North Asia

10 curated road trips

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  IconicAltai Mountains and Chuysky Trakt Extended LoopRussia · 1,150 km · 7-10 daysThis extended Altai road trip follows the legendary Chuysky Trakt from Biysk into a high-country loop through river valleys, steppe, and glacier-carved peaks. Expect sweeping passes, turquoise rivers, nomad landscapes, and classic stopovers around Chemal, Onguday, Kosh-Agach, and the Ukok-facing southern Altai.
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  NotableArctic Yamal and Salekhard RouteRussia · 330 km · 2-3 daysThis Arctic road trip follows the Ob River to Salekhard, the world’s only city on the Arctic Circle, then continues toward the Yamal Peninsula gateway at Labytnangi. Expect tundra horizons, river crossings, permafrost landscapes, and a strong sense of remoteness in a region shaped by ice and industry.
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  LegendaryChuya HighwayRussia · 970 km · 5–8 daysRussia's most beautiful road descends from the Siberian plains into the Altai Republic's sacred mountains, past petroglyphs, turquoise rivers, Buddhist and shamanic shrines, and the permanent snow of the Chuya steppe, to the Mongolian border plateau where Central Asia begins.
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  LegendaryKamchatka Volcano RoadRussia · 800 km · 7–10 daysRussia's most spectacular peninsula, a chain of 29 active volcanoes above the Pacific where the roads end and wilderness begins. The circuit from Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky delivers steaming calderas, geysers, and brown bears fishing salmon streams in plain sight from the roadside.
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  LegendaryLake Baikal CircuitRussia · 2,200 km · 10–14 daysThe world's deepest and oldest lake holds one-fifth of Earth's unfrozen fresh water, the circuit around its shores passes through taiga wilderness, shamanic sacred sites on Olkhon Island, the Buryat Buddhist capital of Ulan-Ude, and in winter, a road on the ice itself.
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  LegendaryMagadan to Yakutsk Road of BonesRussia · 2,000 km · 7-10 daysThe Road of Bones links Magadan with Yakutsk across one of the harshest inhabited landscapes on Earth, following the old Kolyma Highway through taiga, river valleys, and permafrost country. Expect long empty stretches, rough surfaces, and a raw sense of isolation that makes every settlement feel like an outpost.
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  LegendaryRoad of BonesRussia · 2,032 km · 10–16 daysBuilt by Gulag prisoners between 1932 and 1953 through the most extreme landscape on Earth, the Kolyma Highway from Magadan to Yakutsk passes through permafrost wilderness, gold-mining ghost towns, and the Pole of Cold at Oymyakon, where temperatures have reached −71°C.
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  NotableSakhalin Island North-South DriveRussia · 870 km · 7-10 daysThis island-spanning drive follows Sakhalin’s length from the southern capital of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk to remote northern settlements near Nogliki, tracing forested ridges, river valleys, and the Sea of Okhotsk coast. It is a wild, sparsely serviced route that rewards summer travel with long daylight and dramatic empty landscapes.
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  IconicThe Great Siberian RoadRussia · 3,800 km · 14–21 daysThe road that nobody drives but everybody dreams about, the eastern segment of Russia's Federal Highway from Chita to the Pacific at Vladivostok traverses the Amur taiga, the Chinese border, and Russia's extraordinary Far East, ending at the city where Russia finally meets the sea.
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  NotableYakutsk to Lena PillarsRussia · 200 km · 1-2 daysThis out-and-back road trip leaves Yakutsk on the Lena Highway corridor toward the western bank of the Lena River, ending at the launch point for Lena Pillars. The drive is a stark Siberian journey through taiga, river valleys, and remote settlement country before a boat transfer to the sandstone cliffs.