Northern Lights and the White Sea: 9-Day Nenets Turks Tour

We meet at Sabiha Gökçen Airport and depart for Moscow on Pegasus Airlines flight PC 388 at 12:15. After a flight of about four hours we land at Moscow Vnukovo Airport at 16:25. After passport control our vehicle takes us into the city centre. Once we have checked in and rested briefly, our guide takes us into the city for dinner. We enjoy a welcome dinner of Russian specialities at a local restaurant. Accommodation: Holiday Inn Express Sokolniki or Vega Izmailovo Hotel (4-star) or similar, Moscow.

After breakfast at our hotel we take a panoramic city tour of Moscow with our guide: Red Square and the area around St Basil's Cathedral, a short walk on Arbat Street, and a photo stop by the Moscow River. In the afternoon we transfer to the airport. Aeroflot flight SU1340 departs Moscow Sheremetyevo at 15:35. After a flight of about two hours we land at Arkhangelsk Talagi Airport at 17:40. We transfer into the city through snow-covered northern Russian scenery, taking a short panoramic drive and learning from our guide about the Pomor people of the White Sea coast. We check into our hotel in the evening and have dinner at a local restaurant serving traditional Russian cuisine. Accommodation: Pur-Navolok Hotel (4-star) or similar, Arkhangelsk.

After breakfast we begin our city tour around 10:00, exploring both Arkhangelsk's modern face and its traditional Pomor culture. We take a panoramic crossing from the Kuznechevsky Bridge to the banks of the White Sea, then visit the Monument to the Northern Sailors, Lenin Square and the old Town Hall, and the Northern Angel Statue, the city's symbol. During a short walk we have free time among cafes and small souvenir shops. Around 13:00 we have a set-menu lunch at a local Pomorsky restaurant, sampling seafood and dishes from northern cuisine. After lunch a roughly 40-minute transfer takes us to the Malye Korely Open-Air Wooden Architecture Museum. Home to wooden houses, churches and bell towers from the 18th and 19th centuries, the museum shows the living spaces of Pomor villagers, old mills and wood-carved houses. Free time allows a walk through the snowy grounds or a visit to the souvenir shops. On the way back we make a short stop in the Solombala district, where the Anglican Church, built in the 1870s, was once a gathering place for English sailors and traders. After a brief photo stop we return to the hotel. Accommodation: Pur-Navolok Hotel (4-star) or similar, Arkhangelsk.

After breakfast we transfer to Arkhangelsk Talagi Airport. Flight 5N-307 departs Arkhangelsk at 11:30, landing in Naryan-Mar, in the Nenets Autonomous Okrug, at 12:50. The view from the window, frozen rivers, endless tundra and traces of reindeer, belongs to another world entirely. We are met on arrival by our guide. Taking our first steps into the heart of the North, we head straight to the Timan Restaurant-Museum, where wooden decor, hunting tools, handmade items and halls trimmed with fox and reindeer fur reflect the spirit of the northern peoples. Lunch here features dishes from Pomor and Nenets cuisine. Afterwards we take a city tour of Naryan-Mar, a small, quiet town living at the pace of the North. A panoramic drive and short walks take in Lenin Square, the banks of the Pechora River, and the Museum of Northern Peoples, the Nenets Museum. In the late afternoon we check into the Pechora Hotel (3-star) for some rest. In the evening there is a short briefing for interested guests, trying on equipment (boots, thermal clothing, gloves, helmet) for the following day's snowmobile safari. Accommodation: Pechora Hotel (3-star), Naryan-Mar.

After breakfast we leave the hotel around 09:00. Following a short briefing we travel by private vehicle and snowmobile transfer to Krasnaya Village, a traditional Nenets settlement. The roughly 50-kilometre route follows the Kuya River through a striking winter landscape, with photo stops among snow-covered forests, frozen lakes and reindeer tracks. On arrival we visit the village's small Ethnography Museum and Cultural Centre. Our local guide tells us about the Nenets people's shift from a nomadic life to a settled one, the influence of the Soviet era, and how the community preserves its culture today. We have the chance to try on a traditional malitsa, Nenets fur clothing, and see a traditional chum, a reindeer-skin tent, as we walk between the village houses. After hot tea we continue to the Shaman Drum Workshop, where local artisans explain the meaning of the drum in Nenets shamanism and guide us in making our own using traditional methods. Lunch is a camp meal of local soup, fish and fresh bread. In the afternoon a short snowmobile ride and photo stop precede our return to Naryan-Mar in the late afternoon.

After a late breakfast we depart around 10:30 for a short day in the tundra. With our guide we travel in a special 6x6 Troyka off-road vehicle to a reindeer camp about 30 to 35 kilometres away. Along the way we take in the frozen tundra, ice fields catching the light of a passing snowstorm, and the silence of the North. At the camp we are greeted by Nenets herders, feed and photograph the reindeer herds, take a short sled ride in a safe area, and join a conversation about local culture. Lunch is a simple camp meal of hot tea, soup and snacks. In the afternoon we return to the town centre, around 16:30. In the evening, weather permitting, we take a short Aurora Borealis tour. The Northern Lights are a natural phenomenon, so sightings cannot be guaranteed. About 10 to 15 kilometres outside the town, away from light pollution, we watch the sky with our guide; the shifting colours of the Northern Lights in the silence of the night are one of the trip's most magical moments. Accommodation: Pechora Hotel (3-star), Naryan-Mar.

After breakfast we check out of the hotel. Around 08:30 we set off with our luggage. Before transferring to the airport we take a short city tour, visiting the Naryan-Mar Ethnography and Culture Centre. We transfer to Naryan-Mar Airport around midday. Flight 5N departs Naryan-Mar at 13:40, landing in St Petersburg at 17:25 via Arkhangelsk. In the evening we have dinner at a restaurant with a warm Russian atmosphere, serving local cuisine. After dinner we transfer to our hotel. Accommodation: Hotel Dostoevsky (4-star) or similar, St Petersburg.

After breakfast at our hotel we meet our guide. Today we explore Russia's cultural capital in full, captivated by the architecture, art and history of St Petersburg, where European elegance blends with Russian history. Our morning panoramic city tour takes in Nevsky Prospekt, the city's main avenue, the baroque Kazan Cathedral, the mosaic-covered Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood, St Isaac's Cathedral with its golden dome, and Senate Square with the Bronze Horseman, the symbol of Peter the Great, with short photo stops along the way. Lunch is at a local restaurant, a Russian set menu. Afterwards we visit the Hermitage Museum, home to one of the world's largest art collections. In the halls of the Winter Palace we see works by Leonardo da Vinci, Rembrandt, Michelangelo and many others. We return to our hotel at the end of the tour. Accommodation: our hotel in St Petersburg.

After breakfast at our hotel we check out, saying goodbye to the city with a short amount of free time. We transfer to the airport in the early afternoon. After baggage and passport procedures, Pegasus flight PC 397 departs St Petersburg at 15:35. After a flight of about three hours and fifty minutes we land at Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen Airport at 19:25.