Arrival to Barnaul airport, land transportation to Altay Village Hotel, Lake Teletskoye (480 km or 300 miles, 6 hours).
If you arrive to Gorno-Altaysk on May, 28th, the distance will be 180 km (112 miles, 3 hours).
Up to arrival to the hotel, accommodation, lunch and spare time.

The nearest airport to Altay Village Hotel, Lake Teletskoye, is Gorno-Altaysk. But there is no direct flight Moscow-Gorno-Altaysk on May, 29th. You may take tickets Moscow-Barnaul (direct flight, May, 29th). It is 280 km (170 miles) from Gorno-Altaysk. Otherwise you can take direct ticket Moscow – Gorno-Altaysk on May, 28th.

After breakfast we will take a motor boat and have an excursion along the whole lake. We will visit several waterfalls and finally stop on the remote bank near the mouth of the Yan Chili River. This is the best place for fishing. We'll make a fire and cook fresh fish soup. Picnic on the bank of the lake. Returning to the hotel.

In the morning we will visit the only one village in Russia situated in the preserve. This is Yailyu Village. Yailyu is the warmest place in Altai. We will travel there by motor boat. In Yailyu we will meat Evgeniy Veselovsky, a local and ranger of the Altaisky Preserve. He will accompany us and show many landmarks of the Altaisky Preserve. We will visit blooming apple gardens, have a walk along the Teletskoye Lake bank (around 5 km). Also we can have hiking to Mt Chichelgan (2 hours walk in taiga). From the top of this mountain you can see the whole water area of the lake.
Lunch in the country estate of Evgeniy Veselovsky. Returning to the hotel.

In the evening you will enjoy Altaic throat singing in national dwelling ail. Also we provide nomadic cuisine for the dinner.

Today we will travel to the Chulyshman River canyon, the largest tributary of Lake Teletskoye. The valley of the river is considered as one of the places the Turkic ethnos originated from. Many tributaries of the Chulyshman River form grandiose waterfalls.
We will land on the top of the Katu-Yaryk Pass with scenic view to the whole canyon and some waterfalls. In sunny day you can see a rainbow above the waterfalls. Then we will have trekking to the Kurkure Waterfall (30 m or 10 ft in height). After short flight we will change our location and have stopover in the mouth of the Chulcha River (tributary of the Chulyshman). We will hike to so-called Stone Mushrooms – geological phenomenon created in the Ice Age by huge glacier.
Afterwards we will enjoy our lunch on the bank of the Chulyshman River. Helicopter transfer to the hotel.

Motorboat excursion to the southern bank of Lake Teletskoye. Visit to Bele Village, situated on the terrace above the Lake (30-50 min hiking). We will enjoy blooming apple gardens and explore the statue of Turkic warrior (7-11 c AD). Country lunch in the home of locals. Returning to the hotel.

Today we are going to explore the northern part of the lake. By motorboat we will reach the Artybash Village. We will walk on the bridge divided the lake and the Biya River – the only one river flows out of the lake. This river gives birth to the one of the largest rivers of the planet – the Ob River.
Then we will hike to Mt Perlu and observe the panorama of the lake.
Returning to the hotel.

Please, notice that Mt. Belukha is located on the Russian-Kazakhstan border. We need to prepare special permit to visit the border zone. Documents should be submitted not less then 30 days before visiting date.

Helicopter excursion to the highest mountain of Siberia, Mount Belukha (4506 meters, or 14783 ft), would be the highlight of the whole trip. We'll cross the vast ocean of the Altai Mountains by helicopter towards the summit of the Altai - Mt. Belukha. We'll observe crowned by glaciers peaks from the bird's view and finally land at the bank of Lake Akkemskoye. This lake was formed by one of the glaciers descending from the slope of Mt Belukha. The two glittering peaks of Mt Belukha reflect in the lake surface like in a mirror.
We'll explore the picturesque banks of Lake Akkemskoye and hike towards the Chapel of Archangel Michail near the Akkemsky Glacier (2,5 hours round trip).
On way back to the lake we will have a packed lunch or picnic. Afterwards we'll be transferred to hotel Altay Resort in the vicinity of Gorno-Altaysk. The hotel is surrounded by Siberian pine tree forest. Overnight in the hotel.
We recommend to have two last nights in Altay Resort hotel as it is located in 1,5 hour from airport. The hotel offers booking only from two nights or more.

Today we are going to have a brief historic overview of the Altai provided by National Museum. Many artifacts discovered in the Altai Mountains are exposed here: Paleolithic stone tools, ceramic shards of Bronze Age, iron weapon of Turkic people. The highlight of the museum collection is mummy with tattoo of the Scythian Age also knows as Siberian Ice Maiden. It was discovered on the border with Mongolia, China and Kazakhstan in ice burial mound. Due to ice many organic artifacts (cloths, mummy, wooden dishes, coriander seeds) were well preserved and saved. The age of the mummy is more then 2,500 thousand years.

Early breakfast and departure to the airport
Farewell!