On the banks of the Uyuk River in the Taiga cluster area lies the archaeological site known as the “Valley of the Kings.” Numerous Scythian-era kurgans define this place, which is considered a unique archaeological site in southern Siberia. Taiga also has another side: the cluster area is a popular recreation spot for residents of Kyzyl, and is home to a ski resort of the same name. The archaeological landscape and winter sports reflect different interests in the same region.
Lakes and thermal waters in Ush-Beldir
In the far east of the Republic of Tuva, the Ush-Beldir cluster area runs along the border with Mongolia. The nature park there encompasses about 130 glacial lakes. Thermal waters are another defining feature: Ush-Beldir is a major deposit of nitrogenous thermal waters. High-temperature mineral water emerges from about a dozen springs and boreholes, at an elevation of 1,120 to 1,127 meters and where meridional and latitudinal faults intersect. These details bring the area’s geological distinctiveness into focus, alongside its lake landscape.
Mountains, sacred places, and springs in the Shu cluster
In the Shu cluster area, taiga meets the glaciated ridges of the Western Sayan Mountains, along with numerous rivers and lakes. The local population has revered this natural complex since ancient times and considers it a sacred site. Alpine events for athletes from the Siberian region are held annually on peaks in this cluster area, attracting up to several hundred mountaineers.
The Dustug-Khem spring is also located in the Shu cluster, near the mouth of the Tustu-Khem River. It is considered a local healing spring, has long been known to tourists, and is visited by them. Its mineral water is known for its healing properties. In Shu, alpine events, cultural significance, and a remarkable natural spring are different facets of the same landscape.
Kyzyl: Crafts, history, and architecture
The Center for Tuvan Culture in Kyzyl offers children and adults classes in traditional crafts, including blacksmithing, wood and stone carving, making traditional musical instruments, and sewing national clothing. Special attention is given to khoomei, or throat singing. A traditional Tuvan yurt stands in the center’s courtyard. Workshops on traditional cuisine, folk games, and other aspects of Tuvan culture are held there. If you would like to attend a particular class or workshop, check the current schedule in advance.
The city’s history can also be traced through its cultural sites. The National Music and Drama Theater of the Republic of Tuva was founded in 1936 and is named after Tuvan actor and playwright Viktor Shogzhapovich Kok-ool, a Honored Artist of the RSFSR. The Museum of the History of Political Repression in Tuva is housed in a building that served as the special commandant’s office of the NKVD of the Tuvan People’s Republic in the 1930s. Prisoners were held in the basement.
At the Tsechenling Buddhist temple, each of the eight stupas has its own symbolic meaning: each represents an important event in the life of the Buddha. In 1984, a complex of five fountains was added to Arat Square. Local stonemasons created it from agalmatolite in the traditional Tuvan style. These examples highlight different themes—religious symbolism, theater history, and local craftsmanship—and offer insight into Kyzyl’s cultural life.
The Uvs Nuur Basin in the wider region
Beyond individual places, the view extends to the Uvs Nuur Basin, a transboundary World Heritage site shared by Mongolia and the Republic of Tuva. The basin brings together very different landscapes: cold desert, desert steppe, and steppe, as well as coniferous, deciduous, and floodplain forests, wetlands, marshes, freshwater and saltwater systems, mobile and fixed dunes, and tundra. Peaks reaching about 4,000 meters rise above Uvs Nuur, which lies at an elevation of around 800 meters. The basin’s ecosystems provide habitat for argali, Siberian ibex, the Pallas’s cat, and the globally endangered snow leopard. This broader regional context complements the specific discoveries in Taiga, Shu, Ush-Beldir, and Kyzyl with a glimpse of a transboundary natural and cultural landscape.
Discover more destinations: Kyzyl City, Kyzyl, Turan, Piy-Khemsky District, Murmansk Oblast, Republic of Ingushetia, Republic of Tatarstan, Moscow.
Back to the main travel overview: Russia.
