St. Petersburg
Your journey starts in St. Petersburg, which is the northernmost million city in the world.
You will find Cyrillic letters everywhere, but also European architecture. Here, two worlds are united.
The Venice of the North offers art and culture, as well as an active nightlife. In the Catherine Palace, which is located just outside in a suburb, you can find the famous Amber Room. The tour offered there tells you stories of the tsar's family and gives interesting insights. The world-famous Hermitage is a collection of paintings and sculptures, and the Winter Palace is worth a visit. About 70 cats also live there.
St. Petersburg offers more than 300 museums, including a vodka museum. The Resurrection, or Blood Church, has the typical onion domes and is a popular photo motif. The best way is to do a tour with a local, these walker tours are informative, and the people know their city very well. In the end, you’ll only pay as much as you think it was worth. And the best part: the tours are in English. You can also take the bus for different tours. In summer you can do a canal tour. The city offers many possibilities, use as many as you can.
Stay at one of the local hostels and get a bed in a 6-person room for €8 a night.
Moscow
By night train you can reach the capital Moscow for about 35€. Start at the Red Square, where you will find the Kremlin and the Basilius Cathedral.
The Lenin Mausoleum is located in the immediate vicinity of the Red Square. Lenin died in 1924, was embalmed and can still be visited there today. The entrance is free, but taking pictures is prohibited. Many other museums offer a variety of Russian history, such as the historical museum, which is also on the Red Square, or the Moscow Kremlin Museum.
Come in the evening and look again in the spectacular lighting. On rainy days you can go to the department store GUM, where you can find all the luxury brands of the world, as it is the largest department store in Europe. Here you can also go to the Bolchoi Theatre, which offers ballet and operetta.
Moscow has a lively nightlife, one of the most popular clubs is the Aurora Club or the Golden Girls.
Stay the night in a hostel and get a bed in an 8-person dorm for €8 a night.
Yekaterinburg
Once again, with the night train you can travel from Moscow to Yekaterinburg for about 65€. Ekaterinburg is the fourth largest city in Russia and has everything from traditional to modern in stock. The city is located about 40 km from the border with Europe and Asia. You can easily reach all sights on foot.
In Lenin Alley you will find numerous shops and cafes. Right at the beginning of the avenue is the theater. Further it goes to the city pond, which is a central point. The Mayor's House and the Union House are located directly on the promenade. The Cathedral on the Blood, which has only been there since 2003, was built on the site where the Ipatiev House used to stand. There the tsar's family was held for months and finally executed. In 1977 Yeltsin ordered the demolition of the house. The cathedral now commemorates this last family of tsars.
Many parks allow you to rest between the sights. The city hall is also nice to see and has the so-called onion domes.
You can stay the night at a local hostel and get a bed in a 6-person dorm for €7 a night.
Krasnoyarsk
The night train goes to Krasnoyarsk for about 80€. Krasnoyarsk is famous for its natural and cultural sights, offering a unique scenery with great mountain landscapes and the mighty Siberian forest.
You can hike to the mountain Karulnaja and enjoy a great view. Go to the State Circus, which offers circus performances, music and cultural events. Countless museums such as, for example, the Forest Museum, the Railway Museum, the Museum of History and a Museum of Pharmacy.
But the most visited is the Regional Museum which offers over 400,000 exhibits, including a very interesting archaeological exhibition. Take a trip to the zoo, or to the nearby Stolby Nature Reserve. Also, the Troizki cemetery is interesting, as there are over 200 monuments and wells there.
You can get a bed in an 8-person dorm for €7 a night.
Irkutsk
For about 45€ you will take the night train the last time. The gate of Lake Baikal is one of the most beautiful cities in Siberia, where Russian and Mongolian culture meet. Wooden houses stand there together alongside modern buildings.
You can go to Kirov's Park right in the city center; you will find many flowers and fountains there, as well as multiple small stalls that offer refreshments. In winter there is an ice slide and numerous sculptures made of ice. The Church of the Revelation is right next to the park; the first version was made of wood and burned down completely, after which it was rebuilt in stone. Opposite of that is the Spasskaya Church, which is also worth a visit.
The promenade offers a great view over the river Angaria and the city. There is also the triumphal arch of Moscow and a monument of the city founder. Visit the statue of the tourist and find out what he is staring at. You might also like the Statue Park, where you will be able to see countless statues there.
Stay the night at a local hostel and get a bed in a 6-person dorm for €7 a night.
Olchon
The bus will take you to the island in Lake Baikal for about 11€. The width of the island is only 10 km. The main village is called Chuchir, this is also where most of the 1,700 inhabitants live. From mid-May to mid-December you can get there by ferry. If the lake is frozen, you can take the bus, but you will not find any paved roads there. Many tours are offered directly by hostels.
You can also go on your own. There is the Shaman Rock, which you can find by just walking up the mountain; you’ll get to also enjoy the view of the Lake Baikal. The shamanic poles look great, with the many colorful ribbons. In general, you will be shown a lot of the shamans. So, on some days there is a ceremony that shows you how shamans practice.
In the harbor there is a daily tour with a boat to see the sunset, which takes about 2 hours. You can also travel there, about 1 hour, along Lake Baikal. Or you can take the four-wheel bus, over bumpy roads, to the North Cape, which will give you an unforgettable experience.
You can get a double room in a hotel for €16 a night.
