North Korea is a unique country. Exotic tours to North Korea cannot be compared to any trip to any other corner of the Earth. The ideas of communism flourish in this state.
Its laws and regulations are very different from those that exist in most countries of the world. In North Korea, all industry, agriculture and cars are state property. The world, poking fun at the republic, calls it the "reserve of communism."
Organization of tourism in the DPRK
The DPRK government has established organized tourism in the country. Here, each traveler is assigned an individual guide representing the state’s way of life in a favorable light and showing cultural and historical monuments allowed for inspection at the government level .
Tours to North Korea themselves from Moscow or other cities of the world are often ironically called "a trip to the Land of Popular Happiness." This sarcasm sounds funny anywhere, but not in the republic. Its inhabitants sacredly believe that their state is the happiest. This confidence is supported by a harmonious combination of ancient Korean philosophy with the ideas of Marxism-Leninism.
Ideology is a kind of mixture of communism with Stalinism with a radical coloring. However, tourists are not destined to come into contact with the worldview of Koreans. Their routes do not intersect with residents of the state.
Features of travel in the republic
Tours to North Korea from Vladivostok and from anywhere else are fraught with many restrictions. Travelers are not allowed to talk with the locals. They cannot deviate from the official route, which includes excursions along exemplary streets, to palaces of culture and sports, natural monuments.
True, tourists are taken to interesting sights located on the border of two states - South Korea and the DPRK. In the demilitarized zone they are shown catacombs and museum displays. All travelers are obligated not to mess with the media in their homeland, not to post photos and negative reviews about the republic on the Internet.
The cost of travel
Any tours to North Korea are an expensive pleasure. The cost of a long flight is expensive. There are very few hotels in the country; they only accept foreign citizens. The main part of them, the Koreans assigned the category of 4 stars.
In reality, hotels barely reach 2 stars (respectively, the prices for rooms are unreasonably high - about 100 euros per double apartment per day). They, fortunately for guests, have lighting and hot water.
At the same time, even in the capital, Pyongyang, light is far from everywhere. For example, in the subway, due to energy savings, passengers are forced to move to the touch. Hot water is an unprecedented luxury for residents of the capital.
Hotels in North Korea
Any tour to Korea from Moscow and other cities involves accommodation in hotels with unusual designs. The concrete hulk of the Pyongyang Hotel resembles a rocket or spiky rock - it all depends on how the beholder perceives the architectural masterpiece. This hotel offers accommodation for foreign tourists.
However, the boom for living in it was already asleep, it had lost the status of a fashionable tourist attraction. Travelers prefer the Koryo Hotel or the Yanggakdo Hotel. Yanggakdo Hotel is located on an island. Its rooms offer stunning panoramas.
Amazing views, perhaps the only advantage of this institution. Independent walks to foreigners are prohibited in all hotels, regardless of where they are located, in the city or on the island.
What tours include
Buying tours to North Korea from Moscow, travelers pay for medical insurance, check-in in a double room of a 4 * hotel and full board. The tour price includes excursions, during which tourists are accompanied by a Russian-speaking guide. Tours guarantee free transfers, tickets for visiting museums and attractions.
Visa and air travel are not included in the price of the trip, no matter what tour to North Korea from Khabarovsk and other regions of Russia takes. They are paid separately. Travelers are offered trips with check-in to the suite (it is more spacious and with a plasma TV). The interiors in the apartments are pompous, with a touch of Soviet ideas about coziness and comfort.
Nutrition
North Korea is an incredibly poor state. Here are some categories of goods in short supply. Their lack is due to external sanctions. Tourists are not served tea with a bag in a cup. Koreans make tea for several guests at once with one bag. The cost of fruits and vegetables in the country is incredibly high. Meat and cereals are offered at more affordable prices.
Tours to North Korea are sometimes associated with curious situations. Traveler reviews are sometimes amazing to the core. Once tourists became eyewitnesses of such a picture: the waitress inadvertently managed to break a plate, and the consequences of her carelessness resembled a bomb explosion in a place filled with people. What happened to the poor thing, one can only guess ...
Internet access
Tours to North Korea are almost complete isolation from the World Wide Web. There is no Internet in the republic. It is blocked by the DPRK itself and the United States. True, in hotels you can use it. But since the service costs sky-high money, tourists prefer to take a rest from various gadgets.
Pyongyang
The appearance of Pyongyang, the capital of the DPRK, is very different from other Asian cities. The clear layout of the city is subordinate to the spirit of progress and discipline. The streets are cleared of hawkers and other merchants, advertising, a dense stream of cars and bicycles. Pyongyang is located on the banks of the Tedong River.
An acquired tour to Korea from Moscow takes travelers to an amazing corner with two cascades of river fountains, soaring up to 150 meters. There are no other higher fountains on Earth. The city is replete with museums, monuments and architectural ensembles dedicated to the Revolution and leader Kim Il Sung.
Nine Moon Mountains (Kuvolsan)
With a guide, tourists find themselves in Kuvolsan, a region of stunning mountain peaks, spread out along the banks of the Tedongan River, in the western part of the state. Travelers get to the area of hot springs, cascading waterfalls, picturesque valleys and pointed rocks along several roads and hiking trails.
The ancient fortress walls, an architectural ensemble, including a galaxy of shrines and palaces built in the era of the kingdom of Silla and the Joseon Dynasty, are concentrated here. A little south of the main mountain range is the "Land of Pleasure" (Samsong) - the summer resort of the republic. Next to it is the Volyongs Temple, from the former greatness of which only a shadow remained.
Sacred places
Acquired tours to North Korea allow you to visit the sacred places of Koreans - on the wonderful Lake Pektusan and in the mountains of Kymgansan. A unique pond is fed by hot springs. The water temperature in them is around + 60 0 . Hot water cools down in the lake, making it the coldest body of water on the planet.
Mountain ranges cover 80% of the territory of the DPRK, over 50 peaks exceed the 2000 meters mark. The Kymgansan mountain range stretching along the Korean Peninsula borders on South Korea. Gangwon Province has breathtaking mountain scenery. Picturesque paintings with bizarre cliffs open in front of tourists.
Imagination is staggered by the natural gates formed in the stone masses, the falling waterfalls. The region abounds with lakes, thermal and mineral springs. And among all this splendor towers many preserved Buddhist shrines.