Beyond Moscow

At the Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery, you can stay overnight — the Gosudareva Krepost hotel operates right on the monastery grounds. 🏰 The rooms are built into a section of the fortress wall, where prison cells were once located. A night’s stay starts at 3,600 rubles for a single cell-style room and goes up to 12,000 rubles for a spacious Junior Suite with its own street entrance. 📍Coordinates: Yandex Maps 🏙️Beyond Moscow🏔️

Elista is a surprisingly harmonious city.🕊️ Compared with the two other capitals of Buddhist republics — Ulan-Ude and Kyzyl, both of which have a certain air of urban-planning chaos — Elista feels like a city shaped by a careful, caring hand. The entire central area looks almost exemplary. Even the bus stops and street lamps here feature elements of Buddhist architecture, while the facades of Soviet apartment blocks in residential districts are decorated with murals of saigas and lotuses. Beautiful.✨ 📍Coordinates: Yandex Maps 🏙️Beyond Moscow🏔️

☦️The Vladimir Church in the village of Balovnevo Like a lighthouse, the church comes into view from dozens of kilometers away. It quite literally dominates the landscape, astonishing visitors with its colossal scale. Although the church was built in the Classical style, some researchers see it as an example of recreated “ancient Gothic” and draw parallels with early Byzantine architecture. The village of Balovnevo belonged to the Muromtsev landowners. In addition to the church, it once had an estate complex of rare beauty, with cascading ponds, a landscape park, and a garden. 🌿 It resembled one of the imperial summer residences and is believed to have been built by Rastrelli specifically to receive Catherine the Great, who knew the owners well. Photo: @marusiasavina 📍Coordinates: Yandex Maps #Lipetsk_Region 🏙️Beyond Moscow🏔️

Kozlova Zaseka station is the closest railway station to the Yasnaya Polyana estate. 🚂 This is where Leo Tolstoy met his guests and received his mail. On November 22, 1910, the train carrying the writer’s body arrived here. Today, the station has been restored to its historic appearance, and a small museum operates inside. 📍Coordinates: Yandex Maps 🏙️Beyond Moscow🏔️

❄️ Winter evening in the Capital of the Arctic... Photo: @zapoved_sever 📍Coordinates: Yandex Maps #Murmansk_region 🏙️Beyond Moscow🏔️

🗺️There is one place in St. Petersburg I have already returned to several times — the Grand Maket Russia museum. And every time, you can easily lose yourself there for hours. It is a huge model of the country, where life is literally in motion: trains race through cities, cars sit in traffic jams, construction is underway somewhere, while elsewhere people are relaxing. But what I love most is looking at the tiny figures. If you pay close attention, you can spot so many funny little scenes. 🚂 One of the most spectacular moments is the volcanic eruption. Suddenly the lights go out, thunder begins to rumble, and fiery lava appears on the model. I have been there several times already, but every visit I find some new detail. It feels like you could look at this model forever — and still miss some tiny story. ✨ 🎫980 rubles ⏰Daily, 10:00 a.m. – 8:00 p.m. 📍Coordinates: Yandex Maps 🏙️Beyond Moscow🏔️

❤️‍🔥Sunrise over Smolny Cathedral. How beautiful is this, friends? This is exactly the kind of image to start the day with. ☀️ Good morning — wishing you a wonderful day! Photo: @andrey_snimaet 📍Coordinates: Yandex Maps #Saint_Petersburg 🏙️Beyond Moscow🏔️

On May 9, the Military History Museum of Artillery will offer free admission.🎖️ The museum houses collections of weapons from Russia and 54 other countries, spanning from the 14th century to the present day. The exhibition includes experimental models, personal weapons belonging to famous military commanders and members of the imperial family, military uniforms, combat decorations, fortress and fortification models, as well as unique archival documents. 📅May 9 — free entry 📍Coordinates: Yandex.Maps 🏙️Beyond Moscow🏔️

☁️A walk through Krasnodar’s “Cloud Park” Cloud Park is a large new section of Krasnodar Park, now in the final stages of construction. 🌿 At the moment, visitors can already enjoy walking alleys lined with century-old oaks, part of the observation decks, and several water features. The full completion of the project — including the final opening of its most complex architectural elements — is expected very soon. Photo: @nezagooglish 📍Coordinates: Yandex Maps #Krasnodar_Krai 🏙️Beyond Moscow🏔️

On April 25, a new restaurant, Milyutin, will open in a historic mansion at 4 Sadovaya Street. The restaurant is built around the idea of refined Russian cuisine, rooted in tradition and given a subtle contemporary interpretation. ✨ Led by chef Svyatoslav Spivakov, the new team will present guests with an elegant selection of Russian specialties: a set of premium caviars served on ice with bread and melted butter, stroganina of Siberian muksun or venison with truffle and lingonberries, sterlet chush, blue-skinned halibut, lightly smoked venison fillet over juniper with cedar porridge, kulebyaka with venison and mushrooms, and duck cabbage rolls with morels and pike caviar. Special attention at Milyutin is given to the morning format: every day from 8 a.m., guests will be welcomed with breakfasts inspired by the traditions of Russian gastronomy. ☀️ The wine list features both Russian labels from small wineries and iconic bottles from the Old and New Worlds, offering something for even the most demanding palates. The interior immerses guests in the atmosphere of old St. Petersburg: light tones, an airy sense of space, crisp white starched tablecloths with elegant place settings, and crystal chandeliers — all creating a distinctive setting for those who appreciate beauty and refinement. 🕯️ The opening promises to be a notable event: the evening will feature live music and a welcome area designed to set the mood and underscore the character of the restaurant. Adjacent to the restaurant is a 14-seat lounge bar, where guests can enjoy premium spirits and signature cocktails. In summer, a green courtyard overlooking Mikhailovsky Castle will open, designed for intimate gatherings of up to 40 guests. 🌿 For details and reservations: +79052120044 Guest gathering begins at 6:00 p.m. 🏙️Beyond Moscow🏔️

#hotels#Russia 👉🏻CALL OF THE ANCESTORS A getaway on the edge of a mountain village sounds like a solid summer plan. Not far from Kislovodsk, there is an eco-ranch called Call of the Ancestors. Cozy cabins sit at an altitude of 1,300 meters, surrounded by green meadows and mountain peaks. 🏔️ The barnhouses come with their own sauna, while one of the huts features an outdoor bathtub. Walking through the surrounding area, you might come across an abandoned bus left behind after the IntoTheBus hippie festivals, see the Bronze Waterfalls, and take a swim in an unnamed lake. There is also AmBar — a café with a mountain view that is open only to guests. ☀️ 🔗Book now 🏴 Russia, Kislovodsk 📍Coordinates: Yandex.Maps 🏙️Beyond Moscow🏔️

I decided to properly spend some time with the trees and headed into the forest surrounding Lake Vselug. 🌲 The forests of the Tver Region are magnificent — straight out of Vasnetsov. Enchanted, dense, mossy, swampy, pine-scented. In the summer, I went there on a short hike along the banks of the Volga — like this. So, while staying at the new park hotel with its many kilometers of forest trails, the first thing I did was go for some forest therapy, as it is fashionable to call it now. There was even a set of shinrin-yoku cards in my room with walking prompts — I’ll add a photo in the comments — but they felt a little too meditative for me. I wanted to switch on the naturalist instead. So I went walking with a guide and a dog named Aina, who could spot squirrels in the trees without fail. 🐿️ I found moose and wild boar tracks, learned what capercaillie and black grouse droppings look like — sorry — and figured out how to tell apart cones gnawed by squirrels from cones where woodpeckers had extracted the seeds. I picked cranberries in the bog. I drank coffee by the lake. ☕ Eight kilometers — and no magnesium needed before bed. 📍Coordinates: Yandex Maps 🏙️Beyond Moscow🏔️