Region

Tuva is situated on the South of Eastern Siberia in the geographical center of Asia. It borders Krasnoyarsk region, Khakassia republic, Mongolia, Altai republic. Tuva is very rich in natural resources: besides huge geological deposits, there are about 8000 rivers, including famous Khemchik and Yenisei, about 20 big fresh and salt water lakes, lots of healing mineral springs. Fauna of Tuva is very unique and diverse: here one can meet a camel, a desert dweller, and a reindeer, inhabitant of northern territories, Tuvan mountains Tannu-Ola are the realm of snow leopard. Also bear, wolf, squirrel, moose, sable, roebuck, lynx, glutton and birds like hazel-hen, blackcock, goose, duck, eagles and even swans are often met here. From fish such species can be mentioned: Siberian and Mongolian grayling, salmon, bass, pike and many others.

The population of Tuva is about 315 thousand people. The capital of the republic is Kyzyl, the place having been calculated and depicted to be the geographical center of Asia. Distance from Abakan – 400 km, from Krasnoyarsk –1000 km. Time difference with Moscow is +4 hours.

Main confessions: Orthodox Church, Buddhism, Shamanism.

Places of interest in Kyzyl are: free Arat square, The Geographical center of Asia obelisk, National Tuvan museum, Tuvan national theatre, Shaman clinic.

HOLIDAYS AND CUSTOMS OF TUVA

Shagaa – New Year according to the luni-solar calendar. (January-February)

Constitution day of Tuva Republic – 6 May

Republic Day – 15 August

Naadym - nomads' festival, the date and place is changing every year, traditionally middle August, in Kyzyl.

Season rituals of worshipping nature (sug bazhy dagyyr, taiga dagyyr, ot dagyyr).

If you happen to appear at a Tuvan family’s place, you should know that it is used to give little presents to hosts.  You present children with sweets or cookies, and adults may be presented with something useful, for example a torch. It’s very important to deal with older ones with respect, following subordination.

Singing songs in a company of people is much preferred by Tuvans, so be ready to be asked to sing, Good vocal abilities are not important – it’s important to support singing anyway. In their songs Tuvans chant the praises of great rivers Yenisei and Irtysh and of great mountains Sayan and Altai, steppes and valleys. They sing about their friends – horses.

HOW TO GET

The journey starts in Kyzyl. Time difference with Moscow is +4 hours.

By air (schedule plan is possible to be changed)

You can fly to Kyzyl from Moscow on IrAero flights. Schedule: Monday (from June 16), Tuesday, Thursday, Friday (from May 30), Sunday, departure at 21:55, arrival at 06:55. Return flight is on Monday, Tuesday (June 17, 24), Wednesday, Friday, Saturday (from May 31), departure from Kyzyl at 07:55, arrival at 09:20.

You can fly to Kyzyl from Krasnoyarsk on KrasAvia flights. Schedule: Monday (from June 2), Tuesday (until June), Wednesday, Thursday (until June), Saturday. Return: Monday (from June 2), Tuesday (until June), Wednesday, Thursday (until June), Saturday.

You can fly to Kyzyl from Novosibirsk on S7 Airlines. The flight is daily. Departure at 06:25, arrival at 08:00.  The price starts from 82 Euro one way. Return flight is also daily. Departure from Kyzyl at 08:45, arrival at 10:20.

BY TRAIN

There is no railroad in Tuva. The next railway station is in Abakan (400 km to the north of Kyzyl). Abakan you can reach by train 124 from Krasnoyarsk or by train 068, 078 from Moscow via Ekaterinburg and Novosibirsk.

From Abakan to Kyzyl you can get only along motor roads:

In the republic there are 2 roads of federal significance: Kyzyl-Abakan and Kyzyl-Ak-Dovurak-Abakan.

1) transfer ordered in advance, which will be arranged for you by our company, traveling time 6 hours, the minibus up to 6 seats, minibus up to 10 seats.

2) by private fixed-run taxi and cars (Toyota Fielder, Honda Odyssey) from the railway station from 06:00 to 11:00. The car leaves as soon as it is full, so passengers usually wait up to 3 hours. Traveling time 4-6 hours.

3) by private car on the highway M-54, the distance Abakan-Kyzyl - 400 km.

Meeting and seeing off

An individual tourist / group of tourists are met at the airport or bus station of Kyzyl (where taxis and buses from Abakan usually arrive) at the appointed time with a sign on which the full name of the tourist or the name of the company is traditionally indicated. Seeing off is carried out according to the purchased tickets. Tourists are escorted to the airport - 3 hours before. The guide's phone numbers will be given to you 7 days before the tour.

Accommodation

Hotel "Chalama" 3* (2 nights)

The hotel is located in the city center in a 3-story building. You can walk to the bus station, and the road to the airport takes 15 minutes. Each room has a wardrobe with a mirror, air conditioning, a refrigerator, a work area, a flat-screen TV, wall lamps, bed linen, carpeting, a bottle of mineral water, glasses. All rooms have standard combined bathrooms equipped with a bath or shower, toilet, hair dryers, a set of three towels, a set of hygiene products. The hotel has a cafe with a cozy terrace and a mini-market. Vacationers have a 24-hour front desk and wi-fi at their disposal.

Address: Republic of Tuva, Kyzyl, Internatsionalnaya St. 12

Tourist camp "Erzhey" (3 nights)

The base is built in the style of Old Believer settlers. Living conditions are close to living conditions in the taiga. The tourist camp is located on the bank of the Kaa-Khem River (Small Yenisei), in the foothills of the Sayan Mountains, in the subtaiga zone, 150 km from Kyzyl. Accommodation in simple wooden houses with 2-3 beds, the house has a potbelly stove. A wooden toilet and washbasins are located outside. There is a sauna (a visit to the sauna is included in the price of accommodation). The cafe at the camp organizes three meals a day from natural, home-made products. The camp has a mobile phone operator Megafon.

Address: Republic of Tuva, Erzhey settlement, Lesnaya street, 27

Transportation

Traveling by minivans, minibuses, cars UAZ, jeeps according to group’s size.  During the tour there are several stops,  rest, walks. It is forbidden to smoke in buses, stops in some places, preserves.

Guide services

We have highly qualified guides working in our company, due to this fact the tours of the company Sayan Ring have become so interesting and fascinating. The guides will be English, German or French speaking. They say, without a guide any journey, even a short one is nothing more than going some distance, but with a guide it is already travelling. On some trips you will be accompanied by experienced instructors.

Meal

During the tour you will be offered three meals a day: in camps, restaurant, picnics (lunch box), cooked on the fire. On the way short picnics or packed lunches will be organized. Mineral water, local drinks, coffee, tea are included in tours' pricing. Alcohol beverages are not included in price. We also consider the tourists' preferences, those who follow special diets or are vegetarians. For this you need to inform us in advance about your wishes. In case the meal preferences were not specified one will be provided with standard menu. Any alterings in meal during the tour are possible only for additional fee.

The national Tuvan cuisine will be an integral part of the program.

Speaking about Tuvan people, they also can’t do without meat and diary products. In fact, they eat mostly meat and all other food is just an addition to it. Various dishes made of meat and flour are quite popular with local people, these are soup with meat and noodles (uzken bydaa), meat dumplings prepared on steam (boozy) and traditional ones (manchy), round fried meat pie (khuzhuury), minced meat with pastry (tyrtykan) and many others. Moreover, you can find on the table of Tuvinian people vodka made of milk (araga), which is made of sour milk, boorzaki – pieces of pastry fried in boiled oil, cakes, which are eaten not with prepared food, but as “individual dish” and soktaan dolgan – ground barley. Also Tuvinian people like blood pudding, green tea with milk (it is drunk with butter or salt). The importance of diary products as well as meat product is very high for these people. They developed different ways of cooking products made of  milk such as – cheese (bashtyk), butter (sarzhag), cream (oreme), koumiss (khymys), kefir (tarak), sour clotted milk (khoitpak), dried cottage cheese – of hard  and crumbly consistence (kurut and aarzhy respectively).

Security

All vehicles along the route are equipped with first-aid kit and all our guides have been specially trained to do primary medical assistance. Follow the rules of precautions and personal safety.

Mobile communications

On the most part of the tour the cellular network coverage is available. Mobile phones operated by local operators (MTS, Beeline, Megafon, Tele2) are working alright in Kyzyl, time to time outside Kyzyl.

                                                                       ENJOY YOUR HOLIDAYS!