Why visit Russia

Recently when I was in America, someone asked me - why should one travel to St. Petersburg? I immediately answered - because it is one of the most amazing places on in the world! However, then I understood that not everyone would instantly get it and that I need to explain what would guests find were they to pay a visit to Russia.

Moscow has so much to offer the visitors. The two greatest cities of Russia, Moscow and St. Petersburg, are some of the largest cities on our planet.

St Petersburg boasts amazing churches, ancient streets and beautiful canals. Some people refer to this city as the Venice of the North. So many great artists, writers and musicians like Chekhov had lived and worked here and loved their every moment. The Hermitage, St Petersburg art museum, is one of the greatest art galleries in the world. If you could only visit the city for a weekend you would remember it for all of your life. There is so much to see here. You could go for a night at the ballet.

Moscow is much bigger than St. Petersburg, but it is equally great place to visit. The Kremlin and Red Square with the glorious quintessentially Russian onion-domed St Basils cathedral. Russian capital does not have a concentrated historic centre like St Petersburg, but there are historic treasures spread out across this vast city like the Tetriakov gallery. It is also an incredibly vibrant modern city that is now really buzzing with the new wealth and culture that has sprung up in the last decade. Moscow also has some of the best restaurants and clubs in the world.

Those two cities alone are enough of a reason to visit Russia, the largest country in the world. Yet there is much, much more to Russia than this. Outside Moscow and St Petersburg there is an amazing country that even us, the Russians, just begin to explore. Russia is a giant country, and features fantastic scenery and a wealth of architecture. There is nowhere in the world a lake so deep, so mysterious and beautiful, and so blessed by an absolutely unique range of wildlife as Lake Baikal. There is nothing like Altai.

When in Russia, there are so many things that you could do. You could paraglide on the beaches of Sochi.

These are just some of the reasons why you should travel to Russia. Sometimes I wish I could keep Russia all to myself, just like Catherine the Great kept Hermitage closed to everyone. But I know it is time open up Russia to the West. Be among the first to discover the beauty of Russia.