Russia travel itineraries: 6 routes based on the days you have (with maps)

Here’s the straight answer: if it’s your first trip to Russia, the best itinerary is the classic Moscow and St. Petersburg in 8-10 days. And if you have more time —the eVisa now allows stays of up to 30 days—, you can add Kazan or the Golden Ring, head up to Murmansk to see the northern lights, go down to the Black Sea in Sochi or embark on the Trans-Siberian.

In this article I’ve gathered the 6 itineraries that work best in 2026, with interactive maps, real travel times and links to the detailed guides for each destination. They can all be done independently and adapted to the number of days you have.

Before choosing a route: 4 things that shape your itinerary in 2026

Since 2022 the way to travel to Russia has changed, and there are four factors that directly affect how you design your route:

• How you enter the country. There are no direct flights from the European Union or the United States: you fly with a layover in Istanbul, Dubai, Yerevan, Baku or Belgrade (I explain it in the guide on Russia’s air borders). You can also enter by land, for example from Estonia via Narva, which makes St. Petersburg a natural starting point. You have the full picture on the Russia borders page.
• The visa. Most travelers use the electronic visa (eVisa), which now allows stays of up to 30 days: enough for any of the itineraries in this article. Many countries are also visa-exempt. If you’re not sure what you need with your passport, start with the guide on visas to Russia.
• Payments. Visa and Mastercard cards issued outside Russia don’t work inside the country. But note: flights, trains, hotels and tours can be booked from abroad with a foreign card if you use the right platforms (you’ll see them linked throughout the article).
• The time of year. May to September is the ideal season for almost all routes; September to April is when you can see the northern lights in Murmansk, and December to March is skiing season in the mountains of Sochi. More details in the article on the best time to travel to Russia.

The destinations on the map

These are the destinations that appear in the 6 itineraries. Most tourism is concentrated in European Russia (Moscow, St. Petersburg, the Golden Ring and Kazan); Murmansk is in the Arctic, Sochi on the Black Sea and the Trans-Siberian crosses the entire country to Vladivostok, on the Pacific. If you want more maps of the country, there’s a collection in the article on maps of Russia.

1. The classic itinerary: Moscow and St. Petersburg (7-10 days)

This is the first-trip itinerary par excellence, and the one I recommend if you don’t know the country yet. Moscow is the immense, vibrant capital, with Red Square, the Kremlin and all the Soviet heritage; St. Petersburg is the imperial city of canals, the Hermitage and the White Nights. They’re very different from each other, and that’s exactly why they work so well together.

How to split up the days

With 8-10 days you see both cities at a relaxed pace. An example with 9 nights:

• Days 1 to 4 (4 nights) in Moscow: Red Square and the Kremlin, St. Basil’s Cathedral, the metro, the Tretyakov Gallery, VDNH park and an afternoon at Moscow City.
• Day 5: train to St. Petersburg. You have two options: the fast Sapsan train by day (about 4 hours) or the night train (about 8 hours, saving you a hotel night). I compare them both in the article on how to travel between Moscow and St. Petersburg.
• Days 5 to 9 (5 nights) in St. Petersburg: the Hermitage, St. Isaac’s, the Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood, the Peter and Paul Fortress, and a day trip to Peterhof or the Catherine Palace in Pushkin.

To the common question of how many days to spend in each city, my short answer is half and half, with a slight edge for St. Petersburg if you like palaces (its major sights are in the outskirts and eat up whole days). I go into it in the article on how many days to spend in Moscow and how many in St. Petersburg.

Variations depending on your days

• With 4-5 days: choose just one city. If you fly into Moscow, stay in Moscow; if you enter by land from Estonia or Latvia, St. Petersburg is right there. The other capital will remain an excuse to come back.
• With 11-12 days: add a 1-2 night stop in Veliky Novgorod, the oldest city in Russia, about 3 hours by Lastochka train from St. Petersburg.

To plan out each city day by day you have detailed hour-by-hour itineraries: what to see in Moscow in 1 to 5 days and what to see in St. Petersburg in 1 to 4 days.

2. Moscow, the Golden Ring and St. Petersburg (10-14 days)

The Golden Ring is a circuit of medieval towns northeast of Moscow —Sergiev Posad, Suzdal, Vladimir, Yaroslavl, Rostov Veliky…— with monasteries, kremlins and golden-domed churches that concentrate a thousand years of Orthodox Russian history. It’s the perfect rural counterpoint to the two great capitals.

There are three ways to fit the Golden Ring into your trip, from least to most time:

• 1-day trip from Moscow to Sergiev Posad, just 70 km from the capital, to visit the Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius.
• Mini-route of 2-3 days: Vladimir and Suzdal, the two jewels of the ring. You reach Vladimir by fast train from Moscow in under 2 hours, and Suzdal is half an hour away by road.
• Full route of 5-7 days: the whole ring is about 700 km starting and ending in Moscow, and also includes Yaroslavl, Rostov Veliky, Pereslavl-Zalessky and Kostroma.

An example of a 12-day itinerary: 4 nights in Moscow, 3 days in the ring (Sergiev Posad as a day trip + Vladimir and Suzdal with an overnight), night train to St. Petersburg and 4 final nights there.

An honest heads-up: the appeal of the Golden Ring is the monasteries, the churches and the icons. If that’s your thing, you’ll enjoy every town; if not, with Sergiev Posad or Suzdal you already get the essence and there’s no need to complete the circuit.

3. Moscow, Kazan and St. Petersburg (12-15 days)

Kazan, the capital of Tatarstan on the banks of the Volga, has become Russia’s third great urban destination, and for good reason: it’s the city where Orthodox Russia and Muslim Russia coexist, with a UNESCO World Heritage kremlin in which the Kul Sharif Mosque rises next to the Annunciation Cathedral. You have the full guide in things to do in Kazan, and don’t leave without trying the Tatar cuisine.

Kazan fits very well as a triangle with the two capitals. From Moscow you get there by night train (11-12 hours) or an hour-and-a-half flight; and from Kazan you can fly direct to St. Petersburg in about 2 hours (there’s also a night train, though the journey is long, almost a full day).

An example of a 13-day itinerary: 4 nights in Moscow, night train to Kazan, 3 nights in Kazan, flight to St. Petersburg and 5 final nights. With the night trains you only “lose” half a day of travel in total.

4. Murmansk and the northern lights (7-10 days, September to April)

Murmansk, the largest city in the world above the Arctic Circle, is the trending destination among those chasing the northern lights: the season runs from September to April and it’s one of the cheapest options on the planet to see them. Besides chasing auroras, from the city you can take tours to the coastal village of Teriberka (the one on the Barents Sea), to husky and reindeer farms and to Sami settlements.

To get to Murmansk you have three ways: a flight from Moscow (about 2.5 hours), a night train from St. Petersburg (about 27 hours, a full Russian experience) or, if you’re coming from northern Norway, the Storskog land crossing from Kirkenes.

An example of an 8-day winter itinerary: 3 nights in Moscow or St. Petersburg and 4 nights in Murmansk with a trip to Teriberka and nighttime aurora-hunting outings. Important: the auroras aren’t guaranteed, so book a minimum of 3-4 nights in the Arctic to have several chances.

5. Sochi: Black Sea and Caucasus mountains (7-10 days)

Sochi is Russia’s holiday destination and works all year round: beach and seafront promenade from June to September, and skiing in Krasnaya Polyana from December to March, in the resorts that hosted the 2014 Olympic Games. In between, the Adler Olympic Park, botanical gardens and mountain excursions. You have the full guide in things to see and do in Sochi.

Sochi combines with Moscow on an internal flight of about 4 hours (current routes skirt the south of the country, which is why the journey is longer than before). An example of a 9-day itinerary: 4 nights in Moscow and 5 in Sochi, split between the coast and the mountains. In winter, the snowy-Moscow + skiing-in-Krasnaya-Polyana formula is one of my favorites.

6. The Trans-Siberian: from Moscow to Vladivostok (15-21 days)

The mother of all itineraries. The main Trans-Siberian line links Moscow to Vladivostok after 9,288 kilometers and 8 time zones: a full week of travel if you never got off the train, though what makes sense is to do it in stages, stopping in the main cities. You have all the practical details (trains, carriage classes, stops, budget) in the complete Trans-Siberian guide.

An example of an 18-day itinerary with the classic stops:

• Moscow (3 nights): the gateway to the journey.
• Yekaterinburg (1-2 nights): the border between Europe and Asia and the story of the Romanovs.
• Novosibirsk (1 night): the capital of Siberia, a technical stop with a monumental opera house.
• Irkutsk and Lake Baikal (3-4 nights): the jewel of the journey; the deepest freshwater lake in the world deserves at least two full days (Listvyanka or Olkhon Island).
• Vladivostok (2 nights): the end of the journey on the Pacific.

You spend the rest of the nights on board, which is exactly what this trip is about. If you have less time, the short version Moscow-Irkutsk (about three and a half days of train if you do it in one go) concentrates the essentials with Baikal as the grand finale and works well in about 15 days. And if you want to cross borders, the Trans-Mongolian variant branches off at Ulan-Ude toward Ulaanbaatar and Beijing, though in that case you’ll also have to plan the paperwork for Mongolia and China.

On the trains themselves (types, carriage classes, what life on board is like) you have the article on trains in Russia.

Summary table: which itinerary to choose based on your days

Tips for building (and booking) your itinerary from outside Russia

• Use the night trains to your advantage: every night on board is a hotel night you save and a day of sightseeing you gain.
• Don’t cram more than 3 destinations into less than 12 days: distances in Russia are enormous and transfers eat up time.
• Flights: book the international ones as early as possible; I explain how to book your flight to Russia with a foreign card.
• Hotels: they can be booked online with a foreign card; the hotel also handles the mandatory foreigner registration.
• Trains: sales usually open about 90 days before departure and the popular night trains sell out fast; you can buy train tickets online from outside Russia.
• eVisa and insurance: apply for the eVisa covering your entire stay and take out travel medical insurance valid for Russia (the usual Western ones don’t cover the country).
• Internet: install an eSIM with data for Russia before leaving home; it’ll save you hassle on arrival.
• Independently or with an agency? All these itineraries can be done independently; I give you my take in the article on traveling to Russia with an agency or on your own.

And if you want the complete process from start to finish, you have the guide on organizing your trip to Russia in 10 steps.

Frequently asked questions about itineraries in Russia

Have you done any of these routes or are you planning your own? Tell me in the comments and I’ll help you fit the days together.