Tourism in the Urals
Tourism in the Urals is actively developing. The Ural Mountains are a very interesting place to visit. There are both natural attractions and historical locations. The capital of the Urals is the city of Yekaterinburg. You can organize many interesting trips from Yekaterinburg or from Perm.
In this review on the online guide Geomerid you can read about interesting places in the Ural region:
1. Yekaterinburg
2. Taganay Nature Reserve
3. Kungur Ice Cave
4. Perm
5. Ganina Yama
6. Verkhoturye
7. Nevyansk
Click on the hyperlinks to read in detail about each attraction and see a large number of photos
Yekaterinburg
The main city of the Ural Region, Yekaterinburg, is very interesting for visiting. It has both historical and nature sights. The former are mainly related to the family of the last Russian emperor and the latter – with the beauties of the Ural Mountains.
The main sights of Yekaterinburg are related to the tragic events, which happened with the tsar`s family in the city in 1918. As is known, all members of the tsar`s family were executed in the Ipatiev House. Now the Church on the Blood is on the spot where the Ipatiev House once stood. Near it is the patriarchal annex, where you must visit the Romanov Memorial Museum.
Taganay Nature Reserve
The Taganay Nature Reserve may be considered the most beautiful in the Urals and one of the most beautiful in Russia. The entrance to the park is within the city of Zlatoust. It will be easier to get to it from Chelyabinsk. Zlatoust is located 350 km from Yekaterinburg.
The main sights of the Taganay are: the Big Stone River, the Glade of Fairy Tales, the Otkliknoy (Respond) Crest, the Two-Headed Hill and the Kruglitsa. The Big Stone River is the most impressive. It is a «river» of big rocks of 3-4 tonnes with the length of 6 kilometers and the width of 400 meters. You can find no such stone rivers nowhere in the world, excepting India, but it is smaller there.
Kungur Ice Cave
Kungur Ice Cave is probably the most curious sight of Perm Krai. It is in the environs of the town Kungur, 100 kilometers from Perm. It is a unique geological monument of Russia. In the first grottoes of the cave you can see the most beautiful ice formations.
The total length of the cave is 5700 meters. However, only 1500 meters of the cave are adapted for tourists (lighting and paths). Kungur Ice Cave has 48 grottoes, about 60 lakes and 146 «organ pipes». Diamond and Polar grottoes are the most beautiful grottoes of Kungur Ice Cave. They are near the entrance of the cave. The biggest ice formations such as stalactites and stalagmites are just in these grottoes.
Perm
The city of Perm is on the Kama river in the eastern foothills of the Ural Mountains. There are interesting walking routes, as well as museums where you can get acquainted with the history of the Ural and Kama regions.
The Art Gallery is the main attraction of Perm. It contains a collection of wooden temple sculptures, which is called "Perm Gods". Not far from Perm are the Kungur Ice Cave and the Belogorsky Nikolaevsky Monastery. On the banks of the Kama River in the northern outskirts of Perm is the village of Khokhlovka, where the museum of wooden architecture is located.
Ganina Yama Monastery
In Yekaterinburg there are two places related to the execution of the Romanov Imperial family in 1918. The first place is the Church on Blood built on the site of the Ipatiev House where the Romanov family were shot. The second place – Ganya Pit monastery – is an abandoned pit where the Bolsheviks threw the bodies of the last Emperor and his family.
At the beginning of the 90th of the past century the construction of the Monastery of Holy Royal Martyrs began around the abandoned pits of the Ganya`s Pit, as all members of the Romanov family were canonized in 2000. Several multi-domed wooden churches were erected in the middle of the pine wood surrounding the Ganya`s Pit
Verkhoturye
Verkhoturye is a small town located 300 kilometers north of Yekaterinburg. There you can see the northernmost and only white-stone Kremlin in the Ural built under Peter I, as well as St. Nicholas Monastery, which is a spiritual center of the Ural.
Until 18 century, this trade route through Verkhoturye was the main road connecting the European part of Russia to Siberia, since it was there that the most convenient passage in the Ural Mountains was located. Verkhoturye ostrog allowed to control this road.
Nevyansk
The town of Nevyansk was founded in 1701 by a decree of Peter I, when the Demidov began to build an ironwork there. Today it is a small district center located 80 kilometers north of Yekaterinburg. The Leaning Tower is the main attraction of the town. It is near the Transfiguration Cathedral and the local History and Architecture Museum.
All tourist attractions of Nevyansk are very compactly located near the dam of the former ironwork. Unfortunately, the ironwork itself and the house of Demidov have not survived but the famous Leaning Tower stands very firmly, despite the vertical deviation of 1,85 meters.
