Rostov Veliky

Inside the kremlin of Rostov Veliky

Rostov Veliky is a city in Yaroslavl Oblast, a Golden Ring destination and a birthplace of Alyosha Popovich, a legendary medieval knight.

Understand

There are two Rostovs in Russia, the other one is in the south and called Rostov-on-the-Don. This Rostov is the oldest and Veliky stands for the Great because of its age. It was first mentioned in 862 BC in the Primary Chronicle, and two centuries later it was joined by Rurik to his Kingdom. Since then it became a big political center and the throne of Church. Population of Rostov the Great is small. It is over 30,000 people.

Get in

By train

Rostov has a train station on the Moscow - Yaroslavl railway and is served by several trains, Moscow - Yaroslavl expresses and local trains from Yaroslavl to various stations between Rostov and Alexandrov. It is possible to get to Rostov from Moscow by local trains with change in Alexandrov, but check timetable first, because trains from Alexandrov to Yaroslavl sometimes are cancelled. Express or morning trains from Moscow seem to be most convinient connection though.

Return from Rostov to Moscow by train, there is an evening gap in connections - there are no trains between 20:00 and 02:00, and there might be no tickets on 20:00 express and you may spend several not so comfortable hours on the train station at night.

By car

The distance from Moscow is 202 km (3 hours).

Get around

Spaso-Yakovlevsky Monastery at the coast of Lake Nero

See

• 1 Rostov Kremlin. Daily 10.00:18:00.  
• Spaso-Yakovlevsky monastery on the shore of the Nero lake.
• Abramiyev Bogoyavlensky monastery.

Do

• Fishing at the Nero lake that is 500 thousand years old.
• Hour-long boat excursions on the lake tourism@rostov.adm.yar.ru. 

Buy

• Finift, a combination of enamel and metal covered with traditional paints. This is what the city is famous for.
• Black pottery, clay pots, whistles and figurines of unusual tint.

Drink

• Russian sort of mead Medovukha and home-made kvass in the Rostov Kremlin.

Sleep

Splurge

• Pleshanov Mansion (Усадьба Плешанова), 34 Leninskaya st, ☏ +7 48536 7-64-41, fax: +7(48536) 7-64-40, hotel@v-rostove.ru. A hotel in the house of merchant Pleshanov. 2000-3050 rubles. 

Mid-range

• AZIMUT Hotel Rostov Veliky (AZIMUT Отель Ростов Великий), 29a Okruzhnaya st (600m from the Kremlin), ☏ +7 485 367-90-98. Check-in: 12:00, check-out: 12:00. 51 rooms in the hotel graced with a pond at the entrance and a park nearby. 2038 rubles. 
• Boyarskiy Dvor, Ulitsa Kamennyy Most, 4, Rostov, ☏ +7 915 986-48-00, fax: +7(48536) 60-446. 50 m away from the Kremlin, 58 rooms and a restaurant for 40 seats. 1237 rubles. 

Go next

• Borisoglebsky Monastery, founded in the 14th century.
• Jeep-tours to Sarskoye fortress, a Merya tribe campsite who lived on the shores of the Nero lake.