Russia: The Unexplored Land Of Virgin Beauty

St. Basil's Cathedral in Moscow's Red Square

Russia is the largest country in the world; its total area is 17,075,400 square kilometres (6,592,800 sq mi). There are 23 UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Russia, 40 UNESCO biosphere reserves, 40 national parks and 101 nature reserves. Russia shares land borders with Norway, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Belarus, and Ukraine to the west, Georgia and Azerbaijan to the southwest, and Kazakhstan, China, Mongolia, North Korea to the east and much of the south.

Russia has thousands of rivers and inland bodies of water providing it with one of the world's largest surface water resources. Siberia is one of the world's most untouched places. Siberia is huge two third of Russian territory. Siberia is approximately two times bigger than United States of America. The place offers challenge to explore the unexplored, leave civilization behind to discover lands beyond the horizons.

Lake Baikal

The most famous natural destination in Russia is Lake Baikal, world's largest, the Blue Eye of Siberia. Lake Baikal is the world's deepest, purest, oldest and most capacious fresh water lake. Baikal alone holds over one fifth of the world's fresh surface water. This unique and remote lake has crystal-clean waters and is surrounded by taiga-covered mountains. Russia possesses a number of great mountain ranges, some of which are hardly known in the west. The Caucasus, Altai, Sayan, and Stanovoy mountains all offer fantastic mountain climbing. In the east, on Kamchatka, you will find chains of volcanoes and geysers. Many adventure travellers prefer to visit the coldest city in the world, Yakutsk.

Yakutsk

A single entry, 30 day tourist visa for citizens of EU-Schengen countries costs €35 and takes three working days for standard processing (€70 gets express service for next day collection). For UK citizens the price is £50 and processing takes 5 working days not 3 (express service is next day and costs £100). For citizens of the USA the price is $140, with standard processing being at least 4 working days (express service is $250 and stated to be 3 working days).Although it’s better to check with local Russian embassy for latest visa regulations and costs.

A more sensible approach is to view Russia as a collection of countries, each one deserving travelling around. Major tourist routes in Russia include a travel around the Golden Ring of ancient cities, cruises on the big rivers like Volga. The most renown railway in Russia is Trans-Siberian (Transsib), spanning a record 7 time zones and serving the longest single continuous services in the world, Moscow-Vladivostok (9,259 km,5753 mi), Moscow–Pyongyang (10,267 km, 6,380 mi) and Kiev–Vladivostok (11,085 km, 6,888 mi).

Trans-Siberian Railway

While the distances are great between them, Russia's natural wonders are exciting and worth seeking out for nature lovers. Russia has so much to offer to people who have never experienced the ancient cultures and the exciting traditions of the land. Right from the isolated rural areas in Siberia to the imperial elegance of St. Petersburg, there is so much to savour from this massive and ancient land. Only for the last few years have these untouched wonders from the largest country in the world, been open to visitors from foreign nations.

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