Seventy kilometers of the steppe wasteland from Orenburg, along the wayward icy rivulets, lies the small town of Sol-Iletsk. Travel time from the railway station of the administrative center of the Orenburg region to the resort is no more than one and a half hours by public transport.
How to get there?
Those who are attracted by rich fishing every year in Sol-Iletsk will confirm: shuttle buses run from Orenburg every thirty to forty minutes. To get to these parts is not a problem even at night. Late travelers can use a taxi that takes you to your destination.
Fishing
In the immediate vicinity of the city there are many rivers and streams, as well as salt lakes. Fishing in Sol-Iletsk is famous for its generous catch. If you are lucky, then you will get pike, perch, carp. Visitors catch with a fishing rod, but locals prefer ravings. Fishing in Sol-Iletsk with such an instrument is a whole ritual. A wide fishing net is taken. She is pulled across the channel. After waiting time, the networks begin to turn to one of the shores. It was then that women and children came to the rescue, they help to get the fish and sort the catch.
Salt lakes
Fishing in Sol-Iletsk is rightfully considered a visiting card and the main tourist attraction of the region, which attracts hundreds of tourists and avid fishermen from all over Russia to these protected places of the Orenburg region. Welcome to Sol-Iletsk! A bite forecast made by a professional will help you choose the best time and place for fishing.
Contrary to popular belief, the salt lakes of Sol-Iletsk are not natural, but artificial. In fact, this is nothing more than funnels remaining after salt extraction, filled with water. It offers guests fresh, hydrogen sulfide, salt and even healing mud lakes.
Priceless crystals
Salt in the vicinity of the resort is literally everywhere. It appears on the ground with snow-white crystals mixed with sand and clay. A plant operates on the shores of one of the lakes, which supplies almost all of Russia with refined edible salt. Ponds are so saturated with salt that the density of their water may exceed that of the Dead Sea.
It is impossible to swim in such water. The maximum is to sit. Having plenty of fun in salt water, vacationers move to one of the freshwater lakes, after which comes the turn of taking mud baths. Local dirt is poorly washed off. It leaves a specific gray-blue tint on the skin. You can find out about the close proximity of hydrogen sulfide lakes by the persistent smell, which in no way can be called pleasant or even neutral.
Tourist season
With the onset of a warm summer, Sol-Iletsk welcomes about thirty thousand travelers daily! And despite the fact that the population of the resort is only some twenty-five to twenty-nine thousand inhabitants. Because of this, in high season, traffic jams form on the streets of the city. There is no tourist infrastructure as such in Sol-Iletsk.
The town is gradually settling in, but still does not keep up with its popularity. The most popular lake among vacationers contains more than two hundred grams of pure salt per liter of water. Despite its small size and obvious provincialism, Sol-Iletsk succeeds in competing with such mastodons of the Russian tourism industry as Anapa and the Minvody.