Renaissance Moscow Hotel is one of the best five-star hotels in the city. The hotel is located in the very center of Moscow, just a 15 minutes walk from the Kremlin, the Bolshoi Theatre and other popular sights. The guest rooms of the hotel have luxurious bedding, including cotton-rich linens, soft pillows and bathrobes with slippers, a large desk and Internet access, as well as many other amenities. You will love your Russia travel trip if you stay in this hotel.

The hotel offers various business services, such as copy and fax services, full-service business center, secretarial service, translator and many other services. There are 14 meeting rooms, the largest of which has seating capacity of 400 people. Meeting equipment includes AV equipment, CD player, film projector, LCD panel and projector, walkie-talkie radios. Renaissance Moscow Hotel offers its banqueting hall for joyous events, such as weddings, other celebrations. Professional wedding planer will take care of the details and make any of your wish possible.

Renaissance Moscow Hotel offers perfect leisure facilities. The hotel has wonderful fitness center, which is equipped with cardiovascular equipment, pool and sauna. The hotel has indoor and outdoor pools.  There are different kinds of cafes and restaurants in the hotel. 7 Sisters Café offers extensive range of pastries, snacks and sandwiches. La Strazione is an Italian restaurant, which offers delicious dishes of Italian cuisine. The Bakery is a café-shop, which offers not only tea and coffee, but also cakes, sandwiches and salads.

Russia is a very rich country, having all kinds of resources: mineral, energy, wood, river and others. Russia has many wonderful lakes and forests, where natural reserves are located.

Russia has an old history, which dates back to the 3rd and 8th centuries AD. In the 10th century, Russia adopted Christianity and beginning from that time Russia Orthodox church began its rapid development. Many changes were made in Russian Orthodox Church, but religion still plays a very important role n the life of the country.

Moscow is the capital of Russia. It is considered one of the most beautiful Russian cities. Many historical sights belonging to different epochs are located in the city. Moscow is not the only city in Russia, where tourist can find wonderful monuments, parks, museums and art galleries, as there are many other great cities with old history.

Tourists have wide opportunities to visit great Russian cities, such St.Petersburg, Novgorod, Ekaterinburg and admire their beauty and monuments. One of the best ways to visit Russia is on Russian river cruises. See Russian cruise dates.

Tourists can visit Russia in any time of the year, as there are attractions there the whole year. Winter resorts are popular among those tourists that like winter sports while seaside resorts are popular among those, who dream of sunbathing in the sun or spending the time near mineral resources.

Most of the tourists making tours in Russia don’t realize the greatness of the lake. During warm months tourist can make boat tours that would give an opportunity to introduce the greatness of the lake. Tourists, who are fond of hiking, would find here all possibilities for spending unforgettable days there among forests and streams. You can even get on one of Russian cruises that sail on Baikal.

Beginning from 1992 Lake Baikal and its surroundings became a National park. Nowadays there are a lot of small and big nature reserves and parks on the territories of Lake Baikal.

The biggest nature reserve is the Baikalo-Lensky Nature Reserve, which is located in the Irkutsk, on the western shore of Lake Baikal. It covers an area of 6600 square kilometers. The wood –covered area is 5704 square kilometers.
There are 800 plant spices there, 48 mammal spices and 171 bird spices. One can meet various fish spices there, as well as rare spices of all kinds included in the Red Book of Russia.

One of the oldest natural reserves on this territory is the Barguzinsky Nature reserve, which is located in the northern part of the Republic of Buryatia, on the northeastern shore of Lake Baikal. This natural reserve was founded in 1916.

There are many interesting facts about Russia, and Baikal is one of its best kept secrets. It has numerous hot springs on the territory of nature reserve. Half of the territory is occupied by beautiful mountainous terrain, which includes large circuses with lakes and rocks. Go beyond ordinary and visit Baikal when you travel to Russia.

Icon painting can be considered a part of Russian culture and art. Beginning from old times icons played a very important role in the life of most Russian people. Icons were placed at home, in church and even taken on journey and especially at war. Most Russian people believed that icons can make wonders. In different parts of the country there were sacred places in monasteries were holy icons were preserved.

The most interesting Russia tours take you to great Russian monasteries for a chance to see these icons.
There are several collections of icons that can be seen in the Hermitage, but surely it is not the only place in Russia where you can admire icons. During your Russian vacation, you can visit Novgorod, which is the oldest city in Russia. There you will find a great number of Russian icons that date back to the 11 century. Icon painting is a very important part of the medieval Russian culture. You can also explore many monasteries when you sail on Russian cruises or on the Volga River.

Nowadays most of the Novgorodian icons are scattered all over the world due to some events in the Russian history, such as the 1917 Revolution in Russia. The oldest among Novgorodian icons is “The Holy Aposties Peter and Paul”, which decorates the altar screen in the Cathedral of St. Sophia.

Only in the 1980-es some efforts were made to change the relationship between the state and the Church. Nowadays many of the restrictions were removed from religious communities. Freedom of religion changed the life in the country.

Tip: look online to find cheap flights to Russia or Russian train tickets.
 
Many of the monasteries survived and became popular attractions for the tourists. Different monasteries are spread through the country, some of them are historical monuments and some have become sanctuaries.

When you visit Russia try to see some of the religious buildings that are really magnificent. Nearly in all Russian cities you can find beautiful churches and monasteries, which are worth seeing.

Local government didn’t support Russian film industry in previous years as it was considered as a form of art. Besides government of that time had complete control over the scriptwriting and other aspects of film-making. Nowadays Russian government understood the economic benefits of this industry and gives support both to actors and film directors.

 
Nowadays various film companies in Russia are interested in supporting and financing film industry in Russia. Still most of the Russian films are sponsored by French or German companies. The only film company that survived during the hard times is the famous Mosfilm Studio. Today many new companies merged wit Mosfilm and together they work on creating new films for the audience of all ages. You can visit Moscow studio when you go on one of Moscow tours.

Open Russian Film Festivals are held every year to attract more attention to Russian film industry. There are two main film festivals in Russia: the Karlovy Vary Film Festival and the Sochi International Film Festival. All famous Russian actors and film directors take part in the festival as well as actors and film directors from other parts of the world are usually invited. The Open Russian film festival in Sochi lasts only 10 days, but is always filled with interesting programs and activities. Moscow hosts many great movie festivals and you can visit any on your Moscow travel.

One of the best and famous theatres in Moscow is the Bolshoy theatre, which has a worldwide fame. The best actors in Russia are involved in the performances, which are always a success. It is not the only theatre in Moscow. There is a great number of different theatres in Russia, which offer various types of performances, such as comedy, opera, classic ballet or drama. While your visit to Russia you can enjoy the performances in The Bolshoy Theatre, in the Moscow Artistic Academic Theatre, the Mayakovski theatre and many others. You can learn more facts about Russia and its theaters online, but there is no better way to learn about it than on Russia vacations.

During your visit to Russia and especially to its greatest city of St. Petersburg, make sure that you go and enjoy one of the performances in the best theatres of the city. The best theatre in St. Petersburg is the Mariinsky Opera House, which has worldwide fame.
 
Another famous theatre is the Akimov State Academic Comedy Theatre, the troupe of which is extremely talented. The theatre was founded in 1926 and since then became one of the leading ones in the country. During World War II the theatre was evacuated to the Caucasus and later to Central Asia. Only in 1945 the troupe returned to St.Petersburg.

Taurida Palace is one of the palaces in St. Petersburg that is closely connected with the historical events in the county. The palace was built in 1783 by architect Ivan Starov for Pince Grigory Pometkin of Taurida, who was a prominent statesman and favourite of Catherine II. Later in 1906 the palace was used for State Duma sittings. This palace also figured in the events of 1917 during the Great October revolution in Russia. Lenin often held speeches in this building.

The Yusupov Palace is one of the most beautiful palaces in St. Petersburg, which is built in the style of classicism. The palace really delights the viewers by the harmony of proportions. From 1830 the palace belonged to Prince N. Yusupov, who was one of the most powerful and richest persons in Russia at that time.

Yusupov Palace has different kinds of interiors, which include the styles used in the 19-th and beginning of 20-th centuries. The rooms in this palace are decoated in various styles: baroque, oriental style, empire style, neoclassicism and many others. Rich decorations were used in the palace.

The cellar of the palace became a place of murder.  The most scandalous figures in Russian history Grigory Rasputin was killed there. Today the cellar has become an exhibition hall, representing the life and death of Grigory Rasputin. Many St Petersburg travel tours include a visit to this palace, but some St Petersburg tours don’t. Just ask your travel agent who is arranging our travel to Russia about it.

In 1987 the theater of the palace was opened to the public: it became the place for music concerts and literature evening arrangements