The Solovki Archipelago. The Holy Legend

Breakfast at the hotel.

Free day.

Note! Optional excursions are offered for an additional fee. Additional excursions (to be booked and paid for upon purchase of the tour, the number of seats is limited):

• "Islands of Tops" (duration 2 hours).

Lovers of serenity, tranquility and silence, as well as photographers – this sea trip is for you! In half an hour, a high-speed boat will take you to the tiny island of Bolshoy Top in the middle of the vast sea, where there is a lighthouse marking the dangers for large vessels. On the neighboring Small Top, far from the standard tourist routes, skuas and terns nest, and seals, ringed seals and sea hares rest in good weather.

The islands are covered with a tundra carpet, the "northern ginseng" grows here and the largest quartzite slab on the White Sea is located – sparkling milky crystals covered an area of about 30 square meters. And don't forget: the main principle of communication with untouched wildlife is "Don't touch anything!".

In the absence of waves at sea, disembarkation takes place on an unequipped shore! When planning to take part in this excursion, please calculate your strength in order to be able to jump off the bow of the boat onto dry land.

The cost of the tour: 4,000 rubles / person.

• Boat trip "Cape Beluzhy" (duration 2 hours).

Often, for those who find themselves on Solovki, the most desirable thing is to see belugas – northern white whales. The peaceful inhabitants of the Arctic Ocean come to the White Sea in the summer. They do not swim close, appear on the surface for a short time and then swim quite a long distance.

But there is a special place on Solovki – Cape Beluzhy. A boat trip here will be remembered by every minute. The cape water area is one of the few places on the planet where you can observe whales in the wild. From the beginning of June to the middle of August, during low tide at sea, whale mating games, birth and upbringing of cubs take place here. There is also a station of oceanographers who have the opportunity to observe these beautiful creatures every day.

Bring good weather and intention with you, don't make any noise, and you may be able to see a beluga literally at arm's length, feel the power and beauty of these amazing marine mammals.

Note: delivery to the shore of Cape Beluzhy is carried out by a sea boat. Beluga whale watching depends on the time of low tide, as low water is a good time to observe.

The cost of the tour: 4,000 rubles / person.

• "The archipelago of the Body – the world of ancient man" (duration 5 hours).

Get ready to experience a storm of emotions: sea crossing on speedboats, landing on the rocky shore of the German Island and climbing to the highest point of the White Sea water area. You are in the heart of the nature reserve "Archipelago of the Body"! On the ascent, the climatic zones change from taiga to tundra, the outline of the rock looks at the traveler like a frog or a shaman, and from the top opens an impressive panorama: Solovki, Karelian skerries and placers of the White Sea archipelagos.

During the trip, you will get acquainted with the archaeological heritage of the island and the ancient sanctuary – the mysterious Seidov plateau – a "collection" of megaliths, mysterious stones of the North, left to us by the first inhabitants. Among this splendor, enjoy the serene silence and the endless expanses of the sea, feel the special energy of the Bodies. In the absence of civilization, the world freezes and gives you the opportunity to feel and hear yourself... You can reach the heavens here!

The cost of the tour: 5,000 rubles / person.

Breakfast at the hotel.

Meeting with the tour leader at the reception.

Pedestrian crossing to the tour desk.

Excursion "Solovetsky hermitages. History and legends" (duration — 4 hours).

Minibus tour of the northern part of Bolshoy Solovetsky Island with a tour of widely known places and iconic but rarely visited monuments of Solovki.

The first stop is the Holy Ascension Skete with its controversial history and Sekirnaya Gora, the "fortress of light and darkness", where the lighthouse church stands, which became a penal isolation unit during the time of the ELEPHANT.

From Sekirka, the forest road leads to the Savvatievsky monastery, the first settlement of the Solovetsky monks, which in the early 20th century became an ELEPHANT business trip and the site of the first execution of political prisoners in Solovki.

From Savvatievo, we will go to Jung Alley — the remains of a residential town - the Solovetsky Jung school — this is where the elite of the USSR Navy were educated from teenagers during the war years.

Next, the route leads to Red Lake, where the famous lake and canal systems of Solovki originate and there are material traces of the Solovetsky history.

The dam of the 16th century, the realized idea of "turning back the rivers", still performs a whole range of functions centuries later that changed the practice of economic activity of the monastery and the Solovetsky landscapes.

Worthy objects of display are worship and crosses, examples of cross—cutting craftsmanship.

The trip, full of meaning, will allow you not only to immerse yourself in the centuries-old Solovetsky history, but also to enjoy the landscapes and experience the beauty of the northern nature.

Breakfast at the hotel.

Meeting with the tour leader at the reception.

Walking tour "The history of the Solovetsky archipelago" (duration 3.5/4 hours).

The main natural and geographical features of the archipelago, information about the local flora and fauna, and rare phenomena observed on the islands are where we start and what makes Solovki unique in the first place.

Next, you will see the monuments of the village of Solovetsky with a story about the main historical epochs of Solovki: from the appearance of the first people on the islands in the VI millennium BC (stop at Cape Labyrinthos) to the events of our time.

"Solovki as a mirror of Russian history" – this idea runs through the guide's narrative like a red thread.

The fascinating story unfolds the innermost scroll of the Solovetsky chronicle, which tells about the islands' regular participation in significant events for the Fatherland and their influence on their course.

The builders of mysterious labyrinths, harsh Orthodox ascetics, prisoners of Solovetsky prisons are the main characters of this story.

During the tour, guests of the Solovetsky Islands will learn about the history of the Solovetsky Archipelago from the moment of its geological formation to the present day using the example of 30 attractions located in the village of Solovetsky.

Breakfast at the hotel.

Free day.

Note: Optional guided tours are available for an additional fee. Additional excursions are booked and paid for upon purchase of the tour, the number of seats is limited:

• "Solovetskaya Dam" (duration 2-2.5 hours).

The most grandiose construction of Solovki after the Solovetsky Kremlin is the famous man–made causeway, a boulder road laid across the sea to facilitate transportation between Bolshaya Muksalma Island and the monastery. From the very beginning of construction in the middle of the 19th century, the dam aroused great interest among visitors to Solovki because of the scale and technology of construction. How and who built the dam, what is its purpose and how it was operated – you will learn about all this from the tour.

The new route allows you to approach the dam from the south side of the archipelago, revealing views of the famous monument that are completely unknown to tourists. Look into the arch of the dam and pay attention to the transparency of the water and the amount of algae!

When planning to take part in this excursion, please calculate your strength in order to be able to cross from the bow of the boat to the dam.

The cost of the tour: 4,000 rubles / person.

• "Malaya Muksalma" (duration 3 hours).

Malaya Muksalma Island, a separate world behind the tourist facade of Solovki, has always been closed to the mass tourist. But we have opened this route!

We will take a speedboat along the coast of Bolshoy Solovetsky Island to the southern part of the Solovetsky Archipelago. Maneuvering through the rocky shoals, we will pass the huge Muksalom reef, which covers the approaches to Malaya Muksalma. This reef is one of the reasons the island is inaccessible.

Even among the local White Sea captains, only the most experienced and reliable know this route. Finally, we will disembark at the pier of the algae harvesting village — this is the purpose of our excursion — a unique place not only on the scale of the White Sea, but also, perhaps, the whole of Russia.

Here, from June to October, algae is extracted manually, as it was 100 years ago, on traditional White Sea carbine boats. We will see how kelp is harvested and dried before being shipped to Arkhangelsk, from where the algae will return to Solovki in the form of cosmetics and dietary supplements. And of course, we will learn a lot of details about the life and work of local fishermen, and about what and how they make algae.
The fishing village is a "non—tourist" place. No sleek "Potemkin" huts and animators imitating traditional crafts. Tourists are not expected here – there is a lot of work. We will also have the opportunity to observe the harsh life of the White Sea fishermen and feel the peculiar brutal spirit of this place.

The cost of the tour: 5,000 rubles / person.

• Excursion "Long Lip" (duration – 4/5 hours).

An exciting ecological boat trip along the Long Bay, the "inner sea" of Solovki, where even in stormy weather there are rarely waves.

Open motorboats driven by a fresh salty wind will run past sandy beaches, countless islands and rocky ridges crashing into the water.

One of them has a bird family, and the other one seems to have a seal basking in the sun. Shallow depths allow you to see the underwater world: starfish are buried in the sandy bottom, translucent ultramarine jellyfish hover in the water, algae sway and stretch somewhere along with the sea current.

The price of the tour includes a bus transfer to Long Bay and back, as well as a tasting of White Sea mussels. Perhaps you are lucky enough to find a real White Sea pearl in one of them.

Don't forget to bring a light snack and drinks.

The cost of the tour: 4,000 rubles / person.

Breakfast at the hotel.

Room release.

Meeting with the tour leader at the reception.

Pedestrian crossing to the tour desk.

Guided tour "Sights of Bolshoy Zayatsky Island" (duration — 3 hours).

Boat trip to Bolshoy Zayatsky Island.

Tourists will visit the largest pagan sanctuary of the II–I millennia BC, see stone labyrinths, a complex of religious and funerary structures, Russia's first stone harbor, monuments of St. Andrew's skete.

The travel time from Bolshoy Solovetsky Island to Bolshoy Zayatsky Island by sea transport is 45 minutes.

Visit souvenir shops, a store of seaweed products from the White Sea.

Pedestrian crossing to the pier.

Baggage pickup at the pier.

Departure to the mainland.

Arrival in Kem at the port of Rabochiostrovsk.

Group transfer to Kemi railway station to train No. 21.

Departure home after 19:30.