Petrozavodsk – Kivach – White Sea petroglyphs – Solovki Kremlin – Mount Sekirnaya – Holy Ascension skete

Tour dates: Saturday-Sunday-Monday

7% discount for 2+ persons in booking!

July: 13-15, 20-22, 27-29;

August: 3-5, 10-12, 17-19, 24-26;

September: daily individual tours upon request!!!

Program:

Day 1 (Saturday):

Lake Onega – Petrozavodsk – Kizhi Island

09.00 am Group meeting at Petrozavodsk railway station. Getting inside the bus. Departure from Petrozavodsk.
10.00 am Stop in Kivach reserve, tour around Kivach, one of the largest plain waterfalls in Europe (10.7 m height), arboretum with renowned Karelian birches, the Museum of Nature.
12.30 pm. En route: visiting Sandarmokh memorial, a place of mass burials of victims of execution by a firing squad back in the 1930s.
02.00 pm - Lunch at a cafe.

• Walking tour with an experienced tour guide around Zalavruga: White Sea petroglyphs ( Zolotets village).

10.00 pm – 11.00 pm - Arrival in Rabocheostrovsk village. Night stay at the tourist complex.

Day 2 (Sunday):
White Sea – Solovki Kremlin

07.00 am - Lunch at the hotel.
08:00 am - Onboarding. Voyage in the White Sea. Voyage in the White Sea to Solovki Islands, about 2 hrs.
10.00 am - Sightseeing tour around Solovki Kremlin. Exploring its history and architecture. Visiting the central complex of Solovki Monastery, its functioning temples and monuments included in UNESCO's world heritage list.

• Promenade along the picturesque shore of the White Sea, where you will see "dancing" Solovki birches and "labyrinths", cultural monuments of prehistoric civilizations.

06:00 pm - Free time on the island. Overnight stay at the hotel.

Day 3 (Monday):
Mount Sekirnaya – Rabocheostrovsk village – Kem

Breakfast at the hotel.

Paid extra:
1) Bus tour to Mount Sekirnaya. Holy Ascension skete. Botanical garden:

    •visiting the Holy Ascension Temple on Mount Sekirnaya, which served as a punitive ward cell during the times of Solovki special prison camp, new Solovki martyr and confessor chapels,
        • learning the tradition of memorial cross (Sabbatius skete is visible from the observation deck on Mount Sekirnaya);
        • on the way back: visiting Macarius desert – now the second Russia's botanical garden by latitude;
        • reaching the sea coast near Filippovskie Sadki, visiting the first settlement of saint Zosimas of Solovki.

2) Tour: history of the skete in honor of St. Andrew the Apostle on Bolshoy Zayatsky Island:
        •   Visiting the first Russia's stone harbor of the 16th century, a wooden church in honor of St. Andrew the Apostle built by Peter the Great in 1702,
        • Exploring the archaeological sites, including stone labyrinths dating back to the 2nd millennium BC.
        • Trip to Bolshoy Zayatsky Island: voyage by motor boat (40 min) and a walking route on Bolshoy Zayatsky Island, 2 km.
06.00 pm - Onboarding. Voyage.
08:00 pm - Return to Rabocheostrovsk village.
Transfer to Kem railway station.
Finish.

The return night journey to Petrozavodsk (on your own) (!) 

Children under 10 years of age –₽2,000/person

Min. 10% agent commission

Inclusive:

• Transfer by mini bus from Petrozavodsk to Kem,
• Entrance fees to Kivach reserve,
• Return ship tickets to Solovki,
• Entrance tickets to Solovki Kremlin,
• Sightseeing tour around Solovki Kremlin,
•  White Sea labyrinths and dancing birches
• Tour to Mount Sekirnaya and the botanical garden,
• Motor boat trip on Bolshoy Zayatsky Island,
• Accommodation at a hotel on Solovki Islands and at Prichal tourist complex in Kem.