Four Pearls of the North Caucasus

Arrival. Pyatigorsk. Transfer to Terskol

Arrival to the airport of Mineralnye Vody with a morning flight. Guided tour around Pyatigorsk - the oldest city of the Caucasian Mineral Waters region. You will stroll down the magnificent park Tsvetnik, enjoy the views from Aeolus’s Harp Pavilion and see the famous cave Lake Proval. Pyatigorsk saw many historical events and famous people like Leo Tolstoy, Alexander Pushkin, but the most important without doubt is Russian poet Mikhail Lermontov, who lived here, wrote about this region and died on the duel not far from Mt Mashuk.

Lunch in a café (on your own).

Transfer to Elbrus region (about 3 h on the way).

Accommodation at the hotel.

Elbrus

Breakfast at the hotel.

Transfer to the Azau glade, where you will start your ascent on the slopes of the great dormant volcano by the cable cars. You will go up to the Gara Bashi station (3800 m). The views opening here are really fascinating. If the weather is good, you will see the snowy mountains, stretching for 300 miles. You can go up to Priyut 11 (4100 m) by snowmobile or ratrak, which will take you to the desired height (extra fee).

Lunch in a cafe (on your own). Local cafes attract tourists, they are absolutely not like the shining European restaurants, each of them is original and unique in its own way.

Descent to the Azau glade. Free time at the resort. You can visit the Narzan Valley, where a lot of carbon dioxide hydrogen-chloride sodium-calcium narzans come to the surface. We also recommend you to visit the large souvenir market on the Cheget glade and buy some homemade jam, sheep skins, hats, crafts, honey, sweets or other souvenirs of the trip to Elbrus. Horse riding is also available (extra fee). Return to the hotel.

Vladikavkaz

Breakfast at the hotel. Check-out.

Departure to Vladikavkaz (240 km, about 4 h on the way).

Chou’ll have a sightseeing auto-walking tour of the city. 

Lunch (on your own).

You will get acquainted with the historical center of the city, walk along the embankment of the Terek River. You’ll also visit the Sunni mosque, Armenian and Ossetian (the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary) churches. Then you’ll see the Central Park of K. Khetagurov, Mira Avenue, the Square of Freedom, the Shtyba Square and a great number of interesting monuments of the city.

Check-in at the hotel.

Kurtatin Gorge. Dargavs

Breakfast.

Today for the whole day you are going to the famous Kurtatin gorge, magnificent with its mountain passes.  The tour begins with the visit to Dzivguiss rock fortress, built in the XIII-XVI centuries. The fortress almost merges with the rock, and in summer you can’t even see it behind the trees.

Lunch on the way in the cafe (on your own).

The program also includes the visit of the village of Upper Fiagdon, Svyato-Uspensky monastery.

Then you’ll continue your way to Dargavs - the “Dead city”, the biggest necropolis in the Caucasus. Excavations show that Alans were the first to settle down in the Dargavs gorge in the VIII century. There are a lot of beautiful legends about these places. Dargavs is a complex of 99 semi-underground and land stone charnel houses serving as family tombs.

Return to Vladikavkaz.

Mountainous Ingushetia

Attention! The territory of the Mountainous Ingushetia lies in a border zone, only citizens of the Russian Federation are allowed to pass there with no restrictions. For foreign citizens, including the CIS countries it is necessary to get the border pass – it takes about 45 days to prepare the documents.

Breakfast at the hotel. Check-out.

Transfer to Ingushetia. The real pearl of Ingushetia is the Dzheirakh gorge. It is basically an open-air museum. There are 92 landmarks, including famous Ingush guard towers in this area. Some structures date back to the 2nd century B.C.

First, you’ll see the castle complex Erzi. In translation from the Ingush "erzi" means "eagle". Erzi represents beautifully preserved nine towers on the slope of the mountain above the Armhi River. The height of the battle towers reaches 25-30 meters; the width of the walls is about 6 meters. Historians date the construction of the complex to the 17th century.

Lunch (on your own).

You’ll also get acquainted with the most ancient Christian temple Tkhaba-Erdy, which is close to the border with Georgia. The date of its construction varies within the 700 years, from VIII to XIV centuries. It is certainly one of the oldest Christian temples in Russia.

The program will continue with the visit of the most exciting and exotic tower complexes among the ancient defensive structures of Ingushetia. Monument Vovnushki consists of three main towers, two of them are at the top of one rock and one - on the opposite side.

Return to Vladikavkaz.

Grozny

Breakfast. Check-out from the hotel.

Transfer to Grozny (100 km, about 1,5 h on the way). On the way you will stop at the Memorial of Memory and Glory in the capital of Ingushetia.

Lunch (on your own).

Check-in at the hotel.

Then you’ll have the city tour to get acquainted with the capital of Chechnya. “The new Grozny” city tour will show you that the city has changed a lot since the end of the second Chechen War - now it is absolutely safe and calm.  You will visit the center of modern art, see the mosque "Heart of Chechnya" (the largest mosque in Russia and Europe), walk along the quay and learn about the history of Grozny and visit the Kadyrov Memorial complex (including Museum).  

Dinner (on your own).

Kezenoy-Am

Breakfast at the hotel.

Today you will have a trip to the high-mountain Lake Kezenoy-Am. On the way you will make a stop in the village of Vedeno, where you will see the walls of the fortress, which are more than 200 years old. Then you’ll follow to the beautiful Harami pass, located at an altitude of 2400 meters above sea level.

Lunch in a cafe (on your own).

Spread out among the mountain steppes and rocks, the lake located at an altitude of 1869 meters above sea level is striking in its beauty. The total coastal length of the lake is about 10 km, the depth is up to 76 meters, the total area of the water surface is more than 4 square km. The size of the lake is amazing; it is located on the territory of two republics at once (Chechnya and Dagestan). The water in the lake is cold, in summer the surface temperature does not rise above 17-18 C.

At the end of the day, you will have a short tour of the ruins of the ancient village of "Hoi".

Return to Grozny. Transfer to the airport of Grozny (without a guide), departure from the program