Itinerary

1. Day 1: Valday Town Exploration and Monastery Visit

   • 09:30: Morning meeting at the railway station and transfer to the Valday Visit Centre.
   • 12:00-14:00: Lunch at the cafe in the Visit Centre. Check-in to the room.
   • 15:00: Guided walking tour “Streets of the city tell…” Valday is an ancient provincial town with a rich origin, formation, and development history. The first mention of the Valday settlement dates back to the 15th century. Its roadside location has left a vivid imprint on its development. Postal stations, lively troikas, a central position between Moscow and St. Petersburg, famous personalities… Historical Valday is an ancient tract with a hilly landscape, Valday Lake with a monastery, and Valday gingerbreads. A walk through the central streets of modern Valday allows you to immerse yourself in the past of the county town, even if only briefly, to feel like its resident, not just a guest. Do you want to know the cost of a bundle of Valday gingerbreads, where A.S. Pushkin stayed, and what “Tsar-Podkova” is included in the list of Russian records?! Then you must walk with a guide along the route “Streets of the city tell…” During the tour, you will see Narodnaya Street with former merchant houses, the dam of Valday Lake, the central square of Valday with the Trinity Cathedral, the monument “Tsar-Podkova” (next to the souvenir shop), Ekaterinskaya Church (bell museum).
   • 16:40: Departure for a tour of the Valday Iversky Monastery. (Travel time: 15 minutes). Duration of the tour: 1.5 hours (40 minutes with a guide + free time). One of the spiritual Centres of the Novgorod land is the Valday Iversky Holy Lake Monastery, an architectural monument of the 17th-19th centuries. The golden glow of domes and the ringing of bells will present Day in a different light. The Valday Iversky Monastery is the first monastery built after the Time of Troubles. It was founded in 1653 by Patriarch Nikon, the executor of church reforms that led to a schism among the Old Believers. Located on Selvitsky Island, the monastery, as a guardian, rises above the waters of Valday Lake. During the tour, guests can visit the main temple of the monastery complex — the Iversky Cathedral, and explore the gateway churches — Philip of Moscow and Archangel Michael, and the buildings — fraternal, abbey, and stewards. Perhaps one of the tour's highlights could be an introduction to stone carving, wood carving, and tiles preserved since the 17th century.

2. Days 2-7: Ecological Trek along the Big Valday Trail

   • 09:00: Comprehensive breakfast at the Visit Centre Cafe.
   • 10:30: Organized purchase of supplies with an instructor for the trek, based on pre-agreed lists. Afternoon Activities:
   • 12:00: Check-out from rooms. Comprehensive lunch at the Visit Centre.
   • 12:45: Departure to the starting point of the ecological trek.
   • 13:30: Start of the trek along the Big Valday Trail. Description: The trek will provide many bright impressions, photos, a good mood, and a boost of energy. The trail will be interesting for children aged 8 and above, as well as adults, as its main theme is the animal world of the national park. The trail is equipped with stops with informational stands, rest gazebos, and benches. The trail is picturesque in any season. Next, accommodation will be in tents only, covering approximately km per day (12 km on foot). Throughout the route, you will be accompanied by an instructor for 1-3 people, depending on the group’s needs. The instructor will help choose a spot for tents, assist in assembling and disassembling tents, gathering firewood, and lighting a fire. Food preparation, mushroom/berry picking, are not the responsibilities of the guide (preparation is possible for an additional fee).
   • Start of the route: 57° 57’ 11.9102″ N 33° 16’ 4.7557″ E. You can leave your car in the parking lot of the hotel and restaurant complex “Podvorye.”
   • Endpoint: near the village of Dunaevschina (Demyansky district).
   • You won’t get lost: the trail has signs and marking posts, measuring each kilometre of the path.
   • All trails are cleared, paths through swamps are laid with causeways, bridges are built over rivers and ravines.
   • The trail has five camping sites, located approximately 10 km apart. Between them are four gazebos with benches for resting.
   • Each camping site has wooden flooring, a table under a canopy, a trash bin, wooden toilets, and sinks, a place for making a fire, and a woodshed, just without an axe.
   • Near the base camps (except “Zaborovye”), there are bodies of water; water for cooking must be boiled or filtered.
   • Every 10 km, there are emergency exits from the trail, located near settlements.
   • Mobile coverage may be unreliable, with intermittent internet.

3. Day 7: End of the program. Transfer to the railway station.

   • See you again on Valdai.