Altai became a resort area for all Siberia during the period of the Great Reforms. Specific natural conditions attracted many visitors and tourists here. The most popular resorts and places for country rest were situated in the Altai Mountains and nearby. Popularity of the Altai resort was one of the reasons for the formation in the educated society of different ideas about them. These images were presented not only in sources of personal origin, but in scientific and touristic references too. By the beginning of the 20th century we have established a stable historical and geographical image of Altai resorts and Altai countryside. Using modern approaches to the study of the topic, the authors single out these images and assess the degree of their compliance with the historical reality. The methodical basis of research was the authors’ technique of reconstruction of historical and geographical images of the region which is being presently developed. As the result, it was found that in the Siberian intellectual space simultaneously there existed two images of Altai resorts: realistic with some negative elements and unrealistic, extremely positive. The first image was more frequent, indicating a high degree of objectivity of most of the authors who wrote about the countryside and resort areas of Altai.