Sveti Jovan Bigorski Monastery
Mavrovo National Park
This revered 1020 Byzantine monastery is located, fittingly, up in the gods along a track of switchbacks off the Debar road, close to Janče village…
Must-see attractions in Eastern Europe
St Petersburg
The Mariinsky Theatre has played a pivotal role in Russian ballet ever since it was built in 1859 and remains one of Russia's most loved and respected…
Around St Petersburg
Around the Catherine Palace extends the lovely Catherine Park. The main entrance is on Sadovaya ul, next to the Palace Chapel. The park extends around the…
Lviv
Don't leave town until you've seen this amazing 42-hectare cemetery, only a short ride on tram 7 from the centre. This is the Père Lachaise of Eastern…
Old Town
Dating from the 13th century, the imposing St Nicholas' Church (Niguliste kirik) was badly damaged by Soviet bombers in 1944 and a fire in the 1980s, but…
Suzdal
The grandfather of the Moscow Kremlin, this citadel was the 12th-century base of Prince Yury Dolgoruky, who ruled the vast northeastern part of Kyivan Rus…
Slavonia
Located 5km downriver from Vukovar, this museum sits on one of Europe's most significant archaeological sites and provides an introduction to the most…
Serbia
The Uvac River's spectacular meanders are the highlight of the 75-sq-km Uvac nature reserve in southwestern Serbia. The incredibly green river snakes…
Tallinn
This sprawling ethnographic and architectural complex comprises 80 historic Estonian buildings, plucked from across the country and resurrected in…
St Petersburg
Focusing solely on Russian art, from ancient church icons to 20th-century paintings, the Russian Museum's collection is magnificent and can easily be…
Vilnius
Stately Vilnius Cathedral, divorced from its freestanding belfry, is a national symbol and the city's most instantly recognisable building. Known in full…
Belarus
Over a causeway leading away from the town with lovely lakes on either side lies this palace-like castle and park complex. Erected by the Radziwill family…
Serbia
One of Serbia's most sacred sites, Unesco-listed Studenica was established in 1196 by the founder of the Serbian empire (and future saint) Stefan Nemanja…
Bucharest
The exquisite Athenaeum is the majestic heart of Romania’s classical-music tradition. Scenes from Romanian history are featured on the interior fresco…
The Carpathians
Built atop a 68m-tall volcano, Mukacheve's highlight is this dramatic castle that pops up from the surrounding plain west of town, like something in a…
Serbia
Serbia's most grandiose spomenik (Yugoslav-era memorial), Kadinjača commemorates the Partisans from the Workers' Battalion who perished on this spot…
Western Siberia
The centrepiece of the tower-studded, white-walled, 18th-century kremlin is the glorious 1686 St Sofia Cathedral. Less eye-catching from the outside, but…
Kosovo
In a remote, forested spot beyond the village of Mramor, this sanctuary houses European brown bears that were rescued from captivity by the charity Four…
Kyiv
Be it celebration or revolution, whenever Ukrainians want to get together – and they often do – 'Maidan' is the nation's meeting point. The square saw pro…
Presnya
Author of The Master and Margarita and Heart of a Dog, Mikhail Bulgakov was a Soviet-era novelist who was labelled a counter-revolutionary and censored…
St Petersburg
This triangular island was closed for the most part of the last three centuries, and has opened to the public in dazzling fashion. There's plenty going on…
Lithuania
With Soviet-era statues of Lenin, Stalin and prominent Lithuanian members of the Communist Party that once dominated Lithuanian towns lining the forest…
Mostar
The world-famous Stari Most (meaning simply 'Old Bridge') is Mostar's indisputable visual focus. Its pale stone magnificently reflects the golden glow of…
Dubrovnik
Built in the late 15th century for the elected rector who governed Dubrovnik, this Gothic-Renaissance palace contains the rector’s office and private…
Erarta Museum of Contemporary Art
St Petersburg
Erarta's superb hoard of 2800 pieces of Russian contemporary art trumps its somewhat far-flung location. Housed in an ingeniously converted neoclassical…
Kadriorg
This futuristic, Finnish-designed, seven-storey building is a spectacular structure of limestone, glass and copper that integrates intelligently into the…
Kosovo
This church and nunnery complex on the outskirts of Peja are a raw slice of Serbian Orthodoxy that has existed here since the late 13th century. Outside…
Durmitor National Park
Slicing through the mountains at the northern edge of the national park, the Tara River forms a canyon that is 1300m deep at its peak (the Grand Canyon…
Memorial Museum '21st October'
Serbia
Šumarice Memorial Park is home to a sombre museum that tells the harrowing story of the 1941 massacre of around 3000 Kragujevac civilians during the…
Novi Sad
Towering over the river on a 40m-high volcanic slab, this mighty citadel, considered Europe's second-biggest fortress (and one of its best preserved), is…
Belarus
The 16th-century Mir Castle, reflected magnificently in an adjoining pond, resembles something straight out of Disney. A recent renovation has the place…
Odesa
Fresh from a controversial renovation, which changed its original outlook, the Potemkin Steps lead down from bul Prymorsky to the sea port. Pause at the…
Vilnius
Founded in 1579 during the Catholic Counter Reformation, Vilnius University was run by Jesuits for two centuries. During the 19th century it became one of…
Veliky Novgorod
Within the kremlin walls is this must-see museum that houses three strikingly comprehensive exhibitions covering the history of Veliky Novgorod, Russian…
Old Town
Completed in 1404, this is the only surviving Gothic town hall in northern Europe. Inside, you can visit the Trade Hall (whose visitor book drips with…
Northern European Russia
Literally translated as Hatchet Mountain, this infamous 71m-high hill was the site of tortures and summary executions described in Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn…
St Petersburg
Housing a cathedral where the Romanovs are buried, a former prison and various exhibitions, this large defensive fortress on Zayachy Island is the kernel…
St Michael's Golden-Domed Monastery
Kyiv
Looking from St Sophia's past the Bohdan Khmelnytsky statue, it's impossible to ignore the gold-domed blue church at the other end of proyizd Volodymyrsky…
Church of the Saviour on the Spilled Blood
St Petersburg
This five-domed dazzler is St Petersburg’s most elaborate church, with a classic Russian Orthodox exterior and an interior decorated with some 7000 sq…
Serbia
The remote Negotin region hides one of the country's more dramatic natural phenomena. Three gigantic stone arches – known as Small Gate (Mala kapija), Big…
