Regions and Travel Destinations in Russia


The nature of Russia is abundant in beautiful scenery — pristine waters, green forests, blue skies. (Photo by Vadim Andrianov, licenced under CC-SA 3.0)

This travel guide includes information for tourists about Russian regions, cities and territories. In addition to basic geographical information, you will also find stories about culture, life, history, sightseengs and things to do in Russian cities. Begin by exploring the major districts of Russia, then browse down to the entities and cities within each district. This guide is being constantly improved with new information about Russian travel destinations.

The Big Picture

Today's Russia consists of seven federal districts. Each district includes several regions, such as oblast, republic, krai, okrug. Click on the name of each federal district below to learn more about its regions, cities, towns
and urban-type settlements.

  1. Central Russia (Central District)
  2. Russian South (Southern District)
  3. North West Russia (Northwestern District)
  4. Russian Far East (Far Eastern District)
  5. Siberia (Siberian District)
  6. Urals (Urals District)
  7. Volga (Volga District)

 

Oblasts, Republics, Krais

When exploring Russia, it's a good idea to learn how the whole country is organized into Federal Subjects (a.k.a. constituent units of Russia). There are 83 subjects in total, including 21 republics, 46 oblasts, 9 krais, 1 autonomous oblast, 4 autonomous okrugs and 2 federal cities. Each of these federal subjects provides two political delegates and has equal political representation in the Federation Council.

The Biggest Russian Cities

Besides the obvious Moscow, which is the capital of Russia with over 10 million population, there are several very large cities with population over 1 million and myriads of big cities with population over 500,000 people. Here's a quick snapshot of the most inhabited Russian cities according to 2002 census.

Rank City in English Russian name Population
1. Moscow Москва [mɐˈskva] 10,382,754
2. Saint Petersburg Санкт-Петербург 4,661,219
3. Novosibirsk Новосибирск 1,425,508
4. Nizhny Novgorod Нижний Новгород 1,311,252
5. Yekaterinburg Екатеринбург 1,293,537
6. Samara Самара 1,157,880
7. Omsk Омск 1,134,016
8. Kazan Казань 1,105,289
9. Chelyabinsk Челябинск 1,077,174
10. Rostov-on-Don (Rostov-na-Donu) Ростов-на-Дону 1,068,267
11. Ufa Уфа 1,042,437
12. Volgograd Волгоград 1,011,417
13. Perm Пермь 1,001,653
14. Krasnoyarsk Красноярск 909,341
15. Saratov Саратов 873,055
16. Voronezh Воронеж 848,752
17. Tolyatti Тольятти 702,879
18. Krasnodar Краснодар 646,175
19. Ulyanovsk Ульяновск 635,947
20. Izhevsk Ижевск 632,140
21. Yaroslavl Ярославль 613,088
22. Barnaul Барнаул 600,749
23. Vladivostok Владивосток 594,701
24. Irkutsk Иркутск 593,604
25. Khabarovsk Хабаровск 583,072
26. Novokuznetsk Новокузнецк 549,870
27. Orenburg Оренбург 549,361
28. Ryazan Рязань 521,560
29. Penza Пенза 518,025
30. Tyumen Тюмень 510,719
31. Naberezhnye Chelny Набережные Челны 509,870
32. Lipetsk Липецк 506,114
33. Astrakhan Астрахань 504,501

The total population of Russia is 145,166,731.



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