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 around minus ten all year 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 displays including mammoth remains and frost-covered walls that grow crystals. 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 actually see

• The constant cold - tunnels at about minus ten all year, 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.

Honest expectations

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.