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My next international trip is to Russia, and I’ll be flying solo on this one. It was another great fare our of Chicago O’Hare again, this time for about $400 round trip. Since I have status with Alaska, I’ll be earning a 125% bonus on my miles, so even though I only earn 50% base miles by crediting these Delta flights to Alaska, the overall mileage earn is pretty good.
I’ll be on the ground in Russia for nine days, and I plan to spend some time in both Moscow and St. Petersburg.
I don’t have accommodation booked yet for this trip, but am likely going the hosel route this time around, since I am traveling alone. If I’m not traveling with people I know, I prefer to make new friends, and I find that staying in a hostel makes it so, so easy to meet new people. I always book my hostels through Hostelworld.com.
Here are my must see/do items:
Moscow
Do:
- Visit a Russian Bathhouse (Banya) – I had a great experience at a Jjimjilbang in Korea, so it’ll be fun to go to another bathhouse.
- Attend a show/opera/circus or something of the like
See:
- The Kremlin
- Epiphany Monastery
- St. Basil’s Cathedral (UNESCO)
- Red Square (UNESCO)
- Ensemble of the Novodevichy Convent (UNESCO)
- Church of the Ascension (UNESCO)
St. Petersburg
Do:
- Attend a show/opera/circus or something of the like
See:
- Winter Palace
- Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood
- St. Isaac’s Cathedral
- Seek out the Egyptian and Non-Egyptian Sphinxes, in light of my recent trip to Egypt
- St. Petersburg Mosque
- Chesme Church
As usual, so much to do, so little time! I’ll probably be flying one direction between Moscow and St. Petersburg, and will take the train in the other direction.
Do you have any recommendations for must-see or must-do things in or around Moscow and St. Petersburg?
![Russia – Moscow, St. Petersburg, and Velicky Novgorod [VIDEO]](https://carolinelupini.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/russia-500x383.jpg)
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How about the Bolshoi, Gorky Park and Moscow Museum of Modern Art (if you like modern art).
mcdonalds.
ill be there this summer too.
I’ve den all these sights (plus the ones Dan mentions). I don’t have anything to add but both cities are fantastic. The train is a fabulous way to see Russia and your list will keep you busy for the duration of your trip!
Den = been to
USD is so strong righty now that I would have thought hotels would be cheap!
Some items to add while in Moscow:
GUM department store
Metro stations
Ballet or orchestra (Tchaikovsky)
Gorky park
Cafe Pushkin (sooo affordable right now given the exchange rate)
Learn the Cyrillic alphabet before you leave. If you were in a frat or sorority you’ll notice a lot of letters are similar to Greek. Once you know the alphabet, you’ll notice a good number of words in English are written in Cyrillic. 😉 it was fun to decipher these while walking around town.
The USD being strong right now is so great for travel, and honestly, the exchange rate was a strong motivation for the trip. It makes Moscow and St. Petersburg very reasonable places to visit! A lot of the hotels are cheap (except the ones that pretty much exclusively cater to non-Russian tourists), but I prefer hostels when I am traveling alone so I can meet people to travel with.
Great tip on the Cyrillic alphabet! That’s not something I would have thought of doing ahead of time!
Hermitage museum in St Petersburg.
Not sure when your trip is, but don’t forget to get the visa stuff done early. It can take some time if you’re not in a city where you can apply in person and is fairly pricey. You’ll need a formal invitation from someone in Russia (by a registered Russian tourist company- usually done by the hotel, but not sure if hostels can do it) as part of it.
But I was just in Moscow after a cheap fare and loved it. Get Bolshoi tickets early as well, as they are always sold out months in advance.
I second Cafe Pushkin, and definitely practice on the cyrillic to get around on the metro as the station names are all in cyrillic. Pushkin Museum has amazing European art and Tretyokov Gallery is also a nice museum of Russian Art.
If you take a taxi, have one called for you.
The cheap Avios tickets on S7 are great, though consider taking the train from Moscow to St. Peterseburg and stopping somewhere like the UNESCO sites of Novgorod on the way, see more than only the two most modern cities.
Good idea on the UNESCO sites. That’s always something I check out but haven’t quite gotten around to it for this trip yet! Based on the length of the train ride I’ll likely do the day train over the night train, which will allow me time to stop as well.