The Krasnoyarsk region (Krasnoyarsky krai) is the second-largest federal subject of Russia, stretching from the steppes of southern Siberia all the way to the Arctic Ocean. The Yenisey, one of the world's longest rivers, runs straight through the middle of it, carving a path through boreal forest, tundra, and remote indigenous settlements. Most visitors see little more than the city of Krasnoyarsk itself, but the region beyond the city is spectacular and barely visited.
The most extraordinary landscape is the Putorana Plateau in the far north, a vast elevated basalt plain east of Norilsk, riddled with lakes, rivers, and one of Russia's highest waterfalls. Getting there requires a serious expedition — charter flights or helicopters from Norilsk — but the plateau is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the wildest terrain in Siberia. Closer to hand, the Stolby Nature Reserve on the edge of Krasnoyarsk city is famous for its bizarre pillar-shaped rock formations, a training ground for Russian climbers for over a century.
The historic city of Yeniseisk, founded in 1619, is one of the oldest in Siberia and preserves a remarkable collection of Russian Orthodox churches and merchant architecture largely untouched. A steamship journey down the Yenisey from Krasnoyarsk to Dudinka in the north is one of the great Russian river trips — several days of taiga, tundra, and indigenous river communities scrolling past the bow.
Europe > Russia > Krasnoyarsk Region
