Thread: Trip to Russia in a few weeks!

Why is it called "Golden Ring"? Which of the cities in the Golden Ring do Russians think are the nicest?
Are they absolutely swarmed by tourists and souvenir stalls, or are they real cities were many people work and live normal lives?

Golden Ring is several old towns around Moscow. Most of them are really sweet and have good museums to visit. And yes, there are many tourists in nice places but not that many as in Italy for instance. Just avoid weekends and holidays. I prefer the following towns of Golden Ring - Sergiev Posad, Yaroslavl, Suzdal, Vladimir. But you might like other towns then me.