Five wonders of the Solovetsky Islands

07:00 Breakfast

08:00 Departure by boat to the Solovetsky Islands.  

10:00 Arrival at Solovki.

Check-in luggage at the hotel's luggage room.

Sightseeing tour of the monastery (duration: 2 hours 45 minutes).

You can get acquainted with the history of the famous Solovetsky monastery, see and feel the greatness of the Solovetsky temples, stroll through the amazing Solovetsky fortress and look into its most secluded corners by visiting a sightseeing tour of the Solovetsky Monastery.

The walking tour will also introduce you to the objects of economic activity of the Solovetsky Monastery, many of which were amazing technological achievements of their time. The tour includes a brief overview of the history of the archipelago during the turbulent twentieth century.

Free time.

16:00 Excursion program "Beluga Island" (duration: 3 hours).

Cape Beluzhy. Whales.

There are unique phenomena that must be seen once in a lifetime, one of them is a herd of belugas near Cape Beluzhy.

Mysterious inhabitants of the northern seas – belugas - have been coming here for thousands of years. 

The cape is the only place in the world where belugas can be observed directly from the shore. 

Evening walking tour to the Cape of labyrinths of Bolshoy Solovetsky Island. 

The main attraction of the cape is the northern labyrinths. 

This is one of the most mysterious monuments of antiquity. In ancient times, this mysterious symbol may well compete with the Egyptian pyramids, and the number of various hypotheses and interpretations of the purpose of the labyrinths is in the dozens. 

This sign is known on four continents, and its true meaning may not be as complicated as it seems at first glance.

Optional – a visit to the evening service of the Solovetsky Spaso-Preobrazhensky male Stavropol monastery.

Breakfast.

Excursion program "Sekirnaya Mountain and Botanical Garden" (duration: 4 hours).

In the depths of Bolshoy Solovetsky Island, four kilometers from the village, in the middle of the forest, there is an oasis – the Botanical Garden of the Solovetsky Museum-Reserve, which we invite you to visit. 

It is one of the highest latitude gardens in Europe, with more than 1,600 species and varieties of plants from different parts of the world today.

At a distance from the sea, the sharp wind subsides here, and breathtaking views open from the hilltops: lakes, a monastery and a virgin forest. 

The hillsides carefully shelter the Botanical Garden from the cold Arctic winds and make this place attractive for everyone who becomes its guest to walk.

You will take a leisurely stroll along the majestic larch alley planted by prisoners of the Solovetsky camp, get acquainted with the architectural monuments and plants of the Botanical Garden, enjoy the view of the architectural ensemble of the Solovetsky Monastery, opening from Alexandrovskaya Hill.

Transfer to the Sekirnaya Mountain.

Sekirnaya Mountain is one of the highest points of the Solovetsky Archipelago. 

The founders of Solovetsky monasticism, the Venerable Savvati and Herman, lived next to her. In the middle of the XIX century, the Holy Ascension Skete was organized here, where a men's penal isolation unit was located during the camp. The guide of the Solovetsky Museum-Reserve will introduce you to the history of this place during an exciting journey through one of the most beautiful places on the Bolshoy Solovetsky Island.

The dominant feature of the Holy Ascension Monastery is a unique architectural structure - the lighthouse temple, located in the upper tier of the Church of the Ascension of the Lord. Until now, the light of this lighthouse in winter can be seen at a distance of several tens of kilometers.

Free time.

16:00 Excursion program "Sea, lighthouse, seal" (duration: 3 hours).

When you go by sea to Solovki, on the starboard side on the island of Bolshoy Top there is a lighthouse nearby.

A rare tourist comes here, but we undertake to take you to where there is a granite slab under your feet, an amazing ledge of white quartzite, a lighthouse, a seal rookery, nesting birds, the sounds of wildlife.

Visit to the maritime Museum.

The Solovetsky Maritime Museum introduces visitors to little-known significant pages of the maritime history of Russia. 

The museum is located in the barn for rowing vessels, a monument to the monastery's marine economy in 1841.

The barn was restored and brought back to life by the efforts of the TSM. Before the work began, the building was in a dilapidated state.

Breakfast.

Collecting things. Check-in luggage at the hotel's luggage room.

Boat trip to Bolshoy Zayatsky Island (duration: 3 hours).

Bolshoy Zayatsky Island is one of the most mysterious islands of the Solovetsky Archipelago. 

With an area of only 1.38 square kilometers, this piece of land boasts a unique complex of monuments belonging to two different cultures – pagan and Christian. 

For almost five centuries, they have been organically coexisting here and creating their own special and unique world.

The island, like a time machine, transports its guests from one era to another. Visiting the mysterious stone labyrinths and monuments of St. Andrew's Hermitage, founded in the XVI century, allows you to travel through centuries and even millennia! 

You will see the oldest surviving stone sea harbors in Russia, enter the wooden church in honor of the Apostle Andrew the First-Called, whose history is connected with Peter the Great's visit to the Solovetsky Islands. Inhale the aromas of cranberries and heather and delight the eye with a carpet of tundra vegetation covering the entire surface of the island.

A boat trip to the mysterious Bolshoy Zayatsky Island, which has a harsh northern charm, will also leave strong impressions.

Return to Solovki.

Free time. 

In your free time, you can:

• Visit the Gulag Museum;
• take a walk through the souvenir shops.

Departure to the village. Rabochyostrovsk.

Departure to Petrozavodsk.

The return is "at night". From experience, from midnight to one o'clock in the morning. There is a possibility of departure by train from Kemi.​