Karelian Express

06:15 Departure from St.Petersburg for Sortavala by train Lastochka.

10:20 Arrival at Sortavala. Meeting with the guide.

10:40 Departure for Ruskeala Mountain Park by Ruskeala-Express Retro train. This is the only daily steam-powered passenger train left in Russia, which runs with a locomotive built in 1949.

11:40 Guided tour of the Ruskeala Mountain Park. The gem of the park is a marble canyon, which is a natural and an industrial sight. Ruskeala marble was mined for decorations of the St. Petersburg palaces and cathedrals. Today massive walls of grey and white color and emerald waters of the flooded centre of the canyon make it one the most visited sights in Karelia. Lunch.

15:00 Transfer to Kinerma Village. Kinerma is an ancient Karelian village situated 100 km from Petrozavodsk. The whole territory of the village is considered to be a monument of the Russian wooden architecture. In 2016 Kinerma entered the list of the most beautiful villages in Russia.

17:00 Excursion around the village. Afterwards Nadezhda, a local resident of Kinerma, will invite you for a cooking class in her house. You will learn to bake traditional Karelian pies called kalitki. Afterwards dinner with traditional dishes.

20:30 Arrival in Petrozavodsk. Accommodation. Night in Petrozavodsk.

Breakfast at the hotel.

08:30 Meeting with the guide. Departure for Velikaya Guba Village (280 km).

12:00 Upon arrival hot lunch with dishes of Karelian cuisine. 

13:00 Transfer to Kizhi Island by hovervraft (30 min).

13:30 Excursion in the Kizhi Open-Air Museum of Wooden Architecture. You will visit the village of the 19^th century and get acquainted with the world-known wooden church ensemble, which is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

15:30 Transfer by hovercraft to Velikaya Guba by hovercraft and then to Petrozavodsk by car/minibus (280 km).

17:00 Dinner in Medvezhyegorsk.

21:30 Transfer to the railway station in Petrozavodsk.