Vladivostok

in Russia

Vladivostok lies at the eastern end of the Trans-Siberian railway, and on the pacific ocean. When I first arrived - somewhat jetlagged - I almost wondered if I'd landed in the right country: the roads were full of mostly Japanese vehicles, often with Japanese writing on them! In fact, imported cars are a huge part of the economy; there is one car per every two people in the city, meaning most families have multiple cars. The traffic in the center is rather heavy, as a result. Get out of the center, though, and natural setting of the city is really quite enjoyable.

Top Picks

• Inside the city, perhaps the nicest area to stroll is along the promenade, but some of the streets have some century-old buildings to see too.
• A trip on a sailing boat on the sea can be nice, though it can get rough too! With a little luck, they'll have some vodka on board to settle the stomach - worked just fine for me.
• Try and make it out to the area around the lighthouse (that's the only name I know it by, there probably is more than one...) I was lucky enough to be staying with some locals in Vladivostok, who kindly took me to some lovely places, so this is maybe some way off the tourist track. Worth it if you can work out how to get there though.
• There is a fortress which you can explore, up in the hills over Vladivostok and near the highest point in the city (you can hike up to it; there was the remains of a crashed plane up there when I did!) The fortress is actually mostly a serious of underground passages, and is no longer in use. It didn't feel like a tourist attraction in any official way - there was nobody there selling tickets, you just went there. You'll want torches (backups important, there's no light at all down there, treat it like you're going caving), gloves, to have people knowing your going there, and to be careful. Again, I went with locals, who had been before.

Photos

A street of century-old buildings	A street of century-old buildings	A street of century-old buildings
A street of century-old buildings	Heading towards the sea	On the promenade
The beach	Russian friends	The beach
The beach	Boats in the harbour	A Russian friend
The beach	"The Vladivostok Eye" - no, not really :-)	Beach and harbour
A place to watch sea-life	The sea	Sports center
The sea	Riding a horse through the traffic	A recently build church
A recently build church	Shops by the church	A recently build church
Football stadium	Football stadium	On the edge of the city
Huge pylon	A harbor outside the city	Sea and boats
A harbor outside the city	Bathers	The sea
A harbor outside the city	Huge pylon	Sign saying "Vladivostok"
Land bridge to lighthouse	A harbor outside the city	Huge pylon
Land bridge to lighthouse	The lighthouse	The lighthouse
The lighthouse	The lighthouse	Ship seen near the lighthouse
The lighthouse	The lighthouse	Ship seen near the lighthouse
The lighthouse	The lighthouse	The lighthouse
The sea	The sea	Landbridge to the lighthouse
The lighthouse	Looking back to the harbor	Looking to Vladivostok center
View over Vladivostok	View over Vladivostok	Monument to the creators of the Cyrillic alphabet
View over Vladivostok	View over Vladivostok	View over Vladivostok
View over Vladivostok	View over Vladivostok	View over Vladivostok
Monument to the creators of the Cyrillic alphabet	Lenin	Vladivostok railway station
Vladivostok railway station	A harbor near the city center	A harbor near the city center
Coastline	The sea	View from Dmitry's appartment
Dmitry's cat	Views on the way to the peak	Views on the way to the peak
Views on the way to the peak	Views on the way to the peak	The path to the peak
Remains of an aircraft	Views on the way to the peak	Views on the way to the peak
Ruins of old buildings	View from the peak	View from the peak
View from the peak	View from the peak	View from the peak
View from the peak	View from the peak	View from the peak
View from the peak	View from the peak	View from the peak
View from the peak	View from the peak	View from the peak
Sealed entrances to the old fortress	Village, with part of fortress in the foreground	Village
Chair - imported from Japan	Shashlik	Exploring the fortress
Exploring the fortress	Exploring the fortress	Exploring the fortress
Exploring the fortress	Stalactites	Stalactites
Underground life	Exploring the fortress	Exploring the fortress
Walls of the fortress	Views from near the fortress	Nyam shashlik!
The harbor	The harbor	Getting the sail up
The sea	Looking back on Vladivostok	A larger boat I saw
Sailing	Looking back on Vladivostok	Looking back on Vladivostok
Hills and pylons	Hills and pylons	The sea
Looking back on Vladivostok	Hills and pylons	Entering the bay we stopped in
Entering the bay we stopped in	Entering the bay we stopped in	In the bay we stopped in
In the bay we stopped in	In the bay we stopped in	Preparing bait for fishing
I caught a fish	Preparing to sail back to the harbor	Preparing to sail back to the harbor
In the harbor	The boat	Map in the ticket office
An old steam locomotive from the Trans-Siberian	Mile post for the distance to Moscow	The train on the right was mine
Me with my many tickets	Another small map	Looking over the station