page_title: Tourism in Russia
section_title: Sea and river transport
hierarchical_section_title: Tourism in Russia / Transport / Sea and river transport
caption_attribution_description: English: A canal scene in St. Petersburg, Russia. Church of the Resurrection of Christ is in the distance. May 2008.
context_page_description: Tourism in Russia has seen rapid growth since the late Soviet times, first domestic tourism and then international tourism as well. Rich cultural heritage and great natural variety place Russia among the most popular tourist destinations in the world. Not including Crimea, the country contains 23 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, while many more are on UNESCO's tentative lists.
  Major tourist routes in Russia include a travel around the Golden Ring of ancient cities, cruises on the big rivers including the Volga, and long journeys on the famous Trans-Siberian Railway. Diverse regions and ethnic cultures of Russia offer many different foods and souvenirs, and show a great variety of traditions, including Russian Maslenitsa, Tatar Sabantuy, or Siberian shamanist rituals. In 2013, Russia was visited by 33 million tourists, making it the ninth-most visited country in the world and the seventh-most visited in Europe.
context_section_description: Russia's major sea ports Category:Port cities and towns in Russia include St Petersburg and Kaliningrad on the Baltic coast; Murmansk and Arkhangelsk on the Arctic coast; Vladivostok, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, and Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky on the Pacific coast; Sochi, Novorossiysk, and Sevastopol on the Black Sea coast; Astrakhan on the Caspian coast. In European Russia, many river boat companies offer journeys to cities and towns on the Volga River, its tributaries and connected canals: Moscow (via the Moscow Canal), Yaroslavl, Kostroma, Nizhny Novgorod, Kazan, Saratov, Volgograd, Astrakhan. River boats from St Petersburg can travel to Staraya Ladoga and Veliky Novgorod on the Volkhov River, to Ladoga Lake, and to Moscow (via canals).
caption: Boats on Griboyedov Canal in St Petersburg
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