On the banks of the rapid mountain river, the beautiful Katun, in a secluded place, but not far from the actively visited Lake Aya, the tourist center “Altai Heart” awaits tourists and vacationers all year round.
About the area
Here is a wonderful combination of the most important and necessary for a quality family vacation and informative excursion tourism: nature of exceptional beauty, clear water, clear mountain air, adequate amenities. Nearby are two bridges across Katun, the roads will lead in any direction, and everywhere there is a maximum of pleasant impressions. In addition, housing does not require a lot of financial expenses. “Altai Heart” is preferred by couples with children, as well as numerous young companies - for each age there is an unforgettable route that will forever remain in memory as a magnificent decoration of life.
The camp site is 277 kilometers from the regional center - Barnaul, and 443 from Novosibirsk. An amazingly beautiful road runs first along the “Siberian savannah” - the forest-steppe zone, then along the picturesque foothills. Chuysky tract is one of the most beautiful roads in the world. Everywhere you can immediately share your impressions with loved ones by contacting any region, since all the major mobile communication operators are functioning - both Megafonm, Beeline, and MTS. “Altai Heart” will surely not leave any of its guests without such impressions.
Chalet
The whole complex of housing offered is quite diverse, that is, there is a choice for the quantitative composition of visitors, and for any amount of wallet. There are chic, well-maintained houses, there are semi-well-appointed houses, and you can stay in a partially-equipped summer house. In total, the Altai Heart Camp has 79 rooms with a maximum capacity of 204 people, of which 158 are the main residents and 46 extra beds, for example, for children.
The food of vacationers is also well established. There is a cafe-bar with a TV, where seventy people are accommodated in a closed room, and forty more on the veranda. You can choose a comprehensive meal, that is, breakfast and dinner (during the day, tourists most often on excursions or walks), this will cost everyone about five hundred rubles. If you take into account that the assortment of dishes is wide, their quality is almost restaurant, then this is not at all expensive.
Infrastructure
An excellent sandy beach and a cafe for one hundred people with a veranda and a fireplace room, a guarded parking lot, sports grounds, a Russian bathhouse, showers and toilets are well-equipped, sports equipment is available for rent, and in the summer there is a pool. What more could you wish for in conditions of absolute dissolution in the most beautiful mountain landscapes? “Altai Heart” is a hostel that lives up to its name. Children here are simply happy playing on a special playground and swimming in the pool.
While their parents study, and then fly a paraglider, ride horses (horse rental is functioning, have their own stable) or rent bicycles, play tennis and billiards, in short, have fun, there is someone to watch over the children, “Altai Heart »- a camp site with prudent staff. In the evening, by the way, you can constantly and free of charge sing karaoke in a cafe, attend entertainment programs and discos. You can participate in rafting, visit many excursions, children are not an obstacle in this and not a burden. Up to seven years, all of them live with their parents for free, and up to twelve - free of charge in additional places, while the main ones have a substantial discount.
Accommodations
Like many other recreation centers in Altai, this complex provides a variety of amenities according to the number of amenities. The comfortable wooden cottage has one-room apartments with two main and one extra bed. There is a table, a toilet room with hot water (shower) and beds: a single plus a half bed, a double or two single beds.
In a semi-arranged wooden cottage there are also two main and one extra bed. There is a toilet room, but without hot water, and vacationers use the shower on site. In an unfavorable summer wooden house there are no toilets - they are also on the territory, but there are beds, a table, bedside tables. There are rooms with a TV plus full amenities. Naturally, such accommodation is a bit more expensive. The recreation center in Altai provides a wide selection.
Nature
“Altai Heart” is a rather popular camp site because it is geographically very advantageous: a relict pine forest around, near a lake of amazing beauty with clear twenty-degree water, turquoise Katun flows nearby. The natural wall carefully encloses the territory of the recreation center from the rest of the village.
Aya Lake Nature Reserve, its purity is protected by the state. Symbol of Altai - Katun is born on mountain glaciers. The water is cold for swimming, but is great for adrenaline lovers: Katun rafting is a huge success. Here, beginners try their hand at easy routes, and professionals hone their skills, because there are areas of the highest level of difficulty - rapids, tortuosity, rapidity of flow.
Pastime
Ways to relax with the bulk of tourists are traditional. Horse rental from its own stable, horseback riding training attracts a huge number of tourists to horseback riding. Almost everyone uses the services of a Russian bath in the territory, and fish caught in the river can be fried right there (barbecue and firewood are provided).
You can also explore the surroundings with a rental bike. At the sports grounds, the resting camps "Altai Heart" willingly play volleyball, football, tennis. Katun rafting, paragliding, fishing are all pleasures for relaxing in the fresh air. There are billiard rooms for those who do not want to go far or are tired. And, of course, a huge demand for interesting excursions.
“Damn finger”
To view the panorama of the Katun river valley, you need to make a small climb to the site for such a review. Rock “Devil's Finger” is one of such popular places. The rocky ledge is similar to a lonely finger sticking out of the ground with a sharp and long unclipped fingernail. From here the view opens up simply magnificent, besides everywhere mountain silence, broken only by the magical singing of birds. Romantically inclined people very often watch sunsets or see sunrises here.
Mount Camel and others
Also, the panorama of the Katun valley against the background of the northern foothills can be viewed by climbing one of the two humps of the “Camel” among the bizarre rock formations.
And from the mountain "Green Dragon" opens, in addition to Katun, and the valley of its tributary - Uba with magnificent landscapes of the foothills. And there is also “Stone Gate”, “Bogatyr Bobyrgan” and many other walking and automobile routes. A special appetite is caused by bonfire dinners.
Is there enough vacation for all this?
Recreation facilities in Altai provide a variety of excursions, including educational. This is a visit to numerous beautiful museums and inspection of monuments - local history, archaeological, historical. Excursions to Chemal and the temple on the island of Patmos especially impress tourists from different parts of our vast homeland and foreign countries.
The eight-meter Kamyshlinsky waterfall, healing springs, the famous Tavdinsky caves, as well as wildlife - red deer, bison, Altai camels, sika deer and black foxes - all this is almost impossible to see during one vacation. That is why there are so many regulars in the “Heart of Altai”. Mountain Altai collects a huge number of admiring reviews everywhere.
Homeland of Shukshin
Right on the Chuysky tract, the famous village of Srostki is located on the banks of the Katun. The tour “Heart of Altai” here strongly recommends planning a tour, especially if the rest falls on the second half of July. At this time, the color of the country's writing and artistic life gathers here - the Shukshin annual readings commemorate the most famous actor, director and writer his most famous admirers.
Here, during the readings, the results of the Shukshin Film Festival and the Shukshin Literary Prize are announced. But even if the vacation turns out at a different time, you still need to visit Srostki: climb to Vasily Makarovich’s favorite place - Mount Picket, take a walk along those streets of the village where his legs also walked, visit the historical and memorial museum, sit at the monument to Shukshin. "Altai Heart" provides excursions at any time of the year, since it has its own transport.
Pearl and legends of the Altai Mountains
The Golden Lake, or Teletskoye, as many call it, to which automobile excursions offer almost all recreation centers in Altai, is famous no less than Baikal and is equally transparent. Here you will find a trip on foot along the shore to the waterfalls, as well as to the Third River. A walk on the lake by boat is also supposed. This lake is cold, clean and very deep. The shores are incredibly picturesque, the eyes do not tear. Teletskoye lake is rightly called the pearl of Altai and Altai Switzerland.
Passes are justifiably related to legends : Seminsky, Chike-Taman, the place where Katun and Chuya merge, the Kalbak-Tash tract with its oldest cave paintings, and also the history of the Chuysky tract. You can join the revelations of shamanism and the origins of Orthodoxy in Altai land, as well as the history of ancient cities and villages - Gorno-Altaysk, Biysk, visit the native places and the museum of the wonderful artist Choros-Gurkin, writer Bianka, corners marked by presence (and paintings in the museum ) Roerichs in Altai. It is possible to study many kilometers of the earth completely untouched by civilization in a nature park, where almost no human foot has stepped. And also to survey the Turkic mounds, petroglyphs and sites of ancient people.