Travel to the Kuril Islands: Shikotan, Iturup, Kunashir

In the morning we will have breakfast at the hotel.

Then at 09:00 we will take a bus to the port of Korsakov. 

From there, at 12:00 on the Pavel Leonov motor ship, we leave for Kunashir Island. 

We will spend almost two days on the road.

The ship is equipped with comfortable cabins with amenities and a cafe where you can have lunch and dinner. 

After leaving the port, the ship will pass along the coastline of the Aniva Peninsula. 

And then it goes out into the open Sea of Okhotsk. 

There is a chance to see whales and dolphins from the deck of the ship.

We also spend today on the ship. 

In the late afternoon, at 18:00 we arrive on Kunashir Island in the city of Yuzhno-Kurilsk.

Kunashir Island is the southernmost island of the Kuril Ridge. It is a chain of three active volcanoes, two of which we will visit on this tour. 

Almost the entire territory of the island belongs to the Kurilsky Nature Reserve.

We check into a hostel in Yuzhno-Kurilsk and have dinner. Dinner is self-paid.

After breakfast, we set off to explore Kunashir Island.

With a good low tide, the first thing we will do is stop at Golovinsky Cliff. 

This is a long and high cliff along the coast line, similar to a layered cake of mineral deposits. In some places, waterfalls are shooting straight out of the wall.

Then we head by car to the beginning of the walking route. 

Travel time is 1 hour, distance is 42 km. From here we go out on a radial route light with a small backpack. Our goal is the caldera of the active Golovnin volcano. 

The path runs along a dirt road, on which there are large puddles, bypassed by bamboo. The length of the route is 7.5 km, the estimated time is 5-7 hours. 

On the way, we will have lunch with dry rations.

In the caldera of the volcano, we will see a beautiful relief and two lakes with talking names Boiling and Hot. 

You will see sulfur fumaroles, jets of gas and steam.

On the way back, we go down to the cordon of the reserve, set up camp and have dinner.

After breakfast, we continue to explore Kunashir Island. 

Today we are waiting for trekking to Cape Columnar.

They will take us by car to the beginning of the Stolbovskaya trail. The journey takes 30 minutes, 15 km. From here we set off on a 3.2 km long radial route (travel time is 3-5 hours).

On the way, you will have to overcome difficult sections — clamps — narrow rocky parts of the coast that cannot be bypassed dry at high tide or with a large wave.

Cape Columnar is a large basalt rock on the seashore, which was formed as a result of volcanic processes. 

The steps of five-hexagonal columnar sections smoothly go into the waters of the Sea of Okhotsk.

Here we will have a snack with dry rations, and then walk to the Lagoon Lake (5 km). 

The lagoon lake is quite small, but unusual. It is cut off from the Sea of Okhotsk by a narrow continuous bridge.

From here, a transport will pick us up and take us to the seashore, where we will set up camp and spend the night.

After breakfast and camp fees, we go to the radial exit to the fumarole fields of the Mendeleev volcano. Trekking 2-2.5 hours.

Mendeleev Volcano is one of the active volcanoes on Kunashir Island, its height is 886 meters. The main attraction of the volcano is the fumarole field. 

Here we will see bright yellow cones of fumaroles, through which hot gases with a high sulfur content escape.

We have lunch with sandwiches and tea and set off on our way back.

In the evening, we will have dinner at a cafe and board the already familiar ship Pavel Leonov, which will head to Iturup Island at 20:00.

At 09:00 we arrive at Iturup Island in the port of Kurilsk. 

Iturup is the largest island of the Kuril Archipelago and the most famous among tourists.

In Kurilsk, we will buy food, and then we will be dropped into Konakov Bay. 

We will set up camp in it and walk along the shore.

Upon returning to the camp, we will have dinner and rest. 

After breakfast, we will walk again to the Hot Beach Bay. 

The beach is so named due to the fact that hot springs come out to it. Here you can take thermal baths, making holes in the sand, and then cool off in the ocean.

After a rest at the oceanic spa, we will have a trip to September Bay.

The bay is named in honor of the victory over Japan, which surrendered on September 2, 1946. There are remnants of Japanese pillboxes with cave passages.

We will return to the camp in the evening and spend the night in tents.

After breakfast, we return to Kurilsk by transport. 

Along the way, we will visit the natural attractions of Iturup.

We will stop at Sail Bay, where we will see the 10-meter waterfall Maiden Tears in a picturesque canyon. You can bypass the waterfall and go under its jets. Here, on the rocky rocks, there is a chance to see a rookery of sea lions — northern sea lions.

The main event of the day will be a stop on the White and Black rocks in the Bay of Prostor.

Without exaggeration, this is one of the most beautiful places in the Kuril Islands. The view is breathtaking. 

The unique rock formations on the coast are of volcanic origin. 

Black rocks are lava outcrops of basalt rocks, white rocks are pumice.

Textured rocks with green caps of grassy vegetation stretch for several kilometers along the coastline, on which white quartz sand is mixed with black titanium-magnetite.

We move to Kurilsk, where we will set up camp in a clearing and spend the night. 

We'll also take a dip in the hot springs.

Today we will have an early breakfast and a trip to the active Baransky volcano.

The climb to the top is quite difficult, but this is offset by an interesting landscape. 

In addition to the picturesque landscapes, we will see the remains of an abandoned geothermal power plant, fumarole fields, mud boilers and many hot springs, including lakes with bright turquoise water. 

There is a picturesque view from the top of the volcano.

We go down, set up camp and have dinner.

Today is our last day on Iturup Island. 

We have breakfast and leave for the Yankito plateau.

The Yankito Plateau is a product of the eruption of the Bogdan Khmelnitsky volcano, a place where two elements water and fire met. Here we will walk along the high rocky shore along the bay — huge frozen lava formations.

By 14:00 we will arrive at the port of Kurilsk to board the ship "Igor Farkhutdinov", which will take us to the island of Shikotan.

We will stay in comfortable cabins on the ship and spend the night.

In the morning at 09:00, the ship arrives at the port of the village of Malokurilskoye. We are on the third island of the Kuril Ridge — Shikotan.

After breakfast, he departs to the beginning of the route to Mount Shikotan. 

The mountain is an extinct volcano and the highest point of the island is 412 meters. 

In clear weather, the top offers a magnificent view of the island, as well as neighboring Iturup and Kunashir. There are interesting remains of military structures in the shape of a circle on the mountain. The ascent takes 1-1.5 hours.

After lunch, we will move to the beautiful Soldatskaya Bay. 

Here we will set up camp, have dinner and stay overnight.

After breakfast, we set off on foot to explore the most beautiful places of Shikotan.

The first point of the walk will be Cape Crab, where the Spanberg Lighthouse is located, built at a time when the island belonged to Japan.

Next, we move to the cape of the Edge of the World. This is one of the extreme points of Russia. From here, the nearest land area is 5400 km away. 

Here we will see a breathtaking panorama of a huge cliff that breaks off into the ocean.

After lunch, we will go to the Nameless Bay. It is famous for the fact that the filming of S. Govorukhin's film "Robinson Crusoe" took place here. 

The bay is really a worthy setting for filming movies. Inside it, you can see many small islands covered with caps of greenery, steep cliffs around, and the endless Pacific Ocean ahead.

We will return to our bay, where we will have dinner and spend the night. 

Those who wish will be able to go fishing.

We have breakfast and assemble the camp. 

On the last day in the Kuril Islands, we will have a walk to Snezhkov Bay.

To get to the bay, we will walk along a scenic route with stunning views. On the way we will meet juniper thickets, bamboo and a low-growing birch forest. 

From the cape we will see the southeastern coast of the island.

We will stop and have lunch on the route.

In the evening we will arrive at the port of Malokurilskoye, so that at 22:00 on the ship Admiral Nevelskoy we can go to Sakhalin.

We are spending today at sea. 

There is a cafe on the ship where you can have a snack. Go out on the decks more often to see marine life — whales, killer whales, dolphins.

At 20:00, the ship will arrive at the main seaport of Sakhalin — Korsakov, after which you will be transferred to a hotel in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk.

After breakfast, we say goodbye and go to the airport on our own for return flights.