Kingdom of Permafrost

Yakutsk sits on permafrost hundreds of metres deep, and this attraction is a set of tunnels driven into a hillside where the ground has never thawed - the air inside stays between about minus seven in summer and minus twenty in winter regardless of the surface temperature, which in July can be plus thirty and in January minus forty-five. Inside are ice sculptures, carved figures, a throne room, an ice bar serving drinks in ice glasses, an ice slide, and frost-covered walls that grow crystals; the complex opened in 2005. Coats and boots are handed out at the entrance. The contrast is the point in summer, when you walk out of thirty degrees into a frozen tunnel in a few steps. It is a commercial attraction rather than a scientific one, though the ground it is cut into is the real thing, and Yakutsk's permafrost institute nearby is where the actual research happens.

What you'll find

• The cold - from about minus seven in summer to minus twenty in winter, whatever the surface does.
• The ice sculptures - carved figures, a throne room and an ice bar inside the galleries.
• The frost crystals - crystal growth on the tunnel walls and ceilings.
• The summer contrast - stepping from thirty degrees to below freezing in a few metres.

When to go

All year; summer gives the sharper contrast. One hour, which is about as long as the cold is pleasant.

Practical notes

It is a commercial attraction, not a research site. Provided coats are variable and an hour is enough before the cold bites. Visits are usually part of a tour. Yakutsk is expensive and hard to reach, with no year-round road.

Nearby

The Mammoth Museum and the Permafrost Institute are in the city.

Key facts