APEC 2012 → Vladivostok Guide → LOCATION, NATURE AND CLIMATE

Because the region is located where the continent joins the ocean, the climate of Vladivostok is monsoon. The Sikhote Alin Mountain Range, with its highest peak reaching 1,855m, stretches along the coast of the Sea of Japan, limiting the intrusion of the cold air in winter and dispersion of warm air in summer. Temperatures average -12С in January and +14С to  +21С in July. Typhoons frequently hit Vladivostok in the summer and autumn.     

The Vladivostok Botanical Garden is located several kilometers from the heart of the city. Visitors can admire rare plants from all over the world including species peculiar to the Ussury taiga such as cedar, spruce and liana. In the summer, residents of Vladivostok take pleasure in coming to the Botanical Garden on weekends to walk in its shady paths and enjoy the marvelous sight of flowers in bloom.  It is also a popular place for wedding photos!

There are other outdoor attractions not far from the city as well, including a number of caves and waterfalls.  Streams with rapids offer excellent whitewater rafting opportunities.

Six nature preserves are in close proximity to Vladivostok: 

Khanka Reserve is located on the border between Russia and China.  Here visitors can admire lotus, which bloom in August.  This lake area is also known for its herons, storks and other rare birds.  One might even catch a glimpse of a Siberian tiger! 

Kedrovaya Pad is the largest reserve, situated just across the Amur Bay.   One of the most endangered species, the Far East leopard, dwells here together with the Siberian tiger, wild cat, Manchur deer, Siberian ermine and many other animals.  

Lazo Reserve is home to about 58 species of mammals and 340 species of birds that live in its pristine forest. The reserve also includes several islands, one of which possesses a real treasure – a rare grove of yew trees, some a thousands years old!   

Sikhote Alin Reserve is a Siberian tiger kingdom. Adult males can measure three meters (almost 10 feet) in length and weigh more than 300 kilograms (about 660 pounds).  

 

Ussury Reserve has a rehabilitation center for orphaned bear cubs, the only center of its kind in Russia.  Visitors will be fascinated by Sleeping Beauty Cave, with its ancient rock drawings. One of the drawings features a woman’s face on the cave vault.  

 

Far East Marine Reserve stretches over small islands with bent pines, steep cliffs, and stony beaches.  About 3,300 species of plants and animals, including more than 360 species of birds, can be found here. The Sea of Japan, which washes the Primorsky Region, is the only warm and “live” sea in Russia.  Scallops and sea cucumbers, exotic fish and even whales and dolphins can be found here. Seal-rookeries and bird colonies are scattered over the sandbanks.  Because this territory never experienced the Ice Age, nature is unique in this small area.  There is a profusion of plants native to different climatic zone.  One can find spruces wound with vines and Siberian cedars growing together with walnut trees and lianas.   Even the precious ginseng root grows here!