4 islands. A trip to the islands of Sakhalin, Iturup, Kunashir and Shikotan

18 more

Sakhalin, Shikotan, Iturup and Kunashir — these four islands, each with its own unique history and beauty, are ready to reveal their secrets to you.

This tour is a real challenge for those who love adventure, pristine nature and new experiences. You will walk through picturesque places, see the Chirip Peninsula and the White Cliffs, visit the fumarole field and the thermal springs of the Baransky volcano, take a medium-difficulty route to Golovnin volcano, take part in a jeep tour of the most iconic places of Shikotan and much more.

Embark on this unforgettable journey and discover the wonderful world of island life!

Location

Russia, Sakhalin region, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk

Sightseeing tours

Contact the tour coordinator

Weekdays: 8am - 8pm
Weekends: 8am - 7pm (GMT +3)

Or text us in messengers

Tour highlights

Sea kayaking trip

You will see the incredible beauty of the bay with sandy beaches surrounded by steep cliffs and protruding capes

Snow-white cliffs

Stroll along the fantastic White Cliffs and feel the grandeur of the masterpieces created by nature.

Exploring volcanoes

Admire the fumarole field of Baransky volcano and the lakes of Golovnin volcano

Diversity of flora and fauna

During the boat trip, you can see bird markets, seal and sea lion deposits.

Swimming in natural jacuzzis

You will visit a kind of oasis among volcanoes and taiga, where you can relax in the warming waters.

The legendary Cape

Explore incredible basalt columns that look like they were created by a skilled craftsman.

Itinerary

Day 1 - Arrival in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk. City Sightseeing Tour
Arrival in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk. Meeting at the airport.
If arrival is at 09:15, then transfer to the hotel, we leave our things.
Free time ~2.5-3 hours.
Please keep in mind that check-in at the hotel is at 14:00. Early check-in can be booked and paid in advance, if necessary.
If arrival is at 12:30, then we immediately go to the restaurant.
Welcome lunch at one of the best Japanese restaurants.
Sightseeing bus tour of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, the capital of the Sakhalin region.
A modern, beautiful city with a history.
Return to the hotel.
Dinner (on your own).

6 more photos
Day 2 - Flight to Iturup
Breakfast at the hotel.
Transfer to the airport.
Departure to O. Iturup.
The flight schedule for the 2026 season will be released in March, after which routes on flight days can be adjusted.
Arrival in Kurilsk.
Meeting at the airport, transfer to the hotel, accommodation.

2 more photos
Day 3 - Boat trip, Chirip Peninsula. White Rocks
According to the weather, the route can be arranged on another day. Boats provide an opportunity to disembark in the most attractive locations.
Breakfast at the cafe.
Departure to the pier, briefing, boarding the boat.
During the boat trip, you will see the most beautiful landscapes of the Chirip Peninsula, picturesque lava shores, bird markets, seal and sea lion deposits, Cape Chirip and Cape Spur. Next, go to the White Cliffs.
A boat trip along the White Cliffs is a wonderful opportunity to see this unique natural site from the sea.
Disembarkation, walk.
Lunch on the coast.
The white cliffs are white crested ridges of bizarre shapes, cut by canyons.
The landscape is constantly changing due to the fact that the rock formations (volcanic glass and pumice) are soft and prone to weathering and erosion.
The beach consists of white quartz and black titanium-magnetite sand.
Dinner at the cafe.

3 more photos
Day 4 - Fumarole field and thermal springs of the Baransky volcano. The Yankito Plateau
Breakfast at the cafe.
Departure for the route, 20 km on the way.
An interesting educational tour to the fumarole field (fumaroles, salt tanks, mud boilers, steam griffins).
We cook eggs in the geyser – that's our attraction.
There is also a delicious lunch and eggs with caviar.
Transfer to the thermal complex – a stunningly beautiful paradise, an oasis among volcanoes and taiga.
In a natural Jacuzzi with a water temperature of 42 ° C and under a hot waterfall, you are truly reborn.
Bathing.
Route: Yankito Plateau.
A trip to the Yankito plateau, Kuril Bay – frozen volcanic lava in the form of a pile of rocks on the seashore. Bizarre silhouettes and unusual shapes of lava that was once boiling.
Dinner at the cafe.

6 more photos
Day 5 - Kasatka Bay, a rocky massif in Kasatka Bay. Pacific ocean
Breakfast at the cafe.
Departure for the route, 60 km south to the Pacific Coast.
Sightseeing of the "Devil's Rock", visiting the grottoes.
Tunnels were cut through the rocks by the Japanese for military purposes.
Lunch on the route.
Dinner at the cafe.

13 more photos
Day 6 - Departure to Kunashir
Room release, breakfast in a cafe.
Transfer to the port.
Registration on the ship.
13:00 Departure of the Pavel Leonov motor ship to Kunashir.
Lunch and dinner on the boat on your own.

6 more photos
Day 7 - The fumarole field of the Mendeleev volcano. Thermal springs
09:00 The ship's approach to the port of Yuzhno-Kurilsk, Kunashir Island.
Meeting at the port.
Breakfast in the cafe.
Transfer to the hotel. We leave our things.
Departure for the route of medium difficulty "Large fumarole field of the Mendeleev volcano".
By car for 30 minutes, then trekking for 2-2.5 hours through bamboo with a constant climb, 3 km in one direction.
A path with stops for short rest.
Parking on the fumarole field ~ 2 hours.
Fumaroles and solfatars are among the largest, if not the largest, on all the Kuril Islands. Portals to the bowels of the earth. From the erupting hum and high-temperature gases, it's even scary to imagine what's going on inside.
Lunch (dry ration).
Bathing in wild thermal springs (optional).
Dinner at the cafe.
Return to the hotel.

1 more photo
Day 8 - Cape Columnar. Stolbovskie springs. White Monks Rocks
09:00 Breakfast at the cafe.
10:00 Departure for the route of medium difficulty "Cape Columnar" — one of the most amazing and unique places on earth.
Residents of Kunashir say, "Whoever has not seen Cape Columnar has not seen Kunashir."
Millions of years ago, as a result of the eruption of the Mendeleev volcano, basalt lava flowed towards the sea.
Physico-chemical processes have created such columnar structures in the form of five-hexagonal columns. But when you get here, it's impossible to accept that nature created it. A mystical place with its own music.
The cape, open on three sides, is located on the coast of the Sea of Okhotsk.
A difficult passage through small shelves of broken pillars.
Relaxing at the cape, swimming in the sea.
Then 2 km along the shore to our cozy parking lot, where a bonfire lunch will be organized – delicious fish soup.
Dinner at the cafe.
Return to the hotel.

5 more photos
Day 9 - Golovnin volcano. Lakes are Boiling and Hot
09:00 Breakfast at the cafe.
10:00 Departure for the route of medium difficulty "Volcano Golovnina. The Lakes are Boiling and Hot."
40 minutes by car, then trekking 2.5–3 hours along the path, 7 km in one direction.
The entire journey is accompanied by beautiful fields of cedar elderberry and Kuril bamboo, completely impassable to humans.
The volcano is a caldera about 4 km in diameter, surrounded by a ridge with a maximum height of 541 m.
There are four small domes and two crater lakes at the bottom of the caldera, Boiling and Hot.
The parking time in the caldera is ~3 hours.
Lunch (dry ration).
You can not swim in Boiling lake, there are hot springs, mud boilers and hot steam at the bottom of the lake and along the shores. It's possible and necessary to have hot things in the lake.
Dinner at the cafe.
Return to the hotel.

6 more photos
Day 10 - Departure of the ship to Shikotan Island. Arrival at Shikotan
Room release.
Breakfast at the cafe.
11:00 Registration on the ship.
13:00 Departure of the ship to Shikotan Island.
17:00 Arrival in Malokurilskoye settlement, Shikotan island.
Meeting at the port, transfer to the hotel, check-in.
Shikotan is a special place, a small Kuril island in the ocean, unlike any other.
Shikotan – if the island has a soul, then it is here, among bamboo expanses, meadow terraces, juniper thickets and inaccessible cliffs with edelweiss blooming on them.
There are no volcanoes, thermal springs, bears or snakes on Shikotan. Shikotan has the most beautiful coves! You can't find them anywhere in the Kuril Islands.
A trip around the neighborhood.
Dinner at the hotel.

9 more photos
Day 11 - Jeep tour of the most iconic places of Shikotan Island with local hiking
Breakfast at the hotel.
Cape Edge of the World is a long (protruding into the ocean at 800 m) and flat cape surface breaks off into the ocean on three sides with 40-meter walls. And you realize that you are really on the edge of the world... both literally and figuratively. There are 7,000 km of the Pacific Ocean ahead.
Bezymyannaya Bay – in these places S. Govorukhin shot the film "Robinson Crusoe" starring Leonid Kuravlev in 1972.
Cape Crab, the lighthouse of Shpanberg (1943) is the last lighthouse built by the Japanese in the Kuril Islands from the remaining large lighthouse construction program that was not implemented due to the war.
The lighthouse is named after the brave traveler and navigator Martin Petrovich Shpanberg, who explored the Kuril Islands.
Lunch is hot on the coast.
Return to the hotel in the evening.
Dinner at the hotel.
Day 12 - Sea kayaking trip. Cape Trident. Dimitrov Bay and Airfield
According to the weather, the route can be arranged on another day.
Breakfast at the hotel.
On shore, briefing, boarding sea kayaks is a safe, comfortable vessel. There is always a boat with the group on insurance.
Shikotan has incredibly beautiful bays with sandy beaches, surrounded by steep cliffs and protruding capes, with multiple kekurs and arches. A walk through such places will give you great pleasure from the pristine splendor and endless Pacific Ocean.
Lunch on the coast.
Then transfer to Dimitrov Bay and Airfield – incredibly beautiful places.
Small walks.
Dinner at the hotel.

4 more photos
Day 13 - Dolphin Bay. Galtsev Bay. Zvezdnaya Bay
Breakfast at the hotel.
Departure by car to Dolphin Bay, the opposite part of the island from Malokurilskoye settlement.
Due to the fact that the bay cuts deeply into the land, the water here is calm and extremely comfortable for sea kayaking (a safe, inflatable, very comfortable vessel).
Shikotan has incredibly beautiful coves with sandy beaches, surrounded by steep cliffs and protruding capes, with multiple kekurs and arches. A walk through one of them – Dolphin Bay – will give you great pleasure from the pristine splendor and endless Quiet.
Lunch on the coast in the nearby Galtseva Bay (lunch boxes).
Galtseva Bay is the westernmost point of the island. Under favorable weather conditions, on the way to the bay, you will be able to see the Small Kuril Ridge (Habomai), which is only about 20 km away from this place.
Transfer to Zvezdnaya Bay. During Soviet times, firing points were equipped in the bay. Tanks or their turrets mounted on concrete pillboxes were used as artillery fire. Near the bay, you can observe the barracks building and the remains of a food warehouse. The earthquake of 1994 destroyed all military buildings.
Return to the hotel in the evening.
Dinner at the hotel.
Day 14 - Snezhkov Bay. Pacific ocean. Departure to Sakhalin
Breakfast at the hotel.
Transfer to the route "Snezhkova Bay" to the village of Krabozavodskoye, then 8 km on foot.
Have you ever crossed an island from one coast to another? Probably not. It's going to happen to you today – we're going from the west coast to the east coast.
A very pleasant, full of impressions walk with the delicious smells of juniper, the rustle of leaves of the endless bamboo fields here, the conversation of the ocean and the island coming from afar. No serious ascents or descents.
Snezhkova Bay is small, cozy, with a sandy beach. You fall into it like into a trap and you don't want to leave anymore.
Lunch lunch box in the bay.
Dinner at the hotel.
20:00 Transfer to the port, registration on the ship.
22:00 Departure of the Pavel Leonov motor ship.
Lunch and dinner on the boat on your own.

1 more photo
Day 15 - Arrival on Sakhalin
Breakfast and lunch on the boat on your own.
20:00 Arrival at the port of Korsakov.
Transfer to the 4* Mega Palace Hotel.
Placement.
Dinner (on your own).
Day 16 - Jeep tour. Cape Bird and Cape Giant, the southeastern coast of the Sea of Okhotsk.
08:00 Breakfast in the hotel restaurant.
09:00 Departure from Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk with a jeep guide. The journey time is 3 hours, during which we will travel 100 km, the first half of the way is a federal paved highway, the second half of the way is a difficult road through the pass.
After Okhotsk, rush along the seashore, then through the Sakhalin taiga through the pass, and in front of you soar majestic stone arches, columns and kekurs-giants created by wind and sea waves.
Beautiful coves and grottos, bird markets.
A walk along the coast will be a great pleasure, one Cape Bird is worth it.
A walk through the sea terraces and Sakhalin taiga will introduce you to the diverse world of flora. The guide will tell you a lot of interesting things.
Lunch — lunch box (Japanese cuisine), Far Eastern delicacies, tea with herbs and berries.
19:00 Return to the hotel.
Dinner (on your own).

3 more photos
Day 17 - Completion of the program
Breakfast at the hotel.
Transfer to the airport.
Departure.

Difficulty

Involves moderate physical activity

Tour organizer's comments

The tour includes hiking trails of moderate difficulty and jeep rides.

Accommodation

Hotel

14 nights
Cabin on the boat

2 nights

Comfort

Midscale
Upscale
Premium

The tour includes accommodation in hotels and accommodation in a four-person cabin of the ship. The price of accommodation on Kunashir includes accommodation with partial amenities.

The cost of the tour for 1 person with double occupancy is 395,000 rubles.

The surcharge for single occupancy on the tour is 48,000 rubles.

Additional payments on Kunashir are optional (increased comfort level of accommodation):

for a double suite at the Flagship hotel (with amenities) on Kunashir Island – 7000 rubles/person. (3 nights);
for a single room in the Iceberg 2 hotel (with amenities) on Kunashir Island – 7000 rubles/person. (3 nights);
for a double suite at the Iceberg 2 hotel (with amenities) on Kunashir Island – 7000 rubles/person. (3 nights).

The Mega Palace Hotel is located on the Far Eastern Russian island of Sakhalin, at the foot of the Susunai Mountains. The city center is 1.2 km away.

The multi-storey hotel offers modern rooms and apartments with antique-style furniture. All rooms are equipped with beds, a large table where you can work or tidy up. There is a cable TV, a safe. The bathroom has all the necessary plumbing, towels, cosmetics.

There is a tea set and a mini-bar in the rooms. The Marquis Restaurant serves Russian, European and Japanese cuisine, while Serbian cuisine can be enjoyed at the Grill on the Sky Restaurant. There is also an Asian cuisine restaurant "Asia" and a Japanese BamBoo restaurant. Guests can relax at the Duke Karaoke Bar.

2 more photos

Tour conditions

Group

From 15 to 25 tourists

Minimum age

7 years old

Duration

17 days 16 nights

Group meets at

Russia, Sakhalin region, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk

Included in price

airport – hotel – airport transfer;
accommodation according to the program:
- in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk at the Mega-Palace 4* hotel (3 nights);
- in Kurilsk at the Zarechnaya hotel (4 nights);
- in Yuzhno-Kurilsk at the Flagship Hotel (partial facilities, 3 nights);
- in Malokurilsky at the Ostrovnoy motel (4 nights);
hotel – airport transfer (departure to Iturup);
Korsakov Seaport – Mega Palace Hotel transfer;
meals specified in the program:
- meals on Sakhalin according to the program (3 breakfasts, 2 lunches);
- meals on Kunashir, Shikotan and Iturup are served three times a day according to the program.
transportation services according to the program;
accompanying instructors-guides on the routes;
tour guide services;
Kurilsky Nature Reserve pass;
border crossing to Kunashir Island, Shikotan Island, Iturup Island.

Paid extra

flights to Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk and back;
tickets for the ship Kurilsk — Yuzhno-Kurilsk — Malokurilskoye — Korsakov (four-person cabin) and an air ticket Yuzhno—Sakhalinsk – Kurilsk - 41,500 rubles.;
meals on the ship and dinners in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk;
surcharge for single occupancy;
additional payment for an increased comfort level of living on Kunashir (optional);
early check-in and late check-out of hotels;
medical insurance.

It's important to know

lightweight headdress for sun protection;
trekking waterproof sneakers/boots (Gore-Tex), or treated with a water repellent + a replaceable pair of shoes;
comfortable sports sandals with a rigid fixation on the foot, in which it is convenient to walk on water and stones (necessary on the route Tikhaya Bay, for visiting thermal springs / baths on the islands of Kunashir and Iturup);
sports trousers are comfortable for trekking (2 pairs). It is also preferable to have waterproof trousers. It is especially convenient on the side zippers to quickly put on over sweatpants if necessary. They are light and do not take up space at all;
comfortable, lightweight, wind and moisture proof(!) jacket;
warm clothes: sweater, fleece jacket or similar warm clothes;
T-shirt with short or long sleeves with moisture-repellent properties for trekking;
lightweight cotton clothing: shorts/capris, T-shirts;
bathing suit;
socks are warm and thick;
a small travel towel (quick-drying);
a small backpack of 25-30 liters for one-day radial routes for water, photo/video equipment, swimsuit, towel, raincoat, etc. It is necessary to have a waterproof backpack cover;
sunscreen and sunglasses;
a sunscreen adapted for you with a protection factor (SPF) of at least 30 units;
plastic water bottle for routes;
gloves;
telescopic poles for hiking (personal necessity);
photo/video equipment;
mosquito and tick repellents (personal necessity).

Dates and Prices

$5,386

6 – 22 Jul 17 days 16 nights

Submit request
No need to pay now
$5,386

3 – 19 Aug 17 days 16 nights

Submit request
No need to pay now

Reviews Leave a review

No reviews yet