برچسب: Chukotka

Chukotka is Russia’s most remote region and the easternmost point of Eurasia.

It’s an intriguing land whose ancient traditions have been shaped by the large presence of whales, walruses and reindeers, animals that feature in local folklore, songs, music, customs, cuisine, and daily life.

Chukotka is so remote that it truly feels like the end of the world, a land that remains almost unknown even to most Russians, and where the Chukchi culture survives in one of the planet’s most isolated environments, sustained by reindeer herding and marine mammal hunting.

Visiting Chukotka has been one of the most fascinating travel experiences of my life.

This travel guide will tell you everything you need to know for traveling to Chukotka.

You will be interested in: Russia travel guide

In this travel guide to Chukotka, you will find:

Quick, curious facts

Introduction: Why I traveled to Chukotka, and why you should travel there as well

I’ve always been drawn to places that are unknown and remote, and for years, I was intrigued by what might be hidden in this remote corner of Russia, a region that nobody knows, and where nobody goes.

Interesting to mention is that even the Russia edition of Lonely Planet doesn’t mention Chukotka once.

Traveling to Chukotka came by chance. I was offered a spot on an exploratory expedition with a group of Russians, and I didn’t think twice.

However, Chukotka isn’t just epically remote, but it’s home to a culture that has survived in total isolation, in the harshest conditions ever. The Chukchi still herd reindeer and hunt marine mammals, holding on to traditions that have lasted for centuries.

We’re used to seeing animals like walruses or whales in uninhabited places, but in Chukotka it’s striking to witness how these mammals shape every part of local life.

Remoteness, a unique living culture, and the chance to explore a place almost no foreigner has seen—those are the reasons that took me to Chukotka.

Read: How meet the Nenets in Yamalia

The Chukchi, the indigenous people from Chukotka

The Chukchi are the main ethnic group of Chukotka. They are closely related to the Arctic peoples commonly known as Eskimos – today referred to as Inuit in Canada and Greenland – and Yupik in Russia, with whom they share a common culture.

Traditionally, the Chukchi are divided into two groups: reindeer Chukchi, who live across the tundra with their herds, and maritime Chukchi, who live along the coast and depend on hunting whales, walruses, and seals.

Chukchi culture has been deeply shaped by the Arctic environment, visible in their songs and folklore, as well as in a cuisine which heavily relies on whale, walrus and reindeer.

Despite Soviet efforts of sedentarization and assimilation into the Russian culture, Chukchi traditions, language and culture prevales, and reindeer herding and whale hunting continues to be central to their identity and survival.

Traveling to such a remote area is incredibly epic, but coexisting with these isolated communities and learning about their customs is such a uniquely rewarding experience.

The Chukchi and their whale hunting in Chukotka

The Chukchi people practice a very controversial activity: whale hunting.

Today, travelers can spend a few days with the community of whalers, learn about their traditions, and, if weather allows, join one of their hunting expeditions.

As a traveler, however, it is important to understand the context behind this practice

Chukotka is extremely remote and isolated, with permafrost making the land unsuitable for farming

Basic goods are super expensive, there’s shortage of fruits and vegetables and small settlements receive supplies only once a year to last through winter.

On this conditions, whale meat is an essential part of the Chukchi diet, consumed every day in pretty much all their meals as a source of vitamins.

The International Whaling Commission (IWC) is aware of this issue, which is why Chukchi people are legally allowed to hunt whales, but on the following conditions:

Only traditional methods

Whales can only be hunted using traditional methods: by hand, with spears, and without machinery.

Limited yearly quota

The yearly quota for the entire Chukotka region is:

• 130 gray whales
• 2-3 Greenland (bowhead) whales
• 18 belugas

It is strictly forbidden to hunt orcas or humpback whales because they are considered endangered.

Trade is not allowed

All whale products are for personal consumption. Trade is strictly forbidden by both the International Whaling Commission and Russian law.

It’s for the local people, and it’s for free

After catching a whale, hunters drag it to the shore where the entire village gathers to claim their share of meat, completely free. The whale is usually butchered in less than three hours, leaving nothing but the tail.

Witnessing this process is astonishing.

The whalers themselves work for a legal entity recognized by the authorities and receive a salary for their efforts, but the meat are distributed to the people without charge.

Read: How to travel to Chechnya

How to get to Chukotka

Chukotka is so remote that there are no roads or railways linking it with the rest of Russia — and there probably never will be.

The closest train station is in Yakutsk, the capital of Yakutia, more than 2,300 km away from Anadyr, both capitals separated by endless frozen tundra, where no road will ever be built.

The only way in is to fly. From Moscow, Aeroflot operates just one or two flights a week to Anadyr Airport (DYR).

It’s an 8-hour flight journey.

By the way, you may also fly into Anadyr from Krasnoyarsk (heart of Siberia), Khabarovsk (near Vladivostok) and Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy (Kamchatka).

Remember that because of the sanctions, it’s not possible to book directly through Aeroflot’s website, but you can still get your tickets via aviasales.com.

For more information, check our Russia travel guide.

How to travel around Chukotka

You made it to Anadyr, and that’s amazing. You should already be proud of yourself, since not many foreign travelers can actually brag about getting here.

But Anadyr, like the rest of Chukotka, is just a tiny town lost in the middle of frozen tundra. No roads, no trains, nothing. If you want to travel to other parts of the region, your only option is to fly.

To make things even more challenging, the only airline in Chukotka is Chukotavia, a local carrier that operates with small, Soviet-style 26-seat aircrafts.

You can check their website (only in Russian) here, just for your curiosity, since reservations are only taken by phone, plus flights don’t really follow a regular schedule, but they are based on demand and weather. In winter, they might not fly at all.

Even Russians struggle to book a ticket with them, especially because one must book seats several months in advance.

That’s why independent travel is so hard in Chukotka.

Money & budget in Chukotka

In Chukotka, they use the Russian Ruble, just like in the rest of Russia.
For further information currency and payment restrictions in Russia, check the money section of our Russia travel guide.

Because of the sanctions, foreign bank cards are useless in Russia, and that includes Chukotka.

Can you exchange Euros or US dollars in Chukotka?

You might be able to exchange foreign currency into Russian rubles at Sberbank in Anadyr, although I haven’t tried it myself — so it’s safer to exchange your money in Moscow before flying in.

What I can confirm is that outside Anadyr you will not be able to exchange or use foreign currency at all, so I strongly recommend bringing enough cash in rubles for the entire trip, especially since local banks have very limited opening hours.

How much money do you need to bring for Chukotka?

Chukotka is really expensive compared to anywhere else in Russia, especially

Where to stay in Chukotka

Accommodation options are very limited in Chukotka, and often difficult to arrange.

Where to stay in Anadyr

There is one hotel in Anadyr available on Ostrovok app (Russian equivalent of booking.com) but it’s quite expensive, usually around 150 EUR a night.

There are a few more hotels in the city, but booking them in advance is difficult, since most rooms are reserved for airline crew or people coming for a specific business purpose.

Tourists can only stay there if those rooms are free, something you won’t know until the very last minute.

As an alternative, most travelers stay in private apartments. However, these are not listed on any platform and can only be arranged through a local contact.

Where to stay outside of Anadyr

In the villages across Chukotka, there aren’t any hotels, but the only option is staying in local apartments.

However, these are not “tourist apartments” but actual lived-in homes. You’ll have the whole place to yourself, but it often feels as if the people living there just stepped out a few minutes before your arrival.

How clean and tidy your apartment is will highly depend on your host. In my case, when I stayed in Lorino for a week, the assigned apartment was messy: toothbrushes left behind, underwear drying on the heater, etc. Yet, we were paying €1,000 per week for a very basic two-bedroom apartment with a shared bathroom.

Once again, having a local contact is essential if you want to arrange accommodation in Chukotka.

Internet in Chukotka

I bought the HolaFly eSIM for Russia. It worked in Anadyr, but I had no service anywhere outside the capital.

I also had a physical SIM card from Megafon, which is supposed to have the best coverage in the region. I managed weak 3G in Lavrentiya, but there was zero coverage in Lorino, where we stayed for a week.

Some apartments in Lorino had Wi-Fi, but if it worked at all, it was extremely slow, not even good for WhatsApp.

Therefore, just assume you’ll be offline anywhere outside of Anadyr.

For more information on how to get a SIM card, blocked websites, etc., check the internet section of our travel guide to Russia.

Places to visit in Chukotka

This is a personal travel blog, and this travel guide to Chukotka is based on my own trip.

I spent 2 weeks in different towns from the southeastern coast of Chukotka, coexisting with the Chukchi communities settled on the shores of the Pacific. Visiting that part of Chukotka is a different trip, usually done by cruise, with prices similar to those of Antarctica or Svalbard.

My trip to Chukotka was different, more ethnographic. We spent most of our time with local communities, even though we also encountered a lot of wildlife and even reached the easternmost cape.

Here are the places I visited on my trip to Chukotka.

Map of the places to visit in Chukotka

Anadyr, capital of Chukotka

Home to around 15,000 people, Anadyr is the capital of Chukotka and the main port of entry into the region.

Surrounded by endless tundra, and inaccessible by anything other than a plane or a boat, intrepid travelers will find Anadyr fascinating, a frozen city made up of Soviet blocks colored in random colors, and where’s virtually nothing to do other than walking around a desolate harbour while spotting seals and belugas in the bay.

Anadyr is as stark as you probably imagined, and that’s what is cool about it.

Chukchi people make up only about 15% of the population here, with the rest being Russians from all over the country. I even met a guy from North Ossetia (in the Caucasus) who had been living in Anadyr for 8 years.

Abandoned nuclear facilities in Anadyr
Due to its strategic position near Alaska, Chukotka was heavily militarized during the Soviet Union, especially during the Cold War. The legacy is still visible in abandoned military settlements and in an underground nuclear base near Anadyr. Formerly called Anadyr-1, the base consists of a set of underground tunnels built into the permafrost, where nuclear missiles were kept on standby and aimed at Anchorage and Seattle. Today, you can visit the site on a guided tour, walking through several kilometers of tunnels where much of the old machinery and infrastructure still remains.

Lorino, the main hub for whaling

This settlement of around 1,500 people is the place to go if you want to learn about marine Chukchi culture and meet the local community of whalers.

As mentioned earlier, the International Whaling Commission grants the Chukchi people a quota of about 150 whales for the entire region each year, the vast majority of which takes place in Lorino.

The whaling community here is also very welcoming to the few tourists who make it this far. With the right local connections, you can arrange a stay of several days, taking part in community life and joining activities that give you an authentic insight into this unique way of life.

During my trip to Chukotka, I spent seven nights in Lorino, using it as a base for day trips to Cape Dezhnev, Mapyk, and nearby nomadic camps.

Lavrentiya, Chukchi’s largest settlement

Lavrentiya has a small airport with direct flights to Anadyr operated by Chukot Avia.

If you want to visit Lorino, this is where you must fly into first. From Lavrentiya, it takes about 1.5 hours by car to reach Lorino.

Lavrentiya is like a bigger version of Lorino, still a small settlement, but with an airport and a few more services. While there are no large shops, the small convenience store is definitely better stocked than the one in Lorino.

There are also a few murals worth checking out and a Lenin statue, which by the time I went there was all surrounded by constructions palets, making it the most lame Lenin statue ever seen.

Uelen, the easternmost settlement in the world

Uelen is the easternmost settlement in Chukotka and the last village before the Bering Strait. With only a few hundred residents, it is also known as a historic center for Chukchi and Yupik communities.

Visiting Uelen was part of our plan after reaching Cape Dezhnev, but due to rough seas, we were unable to continue, and unfortunately had to turn back.

Mapyk, ancient Yupik settlement.

Mapyk is an abandoned Yupik settlement located in the tundra, about an hour by boat from Lorino. It has been deserted for decades—perhaps even a few centuries—but the remains are still visible in the house structures and buildings made from whale bones, including massive jaws and ribs.

Visiting Mapyk can be extremely dangerous due to the high density of bears in the area, so it should never be attempted without a local armed guide.

Nomadic camp of reindeer herders.

The Chukchi reindeer herders are full time nomads, they move constantly across the tundra throughout the year, just like the Nenets in western Siberia, never staying in a fixed place.

When I visited, I was lucky to meet a reindeer camp in the area marked on the map above, but it’s important to understand that the location of the herders changes all the time.

If you wish to visit them, your local guide or translator should be able to get in touch with the nomads in advance to coordinate a visit. Encounters, however, can’t be guaranteed, since by the time you come, they might be too far away.

For me, it was very interesting to compare the reindeer Chukchi with other reindeer-herding peoples such as the Nenets in Yamal or the Tsaatan in Mongolia. They all depend on their herds for survival, yet their lifestyles and cultures couldn’t be more different.

We travelled to the camp with a group of marine Chukchi, and it was fascinating to watch them interact and exchange meat (whale meat for reindeer meat).

Cape Dezhnev, the easternmost place in the world

Cape Dezhnev is the easternmost point of the Eurasian continent, located right at the Bering Strait. We arrived on a very clear day, so we could see the coast of mainland Alaska, just 84km across the water.

The cape is named after Semyon Dezhnev, a 17th-century Russian explorer who was the first European to sail through the Bering Strait

At the site, you find a ohitigenic Soviet-era lighthouse and a small military base. Soldiers will approach you, but they are quite friendly.

The area is also rich in wildlife. Seeing colonies of puffins is guaranteed and if you are lucky, you might spot groups of seals and walruses.

More information

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