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…
Must-see attractions in Russia
Veliky Novgorod
Within the kremlin walls is this must-see museum that houses three strikingly comprehensive exhibitions covering the history of Veliky Novgorod, Russian…
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…
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…
Northern European Russia
Powerful five-domed St Sofia’s Cathedral has a soaring interior smothered with beautiful 1680s frescoes. The astonishingly tall iconostasis is filled with…
St Petersburg
The Alexander Nevsky Monastery – named for the patron saint of St Petersburg – is the city's most ancient and eminent monastery. Peter the Great made a…
Kaliningrad
Strung along the banks of the Pregolya River are several ships, a submarine, maritime machinery and exhibition halls that together make up this excellent…
Northern European Russia
This small, wind-whipped island is famous for its 13 labyrinths, including the largest one in northern Russia. A boardwalk loops around the island from…
Kaliningrad
Housed in the 19th-century Dohna Tower on the southern shore of the Upper Pond (Верхний пруд), this is a terrific introduction to…
Cathedral of the Transfiguration of the Saviour
Western European Russia
The Unesco-protected, nonworking Cathedral of the Transfiguration of the Saviour is the highlight of the Mirozhsky Monastery. Its 12th-century frescos are…
Western European Russia
Dominating the skyline is this huge green-and-white working cathedral topped by five silver domes. A church has stood here since 1101; this one was built…
Veliky Novgorod
This is the oldest church in Russia (finished in 1050) and one of the country's oldest stone buildings. It's the kremlin's focal point and you couldn't…
Murmansk
Murmansk is a centre for nuclear icebreakers that carve their way to the North Pole, but even in port you can give in to your wildest seafaring–Arctic…
St Petersburg
The golden dome of St Isaac’s Cathedral dominates the St Petersburg skyline. Its obscenely lavish interior is open as a museum, although services are held…
Around St Petersburg
Peterhof's uncontested centrepiece is the Grand Cascade, a symphony of over 140 fountains and canals partly engineered by Peter himself. To see the…
Presnya
The planetarium has become one of the biggest and brightest stars on the Moscow museum circuit, now incorporating all kinds of high-tech gadgetry,…
Abandonded Soviet Train Station
Kola Peninsula
This colossal Soviet-era train station stands abandoned and half-forgotten amid the harsh Arctic landscape. The two-platform station, which once took…
Veliky Novgorod
On the west bank of the Volkhov River, and surrounded by a pleasant wooded park, the kremlin is one of Russia’s oldest. Originally called the Detinets …
Northern European Russia
The five-domed, 1562 star of Sobornaya Ploschad sports intriguing timber-encased corner buttresses and houses a splendid iconostasis on the 2nd floor …
Volga Region
Samara hides a creepy piece of WWII history. This was the place Stalin was to be relocated to in the event that the Germans took Moscow. The never-used…
Russian Caucasus
The two peaks of Mt Elbrus – the western at 5642m and eastern at 5621m – bulge nearly 1000m above anything else in the vicinity. This volcanic cone has…
The Urals
People come from all over to visit this limestone cave with its ancient rock drawings from the Paleolithic era, some dating as far back as 36,400 years.
Nizhny Novgorod
Built on remnants of an earlier settlement, Nizhny Novgorod’s magnificent kremlin dates to 1500–15 when Italian architect Pyotr Fryazin began work on its…
Vyborg
Rising stoutly from an islet in Vyborg Bay, this castle was built by the Swedes in 1293 when they first captured Karelia from Novgorod. Most of it now…
Memorial Apartment of Andrei Sakharov
Nizhny Novgorod
The nondescript flat where dissident scientist Andrei Sakharov, father of Russia's hydrogen bomb, spent seven years in exile after protesting the 1979…
Golden Ring
This red-brick former water tower contains a multistorey exhibit of everyday objects from Vladimir's history (no English signage); the display of old…
Kola Peninsula
Every November, ice sculptors from all over the region make their way to Kirovsk to chisel the snowy halls and tunnels of the Snow Village into existence,…
Murmansk
One of Murmansk’s most memorable sights is a gigantic concrete soldier nicknamed Alyosha, erected to commemorate the Arctic fighters who perished in the…
Nizhny Novgorod
This exhibition space is located inside a 19th-century mansion once belonging to the Rukavishnikov merchant family. You can wander through the rooms on…
Arbat & Khamovniki
The Great Patriotic War – as WWII is known in Russia – was a momentous event that is still vivid in the hearts, minds and memories of many Russian…
Nizhny Novgorod
Connecting Nizhny Novgorod with the unattractive settlement of Bor across the Volga, this cable car offers a spectacular 13-minute ride. In winter there…
Astrakhan
The kremlin on top of Zayachy Hill is a peaceful green haven. Its walls and gate towers were built in the 16th century using bricks from the ruins of the…
Northern European Russia
Beautifully presented nautical exhibits cluster around the striking centrepiece – the prow of a ship – in the light-filled main hall of Arkhangelsk's…
Vyborg
Housed in a wing of a striking building designed by Finnish architect Uno Ulberg in 1930, this small museum hosts themed exhibitions that are curated from…
Kazan
Kazan’s striking kremlin is home to government offices, pleasant parks, museums, the enormous Kul Sharif Mosque and other religious buildings. Among the…
St Petersburg
Guided tours of the Hermitage’s state-of-the-art restoration and storage facility are highly recommended. This is not a formal exhibition as such, but the…
Golden Ring
Set dramatically high above the Klyazma River, this simple but majestic piece of pre-Mongol architecture is the legacy of Prince Andrei Bogolyubsky, the…
St Petersburg
It's well worth the effort making the trip out to see this magnificent collection of street art set inside a former 11-hectare industrial site. You'll…
Northern European Russia
Vologda’s multidomed, attractive kremlin is the city’s historical centrepiece, a 17th-century fortified enclosure built as a church administrative centre…
