In 2020, we travel slower and more meaningfully, looking forward not only to a fresh tan, but also a transformative experience from the trip. Seeing everything in two days and returning tired, with crumpled impressions of the trip is no longer our option.

We are ready to travel at a leisurely pace, stopping in each city for a few days to get a better feel for its atmosphere, drink coffee on the terrace, look into the local museum and stroll along the quiet streets. We want to go to areas that tourist groups can't reach, to huddle, bargain and buy the most delicious watermelon on the market, and berries from locals. We are interested in getting to know the culture and traditions, trying food, taking part in master classes and volunteer projects.



Housing has also ceased to be just a place to sleep for us. We meticulously choose boutique hotels and quirky hostels on booking sites and are ready to search for interesting accommodation options on Airbnb to get a glimpse of the new city through the eyes of its permanent residents.

Non-standard angle

The stereotype that one can travel to Russia only in summer is gradually disappearing, that it is worth going to the south just for the sake of the beach, and in St. Petersburg it is imperative to be in time for the white nights. Living in a crowded hotel and standing in long queues at the museum no longer seems to us an obligatory part of the trip.



Instead of going to Sochi, Petersburg or Suzdal again, we are ready to get out and explore less popular places. Here you can still take pictures of sights without crowds of tourists and be the only visitor to the museum.

Practically in every region of Russia there are small towns with miraculously preserved wooden buildings, ancient monasteries and museums in former palaces, with noble estates and parks with century-old trees, which, however, are remembered only by sophisticated local historians. Torzhok and Staraya Russa, Yelets and Tambov, Syzran and Kungur, Elabuga and Tobolsk are not the cities that first come to your mind when planning your travels, but they, like many other "minor" cities, have a huge, not completely unlocked tourism potential. Here you can still feel like a pioneer and feel the untouched atmosphere of a city that does not try to “sell” itself to tourists.



Besides, a trip to the regions is always a kind of return to childhood. There are ice cream stalls, shell garages, grocery stores and canteens that miraculously retain the atmosphere of the nineties in which many of us grew up. And if today they are not yet perceived as monuments of the era, then, who knows, in the next decade such trips may become a new trend, and we will be ready to go on an independent journey for a portion of nostalgia.