Flight to Anadyr
From Moscow — via Khabarovsk or Magadan. No direct flights. Total 10–14 hours travel time. Sales.Travel builds the optimal route.
Chukotka is not for everyone. For the real.
Best fares
Where to stay in Chukotka
Accommodation is modest but adequate. On expeditions — field camps with professional guides.
Zones of Chukotka
When to go to Chukotka
July–August — polar day and whales. February–March — northern lights. December–January — for extremophiles only.
Curated tours to Chukotka
What you need to know before you go
Border zone permit
Chukotka is a border zone. Permit via Gosuslugi or FSB in person. Processing up to 60 days. Entry denied without permit.
Connection and navigation
MTS only in Anadyr. On expeditions — Iridium satellite phone. Download offline maps in advance.
Ugolny Airport
Airport on the opposite shore of the estuary. Summer — ferry 1 h, 200 ₽. Winter — ice crossing. No taxis.
Chukchi cuisine
Stroganina from venison and fish, boiled reindeer, brick tea with milk. Try with herders in the tundra.
Сезон и погода
Ехать стоит с июля по начало сентября: полярный день, тундра в цвету, в Анадырском лимане пасутся белухи. Погода меняется мгновенно даже летом, а зимой пурга способна закрыть аэропорт на несколько дней — буферные дни в плане не перестраховка, а необходимость.
Сувениры и кость
Главный чукотский сувенир — резьба по кости мастеров Уэлена. Покупайте в официальных салонах и сохраняйте документы: для изделий из моржового клыка при вывозе понадобятся чек и справка. Ещё берут унты, тундровые ягоды и северный чай.
Must-try experiences
Lighthouse and Dezhnev monument. 86 km to Alaska. On a clear day, America visible across the Bering Strait.
Eurasia's easternmost point — the literal end of the world. Vertical cliffs above the Bering Strait, abandoned Eskimo village of Naukan at the base. On a clear day the silhouette of Alaska is visible to the naked eye.
August–September: humpback and grey whales off Provideniya and Lorino. Boats from whaling villages.
Grey and humpback whales pass 20–50 m from the boat. Local Eskimo whalers from Lorino — guides with generations of experience. They are permitted to hunt under quota; observers ride alongside in wooden baidarkas.
UNESCO. Polar bears, mammoth fauna. Access by sea or helicopter only. Tourist quota.
The only place on Earth where polar bears mass-den — up to 400 per year. Here the last mammoths died out 4,000 years ago. Strictly protected reserve: quota around 200 visitors per season.
October–March. Tundra without light pollution. Full aurora spectrum over Arctic horizon.
Chukotka is one of the planet's best locations for aurora borealis. Total absence of light pollution, dry Arctic air and long November–February nights. Green, violet and crimson arcs over the tundra — several nights in a row.
Chukotka's oldest continuously inhabited settlement. Bone-carving workshop — living craft tradition.
Continuously inhabited for over 2,000 years — Chukotka's oldest settlement. Local masters carve hunting scenes, animals, shamans from walrus tusk and whale bone. Buy directly from the artisan — a rare opportunity.
Guest programmes with Chukchi herders — yaranga, sleds, herding. Real Chukotka.
Chukchi herders migrate with herds of thousands along routes known for centuries. Guest programmes: night in a yaranga, sled rides, participation in herding. This is living culture, not reconstruction.
Anadyr. Masks, drums, clothing, boats. Finest collection of Chukchi and Eskimo culture.
The Far East's largest ethnographic museum — over 25,000 artefacts. Wooden ritual masks, walrus-skin baidarkas, reindeer-fur clothing. In storage — rare recordings of Eskimo throat singing.
June–July: sun never sets. Midnight photography over the estuary. Salmon fishing.
From early June to late July the sun never drops below the horizon. Light shifts from piercing white to rose-amber. Salmon run upstream — 24-hour fishing directly from the shores of the Anadyr estuary.
75 km from Anadyr. +47° springs in tundra. In winter — steam above water, snow all around.
Kanchalan springs — +47°C amid Arctic tundra 75 km from Anadyr. In winter the pools steam, surrounded by snow and ice. Access by all-terrain vehicle or snowmobile only. The contrast of warmth and frost — one of the Arctic's most powerful experiences.