Nature endowed Bashkortostan with exceptional beauty. Forests cover more than one third of the republic's territory. The dominant trees are birch, coniferous trees, lime-tree, oak and maple. There exist national forest reserves, natural preserves and memorials in the republic's woods. Natural parks occupy over one million hectares.
Pure mountainous and steppe air, healing mineral water springs of various composition and properties, curative mud place Bashkortostan among major resort areas in Russia.
"Yangan-Tau", "Zelyonaya Roscha", "Krasnousolsk", "Yumatovo", "Assy" health centers, "Sosnoviy Bor" rest home are the largest health resorts of the Bashkortostan Republic possessing unique natural resources and having no counterparts.
A broad network of tourist centers proposes a diverse range of recreation opportunities: horse-riding, mountain-skiing, hiking and rafting, kayaking and catamaran sailing down rivers.
"Abzakovo" and "Yakty-Kul" mountain-skiing resorts are especially popular among the people living in the republic and elsewhere.