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Has anyone been/from Russia?
Former Member
Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
What can you guys tell me about the weather and interesting places?
Post edited by JustV on
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Firstly, the weather. This year has seen temperatures from below -30 to above +30 - I bet you're surprised by the top end of the scale! When people think of Russia they imagine snow and cold, but actually for 6 months of the year it's not so bad, and in the summer months the Russians love sunbathing and swimming in their rivers. It gets incredibly humid and sticky because you don't get much of a breeze, and the cities are pretty unbearable in the summer - most Russians try to get away to the country for as much of the summer as possible.
It's quite variable when it starts getting cold - you can have snow in mid October, but equally it can be too warm to wear a coat right up until the end of September. This autumn just past the first snow was near the beginning of November, and even then there wasn't much and it only lasted for a couple of days. Often it rains a lot in late autumn and can be very slushy if you've got snow as well, because the drains in St Petersbug are terrible and can't cope with melting snow at all.
It didn't get "cold" (the Russians don't consider it cold until it's at least below freezing) until mid December, but then, as you probably heard, they had the coldest winter in 26 years to make up for it. I was out there when it was -19 and although it obviously was cold, it wasn't as cold as I'd imagined, you could still walk around outside and not freeze to death within minutes. There's ice everywhere and you have to be really careful not to slip, especially on steps and the escalators down to the metro.
The snow tends to melt at the end of March/beginning of April, and I found that it disappeared much more quickly than I was expecting - snowdrifts as high as my shoulder disappeared in less than a week! And once the snow's melted it gets warmer very day and everything turns green (even in the cities there are lots of parks and trees). You probably only need a light jacket in April and by mid-May it's like your average British summer.
Moscow is very westernised and has prices to match - a recent survey cites it as the most expensive city in the world (taking into account property prices, food, entertainment, transport, etc). The tourist must-sees are Red Square, Lenin's Mausoleum and the Kremlin (a citadel which formed the centre of every old Russian city. In Moscow it houses several cathedrals and the governmental buildings, and there's also the Armoury which is full of Imperial treasures, gold, jewellery, armour, coaches, etc). People always go into St Basil's Cathedral as it's famous and on Red Square, but the inside isn't really worth it and is nothing like a typical Orthodox Church - a much better one to go inside is one inside the Kremlin or the Cathedral of Christ our Saviour (the white one that looks a little like St Paul's, across the river from the Kremlin).
If you like art there are fantastic art galleries in Moscow - the most famous are the Tretyakov Galleries, which house collections of Russian art from icons through to 19th century stuff (in the Old Tretyakov), and then 20th century and modern art in the New Tretyakov. At Novodevichy Cemetary you can see the graves of all famous Russians who you don't see when you visit Lenin's Mausoleum. There are loads of lovely parks to walk in (or skate in, if you go in winter), you can get a boat cruise on the river from May to September, the metro is a work of art and you can spend a long time travelling round on that looking at the different stations, lots of designer shops, all kinds of restaurants, good clubs, etc.
St Petersburg is 7 hours away by train and is more architecturally impressive because it was the capital of Russia from the 18th century until the Revolution (ie. when architecture was at its best). The main street is called Nevsky Prospect and all the city's main sights can be seen by walking down it from the centre (metro Gostiniy Dvor) to the Admiralty and the river. Like in Moscow, there are lovely parks and boat trips on the river. Shopping isn't great but restaurants and good clubs abound. You can see very good ballets and operas at the Mariinsky Theatre apart from in July and August, as the company goes on tour then. The equivalent in Moscow, the Bolshoi Theater, is closed for renovation at the moment, although there is a small stage still open.
There's lots more touristy stuff to see in Petersburg than Moscow - the Hermitage (the world's largest art gallery, it's full of western art and was also an imperial palace so the interiors are amazing), the Russian Museum (Petersburg's answer to the Tretyakov Galleries), the Peter and Paul Fortress (Petersburg's answer to the Kremlin, but less impressive), the Church of the Saviour on the Blood (decorated inside and out entirely with mosaics), the Yusupov Palace, St Isaac's Cathedral (go up onto the collonades for a stunning view of the city), the Bronze Horseman (a famous statue)...
Outside St Petersburg you have quite a few imperial palaces, the best of which are Peterhof with its lovely gardens and amazing fountains (turned on from May to September) and the Catherine Palace at Tsarskoe Selo, which has very impressive interiors. Nice days trips can be made to Vyborg, an ex border town near Finland and Novgorod, one of Russia's oldest towns with lots of old buildings and a nice kremlin. And if you fancy being adventurous you can go up north a bit to an island called Kizhi, which has an amazing wooden church constructed without using a single nail.
Around Moscow you've got what are called Golden Ring towns, which are basically picturesque small towns in the countryside, good for day trips or short visits to get a feel for what rural Russia is like. A good one is Sergiev Posad as it's only an hour and a half by train from Moscow and has a very impressive lavra (collection of churches which are important to the Orthodox faith). Rostov Veliky and Suzdal are further away but very picturesque.
Hope that was useful!
I was in a place called Krasnodar - the capital of the Krasnodarskii region - the third richest region of Russia after Moscow and St. Pete's. Really nice pretty typical southern town. Not immensely happening but really beautiful in parts. Further south are Sochi, Taman and Taganrog (well, north actually but in the vicinity).
Sochi is the main beach resort of Russia and also is a stone's throw from the Caucasus mountain range and thus also has a bid entered for the 2014 Winter Games. Again, it is a really beautiful city with pretty buildings, streets and really chilled out vibe.
Taman is a pilgramage place for lovers of the writer Lermontov as he chilled there for a bit. Otherwise, it's just a village.
Taganrog is where Chekhov was born. Bigger than Taman - the beach is really nice, and, with this being Russia, lots of lovely ladies in bikinis (:D).
Caucasus are really pretty. Nuff said.
I think the south is currently experiencing temperatures around 40 degrees (Celcius)
Sorry for not typing a lot but I've only just woken up.
I found that it is very good if youre into your culture and museums etc. there are quite a few huge art museums scattered around the city, and the architecture in generally is pretty gorgeous
also, its already been said but the shopping there is not too brilliant!! dont get me wrong, there are loooads of shops, but unless you have tons and tons of cash to spend, there isnt really much to buy! most shops are designer, and most things are very expensive! (although i DID find a disney shop that i bought a few goodies from
despite the shops being quite crap, yes, the clubs are very good. if a clubbing holiday is what youre after, st petersburg is good because there are tooonns of clubs!! (very funky looking ones i might add too!! - plus drink prices are quite low too)
restuarants are 'ok' too, although if, like me you dont know a word of russian, it might be a tad hard finding out what everything is because it was very rare that they had english menus (or spoke english!!) I found that restuarants were in abundance, but the food wasnt.. top notch shall we say. (although i found that food in general in russia wasnt too yummy in general, let alone in restaurants!)
weather wise - when i went in febuary it was a nippy -35 degrees :no: not nice.
me and 2 friends decided to walk from one end of the main nevsky prospect road to the other. took about 2 hours and by the end of it, i seriously felt as if my toes, fingers and thighs (yes, thighs!) were going to drop off or something!!
so if youre not a great lover of cold weather, i would seriously recommend visiting later on in the year in may-august when the weather is a mite warmer!!!
hrmm what else..
oh yeah, be VERY careful with your belongings. i got my money nicked on the underground (i looked away for like 5 seconds and someone had been in my pocket - although some might say that it was my fault for being on the underground in the first place! - VERY hectic) as well as 4 other people on my tour group
There, unfortunately, is the reason you got robbed.
He means the fact that you'd be speaking English and looking obviously foreign. If you aren't in a tour group but are with a couple of mates speaking English and looking touristy you're equally as likely to get pickpocketed. Unfortunately the St Petersburg metro is particularly bad for pickpockets, you do have to be careful.