Kamchatka is the eastern outpost of Russia, a land of volcanoes and bears, a pristine nature, practically untouched by man. I think now is the best time to travel around Russia and explore its corners. It is a sight to behold! We love active recreation, hiking, and road trips. It was felt like to see something completely new and unusual, so we chose Kamchatka.
We traveled together with my future wife. We organized the trip independently: we booked flights and accommodation six months in advance. We cooked at home. We booked a car on site for four days. For trips to volcanoes, we booked excursions with guides in advance. I would not recommend hiking in Kamchatka unaccompanied due to the high risk of encountering a brown bear. Our trip took exactly two weeks, from July 14 to July 29, 2023.
Aeroflot airlınes offers regular flights to Kamchatka from Moscow. Our plane took off from Moscow on Friday at 22:10. We arrived in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky the next day at 15:30. The flight lasted a little over 8 hours, but they passed unnoticed. The time difference with Moscow was +9 hours.
We flew back on Saturday at 16:00 and returned to Moscow exactly at the same time. This is the magic with time zones and time.
A round trip flight for two cost 56 thousand rubles.
In Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky we rented a one-room apartment for two weeks for 50 thousand rubles. We bought food at the market and in stores, and cooked at home themselves. For fish lovers there is plenty: a kilogram of fresh salmon costs only 50 rubles. Vegetables and fruits are expensive and not the freshest. A kilogram of tomatoes cost 500 rubles, and a kilogram of strawberries cost about 800 rubles.
To move around the city, you can use the Yandex Taxi services. The average price is about 200 rubles per trip.

In Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky we rented a car. In Kamchatka, companies set restrictions on routes. Destinations free of restrictions, routes with prior approval and additional payment option, and even places strictly forbidden for visiting are available. This is associated with safety and the risk of the car loss. To get to the most interesting locations, you need to walk along dirty and forest roads with big holes or along the bed of a dried mountain river. Moreover there is generally no mobile communication in such places.
If you decide to get Klyuchevskaya Sopka, there will be 250 ­kilometers of dirty road, so the risk of puncturing your tires is very high. Therefore, in Kamchatka I recommend to rent cars with reinforced tires and high ground clearance.
The price for car rental varies from 4 to 10 thousand rubles per day, depending on the type of car and permitted travel zone.
We rented a Mitsubishi Pajero for four days - with the maximum permitted travel zone, 4x4 drive and reinforced tires. Additionally, we rented a simple apartment on the way to spend the night in villages along the route, and prepared our own meals. We drove almost two thousand kilometers and visited Klyuchi, Esso, observed Klyuchevskaya Sopka, Plosky Tolbachik, Shiveluch, pulled into the coast of the Okhotskoye Sea, Khalaktyrsky Beach on the Pacific Ocean with black volcanic sand and Cape Mayachny. We traveled around almost all main roads of the Kamchatka Territory.
Excursions to volcanoes cost about 4 thousand rubles per person. We were gathered in groups of 20–30 tourists, after we boarded a shift bus and, together with two or three local guides, went to the volcanoes. So we climbed the Gorely and Avachinsky volcanoes.
It is also interesting to see Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky itself, which is located on the hills, to visit the Volcanarium Museum and Kamchatka Regional United Museum.
Residents of Kamchatka are open heart and kind, they love nature and their land very much. Khalaktyrsky Beach, is the territory for surfing where young guys thrill from fighting the power of nature.
In general, Kamchatka is perfect for a native active holidays. It's quite cold in July for swimming. It is the cleanest air, Martian landscapes and fantastic views of volcanoes: in Kamchatka volcanoes are active and throwing out ash and lava. It is fishing, which is you cannot experience anywhere else in the world, with caviar in buckets and thermal baths. As for prices, the trip is quite comparable with other destinations, and you can organize a budget route, similar in cost to Sochi tour. Visit Kamchatka! It is waiting for you!