Top 10 Things to Do in Russia
Russia is so big that it is less a country and more a set of separate worlds. In one trip you can ride a legendary train, wander a palace of absurd luxury, and stand in a square that has seen a thousand years of history. Here are the ten things I would not skip, in no particular order, and a couple I would gladly skip.
1. Stand in Moscow’s Red Square
You have seen it in a million photos, and then you arrive and it is somehow bigger and stranger in person. St Basil’s looks like it escaped from a fairy tale. Go at dusk when the light drains and the crowds thin.
2. Ride the Trans-Siberian Railway
This is not a sight, it is a week of your life, and worth every hour. Watching the landscape change from forest to steppe to the edge of Mongolia from a rattling train window is the closest travel gets to time travel.
3. Tour the Hermitage in St Petersburg
The building alone is worth the trip, and the collection inside is one of the greatest on earth. Give it a full day, wear shoes you can walk in, and do not try to see everything. You cannot, and that is the fun.
4. Explore the Moscow Metro
The stations are a free museum. Chandeliers, marble, mosaics of heroic workers. Ride a few stops on the ring line and you will ride past more artwork than most galleries hold.
5. Walk the Kremlin Grounds
This is a working seat of power, not just a tourist zone, and you feel that. The cathedrals inside hold stunning icons and a real sense of weight.
6. See Lake Baikal in Winter or Summer
The deepest lake on earth. In summer the water is absurdly clear, and in winter it freezes so solid locals drive cars across it and the ice sings when it cracks. Both versions are unforgettable.
7. Visit the Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood
The mosaics inside cover nearly every surface and take your breath away in a way photos never capture. Do not leave St Petersburg without it.
8. Take the Ring Road around Suzdal
Skip it and you miss the real Russia. Suzdal is a small town of wooden churches and onion domes and cows near the road. Slow, warm, and totally different from the capitals.
9. Catch a Show at the Bolshoi
Even if ballet is not your thing, the theater alone is worth it. Book ahead, dress up a little, and you get one of those evenings you will talk about for years.
10. Ride a Canal in St Petersburg
This is the cheapest magic on the list. A small boat under low bridges, past pastel facades, no crowds, just the city doing its elegant thing.
My Honest Skip List
I would happily drop the long queues at the Lenin Mausoleum and the tourist-trinket markets that cluster near the big squares. Spend that time eating in a local cellar restaurant instead.
