the ash and stones in 1975. Overnight in tents. (BLD)

Day 9 – Menedek - Esso
Drive to Esso. On the way, stop at Menedek, a national settlement of native people – the Evens – to find out about their history, culture and traditions. Overnight local hotel. (BLD)

Day 10 - Esso
A relaxing day in Esso to get acquainted with the past and present life of the locals. Visit the Esso Ethnography museum and the Handicrafts Studio. (BLD)

Day 11 – Paratunka
Return to Paratunka by 6WD bus. Overnight at Helios Lodge or similar. (BLD)

Day 12 – Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky
Head back to Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky where we have time to check out the fish market before the tour ends. (B)

Please note that the order of this itinerary may change according to departure date.