Siberian autumn forest

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Eastern Siberia

Endless ice-bound winters, kiln-hot summers, a history of imperial exile and Stalinist savagery – Eastern Siberia (Восточная Сибирь) may not sound like everyone’s first choice of holiday destination, but there’s much more to this vast region than blood-craving mosquitoes and blizzard-lost Gulag camps.

Attractions

Must-see attractions for your itinerary

  • Trubetskoy House-Museum in Irkutsk, Russia.

    Decembrist Museum

    Eastern Siberia

    If you’re on the Decembrist trail through Siberia, this small but comprehensive museum is one of the best. It’s housed in the 18th-century Archangel…

  • 502752551 Forest; Photography; Pine Tree; Pine Woodland; Asia; Beauty In Nature; Krasnoyarsk Pillars; Landscape; Larch Tree; Outdoors; Taiga; Green; Green Color; Nature; Rock; Rock - Object; Russia; Scenics; Siberia; Tree; Horizontal; No People; State Nature Reserve; Stolby; Stone; Stone - Object; Summer; Rock in the forest in Krasnoyarsk Pillars (State Nature Reserve Stolby), Siberia, Russia

    Stolby Nature Reserve

    Krasnoyarsk

    Russia's most visited national park is located right across the river from Krasnoyarsk's city centre. Its highlight are the fingers of volcanic rock…

  • Verkhnyaya Ivolga, Buryatia, Russia - August 9, 2021: Ivolginsky datsan is the Center of the Buddhist Traditional Sangha of Russia, Buddhist Temple located in Buryatia, Russia, 23 km from Ulan Ude.; Shutterstock ID 2271100065; your: Sloane Tucker; gl: 65050; netsuite: Online Editorial; full: POI 2271100065

    Ivolginsk (Ivolga) Datsan

    Eastern Siberia

    The confident epicentre of Russian Buddhism owes its existence to none other than Josef Stalin, who reversed the Bolshevik policy of destroying temples…

  • Ulan-Ude, Russia - July 05, 2022: Datsan Rinpoche Bagsha in Ulan-Ude city of the Republic of Buryatia, Russia; Shutterstock ID 2279738025; your: Sloane Tucker; gl: 65050; netsuite: Online Editorial; full: POI 2279738025

    Rinpoche Bagsha Datsan

    Ulan-Ude

    Roosting high above the city’s far north, the inside of this new and unexpectedly modern Tibetan temple looks like a kind of Buddhist-themed bus terminal,…

  • The source of the Angara river in the evening at sunset in summer; Shutterstock ID 1467676739; your: Sloane Tucker; gl: 65050; netsuite: Online Editorial; full: POI 1467676739

    Chersky Rock

    Listvyanka

    Listvyanka’s best viewpoint, overlooking the source of the Angara, is named after Jan Czerski, a 19th-century Polish gentleman explorer. It is best…

  • ULAN-UDE, RUSSIA - JULY 15, 2016: The largest head monument of Soviet leader Vladimir Lenin ever built located in Ulan-Ude. Ulan-Ude is the capital city of the Republic of Buryatia, Russia.

    Lenin Head

    Ulan-Ude

    Ulan-Ude’s main square is entirely dominated by the world’s largest Lenin head that creates an ensemble with the grey constructivist government building…

  • Courtyard of the estate of the Decembrist Sergey Grigorievich Volkonsky in Irkutsk.

    Volkonsky House-Museum

    Irkutsk

    The duck-egg-blue and white home of Decembrist Count Sergei Volkonsky, whose wife Maria Volkonskaya cuts the main figure in Christine Sutherland’s…

  • Archeological excavation of ancient kurgan burials, King's valley, Tuva, Russia.

    Valley of the Kings

    Tuva

    This broad grassy vale begins a few kilometres beyond a turning off the M54 highway north of Turan. It’s famous in archaeological circles for its pancake…

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Articles

Latest stories from Eastern Siberia

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Red October piano, Ust-Nera. In the decade following the Russian Revolution, this state-owned brand was distributed all over Russia, with the Red October factory producing nearly 20,000 pianos. After perestroika, the old art of Russian piano-making fell away. The Red October factory closed in 2004.

Books

Finding the lost pianos of Siberia

Mar 1, 2021 • 9 min read

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Guidebooks

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