RU · Curated travel guide
Mount Elbrus, Red Square, Novaya Zemlya and 7 more — what each one is, and why it is worth the detour.
Chosen from everything Wikidata knows about Russia and ranked by how many Wikipedia language editions describe them, which is about as close to "famous" as open data gets. One is on UNESCO's World Heritage list.
Highest mountain of Russia and Europe
The highest mountain of Russia and of Europe, a dormant stratovolcano 5,642 m (18,510 ft) above sea level. It is the highest volcano in Eurasia and the world's tenth most prominent peak.
Photo: Jason Blue-Smith, CC BY-SA 2.0
Square in Moscow, Russia
One of Moscow's oldest and biggest squares, in the historic centre of the Russian capital, running along the Kremlin's eastern walls.
Photo: mos.ru, CC BY 4.0
Archipelago in northern Russia
Also written Novaja Zemlja, an archipelago in northern Russia in the Arctic Ocean, at the far northeast of Europe; Cape Flissingsky, on the northern island, is regarded as Europe's easternmost point.
Photo: Unknown, Public domain
World Heritage
Freshwater rift lake in Russia
The deepest lake on Earth, a rift lake in southern Siberia, Russia, lying between the Republic of Buryatia on its southeast side and Irkutsk Oblast on its northwest.
Photo: Jason Rogers, CC BY 2.0
1561 Orthodox church in Moscow, Russia
Properly the Cathedral of Vasily the Blessed, a Russian Orthodox church on Red Square in Moscow's historic centre, and one of Russia's most popular cultural symbols.
Photo: W. Bulach, CC BY-SA 4.0
.jpg?width=800)
Theatre in Moscow, Russia
A historic opera house in Moscow, Russia, first designed by the architect Joseph Bové. Before the October Revolution it belonged to the Russian Empire's Imperial Theatres, with Moscow's Maly Theatre and a few theatres in Saint Petersburg.
Photo: Юрий Д.К., CC BY 4.0
.jpg?width=800)
Former imperial palace in Saint Petersburg, Russia
From 1732 to 1917 the official home of the House of Romanov, Russia's emperors: a palace in Saint Petersburg whose buildings and grounds now house the Hermitage Museum.
Photo: W. Bulach, CC BY-SA 4.0
Mountain in Russia and Azerbaijan
A peak of the Greater Caucasus on the border of Russia (Dagestan) and Azerbaijan, in the Qusar region. Rising 4,466 metres (14,652 ft) above the sea, it tops both Dagestan and Azerbaijan.
Photo: Freieck, CC BY-SA 3.0
Archipelago in the Extreme North of Russia
An archipelago in Russia's Extreme North, off the East Siberian coast between the Laptev Sea and the East Siberian Sea, north of the Sakha (Yakutia) Republic, whose Bulunsky District they belong to.
Photo: Satellite image created by the MODIS Rapid Response System, NASA/GSFC, Public domain
Volcanic mountain in Georgia
Also called Mount Kazbegi, a dormant stratovolcano and one of the Caucasus's major mountains, in Georgia, just south of the Russian border.
Photo: Jaba1977, Public domain
Also the Russian Federation, a country in North Asia and Eastern Europe. The largest country on Earth, it spans eleven time zones and has land borders with fourteen countries. With over 140 million people, it is Europe's most populous country and ninth in the world.
Officially The Russian Federation. Known locally as Russian Federation.
Based on the Wikipedia article, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0: the facts are Wikipedia's, the wording is this site's.
This guide lists 10: Mount Elbrus, Red Square, Novaya Zemlya and Lake Baikal and others. Lake Baikal is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
By machine, from open data, with no human ranking them and nobody able to pay for a place on the list. Everything Wikidata records in Russia that is a building, a landform, a protected area or a tourist attraction, has coordinates, a photograph and an English Wikipedia article, is ranked by how many Wikipedia language editions wrote about it. Provinces, cities, airports, stations and stretches of sea shared with the neighbours are filtered out.
1 of the 10 in this guide: Lake Baikal. That is not the full count for Russia, only the listed sites that made this guide.
Russian. The currency is RUB.
A travel eSIM is usually the cheapest way, and avoids a roaming bill. The plans suggested at the foot of this guide start at $2.00 for 1GB per day. The eSIM is data-only and sits alongside your normal SIM, so calls, texts and WhatsApp keep working on your own number.
Beeline and Tele2. Your phone picks whichever has the best signal where you are, the same way a local phone does.
Maps, tickets and translation all want data, and roaming is the expensive way to get it. A Computatus eSIM eSIM connects to Beeline and Tele2 once you land, and installs by QR code before you leave.
| Plan | Data | Valid | Price | Order |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1GB per day Cheapest | 1 GB | 1 day | $2.00 | Get it → |
| 1GB for 7 days | 1 GB | 7 days | $2.13 | Get it → |
| 2GB per day | 2 GB | 1 day | $3.78 | Get it → |
| 3GB for 15 days | 3 GB | 15 days | $5.67 | Get it → |
| 3GB for 30 days | 3 GB | 30 days | $6.03 | Get it → |
| 5GB for 30 days | 5 GB | 30 days | $9.45 | Get it → |
No app needed. Install by QR code before you fly, keep your own number for calls, and it connects the moment you land.
A commission on plans bought through these links is what pays for this guide. Nothing above depends on it: the places are chosen before any price is looked up.
.jpg){kind=link}
.jpg){kind=link}
