Russia
Satellite: Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 by EOX (CC BY 4.0). Outline and points © OpenStreetMap contributors / Natural Earth. North up.
In numbers
72,492km²
Area
3,153km
Coastline
measured on a simplified outline
1,609m
Highest point
673,100
People
15°C
Warmest sea
August
99km
To the mainland
When to go to Sakhalin
Best to visit from July to August.
The sea is warmest in August (15 °C) and coolest in February (-1 °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.
Large Russian island in the North Pacific Ocean
Sakhalin is an island in Russia. It covers 72,492 km², with 3,153 km of coastline. Its highest point rises to 1,609 m. About 673,100 people live on it. The nearest mainland is 99 km away.
Getting there
- Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk International Airport (UUS)airport on the island, with scheduled flights
- 99 km from the mainlanddistance to the nearest continental coast
- From July to Augustbest months to go (from 30 years of averages)
Plan the trip
Ferries, stays and things to do
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On the island
What you find on Sakhalin.
This island is too large to count beaches and viewpoints in a meaningful way.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Sakhalin in our other atlases
Everything Coastya, Peakyas, Lakeyas and Cascadyas know about what lies inside Sakhalin, each with its own numbers.
1beachCoastya
33lakesLakeyas
2waterfallsCascadyas
Tallest waterfall
10m
Medvezhiy Waterfall
according to Cascadyas
Largest lake
44.0km²
Bolshoe Vavayskoe
according to Lakeyas
Warmest lake
21.5°C
Dobretskoe
surface water, warmest month · according to Lakeyas
Beach with the warmest sea
15.1°C
Bukhta Senokosnaya
sea in the warmest month · according to Coastya
33 lakes
on Lakeyas, the lake atlas
- Bolshoe Vavayskoe44.0km²
- Sladkoe18.3km²
- Bolshoe Chibisanskoe12.8km²
- Russkoye Lake5.2km²
- Tauro3.9km²
- Svobodnoe2.8km²
- Chudnoye Lake0.68km²
- Dobretskoe0.61km²
25 more on LakeyasLakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗
2 waterfalls
on Cascadyas, the waterfall atlas
- Medvezhiy Waterfall10m
- Klokovsky
Cascadyas is coming soonOpen Cascadyas ↗
Size, for real
Next to islands you may know.
500 km
All outlines drawn to the same scale (Natural Earth and OpenStreetMap).
Towns on the island
- Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk198,973 people
- Korsakov35,091 people
- Kholmsk32,681 people
- Okha26,560 people
- Poronaysk16,677 people
- Uglegorsk12,669 people
- Aleksandrovsk-Sakhalinskiy12,024 people
- Dolinsk11,989 people
- Shakhtërsk10,100 people
- Nogliki10,098 people
- Tymovskoye8,030 people
- Aniva7,963 people
Month by month
The weather on the island.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Afternoon high (°C) | -15 | -14 | -7 | 0 | 9 | 16 | 19 | 19 | 15 | 5 | -5 | -13 |
| Night low (°C) | -23 | -23 | -15 | -7 | 0 | 6 | 10 | 11 | 6 | -2 | -11 | -20 |
| Sea (°C) | 0 | -1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 12 | 15 | 14 | 9 | 4 | 1 |
| Rain (mm) | 54 | 39 | 60 | 69 | 68 | 69 | 78 | 113 | 94 | 91 | 86 | 74 |
| Wet days | 11 | 9 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 12 | 14 | 17 | 15 | 14 | 13 | 12 |
| Sun h/day | 4.1 | 6.0 | 6.9 | 6.4 | 6.3 | 6.7 | 5.9 | 5.2 | 5.4 | 3.8 | 2.3 | 2.7 |
| Wind (km/h) | 13 | 12 | 12 | 11 | 9 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
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 | −0.8 | −0.8 | −0.7 | −0.3 | −0.5 | −1.7 | +0.7 | +0.6 | +1.4 | +2.7 | +1.3 | +0.2 |
| 2021 | −0.7 | −0.8 | −0.5 | −0.5 | −1.0 | +0.5 | +3.1 | +2.2 | +1.7 | +1.0 | +0.4 | +0.4 |
| 2022 | −0.4 | −0.6 | −0.3 | +0.3 | −0.2 | +2.4 | +2.2 | +1.1 | ±0.0 | −0.4 | −0.3 | −0.4 |
| 2023 | −0.4 | −0.7 | −0.5 | +0.3 | ±0.0 | +1.4 | +2.0 | +2.1 | +2.2 | +1.6 | +0.8 | +0.2 |
| 2024 | −0.4 | −0.5 | −0.7 | +0.4 | ±0.0 | −0.2 | +0.6 | +0.1 | +0.4 | +0.9 | −0.1 | −0.1 |
| 2025 | −0.4 | −0.3 | −0.5 | +0.6 | +1.9 | +2.9 | +3.4 | +3.2 | +2.0 | +0.9 | −1.0 | −0.5 |
+1 warmer than usual −1 cooler than usual
Photos
Seen by visitors.
About these numbers
| Names, area, population | Wikidata (Q7792) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| Outline | Natural Earth · public domain |
| 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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