About Sakhalin island. Tour to Sakhalin Island. Sakhalin Island tour. Trip to Sakhalin Island.
RUSSIAN FAR EAST
WELCOME TO SAKHALIN ISLAND
ABOUT SAKHALIN ISLAND
Sakhalin (Karafuto in Japanese) is a very long (1000 km) but narrow island
located between Japan and Russian Maritime Territory. It is separated from Asian
continent by a narrow strait of 6 km width and for that reason, first,
Westerners thought it should be a peninsula. With the Kuril Islands, Sakhalin is
one of the territories disputed between Japan and Russia and its belonging has
not yet been definitely settled.
The Sakhalin region includes the island of Moneron and the
Kuril chain of islands. Sakhalin Island is separated from the Far East Russian
mainland by the Tartar Strait and from the Japanese Island of Hokkaido by the
Perouse Strait. The island is approximately the same area as Scotland and has a
population of about 650,000.
There are three seasons in Sakhalin - winter, spring/summer
and autumn. Winter usually lasts from the beginning of November to the end of
April and can vary between very severe Arctic-like conditions to cold and wet
European conditions. During the summer there is a good deal of rain, whilst in
autumn that is usually quite short there are many glorious days with clear blue skies.
NATURE
Sakhalin is one of the largest islands in Russia, interesting both
geographically and historically. Its geographical location is unique; it is
separated from the continent and from Japan by three straits, bathed by the cold
Sea of Okhotsk and the warm Japanese Sea. The seas washing the coast of Sakhalin
and the Kuril Islands are among the most productive areas of ocean in the world.
Nearly two-thirds of the Sakhalin area is mountainous. Lopatin Mountain is
the highest, at 1,609 m. The Northern part of the island is a swampy plain
covered with deciduous taiga, while mountains of the central and southern parts
of the island are covered with forests. There are two mud volcanoes, more than
60 thousand rivers and streams, and about 16,120 lakes on the island. Sakhalin
is attractive for its oil, coal and timber resources.
GETTING THERE AND AWAY TO THE SAKHALIN ISLANDS
- Air
There are daily flights to/from Khabarovsk (1,5 hours),
Vladivostok (1-2 hours), and
Moscow (9 hours),as well as twice-weekly flights to
Irkutsk and
Novosibirsk. Aeroflot also flies three times a week to/from Hoikodate, twice a week to Niigata and to some other Japanese and Chinese cities several times a week.
SAKHALIN MUSEUM:
PAGES OF THE PICTURE ALBUM
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