Komi Republicis a region inNorthwestern Russia,which bordersKirov Oblastto the southwest,Arkhangelsk Oblastto the west,Nenetsiato the north,Yamaliato the northeast,Khantia-Mansiato the east,Sverdlovsk Oblastto the southeast, andPerm Kraito the south.

Cities

• 1Syktyvkar— the capital and the only city in the region that qualifies as a tourist destination for its own sake
• 2Inta— a small city which housed one of the region's many gulags
• 3Izhma— an old Komi village on the Izhma river, with wooden architecture and rich folk traditions
• 4Mikun
• 5Pechora— a small city on the Pechora river; likely your base for exploring Yugyd Va
• 6Sosnogorsk
• 7Ukhta— a big industrial city centered around the nearby oilfields
• 8Usinsk— another oil city
• 9Ust-Tsilma— an ancient village on the Pechora River, populated mainly by Russian Old Believers with numerous well-preserved examples of wooden architecture and rich folk traditions
• 10Vorkuta— a coal mining city in the tundra, which hosted one of the USSR's most notorious Stalin-era gulags, and has one of the closest airports to the beautiful but inhospitable polar Ural mountains
• 11Yb— an old Komi village near Syktyvkar comprising of seven small villages on seven hills along 15 km of the Sysola River. Tourists and pilgrims go to see unique natural and Orthodox objects. A tourist complex “Finno-Ugric Ethnocultural Park” is being created on the basis of the village.

Other destinations

Virgin Komi forests

• Virgin Komi Forests—UNESCO World Heritage Siteand largest virgin forest inEurope.The site corresponds to Russia's Pechora-Ilych Nature Reserve and Yugyd Va National Park:
  • 1Yugyd Va National Park— Europe's largest national park, as well as Russia's second largest afterBeringia National ParkinChukotka,is also one of its most beautiful and remote. The place to go in the Urals for nature lovers.
  • 2Pechora-Ilych Nature Reserve— The core of the World Heritage Site Virgin Komi Forests, on the western slopes of the Urals, and home toManpupuner rock formations

Understand

Yugyd Va National Park

Korashor Mountain, Yugyd Va NP

The Komi Republic is named for the Komi People, a Finno-Ugric group, who comprise a quarter of the region's population (ethnic Russians are the majority).

The region is of interest for two main reasons: its extensive and brutal gulag history and the beautiful Ural mountain and forest areas in its east, especially Yugyd Va National Park.

Talk

Most of the Komi People who live in the region speakKomi,a Finno-Ugric language closely related toUdmurt,but virtually all inhabitants of the Komi Republic are fluent inRussian.

Get in

Flights arrive to Syktyvkar fromMoscowandUfa.Trains arrive to Syktyvkar viaKotlas,Arkhangelsk Oblast.

Get around

Rossiya/Aeroflot Airlines operate flights from Syktyvkar to other far-flung cities in the region.

Do

• 1Mt.Narodnaya.Climbing the highest top of the Ural Mountains

Go next

In the late summer, boats head north from Pechora toNaryan-Mar,the capital ofNenetsia.Year round, trains pass through the Urals to connect withSalekhardinYamalia,Siberia.