White Road — Karelian Winter

White Road — Karelian Winter

Tours from 01.12 to 01.04;

Groups of 5 to 16 persons. 

It is possible to organize a route on your own transport.

Individual requests are calculated upon request.

Day 1: Meeting your tour guide at Petrozavodsk railway station. Breakfast in a cafe.

Sightseeing tour + visiting the National Museum: exposition dedicated to the Kalevala epic introduces the heroes and Kalevala’s author Elias Lönnrot. Interactive tour Leaves of the Stone Book with insights into the life of the ancient tribes that inhabited Karelia. There are rock paintings — petroglyphs — left since that epoch. The museum presents a part of a genuine rock with ancient carvings, shamanic turntables — musical instruments as the sorcerer's communication means with his gods. Accommodation in a hotel.

Lunch in a cafe.

A fun bus trip to the country estate to visit the Karelian Santa and his assistants. The estate is located 25 km from Petrozavodsk. Assistants — sled dogs and reindeer — are waiting to welcome new guests! The Estate has Kalevala's park. Every day, it stages a performance with all the heroes of the national epic Kalevala: the rune-singer, the wise old Väinämöinen, the old witch Louhi, the skillful blacksmith Illmarinen. The show features professional actors from local theaters. Show duration: 30 mins.

The Estate program features:

• Tour to the sled dog farm and reindeer park.
• Tea party with Karelian herbs and national pastry.
• Kalevala show.

The Estate has a cafe, souvenir shops, sled dog and reindeer sledding services.

In the evening - leisure. Dinner in the cafe, Karelian Music Program. The program features:

• Playing national instruments — kantele, jouhikko, virsikannel, torvi.
• Performing national songs in the Karelian language - yoigi, runes.

Day 2: 

Breakfast, checkout. Departure to Kostomuksha (490 km) by a comfortable bus; upon arrival in the city, — lunch in a cafe,

accommodation in Fregat Hotel.

Sightseeing bus tour around the city + visiting the public nature park and reserve. Sightseeing tour around Kostomuksha reserve.

The program features: 

• Visit center of the reserve, 
• Amazing trail. Enjoy pristine nature and charming woods around the reserve office. Trail length: 500 m. The height of the observation deck: 7 m. 
• Merchant trail. The trail is a small segment of the real path, along which traders of small goods -— merchants — used to walk more than a hundred years ago. The route provides insights into ​​the nature of the region, flora and fauna of the reserve. The length of the trail is 2 km. The trail has wooden decks, a comfortable gazebo and leisure zones. In winter and spring, it is open for snowshoeing.

Dinner in the cafe, leisure in the evening.

 Day 3:

Breakfast in a cafe. Checkout. Departure to Kormilo farmstead. The farmstead is located on the shore of the lake 45 km north of Kostomuksha. Its residents will be happy to introduce you to the village life. This is the place of the only museum of samovars in Karelia (250 exhibits) and a collection of old steelyards. The farm keeps rare Tinker horses, Samoyed sled dogs, Romanov sheep and exotic pheasants.

• Accommodation in cottages or guesthouses (comfortable houses with double bedrooms, living room, kitchen + dining room, steam bath).
•  Delicious lunch at the farm. 
• Tour around the samovar museum.
• Riding on inflatable sledges.
• Tour to the samovar museum.
• Steam bath without a chimney + lake swimming; Dinner.

Day 4: 

Breakfast at the farmstead. Trip to Voknavolok village (6 km). Voknavolok village is located on the shore of Lake Kuytto and has long been considered an ancient rune-singing center of the White Sea region of Karelia. Here, Elias Lönnrot wrote down the most complete runes for his epic.

• Tour around the ancient Karelian cemetery with the guide's story about the “sorrow rhymes”: funeral rite in Karelia, mourners, mourning in North Karelia.
• Walking tour around the village + visiting Kyulyatalo village house, the Orthodox church.
• Exploring traditional houses of northern Karelians
• Learning artisan crafts: how sheep wool is combed out using cards, how threads are spun on a spinning wheel, how socks and mittens are knitted, nets for fishing, and how baskets are made from a splinter.
• A tree nursery with Karelian spruce and pines.

Karelian rustic dinner. Leisure.

Day 5: 

Breakfast. Return to Kostomuksha.

Visiting the offbeat Music Formula museum: interactive expo of musical instruments, most of which are freely available to museum visitors;

A pleasant pastime in a place off the beaten track.

Lunch in a cafe, Kostomuksha.

Departure to Petrozavodsk by comfortable bus.

Upon arrival, accommodation at the hotel, dinner at a cafe, leisure.

Day 6:

Breakfast in a cafe. Checkout. Transfer to the railway station.

Paid extra:

A trip to Kizhi Island along Lake Onega on a hovercraft or by helicopter.

Kizhi church is the most outstanding monument of ancient wooden architecture of the North, included in the UNESCO World Heritage Sites. It features architectural monuments, household items, icons created over the past three centuries in the Russian, Karelian and Vepsian villages across Obonezhye, as well as in North and South Karelia.

The program includes a transfer to the island, a sightseeing tour Masterpieces of Kizhi.

Duration: 6-7 hrs.

Lunch in a cafe in Petrozavodsk upon return.

Visiting souvenir shops and malls.

Transfer to the railway station.

Inclusive:

• Accommodation in double rooms with amenities: Fregat Hotel, Petrozavodsk – 2 nights, Fregat hotel – 1 night, Kostomuksha, Kormilo farmstead – 2 nights, cottages with amenities;
• meals — FB,
• transfers Petrozavodsk-Kostomuksha-Voknavolok-Kostomuksha-Petrozavodsk,
• tour program, 
• tour guide services

Price: $690 per person; Extra charge for single accommodation $100.

Paid extra: Trip to Petrozavodsk; trip to Kizhi Island.