Russia is a massive country, spread across nine different time zones and covering double the area of Canada, the second largest nation in the world. During the Soviet era, tourism was extremely limited and it remains today a mysterious place for many. It doesn’t help that the Russian government spends very little effort or money [...]

St Petersburg might be the “second city” of Russia after Moscow, but many would argue (myself included) that it’s the most beautiful one. Like pretty much all of Russia, it has a tumultuous history, and through its iterations as Petrograd and Leningrad it has seen many changes, despite being a relatively young city, founded in [...]

Moscow is easily one of my all-time favourite cities in Europe – a place I grew up thinking I’d never be able to visit but now a city where I’ve spent two fascinating holidays. The mix of Soviet-era Moscow with old historical buildings and the modern day flare of a world city is very intriguing. [...]

Even if you’ve got just a passing interest in space travel, Moscow’s Memorial Museum of Astronautics – it’s often called the Museum of Cosmonautics too, but it’s the same place – is a museum you just have to visit. I was there a few years ago shortly before it closed for renovations, and last year [...]

At the heart of Moscow, this famous square is surrounded by top Moscow attractions. You may wish to look at places to stay near Red Square, especially if you’re only in Moscow for a short time. Starting at one end of Red Square is the fascinating St Basil’s Cathedral (pictured), a place you’ll want to [...]

Sightseeing in Moscow – one of the best places to visit in Europe, in my opinion – certainly doesn’t have to be expensive. Simply riding the metro lets you see countless artworks. Recently, a new underground station with artwork worth seeing has opened up – the Dostoevskaya station, which has large murals showing scenes from [...]

Something to celebrate this week – this is my 100th post at the Europe a la Carte Blog. In honour of making a century, I decided to post on one of my all-time favourite travel experiences in Europe (and beyond) – travelling on the Trans-Siberian railway across Russia. A ride on the Trans-Siberian railway is [...]

In any Moscow touristy spot – I think for me it was on a Moskva River cruise – you’re bound to hear the Scorpions song “Winds of Change”. Once I’d heard that famous line “Follow the Moskva/Down to Gorky Park” I realised I had to visit Gorky Park before I left Moscow. You can easily [...]

On my first trip to Russia, I got there via a three-week Trans-Siberian rail trip, which gave me a lot of reading time – and I’d carefully picked some Russian literature to occupy my time, in particular Dostoyevsky, which led me to visit the Dostoyevsky Memorial Flat in St Petersburg. Russian literary history is liberally [...]

There aren’t too many places where public transport counts as a tourist attraction when you travel in Europe, so it may sound strange to single it out in a travel Europe guide. However in Russia I think the underground train systems qualify for two reasons. First of all, many underground metro stations in both Moscow [...]