We’ll kick off the day with a trip to the Arctic and Antarctic Museum, where we’ll dive into the history of Russian and Soviet polar expeditions. After lunch near the museum, we’ll take a walking tour of the city and discover some of the secrets behind the spellbinding architecture of Saint Petersburg. Late this evening we'll travel to Ladozhsky Railway Station, where we’ll climb aboard an overnight train and head toward Murmansk, crossing the Polar Circle. In cozy, four-person compartments, we’ll toast to the scenic journey ahead of us. Settle in, get some food, and mingle with fellow passengers as our kupe speeds north through the quiet night.

Wake up in our comfortable compartment aboard the train and sample tea from a traditional samovar while watching the sun light up the splendid, snow-covered landscape. Consider spending some time this afternoon reading, playing a game of chess, or trying your hand at a few Russian board games such as Durak or Mafia—perhaps with a bit of vodka and some smoked fish. We’ll arrive in Murmansk in the late evening, where our guide will meet us and drive us to a nearby chalet. Once we settle in, we’ll have a late, light dinner together and, depending on the weather, prepare for our first Northern Lights excursion. This majestic display of light is a breathtaking natural phenomenon in which, due to charged particles from the sun interacting with Earth's atmosphere, the sky lights up with dancing bands of neon green and pink. Though tracking down this otherworldly wonder is often a four-to-six-hour endeavor, witnessing this larger-than-life spectacle of the sun is beyond worth it.

After breakfast at the chalet, we’ll depart Murmansk and head northeast to Teriberka—about a two-and-a-half-hour drive. Teriberka is a small village on the Kola Peninsula that sits on the shores of the Barents Sea, part of the Arctic Ocean. As you wander the village, you may recognize scenes from Leviathan, the widely acclaimed film shot here in 2014. While much of Teriberka has been abandoned, it’s retained an atmosphere of quiet vitality. We’ll visit a ship graveyard, where the half-submerged skeletons of massive wooden vessels have begun to decay, then hop on snowmobiles and speed off to a frozen waterfall, where we’ll pause to take in the astonishing sight against the backdrop of the Arctic Ocean. Then it’s off to Dragon Egg Beach, where we'll walk along a shoreline made of countless, satisfyingly ovaliform stones—and, if we're lucky, we might catch a glimpse of whales and orcas. Later in the afternoon, we’ll head to Teriberka’s sole restaurant, where we'll chow down while taking in stunning views of the Arctic Ocean. Tonight we'll head to Aurora Village, where we’ll stay in glass-roofed cabins that offer the possibility of falling asleep directly beneath the Northern Lights.

This morning, we’ll drive to the Arctic city of Murmansk. With a population of 300,000, Murmansk is the largest city in the Polar Circle. It was also once home to the soviet Northern Fleet—this would later become the Russian Northern Fleet—which earned Murmansk the status of Hero-City after World War II. This military heritage is present throughout the city, from its museums to its massive military monuments. We’ll take a walking tour, visiting the memorial for the seamen-submariners and the Church of the Savior-on-the-Waters, then break for lunch at a restaurant where we can sample local delicacies such as reindeer, northern fish, and bear. We’ll take a tour of the vessel-turned-museum that honors the world’s first nuclear-powered surface ship and the first nuclear-powered civilian vessel, erected in the 1950s. Later in the evening, we’ll relax in a private northern Russian banya, where the brave among us can opt to jump into the snow after emerging from the steamy room.

This morning takes us deep into the forest, where we'll arrive by snowmobile at a Saami basecamp near Lovozero Lake. The Saami, or Lopari, are the indigenous people of the Murmansk region, as well as northern Norway, Sweden, and Finland. We’ll spend the morning at the camp, chatting with local families, glimpsing  reindeer (they're incredibly respected here on the Kola Peninsula), and hanging out with friendly Siberian huskies. We’ll have the opportunity to dog-sled around the camp and across a frozen swamp. Поехали! With the guidance of local experts, we’ll learn how to fish beneath the ice, a Russian tradition and a particularly crucial skill in this arctic region. Tonight, if we’re lucky, we’ll be able to watch the Northern Lights as they float over the frozen lake, setting the starry sky ablaze in stunning shades of green and pink.

After breakfast at the basecamp, we’ll transfer back to Murmansk where our adventure will come to a close. We’ll say farewell to the glowing Arctic skies—and the friends we’ve made beneath them—and head to the airport for homeward flights. Until the next adventure!