179 Cool and Unusual Things to Do in Russia - Atlas Obscura

Unusual Attractions in Russia

Dargavs, Russia

Dargavs Village: City of the Dead

This ancient village and its adjoining cemetery have a beautiful history of death and remembrance.

Bunker-42

Dr. Strangelove-esque tours reveal the inside a bunker once reserved for Stalin himself.

Izmailovo Kremlin

Moscow's other, lesser known kremlin is a fairytale-like cultural complex modeled after Old Russia.

Lenin's Mausoleum

This building holds the embalmed remains of the leader of the Bolshevik Revolution.

Moscow Metro Stations

The gorgeous entrances into the city's underbelly look more like grand halls than subway stops.

Yekaterinburg, Russia

Psychedelic Salt Mines

It's hard to believe the dizzying patterns covering this abandoned mine are completely natural.

Children are the Victims of Adult Vices

Thirteen sculptures in central Moscow graphically depicting vices of the modern world.

Museum of Soviet Arcade Games

Immortal combat in a Moscow museum.

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Cool Places to Eat & Drink in Russia

Saint Petersburg, Russia

Russian Vodka Museum

The past, present, and future of Russia's signature alcohol is remembered in the world's only museum dedicated to the starchy spirit.

Saint Petersburg, Russia

Literary Café

Once frequented by heavyweights of the Russian arts scene, this café is stuck in the 1800s.

Tula Pryanik Museum

A tea party concludes each visit to this Russian spice cookie sanctum.

Semenkovo, Russia

Vologda Butter Museum

Slather on the history at an exhibition dedicated to this Russian luxury.

Atlas Obscura Trips

Red Square to Star City: Space & Soviet History in Moscow

Explore nuclear bunkers, visit a city devoted to training cosmonauts, and stroll through Red Square, learning about Moscow's political history from the revolution to the end of the Cold War.

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'Compassion'	6 November 17, 2019	1633	November 17, 2019
'The Motherland Calls'	3 November 17, 2019	1506	November 17, 2019
Stalin's Bunker	1 July 16, 2019	1194	July 16, 2019
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Tour operator	0 October 30, 2019	664	October 30, 2019

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Stories About Russia

Snowflakes falling against a birch forest look magical in Russian photographer Alexey Korolyov's <em>Small Comets</em>.

How to Find ‘Comets’ and Other Wonders Just Around the Corner

A nature photographer uses clever camera work to turn his own neighborhood into a visual wonderland.

by Gemma Tarlach

November 19, 2021

Russian Empress Elizabeth used cross-dressing to cement her power. She's shown here in a traditionally male guard uniform.

The Weekly Cross-Dressing Balls of 18th-Century Russian Royalty

How empresses used "metamorphosis" to show their male courtiers who’s the boss.

October 4, 2021

Pastila with tea is a Russian teatime staple.

The Historic Russian Recipe That Turns Apples Into Marshmallows

Disarmingly simple, pastila is lighter than air.

In Russia's resource-rich Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), dredging for gold near the Aldan River leaves behind a long curve of maze-like squiggles.

There's Gold In These Here Strange Squiggles

Mining operations at one of Russia's largest gold deposits includes a method that leaves twisty tracks on the landscape.

by Gemma Tarlach

Berenice's history as a port may partially explain why so many cats were buried there.

Is This Egyptian Site the World’s Oldest Pet Cemetery?

Perhaps, but humans all over the world, from Siberia to Illinois, have a long history of burying animals with respect.

by Gemma Tarlach

Vladimir Demikhov demonstrates, for an audience of experts, the implantation of an artificial heart–like device in a dog at the 18th International Congress of Surgery in Munich, on September 18, 1959.

How the United States and Soviet Union Embarked on a Macabre Surgical Arms Race

Cold War animal experimentation and the roots of transplantation medicine.

by Brandy Schillace

The vodyanoy was the traditional explanation for watery misfortune.

The Proud, Demanding Vodyanoy Rules Russia's Rivers and Lakes

The legend has endured political disruption, revolution, and generational shifts.

by Kaleb Horton

October 28, 2020

One of Anna Kharzeeva's adaptations of the "Soviet pizza" recipe.

Eat Like You're in the USSR With 'The Soviet Diet Cookbook'

By making pizza approved by the Communist Party.

by Dalia Wolfson

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