The Permafrost Kingdom is a tourist complex burrowed into the frozen hillside outside the city. Visitors are issued thick fur coats at the entrance and led through a series of tunnels and chambers filled with ice sculptures — figures from Yakut mythology, frozen thrones, a bar where vodka glasses are made of ice.
It is touristy, but it is also one of the few places where you can actually walk into permafrost and see the seams of clear ice that have been there for thousands of years. The whole complex sits within a few kilometres of central Yakutsk and is an easy half-day trip in any season.