Kungur is a town of merchants that happens to sit on top of a cave. The city has been here since 1648, on a bluff above the Sylva River where it meets the Iren, and in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, it grew rich on trade, especially tea and leather, with a well-built centre of stone shops, warehouses and churches that survives surprisingly well. The old merchant houses on the main streets are low and solid, with fine brickwork and carved details, and the town has a pleasantly faded feel, with a small museum and a cluster of cafés.
The cave is the main attraction. The Kungur Ice Cave, hollowed out of gypsum and anhydrite on the bank of the Sylva, is one of the largest karst caves in Russia, with more than five kilometres of mapped passages and about a kilometre and a half open to visitors. Inside, the galleries are hung with ice crystals, frozen stalagmites and sparkling curtains, and underground lakes lie still and dark. The ice forms in winter and melts partly in summer, and the guides lead groups through the main grottoes with lights and a good deal of storytelling, including legends that Yermak, the Cossack conqueror of Siberia, once passed this way. The temperature inside hovers around freezing, so wear warm clothes even in July. Tours run all year, and the winter visit, when the ice is at its best, is the most magical.
Geologists have another reason to remember Kungur. The Kungurian stage of the Permian period, about two hundred and eighty million years old, takes its name from the town, and the rocks of the region record a time of salt basins and reef.
The riding here is pleasant, especially west of the Urals. The roads run through rolling farmland, spruce forest and river valleys, with gentle bends and long views. The surface is mostly good on the main road from Perm, with some frost damage and patches, and traffic is moderate, with trucks. In summer, the weather is warm and sometimes stormy. September is golden, and winter is cold and snowy.
The town is large enough that you will find petrol stations, shops, cafés and hotels with little trouble, and the cave has a car park and a small cafe. Book ahead for summer weekends, when coaches arrive from Perm. Walk across the old bridge in the evening. The river is wide, and the sun sets behind the cliffs.