Message on the topic of Lake Elton. Russia. Legends of Lake Elton

  • Last minute tours in Russia

    • Elton is a village and lake in the Volgograd region. Not just a simple one, but the largest salted one in Europe! You've never seen so much salt. This is a huge bowl of golden-pink water, which is bordered by snow-white crystals.

    People come here to improve their health at the sanatorium, and at the local national park look at the chamomile steppes. The landscape here is amazingly beautiful and diverse: lakes, valleys, ravines, steppes and beaches.

    How to get there

    Elton is located in the Pallasovsky district near the border with Kazakhstan. To get here, you need to register at the border post, which is located in the center of the village.

    It is best to get to Elton from Volgograd, Saratov or Kamyshin. The roads in this area are not the best, so you will have to spend a lot of time traveling. True, you can fly across the steppe - then you will save several hours.

    A bus leaves from Volgograd to Elton a couple of times a day, which goes through Volzhsky to Pallasovka. If you want to get there by train, get off at Elton station.

    Village infrastructure

    The village has poorly developed infrastructure - it is small locality with a couple of shops, one cafe and one hotel. But there is a gas station here - the only one for 100 kilometers. So you can only replenish your gasoline supplies here.

    Elton Hotels

    Elton receives so many tourists every year that there would be enough of them for several such villages. They all need places to sleep. Therefore, the local hotel does not lack guests. Moreover, this is not just a hotel, but a whole sanatorium. You can stay for a few nights or choose a treatment course for 10-14 days. In this case, you will receive constant food, treatment and excursions.

    Fans of “wild” recreation can stay on the shore of the Chapaevsky pond - this is the only fresh body of water in the area. You can set up a whole camp here, but you just need to agree in advance with the guards of the natural park. If you are a complete extreme sports enthusiast, you can put up a tent even in the steppe. You certainly won’t have to beg anyone there.

    Weather in Elton

    Treatment in Elton

    Elton has been known for a hundred years as an excellent balneological resort. At the beginning of the 20th century, only wealthy people came here. The air is clean here, you can breathe easily and freely, your whole body feels a surge of strength and vigor.

    Today, different segments of the population can afford treatment at Lake Elton. Fortunately, vouchers are inexpensive - on average, a course will cost from 30,000 RUB. Diseases of the joints, musculoskeletal system, skin, digestive organs, nervous and genitourinary systems, respiratory organs and many others are treated here. Prices on the page are as of November 2019.

    The Elton sanatorium is open all year round. The main means of treatment are brine from the mineral lake, mud and water from the springs. Rapa is used for baths, and mud is used for applications. Only fresh material is used in treatment. Agree, it’s much more pleasant to sit for half an hour in fresh dirt than in yesterday’s dirt.

    By the way, they say that previously there was a Museum of Abandoned Crutches at the sanatorium - they were forgotten by people who underwent treatment here. Over the course of several years, so many crutches accumulated that the museum had to be closed.

    2 things to do in Elton

    1. Burying in the mud - previously, patients on Elton were treated by burying in the mud. A person himself cannot go deep underground, so it’s worth asking your friends to push you deeper. After an hour, you can go to the surface and wash off in the lake.
    2. See Gesner tulips - these flowers, blooming towards the end of April, are a symbol of the village and the lake. They are listed in the Red Book. It’s rare that anyone gets to see tulips bloom, because they can only be found in deserted places in the region.

    Entertainment and attractions in Elton

    The main attractions of Elton, in addition to the lake, are national park and ethnographic center.

    Eltonsky National Natural Park

    This park was created in the early 2000s to protect nature and cultural monuments Elton. Its main attractions are the lake and Mount Ulagan. Here you can find a lot unusual plants, some of them are under protection.

    In the park beautiful landscape: Wherever you look, there are steppes, feather grass and chamomile everywhere.

    And in the park, in addition to the wonderful nature, there are many cultural and historical sites. For example, ancient burials that archaeologists periodically find. Or the remains of settlements of salt miners who worked on the lake in the 17th-19th centuries.

    Ulagan

    Ulagan is a mountain with a salt dome, located in Eltonsky Park. It consists of different layers, the oldest appeared in the Jurassic period.

    Every year Ulagan grows by several millimeters due to the addition of salt. Walking along it, you can find various fossils, for example, ancient mollusks and vulture shells. From the top of the mountain opens beautiful view to the lake and national park.

    Altyn-nur

    One of the main attractions of the village of Elton is the ethnographic center “Altyn-nur”. This is a real find for historians and art critics. The center talks about the culture of two large nations - Russian and Kazakh. How they lived together and separately for many centuries, how they lived their lives and divided the lands.

    In addition to excursions, the center offers camel riding and authentic Kazakh dishes. You definitely need to try them - when else will there be an opportunity to get to a neighboring country?

    I collected these photos from the Internet before leaving and studied the destination. Considering the climate this summer, and the fact that the temperature in the Elton region rose to +64 during the day in the sun, in the evening it was not less than +30, all that was left of the lake was salt, but it was also interesting. I'll post my own photos once I figure them out. 2 weeks in hell, but the ankle came back to life.


    Lake Elton - unique phenomenon nature, a real miracle, one of the most interesting natural sites in the Volgograd region, the pearl of the Volga steppe. A salt lake of enormous size, comparable only to the Israeli one Dead Sea, located in the middle of the Pallasovskaya steppe.


    Lake Elton is called Altan-Nor by the Tatars and Kalmyks, i.e. a bonanza from the purple-red color of its water (brine), cast in gold, which, according to the observations of Professor G.P. Fedchenko, it happens temporarily, usually in the afternoon, when the sun leans toward the west.

    Several fresh springs and 8 rivers with bitter-salty water flow into the lake, of which the largest is Kharazakha, up to 40 versts in length (from the north-west), and small ones: two Smorogda (or rather Smarada), Solyanka, Ulan-Zakha, Chernavka and other. These rivers carry water into the lake throughout the year, but most of all in the spring.

    The annual layers are separated from each other by layers of mud. In addition to table salt, brine contains other bitter salts, as a result of which the new plant has a pinkish tint and a bitter taste. When lying in the air, salt soon loses this last property. The hardness of individual layers of salt varies. As it goes deeper, it increases. The new sediment has the hardness of asphalt, but at a depth of half a fathom the salt layers acquire the hardness of stone.

    The beginning of the development of salt at Altan-Nor dates back to the time when nomadic Kalmyks adopted Russian citizenship in 1665; from that time, with the establishment of barter trade between Russians and Kalmyks, the latter allowed the Russians to take salt from the lake. Over time, development intensified and in 1741, at the invitation of the Astrakhan governor Tatishchev, the English sea captain Elton, who was in Astrakhan, explored the lake for the first time; from then on it received the name Eltonsky.

    Lake Elton appears to be the largest and richest of all known salt lakes in the world. The thickness of the salt layer has not yet been precisely determined; research carried out during the construction of the Astrakhan railway, it has been established that the depth of salt becomes greater as it moves away from the shore to the middle of the lake, where it, in any case, reaches several tens of fathoms.

    With an area of ​​200 versts of the lake, the reserve of salt in it is determined to be several tens of billions of poods. The composition of Elton salt, as defined by Professor Fedchenko, is as follows:
    sodium chloride ... 95.507%
    magnesium…0.460%
    magnesium sulfate ... 1.137%
    lime...1.428%
    water…0.969%
    In 1747, the extraction of salt on Elton by the treasury began and continued for 115 years until 1862. In 1866, salt extraction began by private entrepreneurs and continued for 17 years, until 1882. Salt removal from the lake was carried out in a simple way, using crowbars, picks and shovels, and delivering it to the shore on special boats - planks. With the transition of the fishery into private hands, its gradual decline is noticed. The short rise of the Elton salt industry in 1881 and 1882 was the last outbreak, ending in the complete closure of the industry and significant damage to the then entrepreneurs. In 1883, none of the areas where salt had been mined until then were no longer leased.

    Lake Elton has been known since ancient times; even then people knew well about it medicinal properties and regularly used the services of a natural “doctor” in order to improve their health. At the beginning of the 20th century, a sanatorium was founded here. It's huge salt Lake, comparable only to Israel's Dead Sea, surrounded by natural landscapes of desert steppe. Silt mud, brine and mineral drinking springs are valuable healing resources.

    Where is Lake Elton located?

    This is the eastern part located almost on the border with Kazakhstan, in the Volga steppes. The depth of the lake is very small, in summer - no more than 7 cm, in spring it can reach several meters. The area is 152 sq. m. A large circle of mirror-like surface, to which you need to walk several meters along a dried salt crust. The required level of the lake is maintained by 7 rivers. At the bottom there are outlets of salty springs. The lake is located 18 meters below sea level.

    It is not suitable for swimming, since it is filled not with water, but with brine - an oily liquid with a bitter-salty taste. It is oversaturated with a solution of table salt, as well as macro- and microelements. Lake Elton is decorated with another attraction - Mount Ulagan, which is an ever-growing salt dome.

    Another one interesting feature The beauty of the reservoir is that the lake is not dead; algae live in the water, which gives it a pink tint.

    Climatic features of the region

    If you are going to relax on Lake Elton or get treatment in a sanatorium, be sure to take sunscreen creams and oil with you. The sun here is hot and almost instantly burns both the face and other exposed areas of the body. The wind is almost constant, so dark glasses will be a useful thing. They will solve two problems at once: they will protect from the bright sun and wind-borne dust. The temperature difference between day and night is very noticeable, so when going on a long excursion, stock up on warm clothes, they will come in handy if you return in the evening.

    The heat here is hard to bear, so when leaving hotel room, take a hat and a supply of drinking water with you. If you suffer from heart disease, then choose spring or autumn for your trip, when the weather is milder.

    Today the resort operates 12 months a year, the average air temperature here in the winter months is -11 degrees.

    For lovers of new experiences

    The natural beauties here are specific, you need to get used to them, especially for Russian people, who like the sound of the wind in the treetops and the singing of birds. Here you will not find either one or the other. As already mentioned, the surrounding area is a bare steppe, in which a pinkish lake is located. It is not recommended to drive close by car because of the salty mud, in which the wheels slip, and a large amount of salt significantly damages metal and rubber. On a sunny day, your eyes are blinding as if from snow, and only in the evening, when the sunset colors Lake Elton in magical tints of red, can you truly appreciate the beauty of these places.

    This is the real kingdom of salt. It frames the lake in the form of a wide variety of crystals. They resemble either snow flakes or fancy snowflakes: with sharp needles, oval, cubic. Here it makes sense to walk around with a camera and look for a more interesting shot. The salt gets stuck in the hair, is felt by the entire surface of the skin, settles on the lips... The wind constantly carries its smallest particles, which makes it seem that this is where the air can be tasted.

    Tourism to improve health

    For this purpose there is a sanatorium on Lake Elton. It is located 6 km from the lake, so tourists receive all procedures at the local mud bath. Thrill-seekers can take a hike to experience nature's bounty in a natural environment on their own, or take a daily tour. Twice a day a bus goes to the lake, taking those who want to take a “wild bath”. The advantages of such a trip are that it is here that the high temperature works for you, and even the special air of these places. Then, covered with a crust of salt, you will have to drive back to take a shower.

    For comparison: fresh mud from the lake is also brought to the sanatorium twice a day. It is applied to the body, after which the patient is wrapped in polyethylene and covered with a blanket. The procedure lasts 15-20 minutes, then you can take a shower (without a washcloth or soap). Next, in accordance with the doctor’s instructions, a sweating procedure is carried out: the patient is wrapped in several blankets and given hot tea to drink.

    Not only the mud, but the “water” of the lake itself is also healing. Rapa is recommended for the treatment of many diseases, and the best effect can be achieved by alternating brine and mud baths. The choice is yours - use the services of the sanatorium or the opportunity to plunge into the lake itself.

    What is the reason for the therapeutic effect?

    Lake Elton is very popular among Russians. much closer to Israel, and treatment can be obtained even more effective, since the salt content is 1.5 times higher than their concentration in water Dead Sea. Therapeutic mud causes irritation of skin receptors and blood vessels. Organic nitrogenous substances penetrate through the skin into the blood and affect the functioning of internal organs.

    Mud is a natural source of vitamins, enzymes, hormone-like and other biologically active substances. The mud procedure generally affects the entire body, the nervous and endocrine systems.

    Magic mud and brine

    Hundreds of people undergo treatment at Lake Elton every year. The procedures bring significant relief, and subsequent therapy will give even more tangible results. Therefore, for chronic diseases, people practice annual treatment in a local sanatorium.

    High-salt silt, sulfide, bromine mud is a homogeneous, oily mass, slightly reminiscent of grease. It is also not easy to wash, it smells of hydrogen sulfide. The crust of dirt on the body retains heat well, which is a catalyst for starting restoration processes. Salt Lake Elton is famous for the chemical composition of its mud. It contains magnesium and sodium chloride, bromine, iodine, magnesium and calcium sulfate, calcium silicate, magnesium, aluminum. There is also iron sulfide, silicic acids, and organic substances.

    It is because of this amount of impurities that the Elton salt lake is no longer used for the extraction of edible salt. Thanks to this, it has retained its original appearance and today can be a place of healing for many people.

    Rapa is an even more amazing substance. As you approach the lake, the salty crust begins to break under your feet and you sink into the mud. Having thoroughly enjoyed these sensations, you can move on. Here the crust can already fully support the weight of a person, and it is covered with an oily liquid in which undissolved salt crystals float. In the hot season, it is difficult to completely immerse yourself in brine; the depth barely reaches 10 cm, but the concentration of salts is such that it begins to corrode the skin. More balanced brine baths will be offered to you at the sanatorium.

    They contain calcium and magnesium chloride, magnesium sulfide, calcium carbonate and calcium sulfate, organic substances, bromine and boron. During brine baths, tiny salt crystals settle on the skin, which continue their therapeutic effect after the procedure is completed.

    Benefits for your health

    A holiday on Lake Elton will be useful for everyone, without exception. The eastern part of this mysterious body of water is most suitable for swimming and enjoying the views. Treatment is prescribed in accordance with medical indications, but it has a beneficial effect on the entire body. Metabolic processes are activated, hematopoiesis is normalized, immunity is increased, the nervous system is strengthened, the condition of the skin improves, efficiency increases, and blood pressure normalizes.

    Elton mud is similar to that which comes from the Dead Sea, and brine is 1.5 times higher than its waters in terms of concentration of useful substances. Many note a pronounced bactericidal effect. Lake Elton mud is used in the form of general and local applications. They are used to treat diseases of the joints, bones and muscles, the central and peripheral nervous system, the gastrointestinal tract, and ENT organs. Diseases genitourinary system(both female and male) respond well to mud treatment. In addition, Lake Elton is a real panacea for patients suffering from chronic skin diseases.

    Contraindications for mud therapy

    Despite the wide range of indications and the undeniable benefits of Elton’s wealth, consult your doctor before going to the lake. If you go to the official website of the sanatorium, you can read rave reviews. Lake Elton easily wins the hearts of people, but there are still contraindications to treatment that need to be taken into account:

    • Pregnancy.
    • Any disease in the acute stage.
    • Venereal diseases.
    • All blood diseases in acute form.
    • Tuberculosis.
    • Severe forms of hypertension.
    • Any bleeding.
    • Mental illnesses.
    • Drug addiction and alcoholism.

    If you should not use mud and brine baths today, this does not mean at all that you cannot visit Elton. The lake offers treatment in the form of clean air, the famous mineral drinking spring, as well as nature itself - calm, leisurely, peaceful.

    Road to Elton

    You can get to Volgograd by train, car, or by plane. Options for every taste and budget. In the city you can switch to a bicycle or continue your journey by car. It’s easy to get lost in the endless steppes, so it’s better to stick to an already known route. One of these is the path from Volgograd through the villages of Volzhsky and Leninsk, but a bad steppe road leads to the lake. The second route is longer, it goes through Volzhsky, Nikolaevsk, Pallasovka, but along almost the entire route it is an asphalt road. Feel free to plan a trip to Lake Elton! Anyone can tell you how to get there local, even if you go astray.

    Excursions in the natural park

    One of the most popular services- This is a bicycle rental service on which you can take a tour of the surrounding area. There is a lot to see here. The excursion usually begins from the lake itself. After listening to stories of miraculous healings, tourists head to Mount Ulagan. This dome is unique not only because it consists of salt, but its height completely corresponds to the depression of the lake. But that's not all! Here rocks come to the surface, the history of which dates back to the Jurassic period, often with preserved examples of flora and fauna. Fossils of ancient mollusks can be found here on the surface, without excavation. This mountain is also interesting for its stunning views of the entire reserve.

    If you are interested in geology, you can visit the Grand Canyon, which is located next to Mount Ulagan. But usually sightseeing tour goes around the lake. Interesting monument culture is the abandoned salt mining village, Old Elton, which is located on west bank. Here you will be told about the hard work of the villagers who had to extract and load the precious goods, protect themselves from the raids of nomads and deliver the salt unharmed through a difficult section of the steppe. An outpost was created here, which served as a fortress protecting people.

    From here the path runs north, along the bed of the Khara River. The places are enchanting, with a completely extraordinary landscape. Even the plants here are unusual, adapted to the salty soil and mineral water. Maybe that is why there are so many rare species of trees and herbs that are not found anywhere else. Surprisingly, on this salty river it gathers great amount various species of ducks, even gray cranes fly here.

    A mandatory part of the excursion is a visit to the Devil's Bridge. It no longer exists; it existed during the time of active salt mining on the lake, almost 400 years ago. Now only the ruins of a stone dam remain here. Further the route runs along the Khara riverbed to the Botanicheskaya Balka. It will be of interest to connoisseurs and lovers of botany, but for the uninitiated tourist it is just bushes and herbs. About 400 plant species grow here. Among them you can find trees - apple trees and buckthorn; shrubs - thorns, rose hips, blackberries. Interesting rare species located on slopes. These are tulips and irises, almonds, asparagus, valerian, tansy, tarragon.

    If you are lucky, you will be able to capture in a photo insects listed in the Red Book. This is a long-legged kravchik, a motley ascalaf.

    A walk under the hot sun makes itself felt, and tourists move towards the long-awaited Smorogdinsky mineral spring. The composition of the water resembles water famous springs in Kislovodsk, although you may not like the taste if you’re not used to it.

    There are amateurs here cultural recreation can leave their bicycles and take a trip to the ethnographic museum. It is unique in that it was created and maintained by one person, a history teacher. These are four buildings located nearby. The first one talks about Russian life. This is a hut, decorated according to all traditional canons. Nearby is a Kazakh yurt, demonstrating the life of a nomadic people. The second yurt is where, upon your order, a real dastarkhan is served with beshbarmak, baursaks and delicious tea. The fourth house is a salt mining museum.

    The tour is led by the creator of the museum, a historian who knows and loves his region. He will tell you everything you want to know about Lake Elton. - the real passion of this passionate person.

    A visit to the Elton Nature Park can be a real adventure, full of new impressions, and also on a budget family vacation. Therapeutic baths will improve your health and normalize the nervous system. This place is ideal for spending time pleasantly and usefully.

    Lake Elton- a salty, drainless, self-sedating lake in the north of the Caspian Lowland. Administratively located on the territory of the Elton rural settlement in the Pallasovsky district of the Volgograd region, not far from the border with Kazakhstan.

    The largest lake in the Volgograd region and the largest in area mineral lake Europe (one of the most mineralized in the world). It plays an important role as a stopping place during the autumn migration of migrating birds, especially waders and cranes.

    A unique symbol of Elton are Gesner (schrenk) tulips - large red tulips that bloom by the end of April. They can only be seen in hard-to-reach places in the Volgograd region. Flowers are listed in the Red Book.

    Boundless as the sea itself, it remains absolutely calm even in strong winds. It’s as if it’s not a lake, but a huge piece of polished gemstone unearthly crimson-golden color. And during the famous Elton sunset it looks like a bowl of molten gold.

    It is amazing beautiful lake surrounded by a white, snow-like ring of salt sparkling in the sun, which also pleasantly resembles snow flakes to the touch. It is difficult to find a place that could compare with Elton in terms of beauty and diversity of landscapes.

    Tatars, Kalmyks and Kazakhs call Lake Elton Altan - nor (Altyn - Nur), which translates as “Golden Bottom” or “Golden Lake”. It was named so not by chance - for its beauty and iridescent play of color from red-hot gold to soft pink. However, there is a version that it was named after the English navigator Elton, who was invited in 1741 by the Astrakhan governor Tatishchev to explore the lake.

    Several fresh springs and 7 mineral rivers with bitter-salty water flow into it, of which the largest is the Khar, up to 40 km long (from the north-west), and small ones: two currants, Solyanka, Lantsut, Chernavka, Quarantine. These rivers carry water into the lake throughout the year, but most of all in the spring.

    Even from space Elton looks pinkish. Scientists for a long time could not understand the source of such an unusual coloring, until at the end of the 19th century. did not discover the presence in water of the smallest microorganisms that survive in a thick oily brine and in which all living things instantly die.

    History of Lake Elton

    Lake Elton was known long before it became a popular resort. Already during the time of Ivan the Terrible, after his conquest of the Astrakhan Khanate, regular salt mining began in the salt lakes of those places. At that time, the glory of the Astrakhan salt lakes was so great that it gave rise to fantastic stories about their inexhaustibility and high quality salt. The development of salt began most actively during the time of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna. During these years, two salt tracts were laid from Lake Elton to Nikolaevskaya Sloboda and to Pokrovskaya Sloboda, along which salt flowed to Russian provinces.

    On February 27, 1747, the Governing Senate issued a decree establishing a commission for salt extraction on Lake Elton.

    Since 1865, state salt production was stopped and transferred to the hands of private entrepreneurs. Most of them rushed to lakes Elton and Baskunchak. Due to heavy loads and unplanned developments that lasted more than a century, salt production there was stopped in the late 1880s. Approximately from this time, the countdown to the resort destination of the lake can begin.

    Geology and climate of Lake Elton

    It is a depression between large salt domes on far north Caspian lowland.

    • Area - 152 km², shape is close to a circle.
    • Depth - 5-7 cm in summer; up to 1.5 m in spring.
    • The level is 15 meters below sea level. The most high point Prieltonya, Mount Ulagan (salt dome), 68 m above sea level.
    • It is fed mainly by snow, through 7 mineralized rivers. There are salty springs at the bottom.

    The lake is filled with a saturated saline solution (brine), which desalinates in the spring. Mineralization is 200-500 g/l, which is 1.5 times higher than the concentration in the Dead Sea. The water contains Dunaliella salina algae, which gives the lake a reddish tint. At the bottom of the lake there are deposits of salts (mainly NaCl, KCl) and under them a layer of mineral hydrogen sulfide mud.

    The climate is sharply continental, arid: summers are hot (average temperature in July 25 °C), winters are moderately cold (average temperature in January −11 °C); precipitation is about 300 mm per year; constant winds throughout the year.

    Until 1882, salt was mined on Elton; in 1910, the Elton medical sanatorium was founded on its shores (moved to a new location in 1945). In 2001, the lake and the adjacent territories of virgin steppes (106 thousand hectares) became part of the State Institution “Eltonsky Natural Park”.

    Legends of Lake Elton

    There is still a legend among the Kazakhs, according to which the heavenly ruler Tengri Khan descends into the waters of Lake Elton to prolong eternal youth. Another legend that has survived to this day tells that the Tatar-Mongol Khan Mamai, having been defeated on the Kulikovo field and returning to the Golden Horde, hid gold and jewelry in the waters of Lake Elton. Over time, salt corroded them, and that is why the water in the lake acquired a golden hue. There is a folk legend associated with the activities of the Elton sanatorium, which was founded in 1910 and was located on the lake itself, and in 1945 moved to the village of the same name.

    They say that at the sanatorium there was a museum of abandoned crutches. People came on crutches and after a month or two returned home, leaving their crutches at the sanatorium. After some time, so many of them accumulated that it was decided to get rid of the museum. One of the village residents took the crutches and used them to make a fence around his garden.

    Elton to this day is a balneological resort that has no analogues in all of Russia. Nowadays, diseases of the musculoskeletal system and connective tissue, skin, nervous system, respiratory system, genitourinary system, digestive system, consequences of injuries, and metabolic disorders are successfully treated here. However, it is not only mud, brine and mineral water that heal here. Here nature itself heals - calm, leisurely, peaceful.

    In the Pallasovsky district of the Volgograd region, near the Kazakh border, there is one of the main natural attractions of the Volga steppes - salt lake Elton.

    Despite the huge transverse dimensions, the depth of the lake rarely exceeds 7 centimeters in summer and 1.5 meters in spring. The influx of water occurs mainly due to melt water, several salty rivers and bottom mineral springs.

    Lake Elton is a real natural pearl, captivating with its beauty and unusualness. The golden-pink surface of the water and the coast strewn with sparkling salt crystals create the impression of an alien environment. The surrounding area is also distinguished by its picturesqueness and diversity: salt marshes, valleys, ravines, river deltas, ravines and beaches.

    Holidays on Lake Elton

    Lake Elton is part of the Elton Natural Park, within which you can find a large number of interesting places to visit. One of these places is Mount Ulagan. The hill is a salt dome, increasing annually by an average of a couple of millimeters. The height of the dome is 69 meters above sea level, while the lake itself is located 15 meters below sea level. Some of the Ulagan rocks have very ancient origin, so right under your feet you can often find fossilized shells of mollusks that lived millions of years ago.

    A couple of kilometers from the lake there is a source mineral water- “Smorogdinsky”. Chemical composition water in the source is similar to healing waters Caucasian resorts.

    Near the lake there are salty rivers, canyons and ravines, on the slopes of which rare plant species grow. In the surrounding steppes you can also find man-made monuments of antiquity: burials, remains of old buildings, ruins of houses in which salt miners lived in the 17th - 19th centuries.

    Sanatorium "Elton"

    A mud and balneological resort appeared here back in 1910. Immediately after the opening, people from all over Russia began to come here, even Russian nobility and royalty often came to improve their health. The existing sanatorium in the village of Elton has been operating since 1945.

    When carrying out medical procedures, salt solutions (brine) and mud saturated with minerals are used, with inclusions of iodine, hydrogen sulfide, iron, hydrocarbons and other impurities. Drinking water in the Elton sanatorium, brought from the nearest sodium chloride-sulfate source, has a number of positive health effects, including skin renewal, normalization of metabolism, and stimulation of blood circulation.

    Weather

    Lake Elton is located in the deserted steppes in the east of the Volgograd region. The climate here is distinctly continental - summers are hot and dry, winters are moderately cold (down to minus 6.9 ℃ in January). There is little precipitation - about 300 millimeters per year. Sunny days a lot, but most of all the windy ones - about 300 per year, according to statistics.

    It is believed that the name Elton comes from the Mongolian “Altyn-Nor”, which literally means “golden mine”.

    At first glance, it seems that Lake Elton is absolutely lifeless, but this is not so. Dunaliella salina is thriving here - a single-celled algae that has adapted to extremely harsh conditions, thanks to which the water in the lake has such an unusual pink hue.

    Migratory birds, especially waders and cranes, use Elton as a staging post during their autumn migration from north to south.

    One of the symbols of Elton is the red Gesner tulips, which bloom at the end of April. In nature, these flowers are very rare.

    Every year an ultramarathon is held on the lake - Elton Volgabus Ultra. There are several distances, the longest of which is 164 kilometers.

    Story

    From the reign of Ivan the Terrible until 1882, the salt mined here was transported throughout the empire. At one time, rumors even arose about bottomless deposits of high-quality salt among the Astrakhan lakes.

    Since 1865, the state gave mining rights to private companies, and in the 1880s, the development of salt deposits was completely stopped. Since then, the mineral-salt lake began to gradually turn into a resort.

    In 1910, a health resort opened nearby.

    In 2001, the lake and nearby steppes (totaling 106 thousand hectares) became part of the Eltonsky Natural Park, which is under state protection.

    How to get to Lake Elton

    Elton station can be reached by train from Saratov and Astrakhan. Travel time is about 6 hours. If you depart from Moscow, then 20 - 24 hours (by trains to Makhachkala or Astrakhan). The lake is located approximately 4 kilometers west of the railway station.

    Buses and minibuses run from the central Volgograd bus station, but due to long stops along the way, the journey takes up to 6 hours. Therefore, it is better to use a car. The distance from Saratov to Lake Elton is about 340 kilometers, travel time by car is 5 hours. The route from Astrakhan is the longest - 470 kilometers (7.5 hours by car). The distance from Volgograd to Lake Elton is a little more than 200 kilometers, however, the travel time will take approximately 4.5 hours.

    The most convenient way to get there is from Saratov, since a short asphalt road leads from it to Elton.

    Route from Saratov to Lake Elton by car - Google map

    Route from Volgograd to Lake Elton by car - Google map

    You can get to the place using taxi services: Yandex.Taxi, Uber, Gett, Maxim.

    Panorama of Lake Elton on Google maps