Winter and summer: active leisure in Amur Region

Amur Region offers all kinds of outdoor activities. Kayak rafting, cave hiking, hang gliding, dog sledding, mountain skiing are all available in the region.

Amur Region boasts a well-developed water tourism industry. One of the popular routes runs along the Bureya river. It starts from the village of Talakan, near the Bureya dam, and ends in the village of Novobureyskiy. You can see the route on the Gorizont-Extreme travel agency website (http://www.gorizont-extreme.ru/). Tourists will stay in tent, and all the necessary equipment will be provided.

You can start the route either from Blagoveshchensk, where together with other travellers you will be picked up by the tour operator, or from the village of Talakan, where many people come to visit the hydroelectric power plant.

You can, for example, kayak on the Zeya river or take a raft on the Amur river for several days.

Trudnaya Doroga (Thorny Path) is one of the most popular routes, which is designed to take at least 10 days. During this time travellers will raft down the Selemdzha river and then climb Mount Bryus (1,767 m above sea level).
Walk on the hills

Pohodoff Tourist Community (+7-914-399-04-95; +7-924-678-09-73, http://pohodoff.net) offers several hiking options for 1–3 days. For example, a one-day 13 km hike through the forest near the town of Blagoveshchensk. The route starts from the Dynamo tourist base (Amur Region, the village of Mokhovaya Pad, travel from Blagoveshchensk by buses 19 and 23). You can also start the route from another popular recreation base, Snezhinka (Amur Region, the village of Mokhovaya Pad).

If you prefer, you can take a day trip on your own. A panorama of the Zeya river floodplain and Lake Peschanoye awaits you.

Maybe you would like to explore some caves. For example, Gorizont Extreme offers a range of speleological hikes. If you are short of time, you can take a day trip to the Zmeinaya Cave, which is located within the borders of Blagoveshchensk. This is the site of ancient man and is more than two thousand years old.

If the sky calls, you can make your dream come true at the Priamurye airfield (124 Krasnoarmeyskaya St, Office 300, Blagoveshchensk, the airfield is located near the village of Cheremkhovo, +7 909 813-46-33). It offers parachute jumps, flights on planes, hang gliders and balloons. The base is located about 30 km from Blagoveshchensk. You can get there by bus or by rail.

In winter, Amur Region offers plenty of ski centres where you can enjoy tubing, snowmobiles, skating, skiing, snowboarding and dog sledding. The season usually starts in December.

However, you can go skiing at the Ust-Koral ski resort (16D Severnaya Obyezdnaya St, Tynda, Amur Region) earlier than at other resorts. In October, when other regions still have no snow, Tynda is already white, and the snow cover here stays for almost six months. You can get here by BAM (Tynda stop) or on the A-360 motorway. The city also has its own airport.

Snowmobile rides are organised at the Prichal (Pier) tourist base (Talakan, about 260 km from Blagoveshchensk, take a regular bus from the main bus station, the trip will take 4 hours). The camp is located on the bank of the Bureyskoye reservoir.