Bering Island Travel Guide — Best Time, Things to Do & Where to Stay

Why Bering Island

Bering Island is a remote, treeless landmass situated in the Bering Sea off Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula. Extending 95 kilometers in length and 15 kilometers in width with a total area of 1,667 square kilometers, it is the largest and westernmost member of the Commander Islands archipelago. The landscape reaches its highest elevation at 751 meters, a peak named after the expedition naturalist who first cataloged its terrain. Just four kilometers off the island's western coast lies Toporkov Island, a small circular islet measuring 800 meters across. Most of Bering Island and its surrounding waters are protected within the Komandorsky Zapovednik nature preserve and biosphere reserve.

The environment on Bering Island is severe, featuring strong winds, persistent fog, and occasional earthquakes. Influenced by surrounding ocean conditions, including the Oyashio Current and the Aleutian Low, the island experiences a subarctic climate moderated by the sea, resulting in winter temperatures that are milder than those in interior Siberia. Dense mists and clouds limit sunlight to an average of roughly 2.8 hours per day. Recorded temperatures on the island have ranged over time from a low of −23.5 °C to a high of 21.9 °C.

Historically, the island received its name following the 1741 shipwreck of Commander Vitus Bering aboard the Russian Navy vessel St. Peter. Bering and 28 of his men perished from scurvy, but surviving crew members under Lieutenant Sven Waxell endured by eating local seals and birds before escaping on a reconstructed boat in 1742. German-born naturalist Georg Wilhelm Steller documented the island's unique wildlife during the ordeal. Commercial hunters soon targeted the island's sea otters, and permanent settlement was established around 1825 when the Russian-American Company relocated Aleut families to the territory. As of 2021, the population stood at 654 residents, roughly 300 of whom identify as Aleut, with fishing serving as the primary local industry.

Despite its harsh weather, Bering Island supports rich marine and avian biodiversity. The surrounding coastal waters provide habitats for sea otters, Steller sea lions, and seal species including northern fur, common, and larga seals. Offshore waters host porpoises alongside various cetaceans, such as sperm, orca, humpback, right, and beaked whales. The territory attracts extensive seabird populations, including abundant puffins, alongside two native varieties of Arctic fox. While historical overhunting led to the extinction of the Steller's sea cow and the spectacled cormorant, introduced populations of reindeer, mink, and rats also inhabit the island today.