Russia Altai Mountain

A travel to this mountain is a right choice if you desire for romantic moment…The view is eye-catchy and romance comes along the way. Even the beautiful Japanese
artist, Erika Sawajiri (her famous drama was 1 Litre of Tears) was proposed by her boyfriend here.

The Altai Mountains of are situated in southwestern Siberia near the Mongolian border. The range expands into China and Mongolia, but we will describe them in the context of Siberia and Kazakhstan where their greatest rivers are located. Altay Mountains are truly one of the nature's most marvelous gems, amazing by its diversity and beauty.

Altay is a land where myths and legends are incarnated into reality. It's one of those rare corners on the Earth where Nature decided to show everything it was capable of. Broad and boundless views of steppes, luxuriant varieties of taiga thickets, modest charm of deserts, severe splendor of snowy peaks, laconic beauty of tundra - the diversity of landscapes here is so rich. There are great rivers in these mountains, too.

The largest and most interesting for rafting are the Katun', Argut, Bashkaus, Chulyshman, Chuya, Shavla, and Chulcha rivers. Most of them have steep gradients as they bend their way through the mountains. If you want to find the nearest towns, I recommend you to go to Barnaul, which is 300 km far from Altay. It is a beautiful nice provincial town, which surprises with availability of good-quality accommodation ($3/night for western-style shared room!), original restaurants, and friendly people. Also, most Altay tour operators base in Barnaul, so it's a practical place to start your trip.

Novosibirsk (around 600 km far), which is located on Trans-Siberian railway, can also be a good starting point.
The most convenient way to get to Altay is to take a plane from Moscow to Barnaul (from $230 return, 4 hours flight) and then take a bus or personal mini-bus to Gorno-Altaisk.

The cheapest way to get to Altai area is to take a train from Moscow to Novosibirsk (from $70 one way), then take a train to Biysk (through Barnaul - about 370 km and $5 one way), then take a car or a bus (cheap) to Gorno-Altaisk (just at the beginning of Altai mountains) and further - take local buses to Altai mountains along Chuisky Trakt (the auto-road that goes through Altay to Mongolia).