Vladivostok means Lord of the East, and the city lives up to the name. It spreads over steep hills around the Golden Horn Bay, a deep natural harbour that the Russian navy chose in 1860, and it is the end of the Trans-Siberian Railway, 9,289 kilometres from Moscow. The hills are cut by narrow streets that run up and down at crazy angles, and cable cars, trams and a funicular have long helped residents cope. On a clear day the bay is blue and busy with warships, ferries and tankers.
The city has a distinct feel from the rest of Russia. It is closer to Seoul, Tokyo and Beijing than to Moscow, and nearly every second car on the road is a right-hand-drive Japanese import, a result of decades of used-car trade. Pacific seafood is fresh and cheap, with crab, scallops and sea urchin in the markets. The Russky Island bridge, opened in 2012 for the APEC summit, has a cable-stayed span of 1,104 metres, the longest in the world, and it carries the road across the Eastern Bosphorus to the island's beaches and forts.
Riding here is a mix of city and coast. Roads on Russky Island run past old military batteries, bays with pale sand and views across the water, and traffic is light outside summer weekends. South along the coast toward Nakhodka, the highway runs through hills and forests of oak and Korean pine, with views of bays and fishing villages. Fog is common in summer, when the monsoon brings damp air from the sea, and typhoons can arrive in late summer. Autumn is the best season, dry and clear. The forests of Primorye also hold the Amur tiger, though few people ever see one.
Vladivostok has almost six hundred thousand people, so fuel, food and repairs are easy, and Russky has basics. Traffic in the city is heavy and drivers are quick, so stay alert. Foreign riders should check current conditions and requirements before planning travel.