PLAN YOUR TRIP

Welcome to Russia ......... 219 Top Experiences ........ 6Need to Know ................. 16First Time ........................ 18Getting Your Visa ........... 20What’s New ..................... 23If You Like... ..................... 24Month by Month ............. 27Itineraries ........................ 30Russian Adventures ....... 35Great Train Journeys ..... 42Regions at a Glance ....... 47

YOUR PLANNING TOOL KIT

Photos, itineraries, lists and suggestions

to help you put together your perfect trip

UNDERSTAND RUSSIA

Russia Today ................... 618History ............................. 621The Russian People ....... 656Religion ............................ 662Performing Arts &Music ............................... 666Literature & Cinema ...... 672Architecture &Visual Art ......................... 678Food & Drink ................... 683Landscapes & Wildlife ... 691

h h l f ll i h i

belief systems(% of population)

Catholicism

1

Other

18

Islam

5

Buddhism

1

Orthodox Christianity

75

80 would b4 would be2 would be

if Rus100 p

;eagre savings of the vast majority of the o ulatsu er-rich oligarchs.

c 30,000 BC

Humans settle in many locations across

what would become Russia’s vast territory, including Sunghir near

Vladimir and along the Aldan River in the Sakha Republic in the

Russian Far East.

5th centurB

Greek historHerodotus wri

about the Scythiawho proba

originated in the Aregion of Siberia a

Mongolia and wfeared for their rid

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Eternal Russia For centuries the world has wondered about Russia. The country has been re-ported as a land of unbelievable riches and indescribable poverty, cruel tyrants and great minds, generous hospitality and meddlesome bureaucracy, beautiful bal-lets and industrial monstrosities, pious faith and unbridled hedonism. These eternal Russian truths coexist in equally diverse landscapes of icy tundra and sun-kissed beaches, dense silver-birch and r forests, deep, mysterious lakes, snow-

capped mountains and swaying grassland steppes. Factor in ancient fortresses, luxurious palaces, swirly-spired churches and lost-in-time wooden villages and you’ll be-

Urban & Rural If cultural and architectural landmarks are what you’re after, focus on European Russia, which is all of the country west of the Ural Mountains. Moscow and St Petersburg are the must-see destinations, twin repositories of eye-boggling national treasures, political energies and con-temporary creativity. Within easy reach of either are charming historical towns and villages where the vistas dotted with onion domes and lined with gingerbread cottages measure up to the rural Russia of popular imagination.

To get the most from Russia, however, make your way o the beaten track. The nation’s vast geographical distances and

‘Oh, what a glittering, wondrous infinity of space the world knows nothing of! Rus!’ Nikolai Gogol, Dead Souls (1842)

Welcome to Russia

“All you’ve got to do is decide to go and the hardest part is over. So go!”TONY WHEELER, COFOUNDER – LONELY PLANET

PAGE

2

PAGE

617GET MORE FROM YOUR TRIP

Learn about the big picture, so you

can make sense of what you see

Need to Know

Currency » Russian rouble (R)

When to Go

#

#

#

#

#

Dry climateWarm to hot summers, cold/mild wintersMild summers, cold wintersMild summers, very cold wintersCold climate

MoscowGO May–Sep

IrkutskGO Mar,Jun–Sep

KaliningradGO May–Sep

VladivostokGO Jun–Oct

SochiGO Jun–Nov

16

For this new edition of For this new edi Russia, our authors have hunted down our authors havthe fresh, the transformed, the the fresh, the trahot and the happening. These are hot and the hapsome of our favourites. For up-to-some of our favthe-minute recommendations, see the-minute recolonelyplanet.com/russia.lonelyplanet.com

Contemporary Art Boom

Moscow’s former Red October chocolate factory has been reincarnated as the city’s

hottest art and entertainment centre, with the Strelka Institute for Media, Architecture and Design (p 104 ) as the focal point. St Petersburg’s Erarta (p 191 ) and

Tuva’s National

5 Worth a Scyththe gold haul f

kurgan (burial moat the National Mufrom impossibly inblingy imperial tor

Frolikha Adventu

6 This 100km sting along the u

coast of Lake Baikato the Great Baikal

Nuclear Icebrea

What’s New

I SBN 978 -1 -74179 -579 -0

9 781741 795790

99925

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russia-6-cover.indd 2russia-6-cover.indd 2 1/12/2011 10:40:21 AM1/12/2011 10:40:21 AM

©Lonely Planet Publications Pty Ltd

THIS EDITION WRITTEN AND RESEARCHED BY

Simon RichmondMarc Bennetts, Greg Bloom, Marc Di Duca, Anthony Haywood, Tom Masters,

Leonid Ragozin, Tamara Sheward, Regis St Louis, Mara Vorhees

p162St Petersburg

p346RegionVolga

p54Moscow

Russia p238EuropeanWestern

p282Region

EasternSiberia p492

WesternSiberia p450

CaucasusRussian

p406

p383The Urals

East p563Russian Far

Russia p299Northern European

Ring p137Golden

Kaliningrad

YOUR COMPLETE DESTINATION GUIDE

In-depth reviews, detailed listings

and insider tips

SURVIVAL GUIDE

Directory A–Z ................. 698Transport ........................ 710Language ........................ 725Index ................................ 742Map Legend .................... 766

VITAL PRACTICAL INFORMATION TO

HELP YOU HAVE A SMOOTH TRIP

ON THE ROAD

nnd

er er of e.et

u

What’s your name?? kak vas za

My name is ...... mi·nya za·v

Do you speak English?vi ga·va·ri·ty

- ? pa·an·gli·skI don’t understand.

. ya nye p

CCOMMODA

ge

PAGE

52

PAGE

697

Look out for these icons:

o Our author’s top recommendation

Every listing is recommended by our authors, and their favourite places are listed first

S A green or sustainable option F No payment

required

MOSCOW . . . . . . . . . . .54AROUND MOSCOW . . . . . . 133Country Estates . . . . . . . . .133Istra . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .135Borodino . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .135

GOLDEN RING . . . . . 137Vladimir . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .138Bogolyubovo . . . . . . . . . . . . 141Suzdal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .142Plyos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .146Kostroma . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147Yaroslavl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .152Uglich . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .156Rostov-Veliky . . . . . . . . . . . . 157Pereslavl-Zalessky . . . . . . .158Sergiev Posad . . . . . . . . . . .160

ST PETERSBURG . . . 162AROUND ST PETERSBURG . . . . . . . . . . . 227Peterhof . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .227Oranienbaum . . . . . . . . . . 230Strelna & Around . . . . . . . .231Pushkin (Tsarskoe Selo) . . 232Pavlovsk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234

WESTERN EUROPEAN RUSSIA . . . . . . . . . . . .238SOUTH OF MOSCOW . . . . . 239Tula . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239Yasnaya Polyana . . . . . . . . 244Yelets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244Voronezh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246Oryol . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248

Kursk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252SMOLENSK REGION . . . . . 252TVER REGION . . . . . . . . . . . 258Tver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258Ostashkov & Lake Seliger. . . . . . . . . . . . .261NOVGOROD REGION . . . . . 262Veliky Novgorod . . . . . . . . 262Staraya Russa . . . . . . . . . . 268PSKOV REGION. . . . . . . . . . 269Pskov . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269Stary Izborsk. . . . . . . . . . . .275Pechory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .275LENINGRAD REGION . . . . . 276Vyborg . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .276Staraya Ladoga. . . . . . . . . 279

KALININGRAD REGION . . . . . . . . . . .282Kaliningrad . . . . . . . . . . . . 284Svetlogorsk . . . . . . . . . . . . 293Yantarny . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295Kurshskaya Kosa . . . . . . . 297

NORTHERN EUROPEAN RUSSIA . . . . . . . . . . . .299KOLA & KARELIA . . . . . . . . 301Petrozavodsk . . . . . . . . . . .301Northern Lake Ladoga . . 309Kem & Rabocheostrovsk . . 311Solovetsky Islands . . . . . . .312Murmansk . . . . . . . . . . . . . 322VOLOGDA & ARKHANGELSK REGIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 329Vologda . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 329

Totma . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 334Veliky Ustyug . . . . . . . . . . 336Kargopol . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 338Arkhangelsk . . . . . . . . . . . 340Malye Karely . . . . . . . . . . . 345

VOLGA REGION . . . 346NIZHNY NOVGOROD REGION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .349Nizhny Novgorod . . . . . . . 349Gorodets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 353REPUBLIC OF TATARSTAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . 354Kazan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 354Sviyazhsk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 359ULYANOVSK &SAMARA REGIONS . . . . . . .360Ulyanovsk . . . . . . . . . . . . . 360Samara . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 362Samara Bend . . . . . . . . . . 366Shiryaevo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367SARATOV &VOLGOGRAD REGIONS . . . 367Saratov . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367Volgograd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 370ASTRAKHAN REGION . . . . 374Astrakhan . . . . . . . . . . . . . .374Volga Delta . . . . . . . . . . . . .378REPUBLIC OF KALMYKIA . . 379Elista . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 379

THE URALS . . . . . . . .383PERM TERRITORY . . . . . . .386Perm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 386Kungur . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 389

On the Road

See the Index for a full list of destinations covered in this book.

SVERDLOVSK REGION . . . 391Yekaterinburg . . . . . . . . . . .391REPUBLIC OF BASHKORTOSTAN & CHELYABINSK REGION . . .399Ufa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 399Chelyabinsk . . . . . . . . . . . . 403

RUSSIAN CAUCASUS . . . . . . . 406KUBAN STEPPE . . . . . . . . .408Rostov-on-Don . . . . . . . . . 409Krasnodar . . . . . . . . . . . . . .412BLACK SEA COAST . . . . . . 413Anapa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .413Novorossiysk . . . . . . . . . . . .414Sochi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .415Adler . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 423Krasnaya Polyana . . . . . . . 424MINERAL WATER SPAS . . .426Pyatigorsk . . . . . . . . . . . . . 428Zheleznovodsk . . . . . . . . . 432Kislovodsk . . . . . . . . . . . . . 432CENTRAL CAUCASUS . . . . 435Dombay & Teberda . . . . . 435Arkhyz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .441Nalchik . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .441Elbrus Area . . . . . . . . . . . . 443CHECHNYA, DAGESTAN & INGUSHETIA . . . . . . . . . . . . 447

WESTERNSIBERIA . . . . . . . . . . 450TYUMEN &OMSK REGIONS . . . . . . . . . 452Tyumen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 452

Tobolsk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 456Omsk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 459NOVOSIBIRSK &TOMSK REGIONS . . . . . . . .460Novosibirsk . . . . . . . . . . . . 460Akademgorodok & Seyatel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 464Tomsk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 464ALTAI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 471Barnaul. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .472Biysk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 476Gorno-Altaisk . . . . . . . . . . .477Lake Teletskoe & Artybash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 479Lake Manzherok . . . . . . . . .481Chemal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 482Chuysky Trakt . . . . . . . . . . 484KEMEROVO REGION . . . . .488Novokuznetsk . . . . . . . . . . 488Sheregesh . . . . . . . . . . . . . 490

EASTERN SIBERIA . .492KHAKASSIA REPUBLIC & SOUTHERN KRASNOYARSK TERRITORY . . . . . . . . . . . . .496Abakan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 496Usinsky Trakt . . . . . . . . . . . 502TUVA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .502Kyzyl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 504From Kyzyl to Erzin . . . . . 509Western Tuva . . . . . . . . . . . .510KRASNOYARSK REGION . . 511Krasnoyarsk . . . . . . . . . . . . 511Divnogorsk . . . . . . . . . . . . .518WESTERN BAM . . . . . . . . . . 518Bratsk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .518

Severobaikalsk . . . . . . . . . 520LAKE BAIKAL . . . . . . . . . . . 524Irkutsk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 525Listvyanka . . . . . . . . . . . . . 536Port Baikal . . . . . . . . . . . . . 539Olkhon Island . . . . . . . . . . .541South Baikal & the Tunka Valley . . . . . . . . 543Eastern Baikal . . . . . . . . . . 545SOUTHERN BURYATIYA & ZABAIKALSKY TERRITORY . . . . . . . . . . . . .546Ulan-Ude . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 547Chita . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 556

RUSSIAN FAR EAST . . . . . . . . . .563EASTERNTRANS-SIBERIAN . . . . . . . 565Blagoveshchensk . . . . . . . 565Birobidzhan . . . . . . . . . . . . 566Khabarovsk . . . . . . . . . . . . 568Vladivostok . . . . . . . . . . . . .575EASTERN BAM . . . . . . . . . . 588Tynda . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 589Komsomolsk-na-Amure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 590Sakha Republic . . . . . . . . . . 593Yakutsk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 594SAKHALIN ISLAND . . . . . .600Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk . . . . . . .601Kholmsk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 605KAMCHATKA . . . . . . . . . . . .605Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky . . . . . . . . . . . 607Esso . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .615

A R C T I C

O C E A N

A R

C T I C

Ob

Gul

f

Dikson

Igarka

NorilskDudinkaVorkuta

Tomsk

Novosibirsk

Yeniseysk

Omsk

Nizhnevartovsk

Syktyvkar

TagilNizhny

Tyumen

PermKungur

Ufa

Orsk

Yekaterinburg

Salekhard

Khanty-Mansiysk

Tobolsk

Barnaul

BishkekTashkent

Astana

Kizhi

Helsinki

Oslo

Stockholm

R‹ga

Tallinn

Yaroslavl

NovgorodVeliky

Pskov

SmolenskTver

TulaSuzdal

St Petersburg

Vologda

Syzran

Novgorod

Volgograd

Nizhny

Vladimir

Kaliningrad

Kyiv

Minsk

Vody

Novorossiysk

Vilnius

MOSCOW

Oryol

Mineralnye

Rostov-on-Don

Astrakhan

Baku

Ashkabad

Sochi

Tbilisi

Tehran

Yerevan

Samara

Kazan

Ura

l Mou

ntai

ns

MountainsAltai

Mt Elbrus(5642m)

Mountains

Caucasus

0º80ºN

70ºN60ºN

80ºE60ºE

20ºE

40ºE

A R C T I C

BalkhashLake

AralSea

LandFranz Josef

NovayaZemlya

Svalbard

PeninsulaYamal

SiberianLowland

GydanskyPeninsula

TuranianPlateau

SBI

Kara Sea

Barents Sea

Yen

isey

Ob

Ob

Irty

sh

Irtysh

Syr Darya

SeaNorwegianS E A

N O R T H

SeaBaltic

Volga

Ural

VolgaBLACKSEA

CASPIANSEA

NORWAY

CHINA

KYRGYZSTAN

K A Z A K H S T A N

FINLA

ND

SWEDEN

ESTONIA

LITHUANIA

NORWAY

BELARUS

UKRAINE

LATVIA

I R A N

GEORGIA

ARMENIA

AZERBAIJAN

R U S S I A

TURKMENISTAN

UZBEKISTAN

Kizhi

St Petersburg

Suzdal

Altai Mountains

Tomsk

Moscow

Veliky Novgorod

Caucasus mountains

Black Sea coast

Hermitage (p168)

Amazing wooden church

The quintessentialidyllic village (p142)

on an island (p307)

Russia's nature paradisesupreme (p471)

Splendid architecture,culturally cool vibe (p464)

Be surrounded by historyon Red Square (p72)

Home to the incomparable

Ancient churches,magnificent kremlin (p262)

carpeted meadows (p406)

Hit the beaches

Snow-covered peaks, wildflower-

and ski slopes (p413)

00 600 miles

1000 km

› Russia

S E AB E R I N G

Tatar Strait

Sea ofJapan

SeaYellow

O C E A N

Bering Strait

KamchatskyPetropavlovsk-

SakhalinskYuzhno-

Vanino

Gavan

Khabarovsk

Sovetskaya

Okhotsk

Tynda

Blagoveshchensk

Magadan

na-AmureKomsomolsk-

Vladivostok

Nakhodka

SeoulBeijing

Ussuriysk

Pyongyang

Tiksi

Khatanga

Yakutsk

Lensk

Olekminsk

Bratsk

KrasnoyarskSeverobaikalsk

Ulan-Ude

Ulaanbaatar

Kyzyl

Darkhan

Irkutsk

Chita

Kl

sm

yM

yk

at

nu

sn

io

o

(4668m)

snatnuMyk o

i

Stanovoy Mountains

Klyuchevskaya

snyo

a

k

re

V

h

MountainsUdokan

YablonovyMountains

60ºN70ºN80ºN180º

50ºN

40ºN

160ºE

140ºE

120ºE100ºE

C I R C L E

BaikalLake

IslandSt Lawrence

Island

IslandSakhalin

IslandsNovosibirskieSevernaya

Zemlya

Wrangel

PeninsulaKamchatka

ChukotkaPeninsula

PlainManchurian

TaymyrPeninsula

SIBERIANPLATEAU

CENTRAL

PlateauPutorana

DesertGobi

BasinGreat

ST

AA

IE

S

US

N

RA

F

R

I

ER

A

Chukchi Sea

Gulf

Kolyma

Shelekhov

Sea ofOkhotsk

Amur

Am

ur

Ussuri

Arg

un

Sea

LaptevSea

Len

a

TunguskaNizhnyaya

Lena

Yenisey

East Siberian

Indigirka

U S A

JAPANSOUTH KOREA

CHINA

NORTHKOREA

MONGOLIA

Kamchatka

Yakutsk

Vladivostok

Trans-Siberian Railway

Tuva

Lake Baikal

(p605)Land of fire and ice

of cold (p594)Experience the pole

Admire beautiful

train trip (p43)The ultimate big

republic (p502)Excitingly unique ethnic Golden Horn Bay (p575)

sapphire jewel (p524)Hike around Siberia's

Top Experiences ›

OUR STORYA beat-up old car, a few dollars in the pocket and a sense of adventure. In 1972 that’s all Tony and Maureen Wheeler needed for the trip of a lifetime – across Europe and Asia overland to Australia. It took several months, and at the end – broke but inspired – they sat at their kitchen table writing and stapling together their fi rst travel guide, Across Asia on the Cheap. Within a week they’d sold 1500 copies. Lonely Planet was born.

Today, Lonely Planet has offi ces in Melbourne, London and Oakland, with more than 600 staff and writers. We share Tony’s belief that ‘a great guidebook should do three things: inform, educate and amuse’.

Simon Richmond Coordinating Author; Western European Russia, Kaliningrad Region After study-ing Russian history and politics during university, Simon fi rst visited the country in 1994 when he wandered goggle eyed around gorgeous St Petersburg and peeked at Lenin’s mummifi ed corpse in Red Square. He’s since travelled the breadth of the nation from Kamchatka in the Far East to Kaliningrad in the far west, stopping off at many points between. An award-winning writer and photo-

grapher, Simon is the coauthor of Lonely Planet’s Trans-Siberian Railway editions 1, 2 and 3; Russia editions 3, 4 and 5; and many other titles for the company, ranging from Cape Town to Korea. Read more about his travels at www.simonrichmond.com.

Marc Bennetts Western Siberia Marc moved to Russia in 1997 and immediately fell in love with the country’s pirate CD markets. Since then, he has written about Russian spies, Chechen football and Soviet psychics for a variety of national newspapers, includ-ing the Guardian and the Times. In 2008 his book Football Dynamo: Modern Rus-sia and the People’s Game was released. He is currently working on a book about Russia’s fascination with the occult. Contact him at marcbennetts@yahoo.com.

Greg Bloom Russian Far East Greg cut his teeth in the former Soviet Union as a journalist and later editor-in-chief of the Kyiv Post. He left Ukraine in 2003 but returns frequently to the region. In the service of Lonely Planet, he has been detained in Uzbekistan, taken a shlagbaum to the head in Kyiv, swam in the dying Aral Sea, snowboarded down volcanoes in Kamchatka and hit 100km/h in a Latvian bob-sled. These days Greg lives in Cambodia. Read about his trips at www.mytrip

journal.com/bloomblogs.

Marc Di Duca Eastern Siberia Marc has spent nigh on two decades criss-crossing the former communist world, the last seven of them as a travel guide author. Stints on pre-vious editions of Lonely Planet’s Russia and Trans-Siberian Railway were pre-ceded by other guides to Moscow, St Petersburg and Lake Baikal. Motor boating around the Selenga River Delta, stalking Decembrists across 4 million sq km and munching through perilous amounts of Buryat pozi all formed part of research in

his beloved Siberia this time round.

Read more about Simon at:lonelyplanet.com/members/simonrichmond

Read more about Greg at:lonelyplanet.com/members/gbloom4

Read more about Marc at:lonelyplanet.com/members/madidu

OUR WRITERS

Although the authors and Lonely Planet have taken all reason-able care in preparing this book, we make no warranty about the accuracy or completeness of its content and, to the maxi-mum extent permitted, disclaim all liability arising from its use.

Published by Lonely Planet Publications Pty LtdABN 36 005 607 9836th edition – Mar 2012ISBN 978 1 74179 579 0© Lonely Planet 2012 Photographs © as indicated 201210 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1Printed in ChinaAll rights reserved. No part of this publication may be copied, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording or otherwise, except brief extracts for the purpose of review, and no part of this publication may be sold or hired, without the written permission of the publisher. Lonely Planet and the Lonely Planet logo are trademarks of Lonely Planet and are registered in the US Patent and Trademark Office and in other countries. Lonely Planet does not allow its name or logo to be appropriated by commercial establishments, such as retailers, restaurants or hotels. Please let us know of any misuses: lonelyplanet.com/ip.

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MORE WRITERS

Anthony HaywoodVolga Region, The Urals Anthony was born in the port city of Fremantle, Western Australia, and pulled anchor early on to hitchhike (mostly) through Europe and the USA. He later studied comparative literature in Perth and Russian language in Melbourne. In the 1990s he moved to Germany. Today he works as a freelance writer and journalist and divides his time between Göttingen (Lower Saxony) and Berlin. His book, Siberia, A Cultural History, was published in 2010.

Tom Masters St Petersburg Tom fi rst came to St Petersburg in 1996 while studying Russian at the School of Slavonic & East European Studies in London. He loved the city so much that he came back after graduating and worked as a writer and editor at the St Petersburg Times. Since then he’s been based in London and Berlin, but returns regularly to Piter to take on documentary work, and to write freelance articles and Lonely Planet guides. You can see more of Tom’s work at www.tommasters.net.

Leonid Ragozin Golden Ring Leonid Ragozin devoted himself to beach dynamics when he studied geology in Moscow. But for want of really nice beaches in Russia, he helped gold miners in Siberia and sold InterRail tickets before embarking on a journalist career. After eight years with the BBC, he became a foreign correspondent for the Russian Newsweek – the job that took him to such unlikely destinations as Bhutan and Ecuador. Now back at the BBC, he has plunged into the turbulent sea of TV news.

Tamara Sheward Northern European Russia After years of freelance travel writing, journalism and authordom, Tamara leapt at the chance to join the Lonely Planet ranks as presenter of LPTV’s Roads Less Travelled: Cambodia. Following a Lonely Planet stint in Serbia for the Eastern Europe guide, Tamara again returned to her Slavic roots to write this book’s Northern European Russia chapter. As a result, she now counts Arctic backwater-hopping, raucous platskart journeys and drinking

in the park among her favourite pastimes, which will no doubt thrill her Russian mother.

Regis St Louis Russian Caucasus An early fan of Gogol and Dostoevsky, Regis spent his univer-sity years in the US and Moscow immersed in the world of Rus, in pursuit of a rather impractical degree in Slavic Languages and Literatures. On this trip into the Caucasus, Regis drank kvas copiously, hiked over dramatic mountain peaks and joined in political discussions at a youth conference in Karachay-Cherkessia. A full-time travel writer since 2003, Regis has contributed to more than 30 Lonely

Planet titles. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Mara Vorhees Moscow Mara has been travelling to Moscow since it was the capital of a diff er-ent country. The pen-wielding traveller has worked on dozens of Lonely Planet titles, including Moscow, St Petersburg and Trans-Siberian Railway. When not roaming around Russia, Mara lives in a pink house in Somerville, Massachusetts, with her husband, two kiddies and two kitties. Follow her adventures at www.maravorhees.com.

Read more about Tamara at:lonelyplanet.com/members/tamarasheward

Read more about Tom at:lonelyplanet.com/members/tommasters

Read more about Regis at:lonelyplanet.com/members/regisstlouis

Read more about Mara at:lonelyplanet.com/members/mvorhees

Itiner-aries

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Petrodvorets

Suzdal

Vladimir

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St Petersburg

VelikyNovgorod

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Two WeeksRussian Capitals

The awe-inspiring cities of Moscow and St Petersburg encompass the country’s tur-bulent past and glittering present. Moscow has its historic Kremlin, glorious Red Square, classic Tretyakov Gallery, renovated Bolshoi Theatre, exciting contempo-rary arts scene and extensive metro system with stations that are a sight in themselves.

In St Petersburg don’t miss the incomparable Hermitage and the Russian Museum, or cruising the city’s rivers and canals. Enjoy some of Russia’s top restaurants and bars, and attend fi rst-rate performances at the Mariinsky and Mikhailovsky Theatres.

St Petersburg is ringed by grand palaces set in beautifully landscaped grounds such as Petrodvorets, Tsarskoe Selo and Pavlovsk. From Moscow it’s easy to make trips to the historic Golden Ring towns of Sergiev Posad, Suzdal and Vladimir, where you will be rewarded with a slice of rural Russian life far from the frenetic city pace.

Between the two big cities, tourist-friendly Veliky Novgorod deserves a couple of days, too. It’s home to an impressive riverside kremlin, ancient churches and a wonderful open-air museum of wooden architecture.

Whether you’ve got six days or Whether you’ve got six days or 60, these itineraries provide a 60, these itineraries provide a starting point for the trip of a starting point for the trip of a lifetime. Want more inspiration? lifetime. Want more inspiration? Head online to lonelyplanetHead online to lonelyplanet.com/thorntree to chat with other .com/thorntree to chat with other travellers.travellers.

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MONGOLIA

Vladimir

Yaroslavl

St Petersburg

MOSCOW

Ulan-Ude

Yekaterinburg

Irkutsk

Khabarovsk

Vladivostok

PermKungur

LakeBaikal

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Three to Four Weeks Trans-Siberian Odyssey

The classic Russian adventure is to travel the Trans-Siberian Railway, an engi-neering wonder that spans and holds together the world’s largest country. So you can fi nish up with a grand party in either Moscow or, better yet, St Petersburg, go against the general fl ow by commencing your journey at Vladivostok. Situated

on a stunningly attractive natural harbour, the Pacifi c coast port is newly spruced up for its hosting of the 2012 APEC summit.

An overnight journey west is Khabarovsk, a lively city with a lingering tsarist-era charm located on the banks of the Amur River. Two more days down the line hop off the train at Ulan-Ude, the appealing capital of Buryatiya where Russian, Soviet and Mongolian cul-tures coexist; from here you can venture into the steppes to visit Russia’s principal Buddhist monastery, Ivolginsk Datsan.

The railway then skirts around the southern shores of magnifi cent Lake Baikal. Allow at least three days (preferably longer) to soak up the charms of this beautiful lake, basing yourself on beguiling Olkhon Island; also check out historic Irkutsk on the way to the lake or back.

Flush with oil wealth, happening Krasnoyarsk, on the Yenisey River, aff ords the op-portunity for scenic cruises along one of Siberia’s most pleasant waterways. Detour slightly from the main Trans-Sib line to Tomsk, the ‘cultural capital of Siberia’, to hang with its lively student population and admire the city’s treasure trove of wooden architecture.

Crossing the Urals into European Russia, spend a day or so in Yekaterinburg, a historic, bustling city well stocked with interesting museums and sites connected to the murder of the last tsar and his family. Perm is also doing an excellent job of reinventing itself as a cultural centre; use it as a base from which to make trips to an ice cave at Kungur and the Gulag labour camp Perm-36, preserved as a museum.

Finally, fortify yourself for the bustle of Moscow by taking a reviving break in the Golden Ring towns of Yaroslavl or Vladimir, which is also the access point for the idyllic village of Suzdal: all are stacked with beautiful, old, onion-domed churches.

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BULGARIAMOLDOVA

ROMANIA

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AUSTRIA

Murmansk

Tver

PetrozavodskSt Petersburg

MOSCOW

BARENTSSEA

Sochi

Starocherkassk

Rostov-on-Don

Kizhi

Kem Solovetsky IslandsValaam

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One Month White Sea to Black Sea

This off beat itinerary runs from the frigid climes of the Arctic Circle to the sun-kissed Black Sea lapping at the foothills of the Caucasus. Start by paying your respects to the giant concrete soldier ‘ Alyosha’ who overlooks Murmansk, the world’s largest Arctic city. Here you can board a decommissioned nuclear icebreaker and breathe the air

that inspired the creator of Chanel No 5. In the summer, the sun never fully sets, while in winter look out for the colourful northern lights.

Take a train directly south through the Kola Peninsula, heading for Kem, access point for the Solovetsky Islands; the beautiful landscapes and monastery here were also the setting for some of the most brutal scenes in Solzhenitsyn’s Gulag Archipelago. Back on the main-land keep south towards appealing Petrozavodsk where you can board a hydrofoil that will zip you across Lake Onega to another island – Kizhi, home to an architectural reserve that includes the astounding Transfi guration Church, a symphony of wooden domes, gables and decoration. Continuing the islands-in-lakes theme, Valaam in Lake Ladoga is the mystical location of a beguiling monastery and can also be reached via Petrozavodsk.

Top up on big-city culture and fun in St Petersburg before boarding one of the many overnight trains that head south to the Black Sea resorts. Note that several of these services skirt through Belarus, thus requiring a transit visa and Russian double-entry visa. To avoid this, make your way south via Moscow, perhaps pausing at Tver, another appealing his-toric town that Catherine the Great also used to pause in.

If you don’t relish spending more than a couple of nights on a train, break your journey at the metropolis of Rostov-on-Don, from where you can make a side trip to the old Don Cossack capital of Starocherkassk and tour the remains of the Ataman Palace. As host of the 2014 Winter Olympics, the sprawling Black Sea coast resort of Sochi is where all the action is. From here, you can visit Stalin’s former dacha Zelenaya Roscha, take in the stun-ning waterfalls and vistas of the verdant Agura Valley and relax amid the towering peaks of Krasnaya Polyana, where soon-to-be world-class resorts are being built for Olympians.

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Volgograd

Smolensk

Samara

NizhnyNovgorod

Kaliningrad

MOSCOW

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Three Weeks The Amber–Caviar Route

Ease yourself into Russia by exploring the geographically separate Kaliningrad Re-gion, Russia’s far-west outpost that’s the source of 90% of the world’s amber. Four to fi ve days is suffi cient to get a taste of the historic city of Kaliningrad, the delightful seaside resorts of Svetlogorsk and Yantarny, and the ‘dancing forest’ and sand

dunes of Kurshskaya Kosa, a World Heritage–listed national park. With a transit visa to Belarus and a double-entry visa to Russia it’s possible to take a train

through Lithuania and Belarus to reenter ‘big Russia’ at Smolensk. The skyline of this historic city, partly surrounded by the impressive remains of its kremlin walls, is dominated by the Assumption Cathedral, a place of worship so grand Napoleon gave orders that his in-vading armies protect it from harm. From here you can connect by train or bus to Moscow. Alternatively, there are plenty of fl ights from Kaliningrad to the capital.

With its magnifi cent cliff -top kremlin overlooking the mighty Volga River, laid-back Nizhny Novgorod is your next stop. Spend a day or so here enjoying the town’s museums and its ‘Food and Culture’ movement, and making a short trip by hydrofoil to the small town of Gorodets, known for its folk arts. Further along the river you’ll get your fi rst taste of East-meets-West culture at the intriguing Tatarstan capital of Kazan. The highlight here is the World Heritage–listed kremlin that includes an enormous mosque and small satellite branch of St Petersburg’s Hermitage.

The Volga continues to guide you south past Lenin’s birthplace of Ulyanovsk and Sa-mara, from where you could go hiking in the rocky Zhiguli Hills or search out the town’s several off beat design and cultural sights.

An amazing 72m tall statue of Mother Russia wields her sword over Volgograd, a city entirely rebuilt after Russia’s bloodiest battle of WWII. Follow the river to its mouth into the Caspian Sea and the ancient city of Astrakhan, jumping-off point for exploring the glorious natural attractions, including rare fl amingos, of the Volga Delta, home to the endangered sturgeon, the source of Beluga caviar. Finally, turn west to the fascinating Buddhist enclave of Elista, graced with Tibetan-style temples and possibly the world’s highest density of street sculpture.

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Esso

Kyzyl

TyndaNeryungri

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Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky

Vladivostok

Yakutsk

Novokuznetsk

Tyumen

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Russian Far East CircuitSiberia’s Deep South

One MonthSiberia’s Deep South

For a journey covering some of Si-beria’s lesser-known locations be-gin in the oil-rich city of Tyumen, which includes several picturesque

areas of traditional architecture. Journey northeast in the footsteps of the Siberian conqueror Yermak Timofeevich, the exiled writer Fyodor Dostoevsky and the last tsar to Tobolsk, whose splendid kremlin lords it over the Tobol and Irtysh Rivers. Next, head south to Barnaul, gateway to the mountain-ous Altai Republic. Here you can arrange a white-water rafting expedition or plan treks out to beautiful Lake Teletskoe and the pretty village of Artybash. Drive along the panoramic Chuysky Trakt, a helter-skelter mountain road leading to yurt-dotted grass-lands, fi rst stopping in Gorno-Altaisk to register your visa. Return to Biysk, take a bus to Novokuznetsk then a train to Abakan to arrange onward travel to Tuva. This remote and little-visited region, hard up against Mongolia (with which it shares several cultural similarities), is famed for its throat-singing nomads and mystical sha-mans. Kyzyl has a good new National Mu-seum and Cultural Centre and can be used as a base for expeditions to pretty villages and the vast Central Asian steppes.

One Month Russian Far East Circuit

From the ‘wild east’ port of Vladi-vostok head via Khabarovsk to lively Blagoveshchensk with its splendid tsarist architecture. Take

the overnight train to Tynda, the main hub on the Baikal-Amur Mainline (BAM), from where there’s a choice. Tough-travel fanat-ics can train it to Neryungri then endure a very bumpy all-day ride in a Russian UAZ jeep to Yakutsk, the extraordinary perma-frost-bound capital of the Sakha Republic. Alternatively, board the BAM through to the attractive city of Komsomolsk-na-Amure and back to Khabarovsk, from where there are fl ights to Yakutsk. Once in Yakutsk, visit the city’s eccentric Permafrost Kingdom and Mammoth Museum. If it’s the summer sail-ing season, cruise to the scenic Lena Pillars on the Lena River. Backtrack to Khabarovsk or Vladivostok from where you can fl y to spectacular Kamchatka, to cap off your adventures by climbing one of the snow-capped volcanoes rising behind the rugged peninsula’s capital, Petropavlovsk-Kam-chatsky. Or make your way north to Esso, newly friendly to independent travellers with cheap guesthouses, public hot springs and well-mapped trails for trekking.

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