This tour to the Hermitage (with transfer by car or bus) will introduce you to the main rooms and expositions of the largest museum in Russia and one of the most famous museums in the world. The museum occupies five buildings: the Winter Palace, the Small Hermitage, the Old and the New Hermitage and the Hermitage Theatre. 

The interiors of the Winter Palace are implemented in the Baroque style.  In addition to the huge collection of paintings the museum also houses a collection of prints and drawings, antiques, objects of Western European applied art, weapons, medals and books (Voltaire's library). In the 19th century the Hermitage began to receive archaeological artefacts which among other things have formed a famous collection of Scythian gold.

At the Hermitage museum you can get acquainted with the art of Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, Ancient Greece and its colonies. You will also examine the culture of the Etruscans and ancient Siberian tribes, Egyptian mummies, antique pottery,Tanagra statuary and more.

If you would stop at each exhibit for one minute and spend 8 hours a day at the museum, it would take you almost 15 years to examine all the collection that the Hermitage museum houses.

Guided city tour in St. Petersburg will be accomplished by private car or bus (with stops for photographing). You will be introduced to the main sights of St Petersburg also known as the Cultural Capital of Russia. The tour starts at the Alexander Nevsky Monastery and ends at the Admiralty. 

During the tour you can see Nevsky Prospect - the most famous street of the city full of life and most famous monuments. You will see the magnificent Palace Square and the Winter Palace. You can make excellent photos from one of the best panoramic spots of the city - the Spit of Vasilyevsky Island. You will see Peter and Paul Fortress and the shrine of the Romanov dynasty - Cathedral of Peter and Paul. Afterwards you'll enjoy the relaxing and peaceful atmosphere of the Summer Garden walking among the magnificent Italian sculptures. You'll also stop at the eternal flame on the Field of Mars to pay tribute to the victims of the war.

This guided tour by private car or bus will include visits to the three main cathedrals of St. Petersburg: St. Isaac's Cathedral, Church of the Saviour on Spilt Blood and the Holy Trinity Alexander Nevsky Lavra.

St. Isaac's Cathedral (the Cathedral of St. Isaac of Dalmatia) is the largest Orthodox church in St. Petersburg and one of the most impressive buildings in St. Petersburg. The gilded dome of St. Isaac is clearly visible from various places in the city. The exterior is decorated with 112 granite columns each of which weighs about 100 tons and more than 400 bas-reliefs, the interior is impressing with elegant marble, malachite and lapis lazuli decor. St Isaac's colonnade located at an altitude of 43 meters offers stunning views of the city.

Church of the Resurrection or "Saviour on the Spilt Blood" was built on the site of the assassination of the Emperor Alexander II. The cathedral was built in the Russian style accoding to the model of St. Basil's Cathedral in Moscow. The main decoration of the construction is imosaic decoration that covers the area of ​​over 7,000 sq.m. During the Soviet period the church was used as a warehouse because of "no cultural value." In 1997 the church was renovated and re-opened.

The Holy Trinity Alexander Nevsky Lavra (the Alexander Nevsky Monastery) was constructed by the order of Peter the Great at the end of Nevsky Prospekt where he commanded to place the relics of St. Alexander Nevsky (the patron of the new Russian capital). Among the buildings of the Monastery there is a majestic Holy Trinity Cathedral built in the style of early classicism, the Lazarevskoye Cemetery (necropolis of the XVIII century) and the Tikhvin Cemetery (necropolis of Masters of Arts, the burial place of Lomonosov, Suvorov, Karamzin, Mussorgsky, Tchaikovsky, Dostoevsky and other prominent figures of Russia).

In addition to a standard guided city tour (by private car or bus) around the city center of St. Petersburg you'll have one longer stop visiting Peter and Paul Fortress.

This is one of the main attractions of St. Petersburg and the most popular one among tourists as the fortress is a symbol of the city. Peter and Paul Cathedral is the burial place of Russian tsars the last of which were Nicholas II and his family.

Start of construction of the fortress is considered to be the birthday of St. Petersburg. Peter I was personally involved in the drafting of the fortress.

You can also visit the grim cells of the former prison that used to be main political prison under the tsarist regime and called "Russian Bastilles". And, of course, you will be given a unique opportunity to take pictures on a granite embankment of Commanders’ pier, one of the most beautiful views on the Neva River.

The guided tour by private car or bus to one of the most beautiful tsar's summer residence of Peter the Great - Peterhof. 

You will be impressed with a 300-acre park on the shore of the Finish Gulf, stunning fountains, the Grand Palace towering over the hill above the fountains and numerous smaller Palaces and pavilions representing "Russian Versailles". You will take a walk along the Lower Garden enjoying spectacular views of the three stunning cascades and numerous fountains. It is the world's largest system of fountains and water cascades, surrounded by beautiful alleys decorated with flowerbeds and statues. In total there are 173 park fountains. 

You will see the main building of the Grand fountain system of Peterhof - Grand Cascade, that is decorated with gilded ladders, gilded statues and the central sculptural composition "Samson tearing the lion's mouth" stretches from the Palace to the gulf along the Samson canal and symbolizes the victory of Russia on the Baltic coast during the Northern War. And, of course, you will visit the Grand Palace, one of the most beautiful palaces of Russia, designed by Rastrelli. It compises a blend of different architectural styles of 18-19 centuries - Restrained baroque Petrovsky, luxurious Elizabethan Baroque, Catherine refined classicism and Eastern exoticism.

During the guided sightseeing tour by private car or bus you will visit the famous Red Square located in the heart of Moscow. You will learn about a unique architectural ensemble of one of the largest squares in the world, see St. Basil's Cathedral, the State Historical Museum, the Kremlin, Lenin's Mausoleum and GUM shopping arcade (the largest shopping center of Russia).

We will make a stop at the Sofia Embankment to take pictures with splendid panoramic views of the Kremlin. During the tour you will also see The Cathedral of Christ the Savior that symbolizes the spiritual revival of Russia, Novodevichy Monastery (the fortress and the monastery of the 16th century, the cemetery), Moscow State University dormitory, Sparrow Hills with beautiful views of the city. We will drive through the Moscow boulevards, the historic and cultural center of the city with its museums, theaters and places, stop at the Theatre Square and see the famous Bolshoi Theatre.

Before the start of the tour, a guide will come after you, with whom you will go to the first line of the Moscow metro. It was open in 1935 and connected 13 stations. Today the city has more than 150 stations and is considered to be the most beautiful subway in the world. During the tour you will get off the train from time to time to enjoy the most beautiful stations.

Then you will be taken to visit the oldest part of Moscow and walk along the Old Arbat Street, a picturesque pedestrian street where you can enjoy street entertainments and buy souvenirs. AT the end of 18th century the Arbat Street was considered the most prestigious residential area among the Russian nobility. Nowadays the Old Arbat is one of the most tourist attractive destination with a variety of shops, cafes, bars and restaurants. 

The State Tretyakov Gallery is the national treasury of Russian fine art and one of the greatest museums in the world. The history of the gallery started with works of art donated by famous philanthropist Pavel Tretyakov. After his death, the collection continued to grow, especially after the October Revolution when the nationalization took place and many of the exhibits were privatized: some were bought, other were given or transported from other museums and private collections, cathedrals and monasteries.

Today, the museum has the world's largest collection of Russian art and contains more than 130 000 examples of ancient Russian painting, sculpture and graphics, created throughout the centuries. You will have an opportunity to admire the most fully represented Russian art of the late XIX - early XX centuries, enjoy the Baroque portraits, classical canvases, the first Russian townscape, historical paintings and romantic landscapes and see paintings of Vasnetsov, Shishkin, Repin, Serov, Vrubel, Kustodiev, Levitan and other famous artists.  

In 2000 the museum opened one of the last exhibition of works created in 1950-1990.

Kolomenskoye was once the royal residence and patrimony, and today it is a beautiful historical and cultural monument with a vast territory of 390 hectares as part of the united Moscow State Museum-Reserve. In the southeast, the park overlooks the Moskva River embankment, pleasure boats depart from the pier.

Most of the territory is untouched nature: forest, ravine, hill, descent to the river, but there are also many historical and architectural sights.

A large number of architectural, natural and archaeological monuments have been preserved on the territory of Kolomenskoye. Almost all of them were restored and put in order. Some buildings are transported here from other places.

Before the start of the tour, a guide will come after you, with whom you will visit the Kremlin and St. Basil's Cathedral. You will walk along the walls of the Moscow Kremlin, see the Cathedral Square and other sights.

The Cathedral of St. Basil the Blessed is located on Red Square, the cathedral was named after the Moscow fool-for-christ's-sake Vasily and is rightfully not only one of the main symbols of Moscow, but of all of Russia. The canonical name of the temple is the Cathedral of the Intercession of the Mother of God on the Moat. The church was built by Ivan the Terrible in honor of the capture of Kazan in October 1552. Despite the apparent randomness of the structure, the cathedral has a clear organizational structure. Nine churches stand on a single foundation. Eight of them symbolize the main victories of the Moscow troops in the war with the Kazan Khanate and lined up around the central ninth - church with a magnificent high tent. Inside this delightful cathedral, you will see nine icononstasas, with more than 400 icons from the 16th and 19th centuries, and its walls are decorated with beautiful paintings and frescoes.

The Kremlin in Russia has long been called the stone fortress, reliably protecting from enemies from the West and the East. But only the Moscow Kremlin acquired the status of a sacred symbol, personifying the power of a great country. Behind its red-brick walls there are government buildings and a gigantic museum complex where hundreds of thousands of artifacts are told, which tell about the history and culture of Russia.

Yekaterinburg is informally called the capital of the Urals: it is a large, modern, actively developing city, a scientific, cultural, industrial and business center of the entire region. Many architectural monuments of the XIX-XX centuries have been preserved in Yekaterinburg, beautiful views of the temples and old houses are opened from the city embankment.

A classic sightseeing excursion will allow you to get acquainted with the history, present and future of Yekaterinburg, to see its main attractions: the dam of the XVIII century, built of larch, October Square, the Palace of the President’s receptions of the Russian Federation, the Opera House, the Literary Quarter, the Church Saints in the land of Russia who shone, erected on the site of the murderer of Emperor Nicholas II and his land, the Spiritual quarter. You can also get acquainted with modern shopping and entertainment complexes, with constructivism architecture. You will stщз in the Historical Square (the place of origin of the Yekaterinburg city - plant in 1723).

The excursion tour originates in the eastern part of the city and continues to the west, passing along the great Siberian (Moscow) road to the obelisk "The border of Europe and Asia", installed on the geographical connection of two parts of the world. Here you can stand with one foot in Europe and the other in Asia, and perform the ritual of crossing the border.

Based on the data of modern scientific research, one can say that the Ural Mountains have every reason to be considered the border of Europe and Asia - two different parts of the world. This proves the difference in the types of flora and fauna located on the western and eastern slopes, and the difference in the characters, the basin and the directions of the river flows. The border of Europe and Asia, thus, is drawn along the eastern slope of the Ural Mountains.

After crossing the border, you will receive a certificate as a souvenir

The guests will visit one of the three Temples-on-the-Blood built in Russia, as well as a unique Orthodox complex: the "Ganina Yama" monastery, built in the style of ancient Russian architecture. The guests will get acquainted with the history of the family of the last Russian emperor Nikolay (Romanov), put candles at the miraculous icons, stand at the penitential cross.

The royal family was shot on the night of July 16-17, 1918 in the basement of the house of engineer Nikolai Ipatiev in Yekaterinburg. A total of 11 people were killed: Emperor Nicholas II himself, his wife Alexandra Fyodorovna, four daughters Olga, Tatyana, Maria and Anastasia, son Tsarevich Alexei, their valet Aloysius Troupe, the maid Anna Demidova, the family doctor Yevgeny Botkin and the cook Ivan Kharitonov.

The shooting of the royal Romanov family on the night of July 17, 1918 is one of the most important events of the era of the civil war, the establishment of Soviet power, and the withdrawal of Russia from the First World War. The murder of Nicholas II and his family was largely predetermined by the seizure of power by the Bolsheviks.

The tour allows to see for one day how the Russians lived in the Urals for all 500 years from the appearance of the first factories and Old Believer settlements to our days in the village of Nizhnyaya Sinyachikha, and the world's only collection of Ural folk wood painting is kept in the Museum of Wooden Architecture under the open sky: fragments of walls with birds of paradise, shutters with outlandish animals.

Tourists will visit the house where the great Russian composer Pyotr Tchaikovsky lived as a child, visit the Transfiguration Cathedral (XVIII century), scorched by the tragic revolutionary events, visit the monastery founded on the site of the old mine where the princes Romanovs were dropped in 1918 for that they wore the royal family name.

The magnificent in its beauty temple, made in the style of Siberian baroque, which you will not find any analogues anywhere in the Urals. Construction of the temple began in 1794

Tourists will travel by car with an instructor and guide to the nature park "Bazhov's Places", one of the most picturesque places in the vicinity of Yekaterinburg, covered with legends and tales of the gray Urals. Past the dam and the old Kupeisk zaimka, past the spring, the water of which is able to rejuvenate anyone, past the glade with blue fog, tourists will reach the amazingly beautiful mountain lake "Talc Stone" - a monument to the Ural nature.

This lake is of unnatural origin, which does not detract from its beauty. In the middle of the XIX century, talc began to be mined under Sysert, for this purpose they dug a huge pit. While digging, they touched the aquifer, and groundwater began to seep at the bottom of the pit. Over time, a lake was formed here, the coolness of which saves the Ural ecotourists from the summer heat.

The rise on a 30-meter cliff and a photo for memory are required! The program also includes a walk along the lake shore and a picnic with a fire.

City tour in Novosibirsk, covering all the main attractions of the city:

• Novosibirsk Railway Station, the biggest station of the Trans-Siberian Railroad;
• Krasny Prospekt street, one of the longest straight streets in the world (7km/4.4miles);
• Lenin Square, the city center with the world’s second biggest Opera House (after that of Buenos Aires);
• Old wooden houses on Gorkogo Str., the oldest part of the city;
• St. Nicholas Chapel, marking the geographic center of the former Russian Empire;
• Embankment of the 7th longest river in the world (the Ob river);
• Colorful Siberian farm-market;
• One place of interest at your choice: Trans-Siberian Railway Museum / Historical Museum / USSR Museum / Birch bark Museum/ Opera House from inside for groups / Samovar tea drinking ceremony in the authentic log house for groups / Matrioshka nesting dolls painting for groups.

The scientific town Akademgorodok, located 30 km / 18 miles away from Novosibirsk, is the only scientific town in the world, where all the branches of sciences are represented. For this reason, it is sometimes called the “Scientific Vatican” by western media. Enter Akademgorodok via Lavrentiev Prospekt, marked by the Guinness Book of World Records as the “world's most scientific street.” See the Ob River Reservoir, called the Ob Sea by locals. Learn the history of this town and visit one museum of your choice:

• Archeological Museum at the Institute of Archeology and Ethnography;
• Geological Museum at the Institute of Geology and Geophysics;
• Open-Air Train Museum with a huge collection of Soviet locomotives and railway carriages.

Take the chance to explore the city with no professional guide, but instead, with a usual, sociable citizen of Novosibirsk (age, occupation, and spoken languages vary). You can either visit places of your interest or be accompanied by your “guide” through everyday life in Novosibirsk: see the city “from the inside”; learn about your companion’s values and lifestyle; bring home his traditional family recipe; ride local transport; and try street food! In other words, you get exactly what you miss being on a standard formal tour!

This excursion may become a real highlight of the whole trip to Siberia. While Japan has its ryokans and green tea ceremony, Bedouins welcome guests to their tents offering them coffee, and Turkey is famous for hamam and apple tea, Siberia can offer you a typical and authentic experience that traces its roots to the most known and successful invention of our Russian ancestors – the Banya (Steam-house). You will visit a real log (wooden) house and a professional attendant will walk you through all the stages of this “ancient spa”: warming up, lying on wooden benches, steaming and massage with birch branches, and herbal inhalation. At the end, you will participate in the samovar tea ceremony, and your hosts will treat you to Siberian honey and homemade berry jams. This is an experience that is not to be missed while in Novosibirsk!

During this visit, you will be guests of an English-speaking Siberian family, living in a countryside cottage, located by the pine forest within an hour’s drive from Novosibirsk. Enjoy delicious home-cooked meals, learn your hosts' stories and enjoy Siberian hospitality!

Guide is optional and is not necessary in case tourists speak some English.

Enjoy a 3-hour city tour by car. It starts at the historical part of the city: Epiphany Cathedral, the oldest stone- structure Church of our Saviour and the only Catholic Cathedral in Irkutsk, Polish Roman Catholic Church. The tour leads you through the Kirov Square and circus, taking you to the main street of Irkutsk, the Karl Marks Street. You’ll ride along the street to get to the Angara river embankment, where you’ll see the monument to Alexander III.

Visit to the Znamensky Convent, the only convent left in the city. On its territory you’ll discover the revered necropolis where some Decembrists are buried. Continuing the tour you’ll visit the most beautiful church of Irkutsk, the Kazan Cathedral. Complete the tour with the visit to the district of historic wooden buildings.

A trip to Listvyanka by car. Guided tour to the local Baikal museum that has a set of aquariums. There is one with the only mammal representative, the Baikal Seal, in it. Your guide will show you the famous Shaman Rock and tell you the legend about the naughty Angara River.

Take a chair-lift to a nearby view point. There you’ll get a chance to take panoramic pictures of Baikal from above.

Lunch with Baikal cuisine. Enjoy your visit to a local 19th century wooden St.Nicolas church and a local fish market where you’ll see a great variety of fish.

Transfer from the hotel to the train station. The Circum-Baikal train departs from the Irkutsk railway station and arrives at the Sludyanka village. That’s where the program of the Circum-Baikal tour starts. The train will make stops at historically important villages on the way, which gives you a chance to walk around and take beautiful pictures of the monuments of engineering, architecture and nature.

The guide will take you through the longest tunnel on the railway and will show you the water pump towers that used to pump water for the steam train. You will have lunch at the Polovinnaya station served by a Babushka (an elderly Russian lady). In the evening the train arrives in Port Baikal. You’ll get on the ferry to cross Lake Baikal where the Angara River flows out. On the other side, in Listvyanka, you'll get on a bus to Irkutsk.

A trip to the wooden architecture museum Taltsy. In the museum you’ll see the settlements of indigenous Siberian people of 17th-20th centuries. Some of the buildings presented in the museum were brought there from the villages that were flooded after building a dam in Irkutsk. You'll have lunch in the authentic restaurant and have some free time to walk around.

The museum looks like an ancient village with long streets, wooden houses, water mills and even a small school. 

The museum complex is divided into three sectors. One of them is devoted to traditional structures of Buryat people inhabited the Irkutsk territory to the west of the Baikal. The largest sector displays the log structures from the Ilim area erected by Cossacks in the 17th-century. Located in a grove, the smallest sector is dedicated to the indigenous nomadic Evenk people, which is believed was the most ancient population lived the area.

Arshan is a Buryat village located in the Tunkinskaya Valley (altitude 893 m. above the sea level). The road to Arshan takes about 3-4 hrs one way. You'll make a stop on the way where you can have lunch (paid on spot).

Upon arrival you will have a tour around Arshan. Enjoy a beautiful hike up to the 1st waterfall on the Kyngyrga River (2 km one way). Visit to the so-called healing spring and experience its true powers on yourself.

Visit to the Buddhist temple. You will also see a silent volcano – life evidence of volcanic activity at the end of the ice age. You will have some time to walk around and buy some souvenirs. After the tour you will be transferred back to Irkutsk.

The Forbidden City of Gugun is the largest and most famous palace complex in the world, located in Beijing. It served as the residence of twenty-four powerful rulers of two dynasties of the Celestial Empire - Ming and Qing.

The place for its construction was determined by astronomers and it is, in their opinion, exactly in the center of the globe.

Today, heading to the Forbidden City, you just have to go through three gates: Tiananmen, Duanmen and, finally, the main gate of the palace - Umen. In former times, for foreign ambassadors and officials, the path to the palace was longer: they passed through five gates.

All the decoration and design of the Forbidden City is permeated with the philosophical and religious ideas and principles of China, including that the emperor, despite all his greatness, must be fair and wise.

For several centuries, the Imperial Summer Palace was the second most important residence of the imperial family. Externally, it is very different from the strict and official Forbidden City - stunning views and elegant gardens set up more for rest than to solve issues of national importance.

Both the park and the palace have acquired their present appearance relatively recently. At the end of the 19th century, they were almost completely destroyed by the troops of France and Britain, and then rebuilt anew by the widowed empress Cixi. At the same time, the park received its modern name - “Iheyuan” - which can be literally translated as “gardens of preserved harmony”.

The Olympic Park in Beijing is located in the northern part of the city and forms a continuous central axis with the old buildings of the capital. The park was erected for the Olympic Games in Beijing in 2008. The total area of ​​the Olympic Complex is 1135 hectares. The Olympic Center consists of a sports stadium with a capacity of 91 thousand people, an indoor stadium for 20 thousand spectators, and a swimming center that can accommodate 17 thousand people.

In Beijing, north of Gugun, Jingshan Park is located. Translated from Chinese, Jinshan means "a view from the mountain", or "a mountain with a beautiful view". The height of the Forbidden City, Beihai Park, the Drum Tower, the old and modern quarters of Beijing, as well as the mountains to the west, offer a breathtaking view from the 46-meter height. It is from here that one can see how ancient imperial buildings and modern structures of glass and concrete harmoniously coexist.

A park of more than 230 square meters was built in the era of the Ming Dynasty. Jingshan consists of five hills, on top of each of which there is a palace-pavilion with a statue of Buddha inside.

Gray brick walls, as if grayed out from the past years, small courtyards, each of which has a single entrance, fanzi, enclosed in strict squares, close proximity and life reviving before our eyes - these are all Hutongs, narrow streets in the heart of modern Beijing.

Hutongs are residential neighborhoods in Chinese cities, which appeared in the distant past. By the view from above, they resemble a tangled labyrinth of narrow streets and oblong courtyards, the gates in which are necessarily located on the east or south side, in order to give as much light and heat to its inhabitants. Literally from the Mongolian, the word "Hutong" means "well", one of the most important phenomena for those times when water supply was not invented.

In ancient China, they believed that the emperor was a messenger of heaven, therefore there must be a special connection between them, which was carried out by means of an annual solemn prayer on the day of the winter solstice in one of the most perfect from the architectural point of view Chinese temples - in the temple of Heaven.

It was built in 1420 in the south-east of the capital of the Middle Kingdom, then the ruling Ming dynasty. Initially, it had the name "Temple of Heaven and Earth", but after a hundred years, a separate temple was erected to worship the Earth.

The Pearl Market is Beijing’s five-story market, where you can buy Chinese goods such as jade and pearls. The main products of the market that justify its name are a variety of pearls: sea, river, and fake. Buying pearl jewelry here, you get a receipt, a certificate of quality and permission to transport through the customs of China.

Hutongs are residential neighborhoods in Chinese cities, which appeared in the distant past. By the view from above, they resemble a tangled labyrinth of narrow streets and oblong courtyards, the gates in which are necessarily located on the east or south side, in order to give as much light and heat to its inhabitants. Literally from the Mongolian, the word "Hutong" means "well", one of the most important phenomena for those times when water supply was not invented.

In the Shichhay district, in the center of the capital, there is the Drum Tower (Gulou), which was originally built under the emperor Zhiyuan in 1272. This tower was called Zizhen Low, which translated meant - coming from 7 ancient Heavenly Clans: Tree, Gold, Fire, Water, Sun, Earth and Moon.

To the north of the Beihai Imperial Park, a chain of three lakes stretches, which the Chinese, inclined to exaggeration, called Shichahai, that is, “ten lands and seas”.