Museums and exhibitions
The city has a large number of exhibition halls and museums. Those who don’t know where to go in Syktyvkar to learn as much as possible about local creativity and traditions should visit the Yugor exhibition. As the locals say, this is the place where you can understand their city. The exhibition presents a large number of photographs of nature and sights of Syktyvkar and the Komi Republic.
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Near the park on the river embankment there is the National Gallery, which is the center of Syktyvkar culture. Here are paintings by artists belonging to different eras and generations, thematic exhibitions and musical evenings are organized.
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You can look at the natural resources of Syktyvkar at the Chernov Geological Museum, which displays a collection of minerals that are mined in the republic.
The Komi National Museum is a must-see. This is the place where the history, culture and traditions of the peoples inhabiting the Komi Republic and the city of Syktyvkar are shown. Various educational events and excursions are held especially for children.
In the halls of the museum there are interactive stands that present a large amount of educational information.
Second day in Syktyvkar
The second day is worth dedicating to the city’s museums or going to the Finno-Ugric Ethnocultural Park . Both routes are popular with tourists, but museum exhibitions can be seen while walking around the capital of Komi, and you need to drive at least an hour to the ethnopark.
Sights of the Finno-Ugric Ethnopark
This cultural park is located in a village with the unusual name Yb. It’s not difficult to get to it; the Vyatka federal highway passes nearby, but it’s difficult to see all the local attractions in one day:
- dinosaur remains;
- underground city;
- holy springs;
- moose farm;
- excursion to the village of Yb.
Fans of active recreation will not be bored in the ethnopark. In winter, they ride cheesecakes, ice skates, and go on ski trips. In spring, summer and autumn they play Sami football and have fun at the Vorsa Tui rope park.
Those who prefer educational tourism do not get bored either. At the master classes they teach many things, for example, making dolls-amulet, musical instruments, baking rye shangi, weaving souvenirs from bast.
View museums in Syktyvkar
The National Museum of the Komi Republic is the first in the Top 3 cultural attractions of Syktyvkar, which can be seen in 1-2 days. The exhibitions are organized in an original way; in the ethnography department, visitors find themselves in a real village with a hut, a bathhouse, tools for labor, fishing, and hunting.
The National Geological Museum is no less popular, located in the building of the Institute of Geology. An extensive collection of minerals and fossil animal bones can be viewed on your own; staff provide visitors with a map of the exhibitions.
Not every city has a Forest Museum , but the capital of Komi does. A tour of it will be a great end to the second day.
We also recommend visiting the regions neighboring Komi, where you can get acquainted with both city and natural attractions. This:
- Arkhangelsk region (with its center in the city of Arkhangelsk),
- Kirov region (and Kirov, respectively),
- Perm region (and Perm)
- Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug (center - Khanty-Mansiysk).
Excursions
It will take quite a lot of time to see all the sights of Syktyvkar. Travel agencies offer various thematic excursions. One of the most interesting is a walk around Orthodox Syktyvkar, which includes visits to significant temples and cathedrals of the city. During the excursion, tourists will see the Cathedral of Stephen of Perm, the Holy Kazan Church and the Church of the Ascension of the Lord, and will also learn a lot of interesting information from the history of these religious places.
A sightseeing tour of the city is very popular among tourists, which includes inspection of the most popular streets, monuments, sculptures and significant places of Syktyvkar.
First day in Syktyvkar
Syktyvkar does not amaze with historical and architectural sights, but it has a special flavor and style. The ends of ordinary five-story buildings on Kommunisticheskaya Street are decorated with panels; at every step you can come across national motifs.
The airport is located within the city, so you can start your walking tour right away. Leaving the building, see the first attraction - the monument “Dawn over Chukotka ”. The main acquaintance with the city can be continued on Stefanovskaya Square. The place is cozy and crowded; there are other interesting places nearby:
- Communist street;
- monument "Mourning Warrior";
- platform under the clock;
- Kirovsky Park;
- Fire Tower;
- Stephen's Cathedral.
There are many interesting art objects and sculptures on the streets of the northern city. To remember the days spent in the capital of Komi, tourists take photographs at the monument to boots, against the backdrop of the Horseshoe, at the sculpture of the Serpent Gorynych, next to the Wedding tree. All places for photo sessions are on the tourist map of the city.
Theaters
Lovers of culture and art who don’t know where to go in Syktyvkar should definitely visit the Komi Republican Philharmonic. It is located in a picturesque part of the city near the National Museum. A concert program is organized here for both children and adults. It is recommended to buy tickets in advance, as they sell out very quickly, especially for premiere screenings.
The Opera and Ballet Theater of the Komi Republic is located in the city of Syktyvkar and is one of the most visited cultural places in the city. The theater's repertoire includes the best opera, ballet and operetta productions by Soviet and foreign composers, such as “The Merry Widow”, “Die Fledermaus”, “Bayadera” and others.
The theater does not deprive its young spectators of attention. Every season the theater shows one or even two new productions for children.
Helpful information
Bicycles are popular in the small town; in the warm season this method of transportation is chosen by active tourists who come to Syktyvkar for 1-2 days . Public transport is not very diverse; you can get to interesting places by bus or taxi.
There are places in the city where you can eat delicious food.
- Burger King and McDonald's are for burger lovers.
- Pizzeria "Dodo". They serve the best pizza in town.
- Restaurant "Lucky Star". The interior is stylized as America of the 60s.
“Trump Tower” - , its weight is 2.2 kilograms
A must visit is the “Gifts of the North” supermarket . There, tourists try national cuisine, buy smoked meats and venison sausage, cloudberry jam, Komi Shangi on rye bun. Small local shops sell Pechora salmon, grayling, and delicacy omul.
Cinemas
Anyone wondering where to go in Syktyvkar in the evening can choose one of the city’s cinemas.
An interesting place for a romantic date will be the drive-in cinema, which is located on Lesoparkovaya Street, 1. The cinema is a parking lot for 30 cars. Films are shown on a huge inflatable screen. Cinema guests hear what is happening in the film through their own radio. The drive-in cinema is open daily, so for those who don’t know where to go in Syktyvkar, today you can safely go to watch a movie.
The oldest operating cinema in the city is the Oktyabr cinema. The first film show was held in 1954. Here you can not only watch the premiere of a big-budget film, but also have a good time. Every Saturday and Sunday, the cinema hosts entertaining evenings, various meetings and dances, and you can even listen to jazz. The weekend program at the cinema is always varied and interesting, so the problem of where to go in Syktyvkar on the weekend should not arise.
In the Parma shopping center, after a shopping trip, you can relax in the Rublion Cinema cinema. On the third floor of the shopping and entertainment center there are six spacious cinema halls. An interesting thing is that each cinema hall is named after the cities of the Komi Republic.
Things to do
See Russian Stonehenge
Manpupuner is translated from the Mansi language as a small mountain of idols; it is often compared to the English Stonehenge. The plateau is located on the territory of the Pechora-Ilychsky Nature Reserve and consists of seven weathering pillars. Each is the height of a 10-story building, 30-40 meters. About 200 million years ago there was a whole mountain range here, but gradually the rock collapsed due to weathering. Only parts of it have survived - in the form of pillars. At the end of the last century, UNESCO included the virgin forests of Komi, and with them the Manpupuner ridge, on the World Heritage List. And in 2007, according to the results of a popular vote, Russian Stonehenge was added to the list of wonders of Russia.
People go to the plateau from February 1 to March 31 and from June 15 to September 15. There are several ways to get to the pillars. Prepared tourists go skiing or walking. An easier option is by helicopter. For comparison: walking - 4 days, flying - 3 hours.
How to get there: Helicopter tour costs from 30,000 rubles per person. Start in the city of Troitsko-Pechorsk. You can get there from Syktyvkar by bus or through a travel companion search service. Travel time is 6-7 hours, the cost of the trip is about 1000 rubles*.
Where to stay: To visit the Pechora-Ilychsky Nature Reserve you will have to pay 300 rubles* per person, the pass can be issued on the park’s website. You cannot be on the territory without a guide. The reserve staff organizes excursions costing from 280 to 1000 rubles*. You can spend the night on the plateau. A place in a guest house for one night costs 2,300 rubles*.
Learn to bake shangi and paint with oil
In the village of Yb near Syktyvkar, which the locals call “Ybitsa,” there is a Finno-Ugric ethnopark. The cultural heritage of 24 related Finno-Ugric peoples is presented here: Finns, Hungarians, Komi-Zyryans, Mansi, Karelians.
On the territory of the ethnopark there is a Komi farmstead, a rope park, and a moose farm. Tourists are introduced to traditional crafts: they learn how to bake shangi (the so-called baked goods common in the Russian North), paint with oil, make a musical instrument from hogweed, a rag doll-amulet, and products from birch bark. Activities vary depending on the time of year.
Also on the territory there is an unusual museum of oil art “Chutskoye Oil”. According to the creators, this is the first museum of its kind in the world. There are paintings by artists who use oil, oil waste and gas condensate in their works.
The ethnopark is known as the site of the gastrofestival of Finno-Ugric peoples “ShangaFest”. The main dish of the holiday is shangi: with cottage cheese, potatoes, berries. In addition to baked goods, they offer national dishes: Komi-style cabbage (boiled cabbage, traditionally it was pickled in a trough, but now it’s simply in jars with anise and dill seeds); azya shyd, or pea and pearl barley soup, which is cooked with sour cream and soaked black bread; yukva, or ear; various fish and a national holiday drink - sur, an analogue of beer. If you can’t get to ShangaFest itself, you can stop by the local restaurant Finnougria. National cuisine is served there all year round. Take milk mushrooms, deer tongue, salmon Komi style and salad with radish.
How to get there: Bus No. 514 runs from the city bus station to the ethnopark. The ride takes 50 minutes, the ticket costs 90 rubles, sold at the suburban ticket office and on the Komiavtotrans website. A taxi will cost 1000 rubles*.
Watch how Vorkuta dies
Photo: Anna Krivitskaya / Shutterstock.com
Vorkuta is the easternmost city in Europe, located beyond the Arctic Circle. Winter here lasts 8 months a year, and summer can be hot. Unlike Syktyvkar, Vorkuta has been heard of in the rest of Russia and even abroad. This fame is rather sad and is associated with the creation in 1938 of Vorkutlag - one of the largest Gulag camps, which existed until 1960. You can learn more about that time at the historical and geological museum “City in the North of Russia”. It is located in the City Recreation and Tourism Center. The museum's exposition is dedicated to the history of Vorkutlag, Vorkuta and neighboring villages. Entrance to the museum is free.
How to get there
Vorkuta is located 900 kilometers from Syktyvkar. There is no road there. It takes 24 hours to travel by train from Syktyvkar; a one-way ticket costs from 2,000 rubles*. There is a direct train from Moscow to Vorkuta, the travel time is almost two days. Along the way, you can see from the window the main cities of Komi - Ukhta, Sosnogorsk, Pechora, Inta.
A faster and more convenient way to get to Vorkuta is by plane. A direct flight from Moscow will cost you 25,000 rubles per person round trip, from Syktyvkar - 9,900 rubles*.
View flights
City parks
A great place to go in Syktyvkar is the Ezhva Culture and Recreation Park. This is a huge area with a large number of pedestrian paths and platforms. The park hosts various city events, there is a stage and a rope park. 50% of the park's territory is green. The park itself is divided into two zones: entertainment and quiet relaxation, where you can have a nice time with your family and organize a picnic.