Places in Russia where Everyone Should Visit

When the dollar exchange rate jumps daily, the English language is lame since school times, and there is no time to get a visa at all - before traveling? Definitely! If you want to relax and enjoy the beautiful scenery, it is not necessary to travel abroad. What we are looking for somewhere in other places, in fact, is in our country. Of course, you should not count on the Eiffel Tower or a rhino safari. Nevertheless, our places are famous for a much richer history and the beauty of living landscapes. Therefore, with regard to nature, we can easily give odds to most of the top tourist countries.

For you, I have prepared the TOP-12 places in Russia, where absolutely every citizen of the country should visit. Otherwise, you can never fully appreciate the vastness and beauty of our homeland. Let's make a small comparison of our places with identical foreign ones.

"Giant Trail" in Northern Ireland VS. Cape Stolbchaty in the Kuril Islands

The park of giant basalt columns is perhaps the main attraction of Northern Ireland. Multifaceted volcanic pillars in orderly rows go into the sea, like a giant road lined with prehistoric paving slabs. On the island of Kunashir, in Russia we have the same volcanic columns. This picturesque place is called simply Cape Stolbchaty. The Irish call their path, not without pathos, the "Path of the Giants." Perhaps this is why the "path", and not the cape, was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List.

"Little France" in Strasbourg VS. "Fish Village" in Kaliningrad

"Fish Village" - this is the name acquired by the ethnographic center with elegant houses along the embankment. In his appearance, he did not immediately understand his location, since it fits well with European stereotypes. We can observe similar houses with wooden frames (or as they are also called half-timbered) in Germany, Poland, France, for example, in Rothenburg ob der Tauber or Strasbourg.

Aurora Borealis in Sweden or Finland VS. Aurora in Karelia

Forests and Lakes of Canada VS. Forests and lakes of Russia

It's no secret that Canada is one of the richest countries in terms of the number of lakes of incredible beauty. There are a lot of them, Canadians themselves number more than 30,000. Of course, our numbers are far from the same, but we are not inferior in beauty. For example, Kucherlinskoe and Teletskoye lakes in Altai, Onega and Ladoga lakes in Karelia, Upper Volga lakes, and, of course, Baikal.

Sandy beaches of Portugal, Atlantic VS. Curonian Spit, Baltic

The noise of the surf and sand dunes to the horizon - places that can be described like that, are in Russia. For example, the Curonian Spit in the Kaliningrad Region, on the border with Lithuania. Surprisingly, in the summer, the water temperature here is quite comparable with the Atlantic coast of Portugal.

Wulingyuan, China VS. Lena Pillars, Yakutia

Limestone rock pillars of Zhangjiajie National Park is one of China's most unusual natural attractions. When low clouds wrap at the foot of the cliffs, it seems as if the mountains are just floating in the air. They say that it was this sight that inspired James Cameron to create the flying mountains of Pandora in Avatar.

Canals of Amsterdam VS. Canals of St. Petersburg

What is more elegant - the canals of Amsterdam or St. Petersburg? Perhaps the Dutch are more comfortable and photogenic, while ours are stricter and harsher. But St. Petersburg has a huge advantage: in order to ride through its channels, you do not need to get a Schengen visa.

Dog sled racing in Lapland and Alaska VS. Dog sled racing in Karelia and Kamchatka

Songcalin Monastery, Shangri-La VS. Ivolginsky datsan, Buryatia

In 2001, authorities in the Yunnan district of China put an end to the long search for the fictitious country of Shangri-La: they simply renamed Zhongdian County to Shangri-La. The edges here are really a bit magical, and one of the local wonders is the magnificent Suncalin Monastery. There is a similar, albeit more modest, Buddhist temple in Russia - this is the Ivolginsky datsan in the Upper Oriole in Buryatia.

Versailles, Paris VS. Peterhof, St. Petersburg

Peterhof’s resemblance to Versailles is no coincidence: it was the French who wanted to outdo Peter the Great, starting the construction of the Grand Palace. It seems that his idea was a success, and nowadays many foreigners call it Peterhof: “Russian Versailles”.

Goreme Cave Churches, Cappadocia VS. Cave churches of Divnogorye, Voronezh region

Goreme National Park is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of Turkey's most important attractions. More than a million tourists annually come to Cappadocia to see the cave cities and churches of this open-air museum. Few people know about this, but we have similar cave churches in the Voronezh region. For example, the Church of the Sicilian Icon of the Mother of God in Divnogorsk Monastery or Kostomarovsky Spassky Monastery.

Volcanoes and geysers of Iceland VS. volcanoes and geysers of Kamchatka

Kamchatka can in a sense be called miniature Russian Iceland. There are hills and volcanoes, picturesque canyons and waterfalls, a whole Valley of Geysers and a beach with black volcanic sand, on which, like in the cold Iceland, it is unlikely that anyone would dream of swimming or sunbathing.