Europe >> Russia >> Siberia >> Western Siberia >> Khakassia

Khakassia is a region in Western Siberia, which borders Altai Republic to the southwest, Kemerovo Oblast to the west, Krasnoyarsk Krai to the north and east and Tuva to the southeast.

Regions

Cities

  • Abakan — Khakassia's only real "city" and the regional capital
  • Abaza — the most important town in southern Khakassia, near the Tuvan border
  • Chernogorsk — Second largest population center and location of former gulag
  • Sayanogorsk — an extraordinarily polluted alluminum smelting town
  • Shira — a village near the salty Lake Shira, home to an old Soviet health spa
  • Sorsk

Other destinations

  • The Great Salbyk Kurgan — a grandiose burial mound 7 stories high
  • Chazy Nature Reserve
  • Khakassky Nature Reserve — stone markers atop ancient burial mounds abound in this steppe reserve
  • Maly Abakan Nature Reserve

Culture and History

Khakassia is named for the Khakass people, close relatives of the Kyrgyz, who comprise only about 10% of the population. Khakassia is often called Siberia's Archaeological Mecca for its enormous quantity of important archaeological sites. Khakassia is full of monuments to the cultural history bestowed upon the region by the people who have inhabited and traversed its steppes for 30,000 years. Travelers may take interest in the many kurgans (burial mounds), sacred sites, rock drawings, stone obelisks, ruined cities, ruins of forts (as old as 3,000 years), and near ubiquitous menhirs.

Talk

Everyone understands Russian; while the Khakass minority speaks Khakas, a Turkic language, they are nearly all bilingual.

Travel to Khakassia - Visa Requirements

You can get to Abakan by rail from the junction at Taishet (Irkutsk Oblast), which is located on the Trans-Siberian Railway.

Abakan's small airport is serviced by domestic flights to/from Moscow, Yekaterinburg, Norilsk, Novosibirsk, Vladivostok, and Kyzyl.

Tours and Getting around Khakassia

Khakassia tourist attractions and sightseeing

Itineraries

Khakassia city tours

  • Check out the Khakass national holiday "Tum-Payram" (7 days / 6 nights) on June, 28th-04 July, 2006

Khakassia Restaurants: cheap, moderate and expensive

Khakassia nightlife, bars, clubs and pubs

Stay safe

Get out

Destinations in Khakassia:

This page was last edited by Peter Fitzgerald. - Content on this page is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 1.0 license

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