Forget the football, visit for the culture, says Joanna Booth.
Whether you’re a football fan or not, there’s no denying the World Cup turns the eyes of the world on the host destination.
But Russia has been in the spotlight since well before group matches started a month ago, and, after a long period of adverse publicity, it’ll be hoping the beautiful game helps display it in a more sympathetic light.
Tactically, it’s a great escorted touring destination. It’s huge – the world’s largest nation – so selecting highlights and getting around are best left to the experts. It has enormous cultural riches and a rollercoaster history, providing fertile fodder for expert guides.
And with English not universally spoken, plus a different alphabet, logistics and communication can be tricky when travelling alone. So, if clients want to go to Russia, book them an escorted tour. Boom! Back of the net.
The big two
The classic itinerary combines a trip to Russia’s two most famous cities, Moscow and St Petersburg. The former is home to highlights including vast Red Square, onion-domed St Basil’s Cathedral and the Kremlin, the one‑time imperial palace that is now a sprawling complex of museums.
“It’s famous for priceless collections of art and artefacts in the Hermitage and Russian Museum.”
Grand St Petersburg is set on canals – its nickname is the Venice of the North. It’s famous for priceless collections of art and artefacts in the Hermitage and Russian Museum, plus world-class opera, ballet and classical music.
It isn’t only specialist Great Rail Journeys that uses the high-speed Sapsan train to link the two cities. This rail link is used on many seven-day itineraries, including Titan Travel’s, where special early entry to the Moscow Armoury is included, and Riviera Travel’s, which features a visit to St Petersburg’s Vodka Museum.
Those who can proudly say they’ve ploughed through War and Peace could choose Travelsphere’s eight-day trip – the extra time allows for a visit to Tolstoy’s home, now a literary museum.
Back-Roads Touring stays even longer, and its 10-day Impressions of Russia trip allows time for a cooking class, painting Russian dolls with a master craftsman and a special Cossack performance. Topdeck’s whistle-stop eight-day Shine Bright in Russia itinerary, for 18 to thirtysomethings, travels between the cities by coach rather than train, allowing a stop in the handsome city of Novgorod too.
Cosmos’s 10-day A Taste of Russia tour also makes the trip by coach, stopping at Novgorod, the pretty town of Klin and Tchaikovsky’s country home. For those without the time or desire to see both cities, Cox & Kings offers five‑day, single-centre trips to both Moscow and St Petersburg, so clients can pick and choose.
Farther afield
In contrast to the chaos of the cities, the medieval towns north of Moscow known as the Golden Ring were hardly touched by Soviet industrialisation. Insight Vacations offers a five-day ‘mini trip’ touring this pastoral region dotted with whitewashed churches with onion domes, and G Adventures’ new Backroads of Russia tour bookends an exploration of the area with visits to St Petersburg and Moscow.
River cruising on the Moscow Canal and the Volga also gives guests access to the big two cities and the Golden Ring. APT sold out its itineraries this year, and so for 2019 has introduced 12 and 13-day itineraries on two new ships, the Valentina and Rossia.
“A Space Odyssey Moscow tour visits the Museum of Cosmonautics, Star City and the Cosmonaut Training Centre.”
Regent Holidays has operated in Russia for more than 30 years, and features unusual options alongside standard itineraries. A Space Odyssey Moscow tour visits the Museum of Cosmonautics, Star City and the Cosmonaut Training Centre. Classic Kamchatka explores this remote peninsula, a land of snow-capped volcanoes, hot springs and pristine wilderness, with a chance of spotting whales and bears. And for longdistance rail enthusiasts, there are Trans- Siberian Railway journeys on different routes and trains, plus a trip on the lesser-known Baikal-Amur Mainline.
Heading well off the tourist trail is Intrepid Travel’s 15-day Footsteps of the Reindeer Herders expedition, which ventures into the Siberian Arctic to stay among the nomadic Nenets people.
Second World War enthusiasts can book Leger Holidays’ new 10-day Stalingrad: Turning Point of the Eastern Front tour, which is led by an expert historian and visits key battle sites.
For those who want just a taste of the nation, book an itinerary that pairs Western Russia with a host of other Baltic states. Tauck’s 14-day Russian Glories, Baltic Treasures offers just this, with visits to St Petersburg and Moscow alongside Tallinn in Estonia, Riga in Latvia and Vilnius in Lithuania.
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