7 Days in Russia - what should I see and do
 

I am planning a surprise trip for my husband who is turning 40. We plan to go for his birthday late Feb/early Mar 2012.

What should we do with 7 days in Russia? and Is this long enough? Any itinerary suggestions would be greatly appreciated. We like history and nature and are very active. We usually like to get an early start, go hard all day and tuck in for the night.

We would like to spend another 7 days somewhere nearby or in Europe so any suggestions again would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for you help.

For a first time trip, an easy itinerary would be 3 nights Moscow, 1 night on the train between Moscow and St Petersburg and 3 nights St Petersburg or something similar (eg take a day train and have 4 nights St Pete or Moscow). Not much nature, even on the train journey the landscape is not that beautiful, however there is alot of history obviously.

FYI: You can look at Fodor's favs and choose enough to fill the short amount of time in each city. But what I wanted to mention is that when you look at the opening times, most are not until 10-1030 with very few at 8-9am and going at the end of March and begining of April you run into the "closed last Monday", "closed first Tuesday", so you need to take that into acct and may need to plan you days rather than winging it. We were there in Sept and weather will also play a part. Enjoy

You need to understand how cold that time of year will be in russia. You say you like nature - how about if it's 15 degrees and snowing. The places to see are Moscow and St Pet - but both have very severe winters. And the days are not only cold they are quite short - esp in St Pet.

Have a look at the average weather for when you propose to go. (We were in St pet in early/mid Sept. The first couple of days were quite cool, then fall roared in - highs in the 40s and lots of wind - the locals had on their winter coats and boots. And apparently this is normal. I was wearing everything I had with me - and I LIKE cold weather.)

Alot of Russia has continental climate so hot summers and cold winters, not much of spring or fall. Russia in the snow can be wonderful and 15F is not very cold, daily life continues as normal. Buildings are usually overheated, metros are near to indoor sites eg art galleries or museums if it becomes too windy to be outside. The days are shorter but not sure why this would be an issue.

Can you give him the plane tickets on his birthday and push the trip to May?

St. Petersburg is further north than Juneau, Alaska. Don't underestimate the cold, snow, wind, etc. that you may face. It is also renowned for its lack of sunshine. The average temps in February and March are sub-freezing. May is relatively dry and downright balmy (average temps around 50F/18C).

Moscow's no picnic either - it is further north than Edmonton (although the latter as cold or colder), which is the northernmost city with more than 500,000 people (metro) in the Western Hemisphere. And the latitudinal locations of Moscow and St. Petersburg mean that your days will be SHORT.

I honestly doubt that 7 nights would do for more than a quick taste of the two cities and if you want to see more of the country, you'll need far more time. That said, you should consider devoting some additional time to St. Petersburg because it was the imperial capital, has the Hermitage, was the site of the main events in the (in essence) coup in October 1917 that overthrew the czars, used to be known as Leningrad (the city besieged by the Nazis for 870+ days in WWII), and if it's your point of entry into Russia you will have to overcome jet lag there too.

Don't underestimate the size of the cities, either. Moscow is larger than London or New York or Tokyo. St. Petersburg is larger than every city in the US except New York.

I don;t want to discourage you - visiting Russia is wonderful. but you need to go when the weather is decent if you want to be outside for significant amounts of time (visiting the gardens/grounds of some of the palaces) and the days are longer. Also - 7 days is short to see much of both cities. Have been to St Pet twice for a total of 10 days and still have more to see - never mind adding Moscow and the golden ring,