Holidays with children in Russia

Holidays in Russia are becoming more and more popular. Having satiated with foreign spa resorts, Russians with children increasingly prefer their native spaces. If you have a vacation ahead and the question of where to go is still acute, this article is for you. In it we will try to present the most detailed overview of the most interesting places in Russia where you can go with your child and not regret your decision a bit.

Benefits

The geographic features of our country and its climatic zones allow you to plan your vacation at any time of the year. If it's not the season for a beach holiday, you can go to the mountains on skis, if it's hot and stuffy in the middle lane, you can “cool down”, and at the same time have a good time at Lake Baikal. Another advantage is that holidays in Russia are budgetary. No need to spend money on visas, health insurance, travel agency fees. You can choose the direction and foresee all the nuances yourself, thereby saving a fairly round sum.

There are no boring cities in Russia. Each has something to see and where to visit. It all depends only on your family preferences, interests and expectations for the vacation. There are also many ways to get to your destination: by car, by train, by plane or by bus. There are alternatives.

If the family has a small child, then a vacation in his native country is preferable for him, since the crumbs will not have too much acclimatization from the abrupt change of time and climatic zones. Rest in this way will bring pleasure to both adults and kids.

Popular sightseeing tours in Russia

In 2017, at the peak of popularity, according to experts in the field of domestic tourism, several directions.

Adygea

This mountainous region attracts lovers of outdoor activities, but this option is hardly suitable for a family with a baby.

With a baby, here you can only breathe in the incredibly clean mountain air, and with a teenager you can go hiking in the mountains, climb or raft down a mountain river, ride jeeps, or arrange a horse ride in the mountains.

An unforgettable experience will be presented by the Adyghe ancient caves, into which you can go down with an instructor or on your own, if you have such an experience.

The whole family can go on a bike tour around Adygea. And if deep down there is a craving for the mysterious, then you should go on a tour of the dolmens of the Caucasus. If you want to go there by car, you can do it completely calm, because the roads in Adygea are smooth and good, and the traffic police officers are quite adequate (verified by personal experience!).

Altai

If you want to contemplate the blue lakes and walk barefoot through the alpine meadows, then this is the most suitable place for this. Altai nature is the main asset of the region. In addition to contemplating the beauty, in Altai you can visit ancient caves, where scientists found traces of ancient people, ride a boat along the waters of Lake Teletskoye, admire the waterfalls and take a selfie at an altitude of 2000 m.

The national cuisine of Gorny Altai deserves special attention, as well as a unique art form - throat singing. The route can be made independently from Barnaul to Cape Kyrsay.

If you go by car, then the length of the entire route is about 170 kilometers. The condition of the roads, however, leaves much to be desired. The organized tour will take several days.

Sakhalin - Iturup

The most remote corner of Russia is ideal for a family of real romantics. On the islands in the Pacific Ocean you can admire volcanoes, hot springs, and waterfalls.

A mountain resort on Sakhalin is suitable for a vacation with a baby. With older children, it will be interesting to fly by plane from Sakhalin to the Kuril island of Iturup.

It is better to start your journey from Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, visit Cape Eustathia, Lake Busse, where shrimps are caught. On Iturup you can admire the wall of waterfalls, visit the Vannochki health resort with hot mineral springs with the whole family, take healthy procedures. Near Lake Sopochnoye you can put up tents, go fishing and have dinner by the fire - there is a special area for this, where this type of recreation is allowed.

On the island, you can take part in a night crab party, an exciting and exciting event, because catching crabs in the dark at speed is not easy, you will not forget this for a long time. The route is not possible by car, as air travel is required.

Crimea

If the beach season in Crimea is limited to a few months, then sightseeing tours around the peninsula are popular all year round. It is a mistake to think that Crimea is only the sea and the sun. If you go by car or train in the fall or spring, you can go on a big bike trip around the Crimea. If you like hiking, the whole family can go along the Chernorechensky canyon. Sevastopol and Simferopol are attractive for tourists at any time of the year. Water parks, including indoor ones, are available even in winter.

North Caucasus

This season, sightseeing tours to this region are in incredible demand.... With a teenager, you can take a jeep trip from Elbrus across Chechnya. In Grozny, it makes sense to see the world's largest mosque "Heart of Chechnya" and taste the national cuisine. In Ingushetia there is the Dzheyrakh gorge, where 92 historical monuments are located at once. In addition, there are medieval castles and waterfalls. Ethnic villages with Ossetian pies, national dances and music are waiting for you in North Ossetia.

If you go by car, you should be prepared for the fact that the roads are quite difficult to pass in places, if bad weather happens, there may be mudflows, landslides, you will have to look for a detour.

Traffic police officers are mostly adequate, but there are also "rare specimens" from which you simply cannot get away "for free" (this is also a personal experience).

Traveling with small children in the mountains of the North Caucasus can be quite tiring, and therefore it is best to choose a vacation with kids in the resort cities of the region - Stavropol, Mineralnye Vody, Pyatigorsk.

Interesting cities for travel, including by car: Volgograd, Krasnodar, Astrakhan, Elista, Ryazan, Kostroma, Veliky Novgorod, Vladimir, Kazan, Veliky Ustyug, Vladivostok, Vladikavkaz, Suzdal, Vologda, Yaroslavl.

Where to rest?

Seas

If you want the sea and the sun, then it is best to plan your vacation for the period from late May to mid September. The most famous and popular destinations are the Black Sea coast, the Azov Sea, the Baltic Sea, the Caspian Sea.

The Black Sea coast (Sochi, Adler, Anapa, Lazarevskoye, Loo, Gelendzhik, Tuapse, etc.) is a subtropical climate and a very developed infrastructure. Almost every city has water parks and dolphinariums, and in Sochi and Anapa there are several of them at once. Amusement parks, hotels and hotels for every taste and budget. The downside is that at the height of the season (June-July) the sea "blooms", an unpleasant smell appears, and the beaches are "overloaded" with tourists.

Almost all the beaches of the Black Sea coast are pebbly and rocky. Sandy, which children like so much, can be found only in Anapa.

Rest on the Black Sea can not be called budget in any way, it is perhaps the most expensive destination in Russia. But it is universal - you can go to Sochi even in winter, because here at this time the ski season will be in full swing.

By tradition, the Sea of Azov opens the swimming season first; here (in Yeisk and the village of Golubitskaya) you can arrange swims in May. However, this season also ends earlier, the water in the sea cools down in early September. This is a more budget option for a beach holiday, there are no five-star hotels, but there are water parks, attractions and an oceanarium.

Accommodation is represented by the private sector and inexpensive guest houses. You can get there from Krasnodar or Rostov-on-Don.

The Sea of Azov is usually chosen by families with very young children who want to spend their vacation in seclusion in a quiet place. It will be boring with a teenager on the Sea of Azov, because there will be no dizzying adventures and extreme sports here.

The Baltic Sea (Kaliningrad region) is a mild and gentle climate, optimal for babies who do not tolerate the scorching southern sun of Sochi. Rest on the Curonian Spit is perfect for those who love the sea, but not the heat. The best resorts are Sea, Rybachy, Lesnoy. In Svetlogorsk and Kaliningrad, you can plan an excellent entertainment program for a teenager, which will include medieval reconstructed battles, a visit to the weapons museum, and fishing on the high seas.

The Caspian Sea is primarily the Caspian. For the sake of fairness, it should be noted that this trend began to enjoy popularity quite recently., but hotels and sanatoriums in the region quickly reacted to the growing demand and now offer a service that may well be comparable to European.

The advantage of the Caspian Sea is that prices for accommodation, meals, taxis and excursions are 10-15 times lower than on the Black Sea coast. The infrastructure, however, is somewhat poorer - there is a sports and entertainment center, a bowling alley, a spa, a pool for children. There is no abundance of water parks and dolphinariums. But there is excellent local cuisine, colorful and very tasty.

Lakes

Among the lakes, of which there are many in Russia, I would like to note first of all Baikal. It is the cleanest and deepest lake in the world. The best time to travel here is June-August and January-February. In winter, it makes sense to go if your family is avid lovers of sledding and ice skating and connoisseurs of ice fishing. In the summer, Baikal will give you the opportunity to take water and cycling trips, visit unique natural and historical places.

You can live in a tent "savages", or you can settle in one of the recreation centers. The downside is that the water in Baikal, even in hot summers, remains quite cold, so if there is no preliminary quenching, it is better not to enter it. With a child, it is wiser to look for small bays, where the water warms up better. The optimal time for swimming in them is mid-July - mid-August.

For a family with small children, Baikal is not the best solution, since there is almost no infrastructure here. The plus is that it is easy to get to Lake Baikal even by car, the roads are bearable, the traffic police officers do not "commit atrocities."

If you want to find harmony and admire incredible landscapes, then you can go to Lake Ladoga. There is no heat here, and the water warms up enough during the season for comfortable swimming. Mom, however, will have to wonder how to keep the child busy, but dad will definitely be interested - there is wonderful fishing here. As an excursion, you can go to the Valaam archipelago.

Lake Baskunchak in the Astrakhan region is called the Russian Dead Sea, because it is salty and the density of this mineral is not inferior to this sea... Bathing in such water is especially indicated for children with disorders of the musculoskeletal system, diseases of the digestive tract and nervous disorders.

It will not work to stop as “savages” with a tent on the shore of the lake, since it is a special nature conservation area. But nearby there is the city of Akhtubinsk, where you can easily and simply rent a hotel room or a private apartment.

Excursions

From any city in Russia, you can go on an excursion tour to Moscow or St. Petersburg. The capital and Northern capital are good in terms of entertainment, trekking to museums, exhibitions, parks and numerous historical sites. Moreover, you can choose a tour for a child of any age, with the exception of babies. In Moscow, they traditionally visit Red Square, Aleksandrovsky Garden, Arbat, and Poklonnaya Gora. And after a rich educational program, you can visit the water parks ("Kva-kva-park", "Caribia", "Yuna-life" and "Fantasy"). Children will love the Obraztsov Puppet Theater, the Moscow Circus on Tsvetnoy Boulevard, the Gorky Park and the Moscow Zoo.

Tour operators offer many sightseeing tours to St. Petersburg. They are designed mainly for 2-3 days. But you can agree on a combined tour that will last longer and will include accommodation, meals and several exciting city tours on the Neva. If you want to save money, you can send to the Northern capital on your own, by train, bus or car, stay at a schematic apartment or in an inexpensive hostel. There will be no problems with finding a place to eat, there are a huge number of restaurants, cafes and fast food restaurants in St. Petersburg for every taste and wallet thickness.

You can see a lot in St. Petersburg, but it is a must - the Mariinsky Palace, the Hermitage, the Kunstkamera, the Summer Palace of Peter, the Semimisye sliding bridge ensemble, the recently restored cruiser Aurora, Kazan Cathedral and St. Isaac's Cathedral and Palace Square.

Excursion tours around Russia are created and worked out by specialists in the field of tourism, for children - most often they are intended for schoolchildren.

Tips

Choosing a region of Russia for recreation, consider the difference in climate between your hometown and your chosen destination. The smaller it is, the easier the child will survive the journey and acclimatization.
Once you have a direction, make an accurate route. "North Caucasus" is only a conditional direction, but "Pyatigorsk - Mineralnye Vody - Stavropol - Grozny" is already a route. At each intermediate point, mark the sights you want to visit and the places of rest where you can stop and spend the night or have lunch.
Calculating travel times, if possible add + 3 days to the resulting figure. This is done because in practice there are always more interesting places in the chosen city or region than the guidebook writes about. And rest with a child is unpredictable in itself, the child may get tired and require an unplanned stop.
Read all reviews, which you can find on the Internet about the place where you are going. Consider all the comments and wishes of people who have already made such a trip, their experience is priceless.
If you plan to stay at hotels or recreation centers, it is wiser to book seats in advance. This will save you money and guarantee that you won't be left without a roof over your head.
Keep your money on a bank card, now they are accepted for payment almost everywhere. But be sure to have a small supply of cash in case the ATM is broken or the seller at the gas station or in the store does not have an Internet connection with the bank.

If you prefer traveling by car in Russia as a family, then this is a completely different story. You will need not only to draw up a route, calculate expenses and plan a vacation, but also technically equip your car according to all the rules, not forgetting a travel kit and entertainment for your child, which will help him have an interesting trip.