Today, we want to tell you about a new tour we've created for one of Russia's fascinating regions – the Northern Urals.
The tour is called "The Heart of Parma" or "The Great Perm," and it was inspired partly by the book from A. Ivanov. The other reason is that the Urals are one of the few regions in Russia where we haven't organized tours yet, though we've been thinking about it for a long time.
Here's a little backstory: Last spring, during a team-building event, I asked my colleagues what interesting books they had read lately. They recommended "The Armored Cruisers" by Alexei Ivanov.
I didn't have that book at home, but I had bought "The Heart of Parma" and "Tobol" at a Moscow book fair the previous year. So in the spring, I first read "The Heart of Parma," then "Tobol" in the summer, and I'm now finishing "The Armored Cruisers."
A little warning about "The Heart of Parma": the first 100 pages are the most difficult. After that, you get used to the rhythm of the old local languages and dialects the author uses, and his writing style also becomes a bit easier. But I agree, the beginning is challenging.
In general, all three books are about the Urals—its powerful rivers, beautiful mountains, endless forests, and the amazing stories of the people who lived here and developed this land. You'll read about merchants, industrialists, peasants, free settlers, Swedish prisoners of war, local ethnic groups, paganism, Christianity, and more.
Our tour will take you to see many of these places, including:
- Solikamsk and Berezniki
- The Kolva and Vishera rivers, the Kama and Sylva rivers
- The old towns of Cherdyn, Pyanteg, Bondyug, Iskor, and Pokcha
- Stories of the Stroganov family, Saint Michael of Perm, and Iona
- The Vetlan and Polyud rock formations
- The "Stone City" and the Usolskie Pillars
- And even the quirky stories of "Madame Zhu" and the "Perm Star Wars"
There is so much to see and talk about! But this is just a short announcement, so we can't write too much here.
In September, we did a scouting trip. We checked hotels, restaurants, roads, sights, and ferry crossings. After the trip, we were sure it would be a great tour.
The region is developing well. The infrastructure is good and getting even better. Many museums are doing major renovations. For example, the hotel in Cherdyn, which looks simple from the outside (we were a bit worried about it), has an oyster bar inside!
Tour details in short:
- Dates: June 13-20 and June 21-28, 2026
- 8 days (6 riding days + 2 days for arrival and departure)
- Start and finish in the city of Perm
- The route is on asphalt roads
- 175 km on your own bike / 255 km on our rental bike
- It's about 1500 km from Moscow and 2200 km from St. Petersburg. You can ride your own bike here, or if you don't want to ride all the way, you can ship it with companies like PEC, Delovye Linii, or TransTrack. Alternatively, you can rent a bike from us for the tour.
The day-by-day itinerary and all other information are on our website (link below). For now, we plan to have two groups, and we might add more dates later.
https://www.rusmototravel.ru/tury/severnyy-ural-serdce-parmy-mototur-po-permi-velikoy
