Yekaterinburg can undoubtedly be labeled as the capital of the Urals, a place where Europe meets Asia and the third largest Russian tourist centre. Reputation of a scientific – industrial city and the high trade turnover make Yekaterinburg a hospitable place for business and financial affairs. Although the population of the Urals` capital doesn’t exceed 1.5 million people, the locals proudly call their native city the third capital of Russia.

It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that Yekaterinburg is a very comfortable and perspective city to live in: here there are all opportunities to get a higher education, find an appropriate job and choose where to spend leisure time. A great number of educational institutions and organizations and one of the lowest unemployment rates in Russia are amongst the positive characteristics of the city. There are 45 functioning scientific – research institutes, 30 higher education establishments, 40 centres of professional education and 150 municipal educational establishments. No wonder that the city attracts young people chasing for education, including foreign guests from Australia, the USA and some European and Asian countries: foreign students and learners from other Russian cities form one third of all students studying in Yekaterinburg. The most famous alumnus of one of Yekaterinburg`s institutes is Boris Yeltsin, former president of Russia.

However, education is not the only aspect which makes the city highly popular and visited. 10 – 15 thousand foreign tourists come to Yekaterinburg annually. If we take into account Russian tourists visiting the city too, the whole number of all comers will look really impressive. History and culture are what first of all attracts flows of guests to the city. Yekaterinburg`s fate is closely intertwined with death of the royal family of Romanovs – it’s the place where they were shot. The spot of the bloody tragedy was marked with an orthodox temple building. Interestingly, that despite its historical heritage, Yekaterinburg is not teeming with urban legends and myths.

Cultural life of the city pulses in many places: 10 museums with regularly updated expositions, 22 theatres, 9 cinemas and 25 night clubs along with entertainment centres let one choose where to go and what to see. Only here one will find such banality excelling objects as computer keyboard and invisible man monuments. Nevertheless, cultural wealth of Yekaterinburg is represented by not only multiple museums, monuments and places of entertainment. The name of this Uralian city is widely associated with Russian rock music: “Nautilus Pompilius”, “Agata Kristy”, “Chaif” and “Chicherina” bands were bestowed to rock lovers by Yekaterinburg.

One more remarkable feature of the city is tourism sphere, which has been progressively developing here in recent years. Much efforts and resources have been contributed to make the city more and more tourist – friendly. Two airports, served by more than 50 Russian and foreign airlines, modern hotels, growing public catering – everything is at visitors` disposal. Tourist agencies actively accomplish routes and tours` conditions. Present projects let the city gradually gain the reputation of a tourist centre on a par with Moscow and St. Petersburg. Development of tourism is to a great extent conditioned by the city’s involvement in international relations. At the present moment Yekaterinburg is one of the Russian cities intensively cooperating with foreign partners in various fields of life.