Russia Travel Guide

Russia is the world's largest country spanning Eastern Europe, and northern Asia, sharing land borders with Norway, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Belarus, Ukraine, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, China, Mongolia and North Korea.

This is a land of snow and deadly winters, but also of rivers that meander across meadows and a midsummer sun that never sets. Its people, in the words of a Russian proverb, 'love to suffer', yet they also love to party and can be disarmingly generous and hospitable.

This vast and diverse country, occupying the top chunk of a continent all the way from Poland to Japan - and a big chunk of world history too - demands travel attention. The architecture is both glorious and hideous, the history is monstrous, the art is sensational and the people can be touchingly friendly.

Russia has had a turbulent history of a crippled economy and tyranny from chapters in history involving Ivan the Terrible to Peter the Great, from the fall of the tsars to the dictator regime of the Soviet government. Modern day Russia is a nation embracing its freedom and the future holds great potential. Despite the country's move into a prosperus era, the country holds plenty of reminders of its rich heritage of the past in the country's culture and architecture that are amongst the countries appeal for tourists.

With such incredible size, it's hardly surprising that Russia's landscapes are incredibly diverse. With icy tundra and sun-kissed beaches, fir forests and deep mysterious lakes, snow-capped mountains and swaying grasslands (The steppes). There are also luxurious palaces, ancient fortresses, strangely designed churches and little wooden villages. The only real problem for the traveller is the distance between this melting pot of diversity.

The country's main tourist appeal is centred around its major cities whch include the dynamic Moscow and historic St Petersburg. However, slightly further afield are the beautiful Lake Baikal. There is also the soft, golden beaches of Zelenogradsk in the far western Kaliningrad Region. There is also the charming Volga river village at Gorodets which is home to folk artists. Elista, Europe’s sole Buddhist enclave and location of the wacky Chess City is also a stop off for the more discerning traveller.  The 400-year-old mausoleums of Dargavs, a North Ossetian ‘city of the dead’; or the hot springs of Kamchatka’s Nalychevo Valley in the Russian Far East can also be experienced for any travellers happy to spend a bit of time getting from A to B.

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