Tyumen and Tobolsk Tour6 Days | Tyumen, Tobolsk

After breakfast, check out of the hotel and transfer to Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport to take the 09:40 flight to Tyumen (1,711 km, 2h50min). Upon arrival at 14:40 in Tyumen, meet your driver and transfer to the hotel. After check-in and a break for lunch (not included in the tour price), take a sightseeing tour of Tyumen, the first Russian settlement in Siberia. The tour starts from the Historical Square, where, in 1586, a Russian fortress was built on the site of the Tatar town, Chingi-Tura. See the stone monument with an inscription to the founders of Tyumen and a cross in honour of Ataman Yermak, who began Russia’s conquest of Siberia. Discover Lenin Street, Tyumen’s oldest street, and drive to Memory Square, a monument to more than 6,500 Tyumen residents who died in World War II. Continue to Republic Street, which was an integral part of the old Siberian highway and saw thousands of convicts going to hard labour or into exile. As you drive along Republic Street, see Tekutyevsky Boulevard, the Tyumen Drama Theatre, the Central Square, and the Tyumen Industrial University. Begin the walking part of the excursion at the Znamensky Cathedral, with its impressive white-azure façade, and then visit the Square of the Fighters of the Revolution. Continue to the only four-level embankment in Russia and the famous Lovers' Pedestrian Bridge. Then drive to the Holy Trinity Monastery, the oldest in the Trans-Urals, which was founded in 1606. After touring the monastery, visit the Estate and Trading house of I.P. Kolokolnikov and Sons, a famous merchant dynasty that made a significant contribution to Tyumen’s history. Free time in the evening. Overnight at the hotel.
Duration of sightseeing tour: 3 hours

During your free time, we offer the following optional activities (at additional cost):
Evening sightseeing tour, “Tyumen from a height”, to enjoy night-time views of the city from its highest building;
Visit to the thermal mineral springs;
Visit to the I. Ya. Slovtsova Museum Complex;
Visit to the Museum of History and Science of the Trans-Urals.

After breakfast, meet your guide and drive to the Archaeological Museum-Reserve on the picturesque Lake Andreevskoe (27 km, 45 min). Explore the reserve’s unique collection of archaeological monuments, including fortified settlements, unfortified settlements, burial grounds, and sanctuaries with religious objects from the Stone Age to the Middle Ages. Continue to the Camp of the Indigenous Peoples of the North, where you’ll discover the traditional way of life of the Khanty and Nenets peoples. See their chums (traditional dwellings), clothes and shoes, sledges and oblases (traditional rowing boats), and much more. Afterwards, return to Tyumen. In the afternoon, take a walking tour of the old part of the city, the merchant quarter. Discover Tyumen’s rich history and heritage in its architecture: attractive 19th century merchant mansions decorated with rich wood carvings, and several monasteries and churches in the classical style. End the day with a visit to the family workshop of the restorer Svyatoslav Shitov, who has been involved in restoring Tyumen’s wooden monuments for many years. Learn about the development of carving in Tyumen and the meanings of the patterns used, and then participate in a master class to make a wooden toy. Free time in the evening. Overnight at the hotel.
Duration of sightseeing tour (excluding transfers): 6 hours

After breakfast, check-out of the hotel and drive to the Tsarskaya Pristan Museum. The collections of this private museum include objects related to the Romanov family and the history of Siberian shipping. Transfer to the village of Pokrovskoye (86 km, 1h30min), the birthplace of the infamous Grigory Rasputin, a peasant who became a close friend of the family of Emperor Nicholas II. Visit the House-Museum of G.E. Rasputin to learn more about this mysterious person and see some of the family’s personal belongings, original photographs, and Rasputin's personal notes. After lunch at a local café, transfer to Tobolsk (160 km, 2h30min). Founded in 1587 as a centre for the development of Siberia, Tobolsk was the first place in Siberia to be granted city status. It was then chosen as the place of exile for Nicholas II after he abdicated in March 1917 and spent several months under house-arrest near St. Petersburg. The Tsar and his family arrived in Tobolsk in August 1917 and, from then until April 1918, lived on the 2nd floor of the Governor's House. Today, this building is home to the Family of Emperor Nicholas II Museum, which hosts a unique range of items including some of the royal family’s belongings and objects produced by the suppliers of the imperial court. After visiting the museum, transfer to your hotel for check-in. Free time. Overnight at the hotel.
Duration of sightseeing tour (excluding transfers): 5 hours

After breakfast, take a sightseeing tour of Tobolsk, which used to be the capital of Siberia. Tobolsk has a fascinating history as a stronghold of Orthodoxy in a pagan and Muslim environment. Your tour starts at the Tobolsk Kremlin (closed on Mondays), the only stone kremlin in Siberia. Explore the Kremlin’s unique architectural complex, including the oldest stone building in Siberia, the Sophia-Assumption Cathedral. See the 75-metre-high Cathedral Bell Tower and various other buildings including the Sofia Courtyard, Prikaznaya Chamber, Bishops’ House, Rentereya (the place where the provincial treasury is kept), Winter Intercession Cathedral, and Viceroy Palace. Then visit the Prison Castle, which, until 1989, housed one of Russia’s strictest prisons. Today, it is the Museum of Siberian Penal Servitude and Exile. Leave the Kremlin and visit the Museum of the Governor's Palace to see the exhibition on the history of the history of governance in Siberia from the 17th century to the 1917 revolution. End the tour at the Tobolsk bone carving factory, the only operating enterprise of its type in Russia. Today, the factory employs 60 carvers that produce individual, unique, hand-made ornamental and jewellery products related to indigenous culture, wildlife, and many other subjects. If you wish, you may buy a souvenir in the factory’s shop. Return to the hotel. Free time in the evening. Overnight at the hotel.
Duration of sightseeing tour: 4-5 hours

During your free time, we offer the following optional activities (at additional cost):
Visit the interactive open-air museum “Posad of Siberian Old-Timers” (summer only).

After breakfast, check out of the hotel and drive to Abalak (30 km, 35 min). Visit the Abalak Tourist Complex, a reconstruction of a Siberian fort at the time of the conquest of Siberia by the Cossacks of Yermak Timofeevich. Continue to the Abalaksky Holy Svyato-Znamensky Monastery, one of the oldest monasteries of the Tobolsk diocese, a place of pilgrimage to the miraculous icon of the Abalak Mother of God. After visiting both sights, return to Tyumen (250 km, 3h40min) and check in to the hotel. Free time in the evening. Overnight at the hotel.
Duration of sightseeing tour: 3-4 hours

During your free time, we offer the following optional activities (at additional cost):
Visit to the thermal mineral springs.

Check-out of the hotel early in the morning and transfer to the airport. Departure. End of Tyumen and Tobolsk Tour.