Gastronomic tour to Sakhalin and Iturup

In the morning we have breakfast at the hotel and get ready for a busy day!

Today we will go on a trip to the Aniwa Lighthouse, which was built by Japan in 1939. 

The lighthouse is located in an inaccessible place on a rock that rises above the water, because of this it is considered one of the most difficult technical structures. A nine-storey round tower with a bay window is inscribed in an oval base, which seems to grow out of coastal stones. 

It is impossible to reach the lighthouse by land, so we will travel part of the way by speedboats.

We will take our minibus to the small village of Novikovo (named after the legendary cruiser Novik, which gave battle to the Japanese cruiser Tsushima in the Russian-Japanese war).

Here we will go through the briefing and transfer to the boats that will take us to the lighthouse itself.

By sea, we will walk along the Aniva Bay past the abandoned Yuzhnaya outpost, capes Marble and Mica, where we will enjoy the beauty of magnificent mountains, sea air and waterfalls falling down. 

The journey will take about an hour and a half and, if we are lucky, we will meet killer whales, dolphins and seals along the way. 

We moor, disembark at the lighthouse and climb to its top. 

We are located on the very edge of our country, just a little over a hundred kilometers from us is Japan!

On the way back, we will make a stop at the Marble Cape and walk along the coast. Here stands a rock formed of marble interspersed with various semi-precious stones.

We return to Novikovo and go to an exquisite island cuisine restaurant overlooking the Aniva Bay. 

For an appetizer, we will try carpaccio of local octopus with olive oil and citrus dressing. 

Then we will be served wild fish soup with a piece of charcoal, which will be very useful after a busy trip to the Aniva lighthouse. 

And for the hot meal — baked Sakhalin flounder with orzo, tomatoes and olives in white wine. 

Lunch is accompanied by a glass of semi-dry white wine from the autochthonous varieties of Sicily.

On the way back home, we will stop in the historic town of Korsakov. 

Now it is one of the largest port cities in the Far East, the construction of which began back in the days when the city belonged to Japan and was called Oodomari. 

We will go up to the observation deck and look at the city and the bay from a height. 

We return to Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk and go for dinner to a cozy gastrobar, enjoy new flavor combinations. 

We will be served meat snacks and the main course of the evening — duck magre with pear sauvignon with cheese cream and sea buckthorn mousse, accompanied by a glass of aged Italian Sangiovese.

The final chord will be a grape cheesecake with explosive caramel and cookies.

After dinner, we return to the hotel.

Tomorrow we will have a gastronomic trip to the famous Busse Lake!

We have breakfast at the hotel and go to one of the most delicious places on Sakhalin Island — Lake Busse!

A huge number of shellfish live here — giant oysters, scallops, sea urchins, trepangs, crabs, trumpeters and many others. 

During spawning, a huge number of Pacific salmon — sima, pink salmon, chum salmon - migrate through the lake to freshwater reservoirs.

Before the start of our oyster harvest, we will raise a glass of sparkling wine to a successful and delicious catch!

We go to the oyster jar (the habitat of bivalves). 

First, we will walk directly through the water (boots will be provided on site), and then by boat with oars, because the use of any motor vehicles is prohibited in the lagoon.

On oyster island, oysters are right under our feet, just reach out and get them out of the water! 

We will open fresh clams right in the middle of the lake, sprinkle with lemon and try oysters with a glass of sparkling wine!

An oyster extracted on its own is a hundred times tastier than in any, even the most famous restaurant.

The rest of the seafood found on the island is collected in nets and taken with us.

We are going back to the shore, a hot lunch will be served for us here!

We will be served hemultan, a traditional Korean seafood soup and Far Eastern salads according to Korean recipes. 

There will also be Kamchatka crab, sandwiches with red caviar and, of course, oysters: fresh and baked with garlic and grilled cheese. Enjoy it!

During lunch, we will have a culinary master class on opening and eating oysters, and we will taste all the seafood collected.

Then we will take a short walk and go to Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk to rest. 

After 18:00 you will have free time, the only free evening on the tour.

Tomorrow we will have a flight to Iturup Island!

In the morning we have breakfast and go to the airport, today we are flying to the Kuril island of Iturup!

The flight from Sakhalin to Iturup takes just over an hour. 

The flight will be operated by Aurora Airlines on a small plane from the Canadian company Bombardier. We will cover about 450 kilometers over the Sea of Okhotsk.

Iturup Island will welcome us with a panorama of Bogdan Khmelnitsky, one of the highest Kuril volcanoes. 

We will check in with you at a new hotel on the ocean. Here you will truly feel yourself at the edge of the Earth!

They will be waiting for us at a local restaurant for lunch. We will be served fragrant porcini mushroom soup, juicy roast accompanied by rich red wine and herbal tea with wild berries.

After lunch, jeeps will come for us, and we will start our journey through the Kuriles! 

First we go to the foot of the Baransky volcano. This is an active volcano, on the slopes of which there are many mud and mineral springs.

We will take jeeps up to the observation deck, which offers a panorama of the island. Here you can clearly see the city, the airport and the endless waters of the Sea of Okhotsk from a height. 

After the viewing room, we will stop at the fumarole fields with a landscape that bears little resemblance to the "earthly" one, and cook ourselves "volcanic" eggs! We will cook chicken eggs in a saucepan right on the thermal well.

Next we will go to the Boiling River thermal complex, which is located on the Boiling River.

In its upper reaches, the water temperature is really close to the boiling point. It is incredibly beautiful here, it is one of the most "instagrammed" places on the island. 

The river valley is almost hidden in clouds of white steam, and on the slopes there are many fumaroles and cauldrons with bubbling mud. Our path will pass by the source of the river Boiling along the deck, where we will see turquoise lakes of fantastic beauty!

After the walk, we will swim and relax in the specially equipped thermal pools.

Then we return to our hotel, where preparations for dinner are already underway.

In the evening we are going to a sea barbecue dinner! 

We will bake fish, potatoes and vegetables on coals, and we will be served toasts with red caviar, smoked fish and a salad with seafood. 

A good addition to our dinner will be beer from the Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk Kolos brewery, which is the oldest in the region! We will have a solid supply of foam for dinner, so that everyone can try several varieties of Far Eastern beer. 

We have dinner, chat and tell each other about the adventures of our travels. An unforgettable cozy evening by the ocean in the company of gourmet travelers!

Today we are going on a journey to see one of the most amazing places in nature — the White Cliffs. 

Our first stop is at the Wall of Waterfalls, or as they are also called, Crying Rocks. The rocks are covered with bright green moss, they are decorated not only with bright greenery, but also with many small waterfalls that flow and drain into a stream nearby. A very picturesque place!

We get into our SUVs and drive on. We drive ashore to the White Cliffs. The incredibly beautiful giants are standing right by the water! 

Snow-white, green-covered, undulating rocks, they are incredibly beautiful. These are unique volcanic formations that arose from very light and soft pumice, stretched for 28 kilometers and go far beyond the horizon. 

The beach here is surprisingly deserted, which gives this place a certain cosmic atmosphere. We walk, take pictures, and enjoy our journey.

At this time, our assistants will prepare everything for lunch and serve delicious fish soup from freshly caught fish with snacks and fish cuts. We are having lunch in the most beautiful place on the edge of the Earth! 

After lunch, we drive on to the Black Rocks, these are the outlets of dark basalt volcanic extrusions. We can say that this is the "tail" of the lava tongue, a kind of "mini-copy" of Cape Columnar on Kunashir.

At the end of the day, we will go to the thermal complex: there are wooden fonts with hot mineral water, and almost untouched natural landscapes around and blue sky and silence overhead.

We are having dinner today at a restaurant near our hotel, meat is waiting for us!

The main dish of the evening is stewed beef ribs with potatoes with a glass of full—bodied red wine. 

In the evening we return to our hotel, relax after a busy day.

Today, after breakfast, we will go to the Yankito lava plateau. 

In this place, you can observe how time stopped — when the red-hot lava met the sea. Unimaginable brown-red volcanic rocks on the seashore, which appeared as a result of the eruption of the volcano Bogdan Khmelnitsky.

We have lunch at our hotel, we will be served fragrant tom yam and grilled sockeye salmon with wild rice.

After lunch, we leave for the airport and return to Sakhalin, where a transfer will be waiting for us to bring us to the hotel. 

We rest a little after the flight and go to a Japanese cuisine dinner at a restaurant where a chef from Japan, Kudo Motoki, works.

Let's start our dinner with a tasting of 6 types of sashimi, which is traditionally served in a sushi boat, a wooden model of a boat. 

Then we will be served gyoza with fish, a traditional Japanese dish that resembles dumplings in cooking technology. 

And for the hot meal, we will try unanju — a solid portion of eel on a rice pad with unagi sauce. 

French rose wine Arrogant Frog Tutti Frutti is perfectly combined with fish dishes, let's taste it! This is a project of the Paul Mas company, they grow grapes on the southern coast of France, in the famous Languedoc-Roussillon wine region, and their wines reflect the experience and humor of winemaking in southern France. In Russian, the wine is called "arrogant frog".

And we will finish our dinner with an original dessert of assorted truffles. Enjoy it!

In the morning we have breakfast at the hotel and get ready for a busy day!

Today we will go to the coast of the Sea of Okhotsk to one of the most beautiful bays of the island — Tikhaya.

On the way, we will make a stop in the village of Starodubskoye on the amber coast. We will try ourselves as amber seekers. Yes, here, too, as in the Kaliningrad region, there is its own amber! They say Sakhalinsky has a special power. There is even a legend that if you hold the stone tightly in your hand, you will feel warmth, because it stores the energy of the sun. Shall we check it out?

After collecting the amber, we drive on. The road goes along the coast, and the views are simply incredible! 

Our next stop is the Tori Gate, which is left over from an old Japanese temple.

Then we stop in the fishing village of Vzmorye, there is a crab market here, where we will buy the best crabs for lunch! 

Some travelers come to Sakhalin specifically just for the unique taste of freshly caught and boiled crab in seawater. 

After the fishing village we go to one of the most beautiful and highest waterfalls of Sakhalin — Klokovsky. 

Here we will open a bottle of sparkling wine and raise our glasses to our journey through the most amazing corners of our country!

In Tikhaya Bay, our assistants will set the table right in the fresh air in the midst of the incredible beauty of wild nature. 

We will be served grilled fish, oriental salads, sliced fish and of course crabs!

After lunch, we will take a walk around the bay and the surrounding area. There are wonderful views of the Bold Peak and the Zhdanko Ridge, which is a picturesque monument of Sakhalin nature.

After a walk along the beach, we return to the city. 

Today we will have dinner in the chamber restaurant of chef Vyacheslav Novitsky, who has worked with the most famous chefs in Europe for many years. He combined 20 years of work and study in the best gastronomic capitals of Europe and developed a menu based on the freshest, high-quality products. 

The restaurant has an open fire, vegetables from the monastery garden, the freshest seafood, fish, meat and crispy bread baked especially for guests.

To begin with, we will be served scallop ceviche with red onion, berry ponzu and blueberries. The accompaniment to the dish will be South African Shannen Blanc. 

For the hot meal, we will have halibut fried in butter and baked over an open fire with added sugar. It is served with cauliflower puree and eel cream. 

And for dessert, we will be served a brownie made of bitter chocolate with bourbon, it is served in combination with a delicate mango mousse and kiwi granite.

We communicate, enjoy, share our impressions of our trip to the edge of the earth!

Today, after breakfast, we will have time to go to the fish market so that you can buy local delicacies and souvenirs for the road.

Then we will escort you to the airport.

Happy and full of new experiences! See you soon!