poperechnoe in December

[Peregrinations]

With the risk of sounding mildly insane, is it possible to stay in Poperechnoe village in mid December? Or are all the homestays shut down?

Cheers

[steven]

I think it's a great idea and you will have a great time. Really unique to go there in winter. I could be wrong but it should be possible to stay there. It's very low-tourism at the best of times so everything is custom organised.

But do bring a hat.

If Poperechnoe is not possible, Urunkhaika is a popular place for ice fishing in winter. Should be awesome, in the original sense of the word, to spend some time there in winter.

[Peregrinations]

Thanks for the reply and encouragement. We just got to Ridder. I bought myself a pair of valenki and am having a grand old time.

Any idea how I could go about custom organizing such a stay? I asked the front desk at Hotel Altai but they seemed a bit clueless (they said they would keep looking for us). It being rather cold, I'm not to keen to just show up, unless that is a viable option?

Cheers!

[steven]

We organise everything in Poperechnoe through Valeriya: https://caravanistan.com/tour_operator/valeriya/

She will need some money from you to organise it, though. If nothing else, at least you can quickly ask if it is a possibility.

Hope this reaches you on time!

[Peregrinations]

Didn't see your message by the time we headed out, but we found a solution.

We found a tour company in Ridder called Ridder.Camp whose office we walked by on the street. (Instagram: @ridder.camp WhatsApp: +7 776 719 0424). It is run by a very nice young local couple, one of which speaks excellent English. They responded super quick online. They run tours mainly in the summer for camping, jeep touring, etc. I would recommend checking them out!

They set us up with a fantastic guesthouse in Poperechnoe for three nights, with transportation to and from Ridder. With onside banya and all meals included, the price for two people with transportation was 190,000 T. Afterwards, we mentioned we were going on to Oskemen, and they drove us the rest of the way for 6000T more, and took us out to lunch.

Despite the freezing temperatures we had a great time in the village, with great hospitality of our hosts and the villagers.

[steven]

Great to read that!