ADVENTURE / ALTAI Altai mountain passes and steppes by bike

Early morning arrival in Barnaul*, meeting by your local language-speaking guide. Transfer to a cafeteria, breakfast. Transfer by mini-bus past Biisk town to the starting point of the biking tour – towards the mountain peaks, Altai taiga and adventure (transfer 350 km, 5-6 hrs). Lunch as a snack on the way.

Your activity instructors set a tent camp on the grounds of the tourist camp Denisov cave usually full with archaeologists and archaeology students. Walk to a cave, dinner cooked over fire, evening of acquaintance around the campfire. Overnight in tents

Breakfast. Outfitting for the biking trip and safety briefing. Our trip starts – today we go to Shinok, one of the most scenic waterfalls of Altai going down in cascades of 15-70m. We are biking up the dirt road and further by a trail running along the rivulet Pikhtovy to a small pass with an excellent view over the Altai mountain ranges. There we leave our bikes and follow the trail by foot (appr 1-2 hr one way). Lunch as a snack next to the waterfall. Return to the camp by the already familiar trail and road. Banya. Dinner and overnight in tents in the tourist camp Denisov cave on the shore of the Black Anui river.

Day distance: biking 60 km (dirt road), walk 3-4 hrs

Breakfast. Today we leave our camp for a biking adventure on a dirt track along the Black Anui river, over the Keleisky pass. Lunch as a snack on the way. We bike through the Ust-Kan region, stop at Ust-Kan settlement and go further, down the Charysh river valley. After a walk to a cave, dinner, banya and overnight in tents on the camping grounds.

Day biking distance: 65 km (appr 6 hrs, dirt road)

Breakfast. Today we bike along the road into the Abaiskaya steppe. The area is known for the surviving Old Believers culture and higher average temperature than in other regions of Altai. We get over the small pass Kyrlyksky and bike down the valley of the Koksa river. Lunch as a snack on the way. Dinner and overnight in tents on the shore of the Koksa river.

Day biking distance: 70 km (appr 6 hrs, dirt road)

Breakfast. Today we will bike over the challenging Gromatukha pass and further into the Uimon steppe with amazing views – the steppe is surrounded by the majestic peaks of the Terektinsky and Katunsky mountain ranges from all the sides. Lunch as a snack on the way. Dinner and overnight in tents on the shore of the Katun river on the grounds of a tourist camp. Banya and dinner.

Day biking distance: 60 km (appr 6 hrs, dirt road)

Breakfast. The day of village and excursion visits, rest and good mood. Biking 15 km to Verkhny Uymon village, walk in the settlement, guided visit of the house museum of the artist N.Rerikh where you will find out about his family and life and will see a few of his paintings. Visit to the local lore museum where you will learn about the Old Believers in Altai. Lunch as a snackon the way.

Biking back to the tent camp, time at leisure, dinner, banya and overnight in tents.

Day biking distance: 30 km (appr 3-4 hrs)

Breakfast. We bike along the dirt tracks of the Uimon steppe, pass the Tyungur settlement, and continue along the Katun river lovingly referred to by the locals The Beauty or The Hostess of Altai. Today we will go through the sites linked to the history events of the 20^th century – the introduction of the Soviet Power in Altai. Lunch as a snack on the way.

Dinner and overnight in tents on the shore of the Turgunda river, not far from its confluence with the Katun river.

Day biking distance: 80 km (appr 6-7 hrs, dirt road and partially single-track trail)

Breakfast. This day will give us the intense feeling of the severe beauty and power of Nature. We will bike along the old abandoned road meandering up the steep mountain slope, above the river roaring far below. The Katun river passes at this place through a gorge called the Ak-Kem Pipe, and is tumultuous and unpredictable. We will listen to the roar of the raging water and pause at the remnants of the ancient burial grounds and bal-baly (ancient sacred rocks) to feel the echo of the past. Lunch as a snack on the way.

Dinner and overnight in tents on the shore of the Katun river, not far from the Inegen settlement.

Day biking distance: 50 km (appr 6-7 hrs, dirt road and partially single-track trail)

Breakfast. The road does not leave any opportunity to get bored: it goes up the wide terraces of the Katun river and suddenly down to the water, passes through a narrow gorge in the rocks and then again goes into the vast open space. We join the Chuisky tract and continue the way by the paved road. Lunch as a snack on the way.

Dinner and overnight in tents on the shore of the Big Ilgumen river.

Day biking distance: 55 km (appr 6 hrs, dirt road and asphalt)

Breakfast. Today we continue biking along the Chuisky Tract that once upon a time was a trading route linking the European Russia and Mongolia. We will get over the Chike-Taman pass (1460m). Lunch as a snack on the way.

Dinner and overnight in tents next to the village. Banya.

Day biking distance: 60 km (appr 7 hrs, asphalt)

Breakfast. Today is a day of well-deserved rest in the nature & ethnography park Uch-Enmek (in the valley of the Karakol river). We will walk to the ancient burial mounds, visit bal-baly rocks and petrogliphs (rock drawings). Lunch cooked over the campfire.

Dinner of national Altaian cuisine. Overnight in tents next to the village

Breakfast. We continue our biking trip. Today the Seminsky pass is awaiting us, with its powerful cedar trees. We bike down into the Sema river valley, pass the Shebalino settlement, and change the paved road for a dirt road leading to the Apshuyakhta settlement. Lunch as a snack on the way.

Dinner and overnight in tents on the shore of the Apshuyakhta river.

Day biking distance: 80 km (appr 9 hrs, asphalt and dirt road)

Breakfast. Today we will bike up to the pass, an excellent place for amateur photographers – from here unfolds an excellent view over the Seminsky pass and the main peak of the range – Sarlyk mountain (2507m). The way down the pass lies along the Apshuyakhta river valley, and further along the Katun river. Transfer (1 hr) to the tourist camp, dinner and overnight (twin-basis) in the tourist camp on the shore of the Katun river.

Day biking distance: 60 km (appr 6 hrs, dirt road)

Breakfast. Today we say good-bye to the blue Altai mountains and return to Barnaul* (transfer 400 km, 6 hrs with stops on the way). Stop on the way to buy a snack of your own choice at a local marketplace (Srostki) and to visit a spring and buy souvenirs at Arzhantsu.

Arrival in the city, check-in at a hotel (twin-basis). Free time or walk around Barnaul, dinner (at your own expense). Overnight in the hotel in Barnaul (twin-basis).

Breakfast in the hotel. Transfer to the airport and departure by a morning flight

Tour price (net)

6-7 pax

8-9 pax

10-12 pax

Per person, in EUR

1 285

1 075

895