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The 11 Best Travel Alarm Clocks of 2024

Wake up and enjoy your trip

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Being on vacation should be relaxing, but we all know that prepping for a trip can be stressful. A reliable travel alarm clock removes one of the biggest worries—missing your flight—and gives you the freedom to switch off your phone and still get up on time for tours and transfers throughout your trip. Travel alarm clocks vary considerably in features and looks, ranging from basic folding clocks to digital smart clocks and quirky analog clocks with a vintage aesthetic.

Standard features to look out for include lightness, reliability, and the option to run off a battery (making them ready for action wherever your adventures take you). We researched the best options currently available with an eye toward portability, price, and extra features such as Bluetooth and radio.

Best Overall

Travelwey digital travel alarm clock.

Button-lock function

One-year free replacement guarantee

Limited features

Batteries not included

If you like simplicity, you’ll love Travelwey’s digital travel alarm clock. Revised to accommodate user requests for a no-frills product that prioritizes functionality and ease of use, the clock lacks many of the extra features of others on this list. It doesn’t have a temperature gauge, date function, or radio integration, but it does keep time beautifully, with a large display and an effective snooze alarm. 

It’s one of the most affordable and best-reviewed travel alarm clocks out there, with several clever design elements, including forward-facing buttons, an on-demand light that illuminates the screen for five seconds, and a folding cover that doubles as a handy stand. For many, one of the best features is the on/off button, which prevents other buttons from being pressed in transit but maintains time for when it’s switched back on. Choose yours in black or white. 

Dimensions: 2.7 x 3.1 x 0.8 inches | Weight: 3 ounces | Power Source: (2) AA batteries | Display Style: Digital

Best Budget

Sharp digital alarm clock.

Alarm gets progressively louder

Long-lasting backlight

Very basic features

No protective cover for display

Another travel alarm clock that functions as a simple, easy-to-use timekeeper and alarm (and not much more), this offering from Sharp is one of the most cost-effective options on the market. It receives excellent user reviews, with satisfied customers praising its compact size and large, clearly legible LCD display. The clock’s tactile soft rubber case is a unique selling point, providing durability and style in one attractive package. 

The alarm increases in volume as time passes, giving you the chance to wake up gently and switch it off before it becomes aggressively loud. You can do so using the large, easily accessible buttons on top of the clock. The snooze button doubles as an on-demand backlight, illuminating the display with blue light for five seconds whenever you wish to read the time in the middle of the night. The fact that the light is not on permanently helps to save battery life.

Dimensions: 4 x 1.7 x 2.3 inches | Weight: 3.2 ounces | Power Source: (2) AAA batteries | Display Style: Digital

Best for Heavy Sleepers

Screaming meanie 220 alarm clock and timer.

Tested for toughness

Adjustable volume

Easy-to-pack size

Requires setting the alarm every day

Your fellow travelers may hate you

The Screaming Meanie 220 alarm clock is the answer for those who have hearing deficiencies or routinely sleep hard. There are three loudness settings to choose from—70, 90, or 120 decibels. The highest is equivalent to a chainsaw at close range and is guaranteed to cut through even the loudest ambient noise. There’s no chance of turning it off in your sleep and rolling over again, either—you need two hands to disable it. 

You can set an alarm time or use the countdown timer to set a specific number of hours and minutes until you need to get up. There’s even a clip on the back of the clock for attaching it to your travel backpack while in transit. Designed to fit in a pocket and subjected to a 30-foot drop test, the Screaming Meanie provides ultimate compactness and durability. It comes with clear instructions in black, green, or blue.

Dimensions: 6 x 2.5 x 1 inches | Weight: 5.9 ounces | Power Source: (1) 9-volt battery | Display Style: Digital

Best with Temperature Gauge

Peakeep smart night light digital alarm clock.

Easy to operate

Customizable interface

Attractive shades

This travel alarm clock from Peakeep comes with an indoor temperature gauge—handy for knowing whether to open a window or adjust the AC before climbing into bed. It’s compatible with a temperature range of 15.8 to 122 degrees F and can display information in Celsius, too. Similarly, you can choose to read the time using the 12- or 24-hour clock—either way, the HD LCD display is easy to see from across the room. 

At night, a built-in ambient light sensor switches the backlight on automatically. You can adjust the brightness or turn it off entirely if you prefer to sleep in absolute darkness. When the alarm goes off, it emits a series of beeps that increase in frequency for 90 seconds. Hit the snooze button on top of the hard plastic frame for another eight minutes of sleep. The clock comes in five colors, including stylish shades of pastel blue, mint, and pink. 

Dimensions: 5.25 x 2 x 3 inches | Weight: 6.7 ounces | Power Source: (3) AAA batteries  | Display Style: Digital

Best Analog

Marathon mini non-ticking analog alarm clock.

Established brand

Quiet timekeeping

Smart backlight

Backlight can't be dimmed

Analog fans will love the tried-and-tested reliability of this miniature alarm from the respected clockmaker Marathon. It features a classic aesthetic, an accurate quartz movement, and a continuously sweeping second hand designed to be entirely silent—a godsend for those who hate being kept awake by the incessant ticking of many traditional clocks. The alarm is easy to set, with on/off and snooze buttons conveniently placed on top of the hard plastic frame.

This alarm clock features an ambient light sensor and automatically emits a soft glow when placed in a dark room, making the display easy to read at all hours; however, the brightness of the backlight cannot be adjusted, only switched off. Choose from various color options, including a blue case with a white dial, a white case with a white dial, or a black case with a black or white dial. Batteries come with all models.  

Dimensions: 2.7 x 2.7 x 1.9 inches | Weight: 9.1 ounces | Power Source: (2) AA batteries | Display Style: Analog

iLuv Smart Shaker 3

Lots of customizable options

Long lasting

Only offers silent alarm

Doesn't display the time

The disc-shaped iLuv Smart Shaker 3 represents the newest generation of travel alarm clocks. It pairs with your smartphone via an easy-to-use app to schedule multiple alarms for different times and days at the press of a button. LED indicators on the shaker notify you of its battery life and any incoming calls, messages, or social media events on your phone. And, since it stores all settings internally, it works even when your phone is off. 

Unlike the other alarms on this list, this is not an audio alarm. Instead, the disc wakes you by vibrating underneath your pillow. You can choose one of five vibration strengths, depending on how deeply you sleep, and wake up without disturbing your sleeping partner. The alarm clock comes with a USB charging cable that requires mains power; however, it claims to last 14 days on a single charge. 

Dimensions: 1.7 x 5.3 x 6.9 inches | Weight: 9.9 ounces | Power Source: Mains | Display Style: None

Best Radio Alarm

Bejamy fm radio alarm clock.

Large snooze button on top of clock

Adjustable brightness

Power cable is short

For some of us, beeping is the worst thing to wake up to in the morning. Enter radio alarm clocks. Start the day right with music or your favorite radio DJ. This model from Bejamy has a radio auto search to quickly scan through FM stations and a telescoping antenna for better signal and portability. It's compact and lightweight—great for travel or placing around the house wherever you need it.

A large LED face is easy to read and there's an option for red or blue numbers. Below the display are several buttons to set alarms and choose between a 12- or 24-hour reading. This radio is powered via batteries or a DC power adapter and has a USB input for charging other devices. And don't worry about waking up for an important flight or meeting; you can also choose a "wake up to buzzer" alarm.

Dimensions: 4.7 x 1.5 x 3.8 inches | Weight: 10 ounces | Power Source: (3) AAA battery | Display Style: Digital

Best Pocket-Sized

Peakeep ultra small travel alarm clock.

Progressive and effective alarm

Difficult to read from across the room

Can only be set 12 hours in advance

Probably the tiniest travel alarm clock on the market, this pocket-sized offering from Peakeep measures just 2.25 x 2.25 x 1.25 inches and weighs only 2 ounces—perfect for those who like to travel light. It features a quartz-movement analog display with a silent-sweeping second hand for a quiet night’s sleep. Need to read the time? Press the manual backlight button on the front of the clock to illuminate the dial. 

The ascending alarm features a series of beeps that get faster and louder in four stages until you hit the snooze button or tap the large on/off switch. The latter rests on top of the clock for easy access. This battery-powered and stylish little clock comes in three colors—black, white, and aquamarine. Easy to find wherever your travels take you, the battery should last for over six months.

Dimensions: 2.25 x 2.25 x 1.25 inches | Weight: 2 ounces | Power Source: (1) AA battery | Display Style: Analog

Best Atomic

Sharper image atomic travel alarm clock.

Options for customization

Optional auto nightlight

Easy-to-read acrylic face

Relatively expensive

Atomic clock only works domestically

This Sharper Image travel alarm clock uses common radio waves to sync with the U.S. Atomic Clock and is ideal for business travelers who frequently move about the country. Select one of four time zones (Eastern, Central, Mountain, or Pacific), and rest assured that the time will always be 100 percent updated and accurate. The clock even switches automatically to daylight saving time. The clock can be set manually when you travel outside these four time zones. 

Its clear display shows the time (in 12- or 24-hour format), date, day of the week, indoor temperature (in Celsius or Fahrenheit), and alarm status. The backlight comes on automatically when it gets dark; you can disable this function and simply press the snooze button to activate the light on demand. The alarm beeps for 60 seconds, while the snooze function triggers a crescendo alarm that sounds five times at five-minute intervals. 

Dimensions: 3.25 x 3.75 x 1.5 inches | Weight: 3.2 ounces | Power Source: (2) AA batteries | Display Style: Digital

Pilife Mini Vintage Alarm Clock

Retro design

Manual backlight

Non-ticking

Challenging to set alarm for precise times

Can't be snoozed

Pilife’s stainless steel mini alarm clock adds a touch of retro glamor to your hotel room, hostel, or vacation rental. Inspired by vintage bedside clocks, it features a circular analog display with 3D numbers, little chrome feet, and a pair of top-mounted alarm bells. You can also choose from various on-trend colors, including pastel blue, pink, purple, and mint, or keep it classic with black or white. 

In addition to looking the part, the clock is ideally sized for travel at just 3 inches in diameter. It features an accurate quartz movement, a silent-sweeping second hand, and a backlight that can be activated at the press of a button. The alarm sound itself is extra-loud and therefore ideal for heavy sleepers. However, there’s no snooze button—which could be a pro or a con, depending on your perspective. 

Dimensions: 3.3 x 1.5 x 4.7 inches | Weight: 8.8 ounces | Power Source: (1) AA battery | Display Style: Analog

Best Folding

Westclox travelmate folding alarm clock.

Snooze function

Extremely compact and easy to store

Alarm could be louder

Dim backlight

Westclox has been making clocks in the U.S. since 1884, and yes, the Travelmate may look like a total throwback, but we all know classics are classic for a reason. This updated version features a clear LCD display showing the time, date, and day of the week. A blue backlight illuminates on demand, so you won't have to worry about changing the single, button-style battery for a good while. The defining feature of this travel alarm clock is the folding panel made out of hard plastic that protects the display and keeps the buttons from being pushed in transit when closed and doubles as a stand when opened.

Dimensions: 2.62 x 3.5 x 0.625 inches (folded), 2.62 x 3.5 x 3.5 inches (open) | Weight: 3.2 ounces | Power Source: (1) CR2032 (button) | Display Style: Digital

For a travel alarm clock with all the bells and whistles, we like the Sharper Image Atomic Travel Alarm Clock . But for those who want to keep it simple, the affordable and reliable Travelwey Digital Travel Alarm Clock is our top pick.

What to Look For in Travel Alarm Clocks

Portability.

By definition, portability is the top priority for a travel alarm clock. It should fit easily into your carry-on luggage , purse, or backpack pocket, and it should not add much weight. The most portable travel alarm clocks are usually those that fold flat; however, miniature versions of regular alarm clocks can be just as convenient.

Just how portable you need your alarm clock to be depends on the type of traveling you do. For example, a backpacker on an every-ounce-counts adventure will likely need something much lighter than a business traveler on an overnight road trip.

Travel alarm clocks come with a wide variety of features, from radios and temperature gauges to the ability to integrate with your smartphone for Bluetooth notifications. If you’re a heavy sleeper, an extra-loud alarm bell might be the game changer you need; if you have a partner who doesn’t like to wake up when you do, a vibrating alarm could be helpful. Those who travel primarily within the U.S. may appreciate the superior accuracy of an atomic clock, while others may prefer the pared-back simplicity of an alarm clock with a backlight, a snooze button, and not much more.

There is a travel alarm clock for every budget, with options on this list alone ranging in price from just over $10 to almost eight times that much. All of them fulfill the most basic function, i.e., to wake you up on time for your sightseeing tour, meeting, or flight departure. How much you choose to spend after that depends on the extra features you want and how vital particular aesthetics or brand names are to you. Often, checking past customer reviews is a more reliable way of guaranteeing a good product than simply paying for the most expensive version. A quality travel alarm clock can easily cost under $20.

Although there’s nothing to stop you from traveling with a regular alarm clock or using your travel alarm clock back home, the main difference between the two is size. Travel alarm clocks are typically designed with portability and lightness in mind and are either compact or foldable, or both.

The best travel alarm clocks are also extra-durable and battery-powered (circumventing any issues with different socket types or voltages at your destination).

Mains-powered alarm clocks are fine if you mainly travel domestically—but if you often go abroad, a battery-powered option is the better choice. That way, you don’t have to worry about packing an adapter or converter to enable compatibility with foreign plug sockets and voltages. If you find yourself without access to a plug point (in an airport terminal, for example, or on a camping adventure), your trusty alarm clock will still be able to wake you up on schedule.

You can, of course. But many seasoned travelers prefer the reliability of a battery-powered travel alarm clock that will work even when your phone has died (because you forgot to bring an adapter, perhaps, or because you simply don’t have access to electricity while in transit). Some like to use an alarm clock as a backup for their phone ahead of that all-important flight, while others use one so that they can switch off their phone and truly relax while on vacation.

Jessica Macdonald is a seasoned traveler, having visited more than 50 countries across six continents, often with the help of a travel alarm clock. For this article, she researched more than 20 of the best products currently on the market, comparing them for price, features, and user reviews. To be considered, alarm clocks had to be battery-powered (or at least have battery backup). Size and weight were carefully considered, and preference was given to those marketed explicitly as “travel” or “compact” versions.

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BC08 Braun digital travel alarm clock - black

Winner of a Red Dot Design Award for 2020. Braun’s minimalist, clean aesthetic was built around the brand ethos ‘less but better’. With all elements designed to prioritise ease-of-use for the... Read More

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Winner of a Red Dot Design Award for 2020. Braun’s minimalist, clean aesthetic was built around the brand ethos ‘less but better’. With all elements designed to prioritise ease-of-use for the user, the BC08 alarm clock range is a remarkable example of Braun's timeless Bauhaus-tradition design. It’s an alarm clock. Nothing more. Nothing less. Winner of a Red Dot Design Award for 2020. The BC08 is a move on from the classic BNC008 digital travel clock, the improved functions and product features a direct response to customer feedback and experience.

The BC08 features a crescendo beep alarm, snooze and backlight function and LCD with 12-hour and 24-hour setting options, all of which improve the functionality of this clock. The lightweight and compact design (W5.8cm x H5.8cm x D2.0cm) makes the BC08 the perfect travel clock. A design that reflects Braun principles of consistency, simplicity and clarity of design.

• Crescendo beep alarm
• Touch snooze function
• Backlight function (Reverse LCD display)
• 12/24 hour display

Specifications Height:   57.5mm Width:   57.5mm Depth:   20mm Movement:   Quartz Battery Type:   AAA Includes:   Clock, instruction manual & 2 year warranty

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Over the past 60 years, Braun has become an institution in the design community and a frequent reference point in the education of each new generation of creatives. That recognition also extends to the world’s most renowned design awards. Having received a total of 18 awards in the past 5 years, these are a key indication that Braun watches & clocks are continuing that longstanding legacy.

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Digital Travel Alarm Clock

Portable, folding clock design fits nicely in your travel bag

Snooze button & momentary backlight

Alarm ON/OFF switch

Battery-powered for on-the-go use

The AcuRite travel alarm clock features a portable folding design to keep you on time while traveling. The bold, easy-to-read LCD screen displays the time, and indicators for the alarm and snooze functions. Features a large Snooze/Backlight button, and easy-to-use alarm ON/OFF switch. One-year limited warranty. It's more than accurate, it's AcuRite.

Portable, folding clock design

Audible alarm

Battery-powered

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Product Key Features

• Protection Plan No Coverage
• Power Source Battery Powered
• Display Type Analog
• Character Clock King
• Era 21st Century (2000-Now)
• Original/Reproduction Original
• Shape Square
• Style Traditional
• Frame Material Plastic
• Features 12-Hour Display, Silent/No Ticking, Night Light, Lighted, Illuminated Dial, Alarm, Non-Ticking/Silent Sweep, Travel, Battery-Operated, Quartz Movement
• Room Kitchen, Bedroom, Home Office/Study, Living Room
• Finish Matte
• Movement Quartz (Battery Powered)
• Material Plastic
• Number Type Arabic Numerals
• Theme Abstract, Art
• Product Line 1 AA batteries required.
• Item Weight 0.1 lbs

Light weight with great features (This question is useless!!!!!)

Very nice and quality is excellent!

A GREAT Alarm Clock that is SILENT!

This is such a great product! I have purchased alarm clocks that look exactly like this, but they always make a ticking noise that I object to in a bedroom or while traveling. This alarm clock is SILENT and very accurate! I wasn't sure I would like the color, but to my surprise, I wouldn't have any other! It looks good anywhere in the house and it is SILENT! Thank you for such a great product at a super good price! A true value for anyone!

Perfect Small Quiet Travel Alarm Clock

I always travel with two alarm clocks. This travel alarm clock is perfect. It is easy to use, quiet, small and light weight. It is perfect when packing a minimal light weight suitcase. It is exactly what I was looking for and the price is right.

Perfect size for travel, yet face is easy to read. Settings are so easy. Love it.

So cute, I had to utter an "awwwww" when I first opened it. Small enough to pack for our upcoming cruise yet the face is easy to read and there is a place on the back to lift up to operate the alarm, so easy. I love it!

ACCURATE AND EASY TO USE

LOVE THIS CLOCK. IT IS MY SECOND REPEAT PURCHASE. IT IS SMALL ENOUGH TO PLACE ANYWHERE OR TO TAKE WITH YOU. IT KEEPS PERFECT TIME, IS VERY EASY TO SET AND IT WAKES ME UP TO A PLEASANT BEEP THAT INCREASES UNTIL YOU SHUT IT OFF. IT ALSO HAS A CONVENIENT LIGHT TO SEE THE TIME IF DESIRED. I LIKE THE FACT THAT THE ALARM SET AND THE TIME SET CONTROLS ARE CONVENIENTLY SEPARATED AND EASY TO MANIPULATE. IF YOU HAVE PHYSICAL LIMITATIONS. THIS CLOCK WOULD BE BENEFICIAL FOR ANYBODY. IT IS A FULL-PROOF PURCHASE THAT WAS WORTH THE MONEY.

CUTE DEPENDABLE TRAVEL CLOCK

I bought this clock to keep in my bathroom and the color green matches all my towels. It has good size numbers and fits anywhere. Love it!

terrific little clock . works great . i love it and the color . intend to order a few more.

Ideal analogue travel alarm

Ideal travel alarm, small, no tick, alarm off button on top, snooze button, loud alarm, etc.

Excellent travel alarm

Keeps time well, very effective alarm. What more do you want in a travel alarm?

Quartz (Battery Powered) Alarm Clocks with Snooze Alarm

Contemporary alarm clocks with snooze alarm, casio alarm clocks with snooze alarm, sharp alarm clocks with snooze alarm, seiko alarm clocks with snooze alarm, lego alarm clocks with snooze alarm.

• Places - European, Western and Northern Russia

YEKATERINBURG: FACTORIES, URAL SIGHTS, YELTSIN AND THE WHERE NICHOLAS II WAS KILLED

Sverdlovsk oblast.

Sverdlovsk Oblast is the largest region in the Urals; it lies in the foothills of mountains and contains a monument indicating the border between Europe and Asia. The region covers 194,800 square kilometers (75,200 square miles), is home to about 4.3 million people and has a population density of 22 people per square kilometer. About 83 percent of the population live in urban areas. Yekaterinburg is the capital and largest city, with 1.5 million people. For Russians, the Ural Mountains are closely associated with Pavel Bazhov's tales and known for folk crafts such as Kasli iron sculpture, Tagil painting, and copper embossing. Yekaterinburg is the birthplace of Russia’s iron and steel industry, taking advantage of the large iron deposits in the Ural mountains. The popular Silver Ring of the Urals tourist route starts here.

In the summer you can follow in the tracks of Yermak, climb relatively low Ural mountain peaks and look for boulders seemingly with human faces on them. You can head to the Gemstone Belt of the Ural mountains, which used to house emerald, amethyst and topaz mines. In the winter you can go ice fishing, ski and cross-country ski.

Sverdlovsk Oblast and Yekaterinburg are located near the center of Russia, at the crossroads between Europe and Asia and also the southern and northern parts of Russia. Winters are longer and colder than in western section of European Russia. Snowfalls can be heavy. Winter temperatures occasionally drop as low as - 40 degrees C (-40 degrees F) and the first snow usually falls in October. A heavy winter coat, long underwear and good boots are essential. Snow and ice make the sidewalks very slippery, so footwear with a good grip is important. Since the climate is very dry during the winter months, skin moisturizer plus lip balm are recommended. Be alert for mud on street surfaces when snow cover is melting (April-May). Patches of mud create slippery road conditions.

Yekaterinburg

Yekaterinburg (kilometer 1818 on the Trans-Siberian Railway) is the fourth largest city in Russia, with of 1.5 million and growth rate of about 12 percent, high for Russia. Located in the southern Ural mountains, it was founded by Peter the Great and named after his wife Catherine, it was used by the tsars as a summer retreat and is where tsar Nicholas II and his family were executed and President Boris Yeltsin lived most of his life and began his political career. The city is near the border between Europe and Asia.

Yekaterinburg (also spelled Ekaterinburg) is located on the eastern slope of the Ural Mountains in the headwaters of the Iset and Pyshma Rivers. The Iset runs through the city center. Three ponds — Verkh-Isetsky, Gorodskoy and Nizhne-Isetsky — were created on it. Yekaterinburg has traditionally been a city of mining and was once the center of the mining industry of the Urals and Siberia. Yekaterinburg remains a major center of the Russian armaments industry and is sometimes called the "Pittsburgh of Russia.". A few ornate, pastel mansions and wide boulevards are reminders of the tsarist era. The city is large enough that it has its own Metro system but is characterized mostly by blocky Soviet-era apartment buildings. The city has advanced under President Vladimir Putin and is now one of the fastest growing places in Russia, a country otherwise characterized by population declines

Yekaterinburg is technically an Asian city as it lies 32 kilometers east of the continental divide between Europe and Asia. The unofficial capital of the Urals, a key region in the Russian heartland, it is second only to Moscow in terms of industrial production and capital of Sverdlovsk oblast. Among the important industries are ferrous and non-ferrous metallurgy, machine building and metalworking, chemical and petrochemicals, construction materials and medical, light and food industries. On top of being home of numerous heavy industries and mining concerns, Yekaterinburg is also a major center for industrial research and development and power engineering as well as home to numerous institutes of higher education, technical training, and scientific research. In addition, Yekaterinburg is the largest railway junction in Russia: the Trans-Siberian Railway passes through it, the southern, northern, western and eastern routes merge in the city.

Accommodation: There are two good and affordable hotels — the 3-star Emerald and Parus hotels — located close to the city's most popular landmarks and main transport interchanges in the center of Yekaterinburg. Room prices start at RUB 1,800 per night.

History of Yekaterinburg

Yekaterinburg was founded in 1723 by Peter the Great and named after his wife Catherine I. It was used by the tsars as a summer retreat but was mainly developed as metalworking and manufacturing center to take advantage of the large deposits of iron and other minerals in the Ural mountains. It is best known to Americans as the place where the last Tsar and his family were murdered by the Bolsheviks in 1918 and near where American U-2 spy plane, piloted by Gary Powers, was shot down in 1960.

Peter the Great recognized the importance of the iron and copper-rich Urals region for Imperial Russia's industrial and military development. In November 1723, he ordered the construction of a fortress factory and an ironworks in the Iset River Valley, which required a dam for its operation. In its early years Yekaterinburg grew rich from gold and other minerals and later coal. The Yekaterinburg gold rush of 1745 created such a huge amount of wealth that one rich baron of that time hosted a wedding party that lasted a year. By the mid-18th century, metallurgical plants had sprung up across the Urals to cast cannons, swords, guns and other weapons to arm Russia’s expansionist ambitions. The Yekaterinburg mint produced most of Russia's coins. Explorations of the Trans-Baikal and Altai regions began here in the 18th century.

Iron, cast iron and copper were the main products. Even though Iron from the region went into the Eiffel Tower, the main plant in Yekaterinburg itself was shut down in 1808. The city still kept going through a mountain factory control system of the Urals. The first railway in the Urals was built here: in 1878, the Yekaterinburg-Perm railway branch connected the province's capital with the factories of the Middle Urals.

In the Soviet era the city was called Sverdlovsk (named after Yakov Sverdlov, the man who organized Nicholas II's execution). During the first five-year plans the city became industrial — old plants were reconstructed, new ones were built. The center of Yekaterinburg was formed to conform to the historical general plan of 1829 but was the layout was adjusted around plants and factories. In the Stalin era the city was a major gulag transhipment center. In World War II, many defense-related industries were moved here. It and the surrounding area were a center of the Soviet Union's military industrial complex. Soviet tanks, missiles and aircraft engines were made in the Urals. During the Cold War era, Yekaterinburg was a center of weapons-grade uranium enrichment and processing, warhead assembly and dismantlement. In 1979, 64 people died when anthrax leaked from a biological weapons facility. Yekaterinburg was a “Closed City” for 40 years during the Cold Soviet era and was not open to foreigners until 1991

In the early post-Soviet era, much like Pittsburgh in the 1970s, Yekaterinburg had a hard struggle d to cope with dramatic economic changes that have made its heavy industries uncompetitive on the world market. Huge defense plants struggled to survive and the city was notorious as an organized crime center in the 1990s, when its hometown boy Boris Yeltsin was President of Russia. By the 2000s, Yekaterinburg’s retail and service was taking off, the defense industry was reviving and it was attracting tech industries and investments related to the Urals’ natural resources. By the 2010s it was vying to host a world exhibition in 2020 (it lost, Dubai won) and it had McDonald’s, Subway, sushi restaurants, and Gucci, Chanel and Armani. There were Bentley and Ferrari dealerships but they closed down

Transportation in Yekaterinburg

Getting There: By Plane: Yekaterinburg is a three-hour flight from Moscow with prices starting at RUB 8,000, or a 3-hour flight from Saint Petersburg starting from RUB 9,422 (direct round-trip flight tickets for one adult passenger). There are also flights from Frankfurt, Istanbul, China and major cities in the former Soviet Union.

By Train: Yekaterinburg is a major stop on the Trans-Siberian Railway. Daily train service is available to Moscow and many other Russian cities.Yekaterinburg is a 32-hour train ride from Moscow (tickets RUB 8,380 and above) or a 36-hour train ride from Saint Petersburg (RUB 10,300 and above). The ticket prices are round trip for a berth in a sleeper compartment for one adult passenger). By Car: a car trip from Moscow to Yekateringburg is 1,787 kilometers long and takes about 18 hours. The road from Saint Petersburg is 2,294 kilometers and takes about 28 hours.

Regional Transport: The region's public transport includes buses and suburban electric trains. Regional trains provide transport to larger cities in the Ural region. Buses depart from Yekaterinburg’s two bus stations: the Southern Bus Station and the Northern Bus Station.

Regional Transport: According the to Association for Safe International Road Travel (ASIRT): “Public transportation is well developed. Overcrowding is common. Fares are low. Service is efficient. Buses are the main form of public transport. Tram network is extensive. Fares are reasonable; service is regular. Trams are heavily used by residents, overcrowding is common. Purchase ticket after boarding. Metro runs from city center to Uralmash, an industrial area south of the city. Metro ends near the main railway station. Fares are inexpensive.

“Traffic is congested in city center. Getting around by car can be difficult. Route taxis (minivans) provide the fastest transport. They generally run on specific routes, but do not have specific stops. Drivers stop where passengers request. Route taxis can be hailed. Travel by bus or trolleybuses may be slow in rush hour. Trams are less affected by traffic jams. Trolley buses (electric buses) cannot run when temperatures drop below freezing.”

Entertainment, Sports and Recreation in Yekaterinburg

The performing arts in Yekaterinburg are first rate. The city has an excellent symphony orchestra, opera and ballet theater, and many other performing arts venues. Tickets are inexpensive. The Yekaterinburg Opera and Ballet Theater is lavishly designed and richly decorated building in the city center of Yekaterinburg. The theater was established in 1912 and building was designed by architect Vladimir Semyonov and inspired by the Vienna Opera House and the Theater of Opera and Ballet in Odessa.

Vaynera Street is a pedestrian only shopping street in city center with restaurants, cafes and some bars. But otherwise Yekaterinburg's nightlife options are limited. There are a handful of expensive Western-style restaurants and bars, none of them that great. Nightclubs serve the city's nouveau riche clientele. Its casinos have closed down. Some of them had links with organized crime. New dance clubs have sprung up that are popular with Yekaterinburg's more affluent youth.

Yekaterinburg's most popular spectator sports are hockey, basketball, and soccer. There are stadiums and arenas that host all three that have fairly cheap tickets. There is an indoor water park and lots of parks and green spaces. The Urals have many lakes, forests and mountains are great for hiking, boating, berry and mushroom hunting, swimming and fishing. Winter sports include cross-country skiing and ice skating. Winter lasts about six months and there’s usually plenty of snow. The nearby Ural Mountains however are not very high and the downhill skiing opportunities are limited..

Sights in Yekaterinburg

Sights in Yekaterinburg include the Museum of City Architecture and Ural Industry, with an old water tower and mineral collection with emeralds. malachite, tourmaline, jasper and other precious stone; Geological Alley, a small park with labeled samples of minerals found in the Urals region; the Ural Geology Museum, which houses an extensive collection of stones, gold and gems from the Urals; a monument marking the border between Europe and Asia; a memorial for gulag victims; and a graveyard with outlandish memorials for slain mafia members.

The Military History Museum houses the remains of the U-2 spy plane shot down in 1960 and locally made tanks and rocket launchers. The fine arts museum contains paintings by some of Russia's 19th-century masters. Also worth a look are the History an Local Studies Museum; the Political History and Youth Museum; and the University and Arboretum. Old wooden houses can be seen around Zatoutstovsya ulitsa and ulitsa Belinskogo. Around the city are wooded parks, lakes and quarries used to harvest a variety of minerals. Weiner Street is the main street of Yekaterinburg. Along it are lovely sculptures and 19th century architecture. Take a walk around the unique Literary Quarter

Plotinka is a local meeting spot, where you will often find street musicians performing. Plotinka can be described as the center of the city's center. This is where Yekaterinburg holds its biggest events: festivals, seasonal fairs, regional holiday celebrations, carnivals and musical fountain shows. There are many museums and open-air exhibitions on Plotinka. Plotinka is named after an actual dam of the city pond located nearby (“plotinka” means “a small dam” in Russian).In November 1723, Peter the Great ordered the construction of an ironworks in the Iset River Valley, which required a dam for its operation. “Iset” can be translated from Finnish as “abundant with fish”. This name was given to the river by the Mansi — the Finno-Ugric people dwelling on the eastern slope of the Northern Urals.

Vysotsky and Iset are skyscrapers that are 188.3 meters and 209 meters high, respectively. Fifty-story-high Iset has been described by locals as the world’s northernmost skyscraper. Before the construction of Iset, Vysotsky was the tallest building of Yekaterinburg and Russia (excluding Moscow). A popular vote has decided to name the skyscraper after the famous Soviet songwriter, singer and actor Vladimir Vysotsky. and the building was opened on November 25, 2011. There is a lookout at the top of the building, and the Vysotsky museum on its second floor. The annual “Vysotsky climb” (1137 steps) is held there, with a prize of RUB 100,000. While Vysotsky serves as an office building, Iset, owned by the Ural Mining and Metallurgical Company, houses 225 premium residential apartments ranging from 80 to 490 square meters in size.

Boris Yeltsin Presidential Center

The Boris Yeltsin Presidential Center (in the city center: ul. Yeltsina, 3) is a non-governmental organization named after the first president of the Russian Federation. The Museum of the First President of Russia as well as his archives are located in the Center. There is also a library, educational and children's centers, and exposition halls. Yeltsin lived most of his life and began his political career in Yekaterinburg. He was born in Butka about 200 kilometers east of Yekaterinburg.

The core of the Center is the Museum. Modern multimedia technologies help animate the documents, photos from the archives, and artifacts. The Yeltsin Museum holds collections of: propaganda posters, leaflets, and photos of the first years of the Soviet regime; portraits and portrait sculptures of members of Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of various years; U.S.S.R. government bonds and other items of the Soviet era; a copy of “One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich” by Alexander Solzhenitsyn, published in the “Novy Mir” magazine (#11, 1962); perestroika-era editions of books by Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Vasily Grossman, and other authors; theater, concert, and cinema posters, programs, and tickets — in short, all of the artifacts of the perestroika era.

The Yeltsin Center opened in 2012. Inside you will also find an art gallery, a bookstore, a gift shop, a food court, concert stages and a theater. There are regular screenings of unique films that you will not find anywhere else. Also operating inside the center, is a scientific exploritorium for children. The center was designed by Boris Bernaskoni. Almost from the its very opening, the Yeltsin Center has been accused by members of different political entities of various ideological crimes. The museum is open Tuesday to Sunday, from 10:00am to 9:00pm.

Where Nicholas II was Executed

On July, 17, 1918, during this reign of terror of the Russian Civil War, former-tsar Nicholas II, his wife, five children (the 13-year-old Alexis, 22-year-old Olga, 19-year-old Maria and 17-year-old Anastasia)the family physician, the cook, maid, and valet were shot to death by a Red Army firing squad in the cellar of the house they were staying at in Yekaterinburg.

Ipatiev House (near Church on the Blood, Ulitsa Libknekhta) was a merchant's house where Nicholas II and his family were executed. The house was demolished in 1977, on the orders of an up and coming communist politician named Boris Yeltsin. Yeltsin later said that the destruction of the house was an "act of barbarism" and he had no choice because he had been ordered to do it by the Politburo,

The site is marked with s cross with the photos of the family members and cross bearing their names. A small wooden church was built at the site. It contains paintings of the family. For a while there were seven traditional wooden churches. Mass is given ay noon everyday in an open-air museum. The Church on the Blood — constructed to honor Nicholas II and his family — was built on the part of the site in 1991 and is now a major place of pilgrimage.

Nicholas and his family where killed during the Russian civil war. It is thought the Bolsheviks figured that Nicholas and his family gave the Whites figureheads to rally around and they were better of dead. Even though the death orders were signed Yakov Sverdlov, the assassination was personally ordered by Lenin, who wanted to get them out of sight and out of mind. Trotsky suggested a trial. Lenin nixed the idea, deciding something had to be done about the Romanovs before White troops approached Yekaterinburg. Trotsky later wrote: "The decision was not only expedient but necessary. The severity of he punishment showed everyone that we would continue to fight on mercilessly, stopping at nothing."

Ian Frazier wrote in The New Yorker: “Having read a lot about the end of Tsar Nicholas II and his family and servants, I wanted to see the place in Yekaterinburg where that event occurred. The gloomy quality of this quest depressed Sergei’s spirits, but he drove all over Yekaterinburg searching for the site nonetheless. Whenever he stopped and asked a pedestrian how to get to the house where Nicholas II was murdered, the reaction was a wince. Several people simply walked away. But eventually, after a lot of asking, Sergei found the location. It was on a low ridge near the edge of town, above railroad tracks and the Iset River. The house, known as the Ipatiev House, was no longer standing, and the basement where the actual killings happened had been filled in. I found the blankness of the place sinister and dizzying. It reminded me of an erasure done so determinedly that it had worn a hole through the page. [Source: Ian Frazier, The New Yorker, August 3, 2009, Frazier is author of “Travels in Siberia” (2010)]

“The street next to the site is called Karl Liebknecht Street. A building near where the house used to be had a large green advertisement that said, in English, “LG—Digitally Yours.” On an adjoining lot, a small chapel kept the memory of the Tsar and his family; beneath a pedestal holding an Orthodox cross, peonies and pansies grew. The inscription on the pedestal read, “We go down on our knees, Russia, at the foot of the tsarist cross.”

Books: The Romanovs: The Final Chapter by Robert K. Massie (Random House, 1995); The Fall of the Romanovs by Mark D. Steinberg and Vladimir Khrustalëv (Yale, 1995);

See Separate Article END OF NICHOLAS II factsanddetails.com

Execution of Nicholas II

According to Robert Massie K. Massie, author of Nicholas and Alexandra, Nicholas II and his family were awakened from their bedrooms around midnight and taken to the basement. They were told they were to going to take some photographs of them and were told to stand behind a row of chairs.

Suddenly, a group of 11 Russians and Latvians, each with a revolver, burst into the room with orders to kill a specific person. Yakob Yurovsky, a member of the Soviet executive committee, reportedly shouted "your relatives are continuing to attack the Soviet Union.” After firing, bullets bouncing off gemstones hidden in the corsets of Alexandra and her daughters ricocheted around the room like "a shower of hail," the soldiers said. Those that were still breathing were killed with point black shots to the head.

The three sisters and the maid survived the first round thanks to their gems. They were pressed up against a wall and killed with a second round of bullets. The maid was the only one that survived. She was pursued by the executioners who stabbed her more than 30 times with their bayonets. The still writhing body of Alexis was made still by a kick to the head and two bullets in the ear delivered by Yurovsky himself.

Yurovsky wrote: "When the party entered I told the Romanovs that in view of the fact their relatives continued their offensive against Soviet Russia, the Executive Committee of the Urals Soviet had decided to shoot them. Nicholas turned his back to the detachment and faced his family. Then, as if collecting himself, he turned around, asking, 'What? What?'"

"[I] ordered the detachment to prepare. Its members had been previously instructed whom to shoot and to am directly at the heart to avoid much blood and to end more quickly. Nicholas said no more. he turned again to his family. The others shouted some incoherent exclamations. All this lasted a few seconds. Then commenced the shooting, which went on for two or three minutes. [I] killed Nicholas on the spot."

Nicholas II’s Initial Burial Site in Yekaterinburg

Ganina Yama Monastery (near the village of Koptyaki, 15 kilometers northwest of Yekaterinburg) stands near the three-meter-deep pit where some the remains of Nicholas II and his family were initially buried. The second burial site — where most of the remains were — is in a field known as Porosyonkov (56.9113628°N 60.4954326°E), seven kilometers from Ganina Yama.

On visiting Ganina Yama Monastery, one person posted in Trip Advisor: “We visited this set of churches in a pretty park with Konstantin from Ekaterinburg Guide Centre. He really brought it to life with his extensive knowledge of the history of the events surrounding their terrible end. The story is so moving so unless you speak Russian, it is best to come here with a guide or else you will have no idea of what is what.”

In 1991, the acid-burned remains of Nicholas II and his family were exhumed from a shallow roadside mass grave in a swampy area 12 miles northwest of Yekaterinburg. The remains had been found in 1979 by geologist and amateur archeologist Alexander Avdonin, who kept the location secret out of fear that they would be destroyed by Soviet authorities. The location was disclosed to a magazine by one his fellow discovers.

The original plan was to throw the Romanovs down a mine shaft and disposes of their remains with acid. They were thrown in a mine with some grenades but the mine didn't collapse. They were then carried by horse cart. The vats of acid fell off and broke. When the carriage carrying the bodies broke down it was decided the bury the bodies then and there. The remaining acid was poured on the bones, but most of it was soaked up the ground and the bones largely survived.

After this their pulses were then checked, their faces were crushed to make them unrecognizable and the bodies were wrapped in bed sheets loaded onto a truck. The "whole procedure," Yurovsky said took 20 minutes. One soldiers later bragged than he could "die in peace because he had squeezed the Empress's -------."

The bodies were taken to a forest and stripped, burned with acid and gasoline, and thrown into abandoned mine shafts and buried under railroad ties near a country road near the village of Koptyaki. "The bodies were put in the hole," Yurovsky wrote, "and the faces and all the bodies, generally doused with sulfuric acid, both so they couldn't be recognized and prevent a stink from them rotting...We scattered it with branches and lime, put boards on top and drove over it several times—no traces of the hole remained.

Shortly afterwards, the government in Moscow announced that Nicholas II had been shot because of "a counterrevolutionary conspiracy." There was no immediate word on the other members of the family which gave rise to rumors that other members of the family had escaped. Yekaterinburg was renamed Sverdlov in honor of the man who signed the death orders.

For seven years the remains of Nicholas II, Alexandra, three of their daughters and four servants were stored in polyethylene bags on shelves in the old criminal morgue in Yekaterunburg. On July 17, 1998, Nicholas II and his family and servants who were murdered with him were buried Peter and Paul Fortress in St. Petersburg along with the other Romanov tsars, who have been buried there starting with Peter the Great. Nicholas II had a side chapel built for himself at the fortress in 1913 but was buried in a new crypt.

Near Yekaterinburg

Factory-Museum of Iron and Steel Metallurgy (in Niznhy Tagil 80 kilometers north of Yekaterinburg) a museum with old mining equipment made at the site of huge abandoned iron and steel factory. Officially known as the Factory-Museum of the History of the Development of Iron and Steel Metallurgy, it covers an area of 30 hectares and contains a factory founded by the Demidov family in 1725 that specialized mainly in the production of high-quality cast iron and steel. Later, the foundry was renamed after Valerian Kuybyshev, a prominent figure of the Communist Party.

The first Russian factory museum, the unusual museum demonstrates all stages of metallurgy and metal working. There is even a blast furnace and an open-hearth furnace. The display of factory equipment includes bridge crane from 1892) and rolling stock equipment from the 19th-20th centuries. In Niznhy Tagil contains some huge blocks of malachite and

Nizhnyaya Sinyachikha (180 kilometers east-northeast of Yekaterinburg) has an open air architecture museum with log buildings, a stone church and other pre-revolutionary architecture. The village is the creation of Ivan Samoilov, a local activist who loved his village so much he dedicated 40 years of his life to recreating it as the open-air museum of wooden architecture.

The stone Savior Church, a good example of Siberian baroque architecture. The interior and exterior of the church are exhibition spaces of design. The houses are very colorful. In tsarist times, rich villagers hired serfs to paint the walls of their wooden izbas (houses) bright colors. Old neglected buildings from the 17th to 19th centuries have been brought to Nizhnyaya Sinyachikha from all over the Urals. You will see the interior design of the houses and hear stories about traditions and customs of the Ural farmers.

Verkhoturye (330 kilometers road from Yekaterinburg) is the home a 400-year-old monastery that served as 16th century capital of the Urals. Verkhoturye is a small town on the Tura River knows as the Jerusalem of the Urals for its many holy places, churches and monasteries. The town's main landmark is its Kremlin — the smallest in Russia. Pilgrims visit the St. Nicholas Monastery to see the remains of St. Simeon of Verkhoturye, the patron saint of fishermen.

Ural Mountains

Ural Mountains are the traditional dividing line between Europe and Asia and have been a crossroads of Russian history. Stretching from Kazakhstan to the fringes of the Arctic Kara Sea, the Urals lie almost exactly along the 60 degree meridian of longitude and extend for about 2,000 kilometers (1,300 miles) from north to south and varies in width from about 50 kilometers (30 miles) in the north and 160 kilometers (100 miles) the south. At kilometers 1777 on the Trans-Siberian Railway there is white obelisk with "Europe" carved in Russian on one side and "Asia" carved on the other.

The eastern side of the Urals contains a lot of granite and igneous rock. The western side is primarily sandstone and limestones. A number of precious stones can be found in the southern part of the Urals, including emeralds. malachite, tourmaline, jasper and aquamarines. The highest peaks are in the north. Mount Narodnaya is the highest of all but is only 1884 meters (6,184 feet) high. The northern Urals are covered in thick forests and home to relatively few people.

Like the Appalachian Mountains in the eastern United States, the Urals are very old mountains — with rocks and sediments that are hundreds of millions years old — that were one much taller than they are now and have been steadily eroded down over millions of years by weather and other natural processes to their current size. According to Encyclopedia Britannica: “The rock composition helps shape the topography: the high ranges and low, broad-topped ridges consist of quartzites, schists, and gabbro, all weather-resistant. Buttes are frequent, and there are north–south troughs of limestone, nearly all containing river valleys. Karst topography is highly developed on the western slopes of the Urals, with many caves, basins, and underground streams. The eastern slopes, on the other hand, have fewer karst formations; instead, rocky outliers rise above the flattened surfaces. Broad foothills, reduced to peneplain, adjoin the Central and Southern Urals on the east.

“The Urals date from the structural upheavals of the Hercynian orogeny (about 250 million years ago). About 280 million years ago there arose a high mountainous region, which was eroded to a peneplain. Alpine folding resulted in new mountains, the most marked upheaval being that of the Nether-Polar Urals...The western slope of the Urals is composed of middle Paleozoic sedimentary rocks (sandstones and limestones) that are about 350 million years old. In many places it descends in terraces to the Cis-Ural depression (west of the Urals), to which much of the eroded matter was carried during the late Paleozoic (about 300 million years ago). Found there are widespread karst (a starkly eroded limestone region) and gypsum, with large caverns and subterranean streams. On the eastern slope, volcanic layers alternate with sedimentary strata, all dating from middle Paleozoic times.”

Southern Urals

The southern Urals are characterized by grassy slopes and fertile valleys. The middle Urals are a rolling platform that barely rises above 300 meters (1,000 feet). This region is rich in minerals and has been heavily industrialized. This is where you can find Yekaterinburg (formally Sverdlovsk), the largest city in the Urals.

Most of the Southern Urals are is covered with forests, with 50 percent of that pine-woods, 44 percent birch woods, and the rest are deciduous aspen and alder forests. In the north, typical taiga forests are the norm. There are patches of herbal-poaceous steppes, northem sphagnous marshes and bushy steppes, light birch forests and shady riparian forests, tall-grass mountainous meadows, lowland ling marshes and stony placers with lichen stains. In some places there are no large areas of homogeneous forests, rather they are forests with numerous glades and meadows of different size.

In the Ilmensky Mountains Reserve in the Southern Urals, scientists counted 927 vascular plants (50 relicts, 23 endemic species), about 140 moss species, 483 algae species and 566 mushroom species. Among the species included into the Red Book of Russia are feather grass, downy-leaved feather grass, Zalessky feather grass, moccasin flower, ladies'-slipper, neottianthe cucullata, Baltic orchis, fen orchis, helmeted orchis, dark-winged orchis, Gelma sandwart, Krasheninnikov sandwart, Clare astragalus.

The fauna of the vertebrate animals in the Reserve includes 19 fish, 5 amphibian and 5 reptile. Among the 48 mammal species are elks, roe deer, boars, foxes, wolves, lynxes, badgers, common weasels, least weasels, forest ferrets, Siberian striped weasel, common marten, American mink. Squirrels, beavers, muskrats, hares, dibblers, moles, hedgehogs, voles are quite common, as well as chiropterans: pond bat, water bat, Brandt's bat, whiskered bat, northern bat, long-eared bat, parti-coloured bat, Nathusius' pipistrelle. The 174 bird bird species include white-tailed eagles, honey hawks, boreal owls, gnome owls, hawk owls, tawny owls, common scoters, cuckoos, wookcocks, common grouses, wood grouses, hazel grouses, common partridges, shrikes, goldenmountain thrushes, black- throated loons and others.

Activities and Places in the Ural Mountains

The Urals possess beautiful natural scenery that can be accessed from Yekaterinburg with a rent-a-car, hired taxi and tour. Travel agencies arrange rafting, kayaking and hiking trips. Hikes are available in the taiga forest and the Urals. Trips often include walks through the taiga to small lakes and hikes into the mountains and excursions to collect mushrooms and berries and climb in underground caves. Mellow rafting is offered in a relatively calm six kilometer section of the River Serga. In the winter visitor can enjoy cross-mountains skiing, downhill skiing, ice fishing, dog sledding, snow-shoeing and winter hiking through the forest to a cave covered with ice crystals.

Lake Shartash (10 kilometers from Yekaterinburg) is where the first Ural gold was found, setting in motion the Yekaterinburg gold rush of 1745, which created so much wealth one rich baron of that time hosted a wedding party that lasted a year. The area around Shartash Lake is a favorite picnic and barbecue spot of the locals. Getting There: by bus route No. 50, 054 or 54, with a transfer to suburban commuter bus route No. 112, 120 or 121 (the whole trip takes about an hour), or by car (10 kilometers drive from the city center, 40 minutes).

Revun Rapids (90 kilometers road from Yekaterinburg near Beklenishcheva village) is a popular white water rafting places On the nearby cliffs you can see the remains of a mysterious petroglyph from the Paleolithic period. Along the steep banks, you may notice the dark entrance of Smolinskaya Cave. There are legends of a sorceress who lived in there. The rocks at the riverside are suited for competitive rock climbers and beginners. Climbing hooks and rings are hammered into rocks. The most fun rafting is generally in May and June.

Olenii Ruchii National Park (100 kilometers west of Yekaterinburg) is the most popular nature park in Sverdlovsk Oblast and popular weekend getaway for Yekaterinburg residents. Visitors are attracted by the beautiful forests, the crystal clear Serga River and picturesque rocks caves. There are some easy hiking routes: the six-kilometer Lesser Ring and the 15-kilometer Greater Ring. Another route extends for 18 km and passes by the Mitkinsky Mine, which operated in the 18th-19th centuries. It's a kind of an open-air museum — you can still view mining an enrichment equipment here. There is also a genuine beaver dam nearby.

Among the other attractions at Olenii Ruchii are Druzhba (Friendship) Cave, with passages that extend for about 500 meters; Dyrovaty Kamen (Holed Stone), created over time by water of Serga River eroding rock; and Utoplennik (Drowned Man), where you can see “The Angel of Sole Hope”., created by the Swedish artist Lehna Edwall, who has placed seven angels figures in different parts of the world to “embrace the planet, protecting it from fear, despair, and disasters.”

Image Sources: Wikimedia Commons

Text Sources: Federal Agency for Tourism of the Russian Federation (official Russia tourism website russiatourism.ru ), Russian government websites, UNESCO, Wikipedia, Lonely Planet guides, New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, National Geographic, The New Yorker, Bloomberg, Reuters, Associated Press, AFP, Yomiuri Shimbun and various books and other publications.

Updated in September 2020

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