Top Things to Do in Russia
20 must-see attractions and experiences
Russia spans eleven time zones and includes a staggering variety of landscapes, cultures, and architectural traditions, but its two great cities—Moscow and St. Petersburg—contain the densest concentration of excellent attractions anywhere on Earth. From the medieval fortress walls of the Kremlin to the Baroque grandeur of the Hermitage, Russia's cultural heritage is built on a scale that leaves even seasoned travelers awestruck. These are not merely museums and monuments—they are living chronicles of an empire that shaped world history for centuries. St. Petersburg, Peter the Great's 'Window to the West,' rivals Paris and Vienna for architectural elegance, its palaces and cathedrals rising above a network of canals and rivers that earn it the nickname 'Venice of the North.' Moscow, by contrast, pulses with the energy of a modern global capital layered over centuries of power, from the tsars through the Soviet era to the present day. The museums here are not just large—they are encyclopedic, housing collections that represent centuries of artistic acquisition by rulers who commanded the resources of the world's largest country. Whether you're standing in Red Square at midnight or watching the fountains play at Peterhof, Russia delivers experiences that redefine the concept of grandeur.
Don't Miss These
Our top picks for visitors to Russia
Red Square
Notable AttractionsThe most well-known public space in Russia—and arguably the world—Red Square has witnessed coronations, military parades, and revolutionary upheavals for over 500 years. Flanked by the Kremlin walls, the GUM department store, the State Historical Museum, and the candy-colored domes of St. Basil's Cathedral, the square creates an architectural ensemble of staggering power. The name derives not from communism but from the old Russian word 'krasnaya,' meaning both 'red' and 'beautiful.'
Krasnaya ploshad, Moskva, Russia, 109012 ·View on Map
Peterhof Palace
Museums & GalleriesPeter the Great's answer to Versailles sprawls across the southern shore of the Gulf of Finland, its Grand Cascade of 64 fountains and 200 bronze statues creating one of the most spectacular water features ever built. The Grand Palace interiors dazzle with gilded baroque rooms, while the Lower Gardens extend to the sea through a network of trick fountains, formal plantings, and pavilions. The whole complex was painstakingly restored after near-total destruction in World War II.
Razvodnaya ulitsa, 2, Sankt-Peterburg, Russia ·View on Map
Kazan Kremlin
Museums & GalleriesThis UNESCO World Heritage fortress in Tatarstan's capital is a unique fusion of Russian Orthodox and Islamic architectural traditions, with the gleaming white Kul Sharif Mosque and the leaning Söyembikä Tower standing alongside Orthodox churches within the same fortress walls. The kremlin's history spans the medieval Tatar period through Russian conquest and Soviet rule, making it a powerful symbol of Russia's multicultural heritage.
Kazan, Republic of Tatarstan, Russia, 420014 ·View on Map
Tsaritsyno Museum-Reserve
Museums & GalleriesCatherine the Great commissioned this Gothic Revival palace complex in southern Moscow, but construction was never completed during her lifetime. The restored palace, ornate bridges, and landscaped park create a fairy-tale atmosphere unlike anything else in Moscow. The grounds include a musical fountain, extensive parkland, and museum exhibitions on Russian decorative arts. The complex's turbulent construction history adds intrigue to its architectural beauty.
Dolskaya ul., 1, Moskva, Russia, 115569 ·View on Map
State Hermitage Museum
Museums & GalleriesOne of the world's largest and most important art museums occupies six buildings along the Neva River, including the Winter Palace. The collection of over three million items spans prehistoric art through the 20th century, with particular strengths in European painting (Rembrandt, da Vinci, Matisse), classical antiquities, and the decorative arts of the Russian imperial court. Even walking through the opulently decorated palace rooms—with no art on the walls—would constitute a excellent experience.
Palace Square, 2, Sankt-Peterburg, Russia, 190000 ·View on Map
The Moscow Kremlin
Museums & GalleriesThe fortified complex at the heart of Moscow has served as the seat of Russian power for over 800 years, its red brick walls enclosing cathedrals, palaces, and government buildings that chart the arc of Russian history. The five golden-domed cathedrals within the walls— the Cathedral of the Assumption where tsars were crowned—contain extraordinary iconography and frescoes. The Kremlin is both a working government center and an incomparable historical monument.
Moscow, Russia, 103132 ·View on Map
Winter Palace
Museums & GalleriesThe former official residence of Russian monarchs from 1732 to 1917, the Winter Palace is a Baroque masterpiece designed by Bartolomeo Rastrelli with 1,786 doors, 1,945 windows, and 117 staircases. Now forming the core of the Hermitage Museum, the palace's state rooms—including the Jordan Staircase, the Malachite Room, and the Small Throne Room—represent the pinnacle of European palatial architecture. The storming of the Winter Palace in 1917 marked the end of the Russian Empire.
Dvortsovaya Naberezhnaya, 32, Sankt-Peterburg, Russia, 190000 ·View on Map
St. Isaac's Cathedral
Museums & GalleriesThe fourth-largest cathedral in the world took 40 years to build and used 100 kilograms of gold to gild its massive dome, which dominates the St. Petersburg skyline. The interior is lavished with mosaics, paintings, and columns of malachite and lapis lazuli that represent the height of 19th-century Russian decorative ambition. The colonnade encircling the dome offers the finest 360-degree panorama of St. Petersburg.
St Isaac's Square, 4, лит. А, Sankt-Peterburg, Russia, 190000 ·View on Map
Peter and Paul Fortress
Museums & GalleriesThe original citadel of St. Petersburg, founded by Peter the Great in 1703, houses the Peter and Paul Cathedral where every Russian emperor from Peter to Nicholas II is entombed. The fortress island in the Neva River also contains a former political prison, a mint, and several museums covering the city's founding and development. The noon cannon fired daily from the fortress walls has marked time for St. Petersburg since 1865.
St Petersburg, Russia, 197046 ·View on Map
The State Tretyakov Gallery
Museums & GalleriesRussia's premier collection of national art spans a millennium of Russian artistic achievement, from medieval icons to the avant-garde movements of the early 20th century. The gallery's icon collection—including Andrei Rublev's 'Trinity'—is unmatched, while the 19th-century realist paintings and the revolutionary-era works provide essential context for understanding Russian culture. The main gallery in Lavrushinsky Lane focuses on pre-revolutionary art, while the New Tretyakov on Krymsky Val houses 20th-century works.
Lavrushinsky Ln, 10, Moskva, Russia, 119017 ·View on Map
Museums & Galleries
Russia's museum collections are among the most extraordinary on Earth, from the encyclopedic Hermitage and the icon-rich Tretyakov to the intimate Fabergé Museum and the imperial Armoury Chamber—representing centuries of cultural acquisition on an imperial scale.
Grand Maket Russia
Museums & GalleriesThe world's second-largest model layout (after Miniatur Wunderland in Hamburg) recreates the entirety of Russia in miniature, from Moscow to Vladivostok, across 800 square meters of meticulously crafted landscapes, cities, and infrastructure. Over 250,000 figurines populate scenes that transition from day to night every 13 minutes, with working trains, vehicles, and lighting effects. The attention to detail is staggering—each region's architecture, industry, and natural landscape is faithfully represented.
Tsvetochnaya Ulitsa, 16, Sankt-Peterburg, Russia, 196084 ·View on Map
The Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts
Museums & GalleriesMoscow's premier Western art museum houses a collection that spans ancient Egyptian and Greek artifacts through Impressionist and post-Impressionist masterpieces. The building itself, a neoclassical temple of art completed in 1912, provides a grand setting for works by Rembrandt, Botticelli, Monet, Cézanne, and Picasso. The museum's Egyptian room and its collection of Impressionist art are outstanding.
ulitsa Volkhonka, 12, Moskva, Russia, 119019 ·View on Map
Museum of Cosmonautics
Museums & GalleriesLocated beneath the soaring titanium rocket monument at VDNKh in Moscow, this museum chronicles Russia's pioneering space program from Tsiolkovsky's theoretical work through the Space Race triumphs to modern-day operations. Original spacecraft, spacesuits, and the preserved office of Sergei Korolev—the secretive chief designer of the Soviet space program—bring the era of space exploration vividly to life. Interactive simulators allow visitors to experience aspects of spaceflight firsthand.
Prospekt Mira, 111, Moskva, Russia, 129223 ·View on Map
The State Russian Museum, Mikhailovsky Palace
Museums & GalleriesHoused in the magnificent Mikhailovsky Palace in St. Petersburg, this museum holds the world's largest collection of Russian art—over 400,000 works spanning icons to contemporary installations. The palace itself, designed by Carlo Rossi, is a masterpiece of neoclassical architecture that provides stately gallery spaces for the collection. While the Tretyakov in Moscow has wider fame, many art historians consider the Russian Museum's collection equally essential.
Inzhenernaya St, 4, Sankt-Peterburg, Russia, 191186 ·View on Map
Faberge Museum
Museums & GalleriesHoused in the restored Shuvalov Palace on the Fontanka River, this museum displays the world's largest collection of works by Peter Carl Fabergé, including nine Imperial Easter Eggs created for the last two Russian emperors. The eggs—each a masterpiece of jeweled miniature engineering—are displayed alongside thousands of other Fabergé pieces in opulent palace rooms that provide fitting context for such beautiful craftsmanship.
Fontanka River Embankment, 21, Sankt-Peterburg, Russia, 191023 ·View on Map
Kuskovo Estate Museum
Museums & GalleriesThis beautifully preserved 18th-century summer estate of the Sheremetev family has a rare glimpse into the leisured life of Russia's pre-revolutionary aristocracy. The estate includes a wooden palace with original furnishings, a formal French garden, a Dutch house, a grotto, and one of Russia's finest ceramics museums. The estate's intimate scale and parkland setting provide a peaceful contrast to Moscow's monumental museums.
Ulitsa Yunosti, 2, Moskva, Russia, 111402 ·View on Map
St. Basil's Cathedral
Museums & GalleriesThe candy-colored onion domes of St. Basil's Cathedral have symbolized Russia in the global imagination since Ivan the Terrible commissioned the building in 1555 to celebrate the capture of Kazan. The cathedral is nine separate chapels, each crowned with a uniquely patterned dome, connected by narrow corridors decorated with restored 16th-century frescoes. The interior, intimate and maze-like, provides a startling contrast to the exuberant exterior.
Krasnaya ploshad, 7, Moskva, Russia, 109012 ·View on Map
Armoury Chamber
Museums & GalleriesLocated within the Moscow Kremlin, the Armoury Chamber houses Russia's most precious collection of royal regalia, including coronation robes, Fabergé eggs, imperial carriages, and the legendary Cap of Monomakh. The collection spans eight centuries of Russian statehood, with each room more dazzling than the last. As one of the oldest museums in Russia, established in 1851, it has an outstanding window into the material culture of absolute power.
Moscow, Russia, 103132 ·View on Map
Museum of Russian Vodka
Museums & GalleriesThis focused museum in St. Petersburg traces the 500-year history of Russia's national spirit from its medieval origins through the Soviet era to the craft distilling renaissance. Interactive exhibits cover production methods, cultural significance, and the role vodka has played in Russian society and politics. The tasting session at the end provides a fitting conclusion, with the opportunity to sample varieties unavailable outside Russia.
Konnogvardeyskiy Bul'var, 4, Sankt-Peterburg, Russia, 190000 ·View on Map
The Kingdom of Permafrost
Museums & GalleriesLocated in Yakutsk, the coldest city on Earth, this unique attraction is carved into the permanently frozen ground, maintaining a natural temperature of -10°C year-round. The ice cave complex features frozen sculptures, an ice bar, and exhibits explaining the science of permafrost—a geological phenomenon that covers 65% of Russia's territory. The experience is otherworldly, combining natural wonder with scientific education in a setting no other country can replicate.
Вилюйский тракт, 7 км, 7л, Yakutsk, Respublika Sakha (Yakutiya), Russia, 677000 ·View on Map
Planning Your Visit
Best Time to Visit
May through September offers the most pleasant weather and the longest daylight hours, with St. Petersburg's White Nights (late June) providing a magical period of near-continuous daylight. Winter brings shorter days but dramatically fewer crowds and snow-covered beauty.
Booking Advice
Pre-book timed tickets for the Hermitage, Moscow Kremlin, Armoury Chamber, and Peterhof Palace—all enforce capacity limits and sell out during peak season. The Hermitage's online booking system eliminates the famously long queues.
Save Money
Many Russian museums offer free admission on the first Thursday or Sunday of each month. The Moscow Metro itself is worth visiting as an attraction—its ornate stations are open to anyone with a transit fare.
Local Etiquette
Remove shoes when entering a Russian home, bring a small gift for hosts (odd numbers of flowers only—even numbers are for funerals), and always accept offered tea or food. In museums, follow the posted rules strictly—guards are vigilant and rules are enforced.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Hermitage Museum?
The Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg is one of the world's largest art museums, housed primarily in the Winter Palace and several connected buildings along the Neva River. Its collection includes over 3 million items spanning from ancient artifacts to modern art, with works by Rembrandt, da Vinci, and Picasso among many others. Plan to spend at least half a day there, as the museum is enormous—the main collection alone covers about 66,000 square meters of exhibition space.
What are the main Russian tourist attractions?
Russia's most visited attractions include the Kremlin and Red Square in Moscow, the Hermitage Museum and Peterhof Palace in St. Petersburg, and Lake Baikal in Siberia. Other popular sites are the Golden Ring towns northeast of Moscow (historic cities like Suzdal and Vladimir), the Trans-Siberian Railway, and Kazan's mix of Russian and Tatar architecture. The country's vast size means attractions are spread far apart, so most visitors focus on one or two regions per trip.
Is Russia a good place to visit?
Russia offers rich cultural experiences, impressive architecture, and unique attractions, but it requires more planning than many destinations. The language barrier can be challenging outside major tourist areas since English isn't widely spoken, and you'll need to arrange a visa in advance. We recommend checking current travel advisories from your government before booking, as the political situation can affect tourism and entry requirements.
What are the best things to visit in Russia?
Beyond the obvious Moscow and St. Petersburg highlights, consider visiting the wooden architecture of Kizhi Island, the volcanic landscapes of Kamchatka, or the Buddhist temples of Ulan-Ude near Lake Baikal. The metro stations in Moscow are attractions themselves, with ornate Soviet-era designs featuring chandeliers, mosaics, and marble. For nature lovers, the Altai Mountains and the Caucasus region offer excellent hiking and scenery quite different from Russia's European cities.
What places should I visit in Russia Moscow?
In Moscow, start with Red Square to see St. Basil's Cathedral and the Kremlin walls, then tour inside the Kremlin to visit its cathedrals and the Armoury Chamber. The Tretyakov Gallery houses the world's best collection of Russian art, while Gorky Park and the nearby Muzeon Art Park offer a more relaxed atmosphere. Don't miss riding the metro to see decorated stations like Komsomolskaya and Mayakovskaya, and consider a day trip to Sergiev Posad, about 70km northeast, to see the working monastery complex.
Book Your Experiences
Guided tours, tickets, and activities in Russia