Russia / JapanIsland
Kunashir Island
1,482 km² rising to 1,819 m out of the Sea of Okhotsk.
Satellite: Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 by EOX (CC BY 4.0). Outline and points © OpenStreetMap contributors / Natural Earth. North up.
In numbers
1,482km²
Area
382km
Coastline
1,819m
Highest point
Tyatya
8,000
People
16°C
Warmest sea
September
598km
To the mainland
When to go to Kunashir Island
Good all year round.
The sea is warmest in September (16 °C) and coolest in March (0 °C). The water never reaches 21 °C: bring a wetsuit.
Averages 1991–2020. Sea: NOAA OISST, the water within 35 km of the coast. Air, rain and sun: NASA POWER. Best months weigh warm afternoons (23–30 °C), sea of 24 °C or more and few wet days.
Island in South Kuril Islands
Kunashir Island is an island in Russia. It covers 1,482 km², with 382 km of coastline. Its highest point, Tyatya, rises to 1,819 m. About 8,000 people live on it. The nearest mainland is 598 km away.
Getting there
- Nakashibetsu Airport (SHB)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 85 km in a straight line
- Ferries1 ferry terminals on the island
- 598 km from the mainlanddistance to the nearest continental coast
Plan the trip
Ferries, stays and things to do
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On the island
What you find on Kunashir Island.
- 5beaches
- 7viewpoints
- 2lighthouses
- 1ferry terminals
- 25named peaksSibirtseva, Glinki, Morozova and 22 more
- 4volcanoesTyatya, Ruruy, Mendeleyeva and 1 more
- 4waterfalls
- 12campsitesStoyanka "U morya", CheapTrip Glamping and 10 more
- 8hotels, guesthouses and apartments
- 12restaurants, cafés and bars
Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit, inside the island's outline. A low number may only mean nobody has mapped it yet.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Kunashir Island in our other atlases
Everything Coastya, Peakyas, Lakeyas and Cascadyas know about what lies inside Kunashir Island, each with its own numbers.
7beaches and covesCoastya
9lakesLakeyas
1waterfallCascadyas
Largest lake
7.5km²
Peschanoe
according to Lakeyas
Warmest lake
21.5°C
Peschanoe
surface water, warmest month · according to Lakeyas
Beach with the warmest sea
16.5°C
Bukhta Alëkhina
sea in the warmest month · according to Coastya
7 beaches
on Coastya, the beach atlas
- Bukhta Kosmodem’yanskayacove16.3°C
- Bukhta Alëkhinacove16.5°C
- Bukhta Krupnoyarovskayacove15.8°C
- Bukhta Kolodnayacove15.8°C
- Bukhta Vodopadnayacove15.8°C
- Bukhta Nelyudimayacove15.8°C
- Bukhta Dokuchayevacove15.8°C
9 lakes
on Lakeyas, the lake atlas
- Peschanoe7.5km²
- Lagunnoe3.4km²
- Krugloe3.4km²
- Goryachee2.8km²
- Serebryanoe0.90km²
- Valentina Lake0.68km²
- Aliger0.25km²
- Ильинское0.20km²
1 more on LakeyasLakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗
1 waterfalls
on Cascadyas, the waterfall atlas
- Ptichy Waterfall
Cascadyas is coming soonOpen Cascadyas ↗
The shape of the land.
On average the island stands 209 m above the sea. 66 % of it is below 200 m.
- 22 %0–50 m
- 43 %50–200 m
- 24 %200–500 m
- 9 %500–1,000 m
- 2 %1,000–2,000 m
Share of the island's area in each altitude band, from the Copernicus DEM (30 m, read at 30–240 m on large islands).
Size, for real
Next to islands you may know.
50 km
All outlines drawn to the same scale (Natural Earth and OpenStreetMap).
Towns on the island
- Yuzhno-Kurilsk7,777 people
- Otrada3,215 people
Month by month
The weather on the island.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Afternoon high (°C) | -2 | -3 | 0 | 4 | 8 | 12 | 16 | 19 | 18 | 13 | 7 | 1 |
| Night low (°C) | -4 | -6 | -4 | 0 | 4 | 9 | 13 | 16 | 15 | 10 | 4 | -2 |
| Sea (°C) | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 8 | 12 | 16 | 16 | 13 | 9 | 5 |
| Rain (mm) | 54 | 43 | 67 | 71 | 97 | 98 | 120 | 146 | 128 | 119 | 88 | 76 |
| Wet days | 14 | 9 | 11 | 12 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 14 | 14 | 15 | 15 |
| Sun h/day | 2.2 | 3.7 | 5.4 | 6.2 | 5.5 | 5.6 | 5.2 | 4.8 | 5.4 | 4.5 | 2.4 | 2.0 |
| Wind (km/h) | 27 | 24 | 22 | 20 | 18 | 16 | 15 | 16 | 19 | 23 | 26 | 28 |
Averages 1991–2020 for the ~55 km NASA POWER cell over the island; the sea from NOAA OISST.
Recent years
Warmer and cooler years at sea.
Each month's sea temperature compared with its 1991–2020 average, in degrees.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | −0.7 | −0.9 | −1.1 | −1.0 | +0.1 | +0.4 | +1.0 | +2.0 | +0.8 | +2.1 | +1.5 | +0.7 |
| 2021 | −1.0 | −1.1 | −1.1 | −0.7 | +0.4 | +1.7 | +2.2 | +1.4 | +0.9 | +0.9 | +0.7 | +0.4 |
| 2022 | −0.2 | −0.7 | −0.2 | +0.8 | +1.2 | +0.2 | +0.1 | +0.8 | +2.0 | +1.0 | +0.5 | +1.4 |
| 2023 | −0.3 | −0.4 | +0.7 | +1.5 | +1.7 | +2.3 | +2.6 | +3.5 | +3.2 | +1.9 | +1.9 | +1.0 |
| 2024 | +0.4 | −0.5 | −0.4 | +0.7 | +0.7 | +0.4 | +1.9 | +1.9 | +1.8 | +1.6 | +0.3 | −0.2 |
| 2025 | −0.3 | +0.1 | +0.1 | +0.7 | +1.2 | +2.0 | +3.2 | +3.1 | +2.8 | +2.1 | −0.4 | −0.8 |
+1 warmer than usual −1 cooler than usual
Photos
Seen by visitors.
About these numbers
| Names, area, population | Wikidata (Q847285) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| Outline | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Sea temperature | NOAA OISST v2.1 · 1991–2020 |
| Climate | NASA POWER · 1991–2020 |
| Relief, 3D model | Copernicus DEM GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA |
| Beaches, ports, lighthouses, trails | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Towns | GeoNames · CC BY 4.0 |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
| Beaches, mountains, lakes and waterfalls | Coastya, Lakeyas, Cascadyas — Wikidata · CC0; © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0; NOAA OISST; HydroLAKES (Messager et al. 2016) · CC BY 4.0, LakeTEMP (Korver et al. 2024) · CC BY 4.0 |
Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.
The family
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