Dmitry Pukhov
The head of the Agency for Tourism and Promotion of the Tyumen Region
The Tyumen Region is increasingly positioning itself as a new Russia’s balneotherapeutic health resort. The head of the Agency for Tourism and Promotion of the Tyumen Region Dmitry Pukhov told EcoTourism Expert about the best time to go to a balneotherapeutic health resort in the Tyumen Region and to visit the best attractions in Tyumen.
- Why Tyumen became the capital of thermal waters?
Mineral thermal springs of the Tyumen Region actually inherited the healing properties of the ancient West Siberian Sea. They were found by chance, as we say, “geologists looked for oil, but discovered water”. But this was very special water from the earth’s depths in the Tyumen area that contains minerals having healing properties.
It turned out that Tyumen mineral water springs are not inferior to the Caucasian and the Saki ones in terms of their healing properties. This explains the constantly growing tourist flow to the Tyumen Region. Last year, over 3.3 million tourists visited the Tyumen Region and this is only the start, given the possibilities of the Tyumen Region.
There are 21 thermal springs in the Tyumen Region in unique locations. There are mineral water pools in the city, spa complexes and spa resorts with water parks and hotels in various parts of the region. By the way, mineral water is slightly different in composition in every place - and every visitor can have a choice.
- When is the best time to come to Tyumen to combine business with pleasure, I mean, treatment procedure with active rest?
Our spa resorts are year-round ones and regardless of the weather and outside air temperature, the temperature of the thermal spring water is always about 38oC to 40oC, which allows the use of mineral water in pools and therapeutic baths without pre-heating.
But, of course, each season has its own peculiar features. In winter, our visitors can swim even in the most severe frost. Cold air combined with hot water is a very unusual and amazing experience, a real New Year’s fairy tale. And in summer, swimming in the thermal pools is very pleasant in warm weather. Many spa resorts have beach areas with natural water bodies or additional pools with cool water so that everyone is comfortable on hot summer days.
I think it will be interesting for your readers to visit the mineral springs in our Taiga Eco-Park, as well as the Tourist Eco-Park located not far from Yalutorovsk on the shore of ancient Lake Singul. They can combine ecological tourism with historical, cultural and educational experiences. The Yalutorovsk Ostrog (Stockaded town) tourist complex - a fortress built according to historical drawings with high palisades, watchtowers, craft workshops, wooden huts - takes the travellers back to the era of the first settlers in Siberia. In the Yalutorovsk stockaded town, they can immerse themselves in the atmosphere of peasant life and get acquainted with the traditions of the Russian culture during interactive tours, events, exhibitions and folk festivals held here.
The Abalak tourism complex - a reconstructed stockaded town from the time of Ataman (Chieftain) Yermak - offers a stunning view of the Irtysh River and adds a special experience. In July, the Abalakskoye Pole (Abalak Field) festival of historical reconstruction is held here.
- What else is a must-see in Tyumen and its environs?
Tyumen is the first Russian city in Siberia, many old merchant mansions with three-dimensional carvings on nice architraves, fancy-shaped small towers and fancy end blocks have been preserved in the historical centre of the city. According to art historians, there is no such carving anywhere else. For convenience, we have made a special free audio guide “Legends and Symbols of Tyumen Carvings”, which tells about buildings of the 19th-early 20th centuries that are architectural monuments now. The golden-domed Holy Trinity Monastery, the embankment of the Tura River and the Bridge of Lovers are also among the Tyumen’s attractions.
All tourists are eager to visit Tobolsk, the ancient capital of Siberia, they can get there from Tyumen by a special tourist train Imperial Route.
The only white-stone Kremlin beyond the Urals is located in Tobolsk. Here, the tourists can visit the set of the historical drama “Tobol”, as well as the Jail Castle where the Museum of Siberian Forced-Labour Camp and Exiles and the Prisoner hostel are located today.
- It sounds rather dismal …
I am sure that the dishes of Siberian cuisine will help to quickly cheer tourists up. It is enough to taste fish soup “with oil”, a great variety of specialties of wild game and 4 types of tsar’s fish. In Tyumen, the tourists can enjoy delicious food and also spend their time in a very special atmosphere in cafes and restaurants located in old mansions in the very centre of the city.
I also advise the tourists to taste famous Yalutorovsk pancakes and ice cream. And for the tourists who are fond of interesting events, performances and unusual tastings, I can recommend the Carnival of Events tour offering hospitable folk festivals held on a ‘grand scale’, including the festivals Siberian Maslenitsa (Pancake Week, the festival week before Lent), Cabbage-Barynya (Cabbage the Queen), August Spas (the Festival of the Saviour), Krasnaya Gorka (The first week after Easter), Kvass Feast (a sumptuous feast with kvass, a mildly alcoholic drink made from fermented rye bread, yeast or berries).
The tourists can taste kvass, apple jam from the garden of the Decembrist Tizenhausen, pancakes, cabbage, have a cup of tea from a giant samovar (fire pot).
And the tourists can also make a huge pancake (of a 1-metre diametre), go through the ceremony of becoming a pancake maker, and take part in many other interesting interactive programmes.
Photos courtesy of the Agency for Tourism and Promotion of the Tyumen Region
