Saint Petersburg + Pskov: the imperial capital and what came before it
Three and a half hours by Lastochka separate the Hermitage from a fortress that held the western border for six hundred years — and from frescoes more than eight centuries old.
Why they belong together
Petersburg is the eighteenth century and everything after it. Pskov is what came long before: a veche republic, stone fortresses, churches from pre-Mongol times. From Petersburg to Pskov is three and a half hours by train, and such an addition changes the whole trip: instead of «one more museum» you get a shift seven hundred years back.
Petersburg: four days
If the city is not new to you, step off Nevsky. New Holland, Kolomna with its canals, the Faberge museum, the Lutheran churches on Vasilyevsky. Of the suburbs, Peterhof runs on a fountain schedule and Tsarskoye Selo is best on a weekday at opening. And water without fail: a scheduled route along the Neva and the canals instead of an excursion boat — the same view with less microphone.
Pskov and around: three days
The Krom with the Trinity cathedral where the Velikaya meets the Pskova — a fortress visible from everywhere. The Mirozhsky monastery for its twelfth-century frescoes: painted by Byzantine masters and so well preserved that you walk in and fall silent. Then the trips out: Izborsk with its fortress and the Slovenian springs, Pechory with a cave monastery that never closed, and the Pushkin Hills — Mikhailovskoye, Trigorskoye, the Svyatogorsky monastery; a whole day and the best day of the trip if you come in summer.
The road
Moscow to Petersburg: the Sapsan in about four hours, with cheaper night trains that also save a hotel. Petersburg to Pskov: the Lastochka, roughly three and a half hours. Tick «Train» next to the plane in the planner form — within Russia overland legs are counted alongside flights, and over such distances the train usually wins both on price and door to door.
When to go
May–September. Petersburg has white nights from late May to mid-July — beautiful, and also the peak of people and prices. Pskov is good in any warm season, and the Pushkin Hills are best in September, when they are empty and golden. In winter both work, but the daylight is short and Izborsk and Pechory look sadder without snow than with it.
Izborsk and Pechory in more detail
The Izborsk fortress stands on a promontory above Gorodishchenskoye lake, one of the few places where an old Russian fortification kept its shape whole. Below it the Slovenian springs run straight out of the slope — twelve of them. Pechory is half an hour away: the Pskov-Caves monastery descends into a ravine, and its caves are real, with burials from the sixteenth century. Both fit into one day with half an hour between them, and it is better to start with Pechory before the coaches arrive.
The Pushkin Hills
Mikhailovskoye, Trigorskoye and Petrovskoye are three estates a few kilometres apart, connected by paths through woods and fields, and the right way is to walk at least part of it. Pushkin's grave is at the Svyatogorsky monastery. All of it is best in September: fewer people, and the landscape matches the descriptions. The day goes entirely, including three hours of road from Pskov and back — planning anything else that day is a mistake.
Practical matters
No foreign passport is needed, and this is the one type of route where the calculation runs into neither visas nor exchange rates. Pechory follows a monastic rule: covered clothing, a headscarf, and photography not everywhere. Distances in the Pskov region are short, but buses between villages are infrequent — take a car or an organised trip for the excursions.
Moscow → Saint Petersburg → Pskov
Route and nights go into the form — adjust the date and passengers.