Khabarovsk
This highly impressive church's golden domes dazzle you from all over the city, with its prime location overlooking the Amur River. The cathedral was…
Must-see attractions in Russian Far East
Vladivostok
Just beyond Russky Island, Popov Island is better regarded for its beaches and filled with many guesthouses and dachas. You’ll probably need to stay…
Treasury of the Sakha Republic
Yakutsk
Pay a visit to this unique museum for a look at Yakutia's rich mineral wealth combined with fine craft traditions. You'll see exquisite carvings in…
Municipal Museum of Regional Studies
Russian Far East
This proud town museum has several rooms of photos and artefacts showing how Komsomolsk rose from a pioneer camp in 1932 to an industrial Soviet city. It…
Yakutsk
True permafrost nerds might check out the Permafrost Institute, about 2km west of the city centre. It has a lab that stays a constant –6°C, but high…
Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky
Originally built in 1857 to commemorate the victory over the British and the French in the Battle of Petropavlovsk, this wooden chapel was destroyed in…
Esso
You can find out much about the history of the area’s peoples in this well-kept museum in a charming Cossack-style izba (wooden house) set beside the…
Yakutsk
Despite its rather exciting-sounding name, this one-room museum is rather a let-down due to its total lack of signage in English. On the plus side, there…
Vladivostok
This Soviet battery, now a military museum, was built in 1933–34 and housed 75 soldiers at its peak. Underground you can explore the guts of the battery,…
Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky
Yes, there are beaches in Kamchatka too, and this one has gorgeous views of the bay and the distant snow-covered mountains, though it's unlikely you'll…
Vladivostok
On the site of an old artillery battery overlooking Sportivnaya Harbour, this museum has cannons outside, a six-room indoor exhibit of photos and many,…
Khabarovsk
Now a 'palace of childhood creation’, the former House of Pioneers (the youngest youth group in the USSR, where children went before the Komsomol) was…
Sakhalin Island
This museum has a modest permanent collection of pre-Soviet Russian oil paintings and Korean and Japanese textiles upstairs, and changing exhibits…
Vladivostok
Vladivostok’s main art museum on Partizansky pr has long been under renovation and shows no sign of reopening any time soon. In the meantime, some of its…
Vladivostok
This charming harbour is a lovely place to wander along the seafront and is a popular place for locals on the warm summer nights. Its walkway extends some…
Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky
Petropavlovsk's most charming spot for a walk, this thickly wooded hill is in the centre of the city between the harbour and the lake. There are numerous…
Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky
As Lenin statues go (and there are still around 1800 in Russia still standing), this is an impressive one, with the revolutionary leader in a dramatic…
Sakha Republic & Magadan Region
This striking gold-domed cathedral would catch your eye almost anywhere, but in Magadan its beauty is instantly noticeable against the backdrop of grey…
Sakhalin Island
This attractive statue of Anton Chekhov, whose visit to Sakhalin in the late 19th century put the little-known penal colony on the map, shows the great…
Russian Far East
Surrounded by trees on the pedestrian stretch of ul Sholom-Aleykhema is this quirky statue of Sholem Aleichem, whose much-loved Yiddish shtetl tales…
Russian Far East
This museum has an excellent exhibit on the arrival of Jewish settlers to Birobidzhan in the 1930s, plus boars and bears and a mini-diorama of the…
Khabarovsk
This smart and imposing building hosts a moderately interesting collection of local art, including religious icons, Japanese porcelain and 19th-century…
Sakhalin Island
This large park is full of rides and amusements, but there are some very pleasant parts for strolling away from the crowds, and even an attractive…
Russian Far East
Just northwest of the river terminal is the impressive WWII memorial, which features stoic faces chipped from stone, with nearby pillars marking the years…
Khabarovsk
Style Moderne – the Russian take on art nouveau – defines this mint-green building dating from 1895; it's topped by a statue of Mercury.
Far Eastern State Research Library
Khabarovsk
This attractive library, the largest in the Far East, dates from 1894 and is one of the most striking pieces of architecture in Khabarovsk.
Kamchatka
Yelizovo’s small Regional Museum has ethnographic exhibits, Russian weavings, local art and the requisite stuffed sables and marmots.
Russian Far East
This small monument is dedicated to the memory of the Japanese prisoners of war who were forced to work building the BAM after WWII.
Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky
Looming over the downtown area is wooded Mt Mishennaya (382m), an easy ascent with excellent views of town and Avacha Bay.
Khabarovsk
This impressive brutalist memorial to the Soviet Army's losses during WWII stands on a hillside overlooking the river.
Russian Far East
An impressive mosaic devoted to the memory of the Soviet soldiers who died during the Second World War.
Russian Far East
Just east of the river terminal is a beach, which is well attended on warm summer days.
Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky
This memorial and small chapel commemorates the lives lost in the Battle of Petropavlovsk, a little-remembered clash between the British, French and…
Count Nikolai Muravyov-Amursky Monument
Khabarovsk
This striking monument to Count Nikolai Maravyov-Amursky, an early governor of the Russian Far East, stands overlooking the Amur River that he did so much…
Yakutsk
This rather brash gold-plated pillar in the old town honours Cossack explorer and founder of Yakutsk, Pyotr Beketov.
Sakhalin Island
This looming statue of the revolutionary leader still stands in pride of place in front of the train station.
Yakutsk
Vlad Ilych still stands on Yakutsk's main square doing a particularly directional pose.
![Western Siberian Eagle Owl [Bubo Bubo Sibericus] in full flight](https://lp-cms-production.imgix.net/2019-06/531770715_high.jpg?auto=format&fit=crop&w=360&ar=1:1&q=75)
