Tours & Tour dates

MAGADAN and ABANDONED RUSSIA TOUR INFORMATION

Explore a place many have heard of but which few have ever seen

 

 

Continuing our tradition of groundbreaking new tours to regions most people wouldn’t even think of going to, Koryo Tours is proud to announce we are bringing back one of the most exciting trips we have ever offered open now for booking and departing in TBC. Come with us to Magadan, a trip you never thought you would take but one that you’ll never forget!

 

MAGADAN - One of Russia’s remotest and most isolated regions,

the name is instantly recognisable to those familiar with the works

of Solzhenitsyn, Shalamov, and other Gulag historians and chroniclers. A place hundreds of thousands of people were shipped to never

to return during the darkest days of Stalin’s Soviet Union, but also

a place of stunning natural beauty and an interesting

contemporary lifestyle far removed from the European Russia we

are more familiar with. Far from the ‘normal’ Russian tourist trail

and so far removed from the rest of Russia even today that the

locals refer to the rest of the country as ‘the mainland’, this

province has no railway line linking it to any other area and the

only road that runs in from outside (the Kolyma highway ‘the road

of bones’ from Yakutsk, over 2000 km away) is only passable

in winter and takes 4 days in good conditions.

Magadan City is the capital of the province and contains a hardy 100,000 inhabitants although this number drops each year due to migration to the mainland. Still, the place retains its charm and has

a lively social scene as well as some photogenic architecture in the

city as well as the forests and beaches nearby. Despite its isolation and remoteness from the Russia more commonly seen there is much to experience in Magadan. Dark tourism is but one element and on this special brand new tour we will see what Magadan has to offer, becoming one of the first tour groups ever to go there, application is open now and we hope you can make it there with us!

Our tour (itinerary in full on our website here) will involve flying

direct from Vladivostok; usually the end of the line for most epic

Russian Journeys, for us it is merely the beginning as we further

than you may have thought you would ever get into this massive country.

We will fly for 3 hours and then head into Magadan city, checking into the VM-Tsentr Hotel Magadan and after dinner the chance to explore the town beckons at a time of year when the skies are clear and blue until it briefly gets dark at around 2AM. A guided city tour follows the next day led by one of our local guides who spent years living in Magadan and knows the area better than anyone. We’ll visit the regional museum, the Mask of Sorrow – an evocative and haunting Gulag memorial, a local beach to see how people enjoy themselves

in the good weather, a gold and bone working factory to see how the region’s main product are turned into commodity form, and more besides. Evening time is at leisure so experiencing the nightlife of Magadan or simply relaxing in this easily navigable city are the main choices here.

We will then journey to see the remains of the horror that Magadan and the entire Kolyma region became known for; the ruins of some

of the nearby camps that formed part of the massive continent-spanning Gulag system of the USSR in the early – mid 20th century.

A dark and saddening place which is nevertheless important to remember and learn from. We’ll see what is left of the place to which so many people from so many walks of life came but never left. This part is not supposed to be fun but a life-long memory will be formed. Simply put, this is one of the most tragic places on Earth, so remote that the journey is long and arduous but a place of great historical importance nevertheless.

Our final morning will be at leisure; explore the city some more, go shopping for souvenirs, visit art galleries, parks, etc for we fly out in the early evening back to Vladivostok where we spend the night in

the Hotel Vladivostok before transferring to the airport the next morning for the flight to Beijing (or if you have alternative arrangements heading off in whatever direction you have planned).

 

 

ABANDONED RUSSIA - If this is somehow not enough for you yet

we are also offering a tour that no other company has ever

even considered running – we call it ABANDONED RUSSIA. This is

a trip deep into Magadan province to the abandoned city

of Kadykchan. Meaning ‘death valley’ in Russian this was once a

fairly populous mining town, with (at the time) modern facilities

and buildings, schools, apartment complexes, workplaces and so

on. From the establishment of the city in the early 1970’s up until

the mid 80’s life was lived as normal in remote parts of Russia but

as the economy began the downward spiral that would end in

the dissolution of the Soviet Union and exodus of the

population began. In 1996 a winter even harsher than normal hit

and pipes froze while relief vehicles failed to arrive and the danger

of starvation reared its head for the remaining population.

Finally evacuated by the Russian military they left behind one of

the largest and most well preserved ghost towns in the world. Still

all standing, albeit in various states of disrepair, the city bears

some similarities to Pripyat in the Ukraine (the abandoned town

next to the Chernobyl reactor).

 

A chilling and life-changing experience for any visitor this

is somewhere exceptionally difficult to reach but the rewards;

in memories, and some of the most remarkable photos you will

ever take, make it utterly worthwhile. For aficionados of Dark

Tourism there are few places like it. We’ll take you there via a

650km road trip from Magadan to the town of Susuman (the

airport there was converted into an orthodox church some time

ago) which we will use as a base for exploring Kadykchan. We

will explore the city on foot, seeing where people lived, worked,

and played; see abandoned apartments, restaurants, and offices.

See a place which once bustled with life but is now being reclaimed

by nature.  In this city you can go inside apartment buildings,

the hospitals, schools, technological institutes, the city

government, Olympic centre, and much much more. See the bust

of Lenin which is now full of holes since being shot at by

evacuating local residents, a truly life-changing trip; you’ve

never been anywhere like it.

After this singular and amazing experience we will return to

Magadan and visit with a local family, see and hear about their life

in this remote area before returning to Vladivostok by plane. But

the experience of abandonment is not yet over. We will spend a

long morning visiting the ruins of the Voroshilov Battery on the

nearby Russki Island, one of a number of military facilities

built around the outskirts of the city in the early 20th Century to

guard against Chinese and Japanese designs on the area.  A

free afternoon for shopping and sightseeing rounds off the tour

with one last night in Vladivostok before we fly back to Beijing or

you journey on to places beyond, freshly equipped with

'memories, photographs, and souvenirs of places your friends

have never even heard of!

 

This ABANDONED RUSSIA extension is not offered by any other

tour company. Be one of the very few people to have ever laid

eyes on the city of Kadykchan. You may not have heard of it

before, but it will be forever etched in memory before long.

This extension is fully guided and will run as planned assuming 6

or more people sign up. We will again operate with a maximum of

20 participants.

 

More pictures from the Abandoned Russia Extension (our previous trip!) can be found here

 

COSTS:

PLEASE ENQUIRE FOR OUR 2014 SPRING TOUR: simon@koryogroup.com

 

MAGADAN TOUR ITINERARY

 

4 nights

 

Day 1

 

AM: Flight from Vladivostok to Magadan (3hrs)
PM:  Arrival at airport and transfer to the city, check in hotel and

group dinner, free time to explore the city
OVERNIGHT:  VM Hotel, Magadan

 

 

Day 2

 

AM: City Tour of Magadan including regional museum, Monument to prisoners of the gulag (the ‘Mask of Sorrow’), local art gallery, lunch in local restaurant
PM: Visit bone and gold carving workshop to see some small-scale local specialized industries, to local beach, Novaya Vesolaya Beach (yes a beach!), return to the hotel for a free evening
OVERNIGHT:  VM Hotel, Magadan

 

 

Day 3

 

AM: We set off in Kamaz trucks to drive to the site of the Dneprovsky Gulag - one of the USSR’s most notorious prison camps, primarily housing intellectual ‘thought-criminals’ very few of thecountless thousands ofpeople sent here ever left again, a

saddening and unsettling place but still what Magadan is best known
for. We will see what is left of the prison camp structures and learn about what went on here and what filled the days of the inmates, an unforgettable place
PM: Further exploration of the Gulag sites including a long hike around the boundary fence on one side of the camp grounds, see the watch towers, mining equipment left behind, prisoner's cemetary, and much more. We will have a mea on the site (barbeque) and spend the night in tents
OVERNIGHT: Dneprovsky Gulag

 

 

Day 4

 

AM: Return to Magadan by road, stopping at scenic areas and ruined towns along the way, some amazing scenery to be experienced in this part of the world; bleak and stunning
PM: Transfer to Magadan Airport, 16:50 Flight return to Vladivostok

(5hours), transfer to city centre, dinner at local restaurant
OVERNIGHT: Hotel Vladivostok, Vladivostok

 

 

Day 5

 

AM: Flight from Vladivostok to Beijing. End of tour

 

ABANDONED RUSSIA EXTENSION ITINERARY

 

6 nights

 

Day 1

AM: Free time in Magadan to explore further, go shopping, take pictures, etc
PM:  Rest of the group departs for Vladivostok, free evening in Magadan to prepare for the journey ahead
OVERNIGHT: Hotel Magadan, Magadan

 

 

Day 2

AM: Set off from Magadan heading North into the province, total driving time will be 12 – 13 hours, stopping along the way for picnic lunch and photo opportunities as we travel hundreds of miles along the notorious Kolyma Highway;the "Road of Bones"
PM: After driving through some amazing landscape we arrive in the evening in Susuman, a town 650km North of Magadan and the nearest town to Kadykchan. Evening meal arranged
OVERNIGHT: MB Hotel, Susuman

 

 

Day 3

AM:  Excursion from Susuman to Kadykchan – once a thriving mining settlement of over 10,000 people, now totally abandoned. We’ll see where people lived, worked, studied, and spent leisure time - a truly unbelievable place to wander around, utterly deserted; spooky, wonderful, evocative, and thrilling in equal measures
PM: A stark reminder of the effects of the utter economic collape of the region and a unique chance to take some remarkable photos of this remote and utterly abandoned city, you'll be part of only the second group of to go there. Return to Susuman in the evening
OVERNIGHT: MB Hotel, Susuman

 

 

Day 4

AM: Return by road to Magadan, once again stopping at scenic sights and places of interest along this lonely and remote highway
PM: Evening arrival in Magadan, check in hotel and free time in the evening
OVERNIGHT: Hotel Magadan, Magadan

 

 

Day 5

AM: Visit a local family to see what life in Magadan today is like. We’ll eat lunch at their home and meet neighbours as well.
PM: Transfer to airport for 16:50 flight to Vladivostok, transfer to city centre for overnight stay and a chance to recover from our epic journey!
OVERNIGHT:  Hotel Vladivostok, Vladivostok

 

 

Day 6

AM: Visit to Russki Island to see an abandoned military facility credited with saving Vladivostok from the Japanese. Picnic lunch
PM: Free time in the city to wander, pick up final souvenirs, have a night out, etc
OVERNIGHT: Hotel Vladivostok, Vladivostok

 

 

Day 7

AM:  08:10 flight to Beijing or continue on your own way from Vladivostok. End of tour

 

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