Hi All,

I am traveling with 10 very fit seniors to Russia end of August. We are thinking to spend 6 nights in Moscow and 7 in St. Petersburg. Do you recommend just taking day trips out of both cities or actually sleeping elsewhere for a night? My searches have yielded the following day trips:

Moscow: Vladimir and Sudzal, Sergiev Posad
Valaam Monastery.

St. Petersburg: Petergof and Pushkin (Tsarskoe tselo) and the Amber Room of Catherine's Palace.

Considering the stuff we will have seen in both cities, would you help me choose one or two of the above day trips?

Thank you!!

Doing the Golden Ring cities out of Moscow you should consider an overnight, it's not necessary for the St. Petersburg sights. You might also consider stopping in Novgorod on the way from Moscow to St. Petersburg, it will give you a break from the big cities.

If you are taking the train from Moscow to St Petersburg, a worthwhile stop is at Novgorod.

Since you have alot of time in Moscow, be sure to see some of the interesting suburbs and country estates that might take a bit of time & effort to get to, eg Kuskovo.

http://kuskovo.ru/en/

If you visit ONLY Sergiev Posad from Moscow, I think you could do just a day trip if that is your preference. And BTW, I thought Sergiev Posad magnificent.

Thanks everyone. Regarding stopping in Novgorod, do you mean stay overnight there or just make a stop en route for the day? Are there luggage storage at the train station? We will have pretty big suitcases.

Whether you want to stay overnight probably depends on whether you want to sleep on the train.

I have no idea about luggage lockers - you might check seat61.com to see if he says anything about it.

Why do you have big suitcases? They will be a real pain on the trains.

YES, why do you have big suitcases!! Always a poor choice.
And Sergei Posad is THE day trip--not to be missed.
How are you going to St. Petersburg--and are you "on your own" or on a tour or arranged tour?

We will be on our own. Was planning to take the express train. But we do not mind sleeping on the train. Is this how it would work? we leave Moscow in the morning, stop in Novrorod, see the sights, get on train again at night, sleep on train, then arrive in St. Petersburg in the morning?

So small suitcases, but still we would need somewhere to check them in Novgorod right?

You'd take the night train from Moscow and the day train on to St. Petersburg, although you would get in rather late. See https://trains.realrussia.co.uk/journey-planner/ - note that you want Veliky Novgorod. I'd be inclined to spend the night and take the early train out the next morning. I did it in the other direction and spent the night.

For photos of Novgorod see: http://kwilhelm.smugmug.com/Travel/R...vgorod-Russia/

Thanks for the good advice!

Why do you need 6 days in Moscow? In my opinion you will need 2 days for the city and may be one for an excursion. The best and quickest way to see museums is to hire a local guide, you will not stay in lines and save a lot of time. Consider going to Moscow circus Nikulina; it is a lot of fun and you do not need to speak Russian.
In Peter; definitely hire a guide with a car for the Pushkin (Amber room) and Pavlovsk, all could be done in one day. Also need a guide for Hermitage and "gold room". to get to Petergoff, use a hydrofoil, but if you want to see the palace use a guide. If you need more info, let me know. There is nothing better than Peter; you will still catch the remnants of white nights (the sun does not go down till 9 PM). Enjoy!

2 days is nowhere near enough for Moscow. If the circus still uses animals I would not go anywhere near it. Of course if animal welfare is not a concern, by all means go.