(Source: http://down-house.ru/blog)

The city may seem to someone weirdly arranged. In fact, this is one long street from "Shipyard" terminus (once "Lenin") to the "10th Kilometer" bus station. There are, of course, branches from this line, but they do not set the tone. The traveler should know where is the city center, where is "Avacha" hotel, where to eat and from where buses leave for Paratunka. This is the minimum tour-set for those who do not like to bother themselves with skiing.

Although, Moroznaya Mountain (the longest track on it is three and a half kilometers), one of the best for skiing, is right there, on the other side of the Avachinsky Gulf. It is considered an extreme hedonism to go to hydrosulphuric or radon springs of Paratunk after skiing at Moroznaya. Which means, all types of modern «outdoors activities» are under the nose of those, who are based in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky.

Book Your Private Expidition to Kamchatka

But actually real Kamchatka it is not Petropavlovsk. It is pretty hard to imagine how far actually the peninsula extends with base resting on Chukotka. From Cape Lopatka to the north is 1,200 kilometers. Kamchatka Oblast also lies on the mainland and it is endless there as well. All Kamchatka cannot be totally explored for many years. Not only because in such places in Russia the infrastructure is quite whimsical and there are no roads, but also because Kamchatka is stunningly different.

 
There is also the city of Ust-Kamchatsky, from where it is possible to travel to the Commander Islands. There is Palana city, which stands in a vast tundra and where you would understand the reality of the peoples of the North. There is Esso settlement, which is called the Switzerland of Kamchatka.

There are lots of things: it is not an accident that bouncy German hunters, who purchased licenses to hunt bears, get off the plane. Even the Scots come here to catch salmon, which they have plenty at home. Americans fly from Anchorage to Elizovo Airport (official airport of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky) only a little more than four hours, which they are happy to enjoy, especially summers. However, Kamchatka people (often mistakenly called Kamchadals, because "Kamchadals" is an ethnic group) also use these flights to get to the capital of Alaska, inhabited with almost the same number of people as Petropavlovsk: that is to say a small town.

As of today, it is the shortest way from Russia to America. And even local musicians go exactly in Anchorage for recording their albums in a well-equipped studio. Only here gourmets will understand the difference between the Norwegian salmon, which can be bought anywhere in the country, and real fish. The best salmon, of course, is chavycha (in the U.S. it is called «Chinook», also a helicopter type), blueback (or "Krasnitsa"), chum (or "white"). Here, nobody considers pink salmon as a salmon.

There is still red king crab, which when some skill and craftiness applied can be caught on your own in May near the Icha River on the Okhotsk coast of Kamchatka. There are very few things in the world that can be compared with the taste of freshly caught red king crab meat (by the way, keep in mind, unlike the European tradition of eating crabs, red king crabs head is not eatable). Old-timers regret about one thing: captured German ships under new names like "Soviet Union" and "Rus", which went regularly to Vladivostok, were written off for scrap. Indeed, many families used to take the trip of their lifetime from Moscow to Vladivostok by train and from there by "Soviet Union" to Petropavlovsk. After this trip anyone could realize how enormous our country is and that it has almost everything. 

READ MORE ARTICLES ABOUT KAMCHATKA...

Booking.com