Russia

St Basil’s, with its painted onion domes, closes one end of the square. The Kremlin still houses government, so visitor access is confined to set areas and screened. The square closes for event preparation on some days — check before you go.

Large enough that the joke about needing days to walk past everything is barely a joke. The building is itself the exhibit, so you look at rooms as much as at paintings. Booking online in season saves a serious queue.

Chandeliers, mosaics and sculpture turn a ride into sightseeing. Komsomolskaya and Mayakovskaya are the showpieces, and one transit card covers the tour. Avoid rush hour.

The longest railway line in the world, close to a week end to end. Rather than riding it straight through, most people break the journey at cities such as Irkutsk. The class of sleeper changes the experience completely.

The deepest and oldest lake in the world, holding a large share of the planet’s unfrozen fresh water. In summer you take boats out to the islands; in winter it freezes solid and vehicles drive on it. Olkhon Island is five or six hours by road from Irkutsk.

Terraced fountains running down to the sea, driven by the fall of the land rather than pumps. They only operate in the warm months, so a winter visit means no fountains. In summer a hydrofoil runs there from the city centre.

Timber churches on a lake island, one carrying twenty-two domes, built with almost no nails. You reach it by boat from Petrozavodsk, and access is limited once the lake ices over. Summer is effectively the only season.

Planned from nothing on marshland, so canals cut through it and building heights are held level. On summer nights the river bridges lift at fixed times, so get across before they do. The whole centre is listed — walking is the visit.

A loop of old towns north-east of Moscow with white stone cathedrals and monasteries. Suzdal stays low-rise and quiet, and is worth a night. Three or four hours from Moscow by train or bus.

Active volcanoes, hot springs, bears and salmon, with almost no roads — you move by helicopter or specialised vehicle. It is expensive and the weather dictates the schedule, so allow slack. A couple of summer months is the season.

A mosque and an Orthodox cathedral inside the same walls, which tells the region’s history at a glance. Kazan’s Tatar language and food differ from central Russia, so the city itself is the attraction. Reached from Moscow by fast train.

Spared the Mongol invasion, so medieval churches and a citadel survive and early Russian architecture is legible. About three hours from St Petersburg by train, so a day trip or one night. The churches are scattered along the river.

The Kremlin, Red Square and the museums cluster in the centre, and the metro runs deep and quickly. The city is wide, so take it district by district, and winter days are short. Allow three days.

Laid out on European lines, which gives it an entirely different feel from Moscow. The Hermitage alone takes a day, and the outlying palaces push it to four. Four hours from Moscow by fast train.

A city where Islam and Orthodoxy sit side by side, with its own food and language. It is well kept, walkable, and not overwhelming in scale. Reached from Moscow by fast train or air.

A city of surviving timber houses, and the way in to Lake Baikal. Summer means boats and hiking, winter means travelling on the ice — two completely different trips. Five or six hours from Moscow by air.

Around two hours by air from Seoul, which makes it the usual choice for a short trip. A port city of hills, water and bridges, and the eastern end of the Trans-Siberian. The winter wind is bitter.

A near-subtropical coastline with ski slopes an hour inland. Olympic infrastructure left it well connected. Summer is for swimming and winter for skiing.

The sky never fully darkens and the streets stay busy until dawn. Festivals cluster here, the city is at its liveliest, and rooms are at their most expensive. Without blackout curtains, sleeping can be a problem.

The only comfortable travelling season across most of the country. Moscow gets genuinely hot days, and Siberia and the Far East are really only open now. Some regions have serious mosquitoes.

Fewer people and lower prices, but rain and mud. Autumn colour is brief and the city parks are good. Waterproof shoes genuinely help.

Below minus twenty is routine and the days are short. In exchange, the snow-covered cities and a frozen Baikal exist only now, and indoor heating is thorough. Bring something that covers your face and shoes that grip.

A tourist visa must normally be arranged beforehand, and the scope and process of the electronic visa scheme has changed over time. Invitation letters or accommodation confirmations may be required, which takes time. Start well ahead and work from official guidance.

International card networks are constrained, so plan on the assumption that a card issued abroad and local ATM withdrawals will not work. Bring the cash you need and split where you keep it. Check the current situation before departure.

Restrictions on international routes and airspace have changed both routings and journey times. Check too whether your travel insurance excludes anything here. Read your government’s travel advisory before booking.

Stays beyond a set period require registering your address, which hotels normally handle for you. In a private rental or a friend’s home you may have to do it yourself, so ask in advance. Keep the proof until you leave.

Police, ambulance and fire answer on 112. English is often not spoken, so keep your address written in Russian. Save your embassy’s consular number as well.

Many station names and signs appear only in Cyrillic. Learning a handful of letters is enough to read station names and makes moving around far easier. Download the camera mode of a translation app beforehand.