Primorski Krai

Travel Arrangements

Korean air offers twice a week flights from Seoul, Korea to Vladivostok on Saturdays and Tuesdays. Vlad Air offers flights arrangements from Seoul to Vladivostok on Wednesdays and Fridays. There are also flights from Vladivostok on Fridays and Mondays from Niigata, Japan on Vladavia.

There is also transportation by ship from Fushiki, Japan to Vladivostok and vice versa. For information please go to www.euras.co.jp/en/ship.html

Tourism Infrastructure

Even though Vladivostok was not opened until 1992 it has caught up very fast on infrastructure. Travelers who want to see Russia, but who are not quite ready to take on Russian standards of living, will be very surprised by the presently available accommodations. There are also a number of sightseeing opportunities right in town that make the city an interesting place to visit for at least a few days. Vladivostok is a city for walking and one of the best way to get acquainted with it is a walking tour as on Maria Lebedko's Site: www.wsulibs.wsu.edu/vladivostok/

As presently Vladivostok is the major attraction in the Primorski Krai and is close to China there is a major cross border tourism exchange and the city for months now has been filled to capacity with tourists. It is very difficult to find inexpensive hotel space. These travelers are, however, mostly interested in shopping. So the more scenic areas of the Primorskiy Krai are not part of their itinerary. Partly this is due because of lack of visibility and infrastructure. While there is an interest by the foreign traveler, tourism companies are hard pressed to pull a tour together with a one or two person capacity. There are, however, plenty of one to two day tours available around the territory of Vladivostok to the nearby islands, the Far Eastern Marine and Kedrovaya Pad preserves, beautiful places.

Accommodations

The Hyandai Hotel was opened only two years ago. Build by a Korean company, it is the most western hotel in Far East Russia. Rooms are large and have all western style amenities, such as satellite telephones. The hotel has a large pool, sauna and fitness center, a business center, and three restaurants. It is located not far from downtown.

The Hotel Versailles was rebuild in 1993 on the same place as the original hotel was situated. It is also located close to downtown. The Versailles has a beautiful lobby currently filled with art from local artists. There is also a very good souvenir shop. The hotel offers 43 single, doubles and suites, all with modern conveniences. The rooms are fairly small, but air-conditioned. The restaurant is beautiful and serves good meals all day long, there is also a casino and bar.

The Acfes Soyuz Hotel is located on the way to the airport on the outskirts of town. This was one of the first western style hotels, as was the Hotel Gavan in the port district. Rooms are different sizes and have all western conveniences. There is a restaurant, bar and business center with e-mail and internet access. This is a favorite hotel of the Japanese and it is not easy to get rooms in the summer.

The Hotel Gavan is located in the port district. The hotel offers small rooms with all western conveniences, but the rooms need renovation. There is a swimming pool, sauna and fitness center in the hotel, restaurant and bar. Breakfast is included in the room rate. The English speaking staff is extremely helpful.

The Vlad Motor Inn is located on the way to the airport about half an hour from downtown. The hotel was build by Canadians from prefabricated units. The rooms are large and offer western comforts. The hotel is situated in one of the most beautiful areas of Vladivostok. The hotel has a famous restaurant serving western style food, especially large steaks, which are imported from Canada.

The Hotel Vladivostok has been renovated and offers a good choice for those on a budget. The hotel is centrally located, has a couple of restaurants and an espresso bar serving latte's. There are different types of rooms on the 4th, 9th and 10th floor, which are a bit more expensive but are certainly worth paying the prices. The hotel is usually completely filled during the summer months.

There are various other Russian hotels with similar rates as the Hotel Vladivostok. However, it is almost impossible to find rooms in these hotels during the summer months.

Travel Logistics Regional

Vladivostok is connected to Khabarovsk and other cities of Eastern Russia and Siberia by rail. Aeroflot has daily flights to and from Moscow and St. Petersburg and other larger cities in western Russia Other flight destinations, which can be reached from Vladivostok, are Irkutsk, Magadan, Yakutsk, Yuzhno Sakhalinsk, Petropavlovsk and others.

There are some irregular scheduled cruises alongside the Primorsky coast from time to time, which access some of the far eastern nature preserves such as Lazovsky and Sikhote Alyn.

Weather

In general the Primorskiy Territory is monsoon territory. Winters are relatively mild, from -10/15 degrees C) and summer temperatures can be quite high from 18024 degrees C. Thee is much rain in Spring and the early months of summer. The best tiem to visit the Primorskiy Krai is during August/September.

Geography

The Primorski Krai is located in the southern part of the Russian Far East. In the north it is bordered by the Khabarovski Krai, in the east by the Sea of Japan and in the west by China and southwest by North Korea. The population of 2,500,000 live mostly in the south and southwestern areas.

The Sikhote-Alin mountain range covers most of the territory from the southwest to the northeast. The mountains rise to a height of 1,855 m. Rivers on the western side of these mountains flow into the Ussuri River, a major tributary of the Amur River. The Sea of Japan washes the eastern coast, which has estuaries and lagoons, beautiful beaches and a diversity of marine and wildlife.

Climate

The climate of the region is typically monsoonal. Winter is short but frosty with average temperatures in January ranging from -12/-14C and inland from -20/-27C. Summer is mostly foggy and rainy; usually 90 percent of the rainfall occurs during summer. August is the warmest month in the southern part of the territory. Mid October is usually the most beautiful month when a lush variety of colors is combined with calm, dry and sunny weather.

History

According to archeological data, the first inhabitants of the Primorski Krai were the Paleoasiatic and Tungus ancestors. The descendants of the Tungus speaking tribes are still living in the Primorski Krai. For many centuries the rich lands of the Primorski Krai were not cultivated, as hunting and fishing were the main occupations of the inhabitants. Russians who entered the territory in the 17th century therefore found a primitive society.

In the 18th and first half of the 19th century the land of the Primorski Krai actually did not belong to any one. The land was considered neutral territory. But in 1860 the Peking treaties awarded the territory to Russia. It took the Primorski Krai almost half a century to enter into the all-Russian economic and cultural programs and to establish close contacts with the Asia Pacific region.

It was really Vladivostok as a trading port which took the helm of the economic development. Located on the Golden Horn Bay, a natural deep harbor and warm water port, it was really situated to serve as the link between the Orient and western Russia. Foreign companies Kunst and Albers (German), the Smith Brothers, Cooper (American) and De Frize (Dutch) established headquarters in the city and their business flourished. Between 1890 and 1904 Vladivostok thrived both on a cultural as well as trading level.

Vladivostok's international trade came to a halt during the Russo-Japanese war of 1904-1905. Russia was soundly defeated and had to sign a peace treaty with the Japanese ceding Port Arthur and the southern half of Sakhalin. However, this event was also Vladivostok's gain as it became the leading port of the area. The Soviet era ended all that and Vladivostok became a closed city, a fortress as it had been before.

In 1992 the city opened once more to the world. Presently the Primorski Krai and Vladivostok are prospering in spite of their well known difficulties. Vladivostok is an exciting city. Its cultural past is evident in its buildings, parks and monuments. Newly found creativity has turned the city into a Mecca for artists and there are galleries everywhere.

Infrastructure is still limited, roads are in bad condition, but the energetic pulse of the Primorski Krai inhabitants is evident everywhere.

Native cultures

The Primorski Krai is the historical birth place of many native tribes who belong to the Tungus-Manchu group, such as the Udege, Nanai and Oroches, whose forefathers pioneered the territory since the Paleolithic.

Another small group, the Taz, represent intermarriage in the middle of the 19th century of native women and Chinese men. They live in Mikhailovka village in the Olginsky region.

Today the Udege, Nanai and Oroche inhabit the river banks of the Ussury, Bolshaya Ussurka, the Bikin watershed and Samarga Rivers. Traditional indigenous economic activities include hunting, fishing and gathering of non timber forest product.

Krasniy Yar and Olon (Pozharskiy District) and Agzu (Terneiskiy District) carry the title of National Villages, because of the high percentage of indigenous people living there and because the communities are centers for traditional, cultural and economic activities of the krai's indigenous people.

Ecology/Environment

The main part of the Primorski Krai is occupied by the Sikhote Alin Mountains, a biospheric reserve. It is located in the Territory of the Krasnoarmeysky and Terneysky Territory. The upper alpine belt is covered with tundra and dwarf Siberian pine and low bushes. Below this, creeping cedar, being substituted in the south by Microbiota and then changing into the belt of hard birch forest. Below this the forest vegetation begins, which in the north is Ayan fir and white spruce, and in the south black fir and cedar broad-leaved forest.

There are 340 bird species, the most common of which are the nuthatch, the nutcracker, the jay, the rarest Mandarin duck, fish duck and the Siberian spruce grouse.

Many of the species and forms of vegetation of the Primorski Krai are not found anywhere else in Russia. Some of them are ancient, originating from the Tertiary Period, such as the Kedrovaya Pad Nature Preserve. Ancient species such as yew, willow, cork, aralia, ginseng, limmonik, dimorphant and various species of fern are well known. In the Khasansky District in the far south, there are up to one hundred species of rare and endangered plants. These include the Manchurian apricot, actinidia, Japanese arizema, several species of bashmak, ginseng, etc.

In order to secure protection and preservation of their unique nature, a whole system of protected territories was formed. It includes six reserves, five national parks, twelve Zakazniks (territories of limited nature use) and 300 nature memorials.

The Ussurisky Reserve, originated in 1932, is one of the oldest in the Far East. Its chief treasure, a massif old virgin vine-coniferous broad-leaved forest, is practically extinct in the rest of Russia and abroad. There are at least fifteen rare and endangered plants and sixty-two species of terrestrial mammals.

The Lazovksy Reserve is probably the most diverse. It is located between the Kievka and Kedrovya rivers. The main species here is the endangered tiger of which only fourteen adults and six youngsters are left. The orchid family is also represented in the preserve. The small Petrov island, where the flora species are mostly concentrated, is called the Natural Arboretum.

Nature Reserves

• Kedrovaya Pad
• Khasan
• Lazovsky
• Khankaisky

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