When the world was already created it seems that Ms. Nature felt a creative urge. It is a pity that no one will ever suspect the fantasies required of her. And then she created Kamchatka. It is not our job to judge how real this legend is. But all serious scientists and researchers during the last couple of centuries who have worked on Kamchatka research agree about one thing: this peninsula is a unique ecological museum under the open sky created as a gift to humanity.
Everybody falls in love with Kamchatka, that is self-evident. It is useless to argue with this fact. All Kamchatka's inhabitants, those who was born on the shoes of the Pacific, or in the reindeer tundra, as well as those who came here from the other parts of Russia, love this land unreservedly. They cannot imagin their livinf without snow-capped mountains, steely ocean distances, hot natural baths and the best in the world water. Kamchatka's magnetism is also known to the guests of the peninsula: tourists, businessmen, missionaries. Those who once set foot on its hot land, crane for coming here again and again and are sure to remember this land forever.

Traditionally under this name the Kamchatka Peninsula and the closest part of the continent are united, including Karaginski Island and the Komandorski Archipelago. The place of their location is the far north-east of the Eurasian continent. Here is the map of Kamchatka before you.
Kamchatka stretches for a handshake with North America/Japan and all countries of the Pacific region. It is the first in Russia to meet the morning of the new day and tells its foreign neighbors, "Hi, let's be friends!"

Kamchatka is one of the poorely-inhabited regions of our country. January 1, 2002 its population was 380,200 people. The population is unevently distributed. Most of people reside in the towns, and on the Kamchatka and Avacha rivers valleys. The average density is low: less than 1 man per 1 sq.km. The passenger carriagers to the continent and within Kamchatka are mainly provided by aviation. Bus communication only:
- Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky - v.Ust-Bolsheretsk
- Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky - v.Milkovo
- Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky - v.Esso
We shouldn't confuse Kamchatka with Siberia; it is a very independent maritime country. In the west the peninsula is bordered by the Okhotsk Sea, which has a very questionable reputation as the world's refrigerator. In the east it is bordered by the not much more "gentle" Pacific Ocean and Bering Sea. But the territory of Kamchatka is large: 1200 km in length, 450 km in width in the peninsula part. Altogether Kamchatka could easily include three European countries: France, Belgium, and Luxembourg. The mountainous ridges - Seredinny, Valaginsky, Ganalsky, and Kumroch - stretch from the north to the south giving the peninsula the shape of a giant fish. Volcanoes and volcanic peaks; cyclones, and underground heat created on the territory of the peninsula a mixture of twenty climate zones which are separated from each other sometimes only by a few hours of driving or even walking.

In any case tourists who decide to .travel through Kamchatka should prepare themselves for weather surprises and bring an unusual selection of clothing. For example, at the end of June in the north of the peninsula you will walk on snow. In the east during a single day you can really experience midsummer heat and fall rain. At the same time, in the central parts of the peninsula you will be charmed by summer warmth blossoming bird cherry trees and high meadows and grass.
In Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky during a walk on the Avachinskaya Bay you will be freshened by a sea breeze. Lovers of mountain skiing will find exotic runs here and will acquire a beautiful suntan. So please pack in your suitcase everything from a swimsuit to a warm jacket for all seasons and their pleasures. In the description of the winter travel in Kamchatka one of the popular topics is blizzards. We need to admit that those blizzards are really for lovers of all sensations, people who would like to test themselves as penguins -for snow and wind. Well Kamchatka gives you sun no less generously than snowstorms. Compare the average amounts of sun hours in most popular resorts. There are about 160 dormant and 29 active volcanoes. This peninsula has all its unique characteristics due to these volcanoes. Billions of years ago when life was in the process of creation, the atmosphere looked like smog from the volcanic smoke holes through which the Earth "breathed/ today's seas looked life acidic crater lakes. Fire and ice, the action of boiling hot springs and waterfalls, blossoming meadows in the middle of snow and ensembles of stone sculptures created by the volcanic eruptions. Only after seeing all of this in reality can we understand what colors and what brilliant beauty the Earth hid from us after it became old and civilized. But don't we, its in habitants, have the same fate?

A land such as that! Kamchatka is enigmatic like a woman, that is why it is everloved. It can be different: tender and severe, sunny-glittering and dark-foggy, emerald snowy, but always attractive and alluring.
Hurry up to rendezvous with Kamchatka!