If you are already tired of seaside resorts or financial problems do not allow you to go on vacation abroad, it's time to think about an alternative option. Holidays in the countryside - not familiar with this leisure option? Today, rural tourism is becoming more and more popular, and this is not surprising. Why? We will tell.
Who is suitable for a holiday in the countryside
Green, ecological, rural, agritourism - we will not be too meticulous to look for differences and distinguish between these types of recreation. The main thing is what? All this is a vacation in the countryside, away from the bustle of the city, with the opportunity to breathe fresh air, admire natural beauties, eat natural healthy food and relax from the benefits of civilization.
Of course, if you have a grandmother with a house in the village, then the issue of organizing such a vacation is no longer necessary.
But not everyone is ready to spend a vacation without the usual urban comfort. And some simply cannot imagine themselves without the festive atmosphere of resorts, promenades along the embankment, various entertainments and boat trips. Rural tourism is clearly not for them.
But if you:
- tired of the bustle of the city and want solitude;
- feel nostalgic for childhood when you visited your grandmother on vacation;
- love nature and want to enjoy forest, meadow, field landscapes to the fullest;
- you have small children who need to be healed in the fresh air and natural products;
- lover of fishing, picking mushrooms and berries;
- if you are interested in village life, history and folklore - then a holiday in the countryside is right for you.
The benefits of a rural holiday
Have you ever spent the night in a hayloft? Have you been drinking steamed milk for a long time? Will you be able to distinguish an Indian from a goose, but did you have to ride a horse?
At dawn, walk barefoot through the dew to meet the sunrise on the banks of a river or lake, in the afternoon to taste pies from the oven, and in the evening at a large table under an old apple tree to sing songs with neighbors ... Whoever likes this, he simply must experience for himself that It's like a holiday in the countryside.
As for children, Dr. Komarovsky, respected by many parents, claims that it is best for a child to relax and improve his health in a village or village, where you can run barefoot in panties alone, eat delicious healthy food on both cheeks, and get acquainted with nature. This is how the immunity of children is strengthened in the summer.
How to get started with rural tourism?
Even if rural romance is to your liking, it would be a good start to go on vacation to the village for a few days.
There are several options:
- visiting relatives;
- rent a house in a remote village with some grandmother (but this is akin to an extreme for those who are not used to the lack of amenities);
- to go to an agro-complex, an eco-village or a green estate - there, in addition to rural exoticism, there are also the benefits of civilization plus a set of services and entertainment.
It is better to look for such options closer to your place of residence, so as not to spend money on the road. But if, after spending a few days in nature, you realize that you like holidays in the countryside, you can already plan a full-fledged vacation outside the city.
What type of holiday in the village to choose?
Decide whether you need a real rural exotic (perhaps you are a collector of folklore or want to fully immerse yourself in the real atmosphere of the life of the villagers) or still the usual amenities are necessary.
Mini-estates that invite you to relax in the countryside, of course, are not authentic, they are stylized as a peasant life, but they have everything that a city dweller is used to.
Plus a range of services:
- Boating.
- Fishing, hunting.
- Dishes of local cuisine.
- Horse rides.
- Collection of berries and mushrooms, medicinal herbs.
- Excursions to local attractions - visiting nature reserves, nature reserves, national parks, zoo farms, walking along ecological paths.
- Master classes in pottery, weaving, blacksmithing.
- Folklore holidays.
And you can also learn how to milk a cow, take care of a horse, mow hay, spin on a spinning wheel, pickle cucumbers and mushrooms in barrels, work in the garden.
The cost of such a holiday depends on the level of comfort and the range of services and entertainment. But sometimes it's not even about the price. A real vacation is possible in a real village, where for a while you can become a villager and understand how our ancestors lived, what are the traditions of the people.
But it is difficult for the townspeople, spoiled by comfort, to immediately change the situation abruptly. Therefore, mini-estates (albeit stylized ones) are a more suitable option.
By the way, travel to such places on holidays will be more expensive. In general, having tuned in to rest in the village, it is worthwhile to monitor prices, offered living conditions, transport services and other nuances in advance.
Where to go to rest?
Rural tourism in Russia and Ukraine is not yet as developed as, for example, in Europe. But mini-estates already exist in almost all regions. This type of recreation is very popular in Transcarpathia - the nature is beautiful there, the national color is bright, and the hosts are hospitable.
Rural estates of Slobozhanshchyna, Podolia, Kyiv region, Poltava region are glad to receive guests.
Fans of Central Russian landscapes will also find suitable places to relax. Rural tourism is actively developing in the Belgorod region. And the country estates of Karelia and Altai will conquer you with amazingly beautiful landscapes.
The main thing is to want, to understand that a holiday in the countryside is something that will give you strength, health, give new impressions and a sea of emotions.
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The tourism business in Russia has always been a profitable business. The profitability of this direction remains high, despite emerging crises or difficult economic situations in the country.
Recently, rural tourism as a business has gained a foothold in the market, and is of interest to residents of large cities. Agrotourism allows a person to plunge into the daily life of the Russian hinterland. For sophisticated citizens, such a vacation is exotic, and for this they are ready to give a lot of money. It is not difficult to organize rural tourism, but there are some nuances that a novice entrepreneur should be aware of.
Ecotourism as a business is attractive to rural residents who are limited in funds. small starting
capital will be sufficient for:
- Acquisition or construction of a small house on a personal plot;
- Purchasing a vehicle that is necessary for transporting tourists.
In addition, you will need to purchase pets and set up a small garden where food will be grown. It is allowed to use the entrepreneur's private house as a place for tourists to stay. It is necessary to divide or allocate part of the room for the dining room, as the food must be cooked in a specially equipped room.
When compiling a business plan, an entrepreneur must choose the type of ecotourism that he will offer to clients. There may be several options:
- Outdoor recreation on weekends;
- Accommodation of guests in the countryside from 1 week to a month;
- Comfortable stay in comfortable cottages.
If circumstances allow a person to invest a large amount of money in organizing rural tourism, careful planning must be carried out. Before bringing a business idea to life, an entrepreneur must decide on the scope of the project and correctly assess their financial capabilities. These factors affect how the infrastructure of the enterprise will look like. It includes places for vacationers to stay, eat and entertain.
Note! The tourist complex can be built in the traditional Russian style, in the form of small wooden huts, surrounded by picturesque nature. Meals for the guests are provided by the household.
Nutrition needs to be taken seriously.
Entertainment
Leisure activities are the main part of tourists' recreation. The standard set of services includes:
- Hunting and fishing;
- Excursions to local attractions;
- Hiking and horseback riding in the forest;
- Collection of berries, herbs and;
- Participation in rituals, acquaintance with local traditions;
- Education in folk crafts;
- Bathing in a reservoir, Russian bath.
On a note! The list of entertainment depends on the imagination of the host. The wider it is, the more likely it is that tourists come back and will recommend the tourist complex to their friends.
Entertainment program should be rich
Guest Registration
The entrepreneur must develop a program that will describe the procedure for booking houses, transporting and settling guests. Usually tourists buy tickets through the official website, travel agencies or book a room by phone. Each of these methods must be carefully considered in order to avoid mistakes and customer dissatisfaction.
Legal registration
To work in the field of rural tourism, you must register as an individual entrepreneur. This organizational and legal form is understandable for start-up entrepreneurs and simplifies taxation issues. If a businessman plans to build a large tourist complex, he will need to obtain permission from the SRO. Without this document, the building will be considered illegal. It is possible to receive guests at the recreation center only after obtaining permission from the fire service and sanitary and epidemiological control.
In some cases, it is possible not to register the organization with the tax authorities. For example:
- If a person plans to accommodate travelers in their own home;
- If a businessman permanently resides in the village and has a farm.
Rural tourism business plan
An ecotourism business plan allows an entrepreneur to avoid mistakes and correctly distribute the initial capital. As an example, consider a guest house located on the territory of an entrepreneur's personal plot. The room is designed to accommodate 6 people.
The income will depend on the number of tourists who visit the guest house. The average number of vacationers per month is 20 people. The daily rent of the house is 700 rubles per person. In this case, it is worth considering the income from excursions, meals and entertainment programs. The sale of additional services will increase the average bill to 1,600 rubles. The profitability of the guest house per month will be 32,000 rubles.
These figures are typical for the summer months. In winter, there is a recession, and the number of customers decreases. The approximate profit of the guest house will be about 25,000 rubles per year. With proper organization of work, the project will pay off within 12-18 months.
They say that you can fully relax and rejuvenate only in nature. This is especially true for residents of megacities: no matter how much you walk in Moscow parks and St. Petersburg reserves, you will not fully feel nature. Therefore, the townspeople should at least once try rural tourism: take a train, electric train or car and move in search of adventure to a real Russian village.
Rural tourism, also known as agro-tourism, is not yet very developed in Russia. But some have already caught the trend and started offering outdoor recreation, and tourists are ready to rent out expensive super-comfortable cottages and ordinary log cabins in the outback. You can relax in a rustic way in the Kaliningrad region and Tatarstan, in Altai (this region has always been of interest to esotericists who sought to spend time in the bosom of untouched nature), in the Crimea, in the Vologda, Kostroma, Ryazan, Kaluga and Arkhangelsk regions. In addition, there is a wide choice of cottages and rural guest houses around the big cities - Moscow, St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg. In the summer of 2017, there were about one and a half thousand such places for recreation in Russia.
What to do in the village?
First and foremost, walk. In the Kaluga region, fields and meadows will be at your disposal, in the Arkhangelsk region - impenetrable forests, and in Altai - mountains. Most of the tourist houses are located near water bodies, so you can swim in the summer and go ice fishing in the winter. Do not forget that nature far from big cities can be truly wild: in Kamchatka there is a danger of meeting bears, and in the forests of Central Russia - wolves. By the way, some lovers of rural recreation are also fond of hunting. If you are one of them, then you should remember that in Russia hunting is allowed only in certain seasons and on certain animals. The same rules exist for fishing, especially in the Astrakhan region, where poachers hunt.
Features of Russian fishing
Fishing is almost the national sport in Russia. Or even national art. It is understandable: many reservoirs are downright teeming with delicious fish. There are dozens of types of fishing: with a net and spinning, from the shore and from the water, in winter and summer, for a worm, for a bread crumb and even for pieces of meat. Each fisherman has his own secrets and secrets of skill. Therefore, if you are going to go fishing, consult with fishermen you know: they will probably recommend a dozen places to you, and maybe even make a company. Fishing places in Russia are divided into paid and free, so you need to plan in advance what kind of fish and where you are going to catch.
The most obvious option for "fish" tourism is the already mentioned Astrakhan region, famous for its sturgeon and black caviar. Catching these fish, however, is prohibited by law, but amateur fishermen can catch beluga, carp and stellate sturgeon. In the lower reaches of the Volga, you can rent a house or cottage inexpensively and hire a fishing guide who will show you where and how to cast your lines. And if you're lucky, the hostess will be able to immediately turn the fish you caught into fish steaks, fish soup, meatballs, dumplings and fish pies.
silent hunting
Another joy of rural recreation is picking berries, fruits, vegetables and, of course, mushrooms. It is for mushrooms that the Swedish professor is led by the hero Yevgeny Leonov in the famous film "Autumn Marathon". However, one must be careful in collecting forest resources: firstly, this cannot be done in the territories of parks and reserves, and secondly, one must be well versed in mushrooms and berries - well, or call a knowledgeable person with you. You also need to cook the collected mushrooms only according to proven recipes.
Animal care
This item may be of interest not only to adults, but also to children. Moreover, in some diseases, communication with animals is even recommended specifically - canistherapy (with dogs), hippotherapy (with horses). You and your children will have the opportunity not only to ride horses or dog sleds, but also take care of animals. In the stables you will be allowed to clean the horses and give them food (and if you're lucky - even bathe them), in the barns - to feed the cows and milk them. True, this can be dangerous, so milking should be done only with specialists.
From owners who keep animals, you can also buy the freshest eggs “from under the hen”, fresh milk, meat, vegetables and fruits for a small amount.
Enjoy Your Bath!
Mandatory Russian entertainment in nature is a bathhouse. Is it possible to refuse a hot steam room with oak brooms, diving into a snowdrift and fragrant tea after? True, in order for the bath to become entertainment, and not an unpleasant memory, a number of rules should be observed: in order not to overheat, you need to cover your head, do not abuse lying on the top shelf and, most importantly, do not chase records and do not try to sit in the steam room the longest.
Many are convinced that a trip to the bath should be accompanied by the use of alcohol. It is desirable - strong and more. Do not succumb to these provocations: it is very harmful to drink alcohol in the bathhouse, it is better to take tea or fruit drink.
The cultural program
Do not forget that in Russia there are a lot of unusual places that are far from big cities. So, in the Kaluga region, it is worth visiting the village of Nikola-Lenivets. Since 2000, thanks to the efforts of the artist Nikolai Polissky, the village, where he used to relax with friends, has turned into an outpost of contemporary art. Polissky and his friends installed several art objects made of wood and hay in the forests and on the banks of the Ugra River - “Bull”, “Hay Tower”, “Barn” and “Bed”. After the artists staged an artistic action to burn the tallest of the objects - the "Media Tower", their village began to attract tourists. Then "Archstoyanie" was created - an annual summer festival that attracts visitors from all over Russia. Recently foreign artists and connoisseurs of art, who come to Russia for the sake of Archstoyanie, have begun to join it.