Travel search engine Momondo published the list of the most popular Russian cities among foreign tourists in summer 2016.
Moscow has always been the most popular city in Russia among foreign visitors. This summer is not an exception. Moscow became the hottest destination in Russia for travelers from abroad.
But how many Russian cities except Moscow and Saint Petersburg can you name?
If you didn’t know, the country has around 1100 cities and more than 150,000 villages and towns. There’s plenty that makes Russia interesting and different from other countries besides vodka, matryoshka, and balalaika. Any tourist would find something fascinating in the country, from great business centers to quiet and peaceful pastoral landscapes.
So, what are the other Russian cities that attracted foreigners this summer?
Most popular Russian cities to visit among foreigners
As it has been said, the majority of travelers prefer to visit Moscow. And their numbers are definitely growing. This summer the absolute number of tourists visiting Moscow has increased by 39% as compared to the same period of the last year, Lenta.ru reports.
Top 10 most popular cities among overseas visitors:
- Moscow
- St. Petersburg
- Simferopol
- Novosibirsk
- Krasnodar
- Omsk
- Yekaterinburg
- Irkursk
- Rostov-na-Donu
- Sochi
Moscow remains the preferred destination of visitors from around the globe. Photo: The iconic St. Basil’s Cathedral on the Red Square.
St. Petersburg is the second most popular destination among overseas travelers. Photo: National flag on top of the Ethnographic museum.
Tourists enjoy cruising through channels in St. Petersburg, which is often called “The Russian Venice”. Photo: The Church of Our Savior on Spilled Blood (in the distance).
Bridges over Neva River in St. Petersburg open at nights to let large ships through.
St. Petersburg is the second most popular destination among the tourists from foreign countries. The number of visitors has grown by 12% this year, according to the Momondo research.
Simferopol (Crimea) is the third popular city among foreign tourists. It has also gained its popularity among the visitors from abroad. The number of visitors has increased by 12% as compared to the last summer.
The top 5 also includes Novosibirsk (Siberia) and Krasnodar (South of Russia). The number of foreigners visiting these cities has increased by 25% and 28% respectively in 2016.
Omsk (Siberia), Yekaterinburg (Ural region), Irkutsk (Siberia), Rostov-na-Donu (a port city in the South) and Sochi (South) close the top 10.
A beautiful cathedral in Omsk (Siberia).
A bird eye view over the city of Yekaterinburg (Ural).
Where foreign tourists come from
Momondo experts also have found out where Russia’s international tourists come from.
- It turned out that the majority of them come from Germany this summer. The number of German tourists has grown by 72% since 2015.
- Russia has always attracted lots of visitors from China. But this summer the number of Chinese tourists decreased by 19%.
- Americans are in the third place in the rating. The number of tourists from the USA slightly dropped this year (by 6%).
- According to the research, Russia attracted lots of tourists from Denmark, Great Britain, Sweden, Norway, Spain, Italy, and Ukraine.
However, the number of visitors from Ukraine dropped in half (-49%).
At the same time, Russia has increased its popularity among travelers from the UK. The number of tourists from the Great Britain nearly doubled this year.
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This summer the majority of overseas visitors to Russia are from Germany. Photo: Out-of-country travellers can easily move around the cities through the system of subways (underground trains).
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That’s a wonderful list, but I thibk that it’s not fulled. Russia – is a very big country with a lot of interesting places to visit. For example, for those, who like to join some exotic trips, I would recommend to go to Altai Republic. There is no cities, but the landscapes and the culture of people who live there are amazing.
As for me I like Kaluga, I’ve visited it many times. It is a small and wonderful city! It is the home grounds of the space industry. There are many museums and monuments with this theme. People are very friendly but the city is expensive because Kaluga is close to Moscow.
To tell the truth, I am a bit surprised to see Simferopol in the 3rd place. Of course, I believe that this city and the Crimea are worth to look. Just wander why it is so popular with foreign tourists… What are the grounds?