About Cruising, Russia

For most visitors to Russia, its rivers are noticed only while crossing a bridge or strolling along an embankment, as pleasant backdrops to sights that command more attention. To experience Russia only from the land, however, is to miss a central feature of its character, for river travel has stood at the heart of Russian life for millenia.
All of the greatest cities of European Russia have since their foundation been intimately associated with the rivers that they adjoin. Moscow, for example, sits at the confluence of the Moskva and the Neglina, and St. Petersburg and Novgorod lay on the Volhov. The greatest of Russia’s rivers, however, is the Volga. At 2,300 miles (3,700 km), it is the longest river in Europe, navigable for virtually its entire length. It was along the Volga that the ancient trade routes of Russia were developed, giving rise to a whole string of trading posts, fortresses, and towns during medieval times. Yaroslavl, Uglich, Kostroma, and Nizhni Novgorod, four of Russia’s most revered and beautiful cities, are all situated along its banks.

With the completion of the impressive Moscow-Volga Canal in 1937, the capital was finally linked to the great system of waterways that runs from St. Petersburg on the Gulf of Finland all the way to Astrakhan on the Caspian Sea. As a result, it is easy today to experience the trip that Peter the Great first dreamt of--a leisurely sail from St. Petersburg to Moscow, passing by the finest medieval cities in the country. For the particularly ambitious traveller, it is entirely possible to follow the entire trade route along the Volga, from St. Petersburg all the way to Astrakhan, the ancient capital of the Tatars.