Yekaterinburg is a big, cosmopolitan clearly undergoing – and enjoying – an economic boom. But what is there to experience in Yekaterinburg? Here is a quick run down of things to do in Yekaterinburg, based on my brief 36 hours in the city during my Trans-Siberian adventure.
36 hours in Yekaterinburg
And it turns out, cosmopolitan is a very apt word to describe Yekaterinburg. The city is an important financial centre in Russia and it feels like the city is really keen to show it. It has more skyscrapers than I’ve seen outside of Moscow and endless new chic apartment blocks. It might only be the fourth largest city, but Yekaterinburg is clearly on the up and will very probably overtake Novosibirsk before too long.
Despite this, the city still has a pleasant vibe and feels really liveable – particularly around the city pond. However, it must also be said that despite its large size, Yekaterinburg definitely doesn’t have the same amount of drawcard sights as cities like Moscow or St. Petersburg.
Read more: my full three-week Trans-Siberian itinerary
Things to do in Yekaterinburg (Part 1): 7 things I did
I arrived just after midday on a Monday, which was a bad start as all museums in Russia are closed on Mondays. After checking in to RedLine Hostel, having a quick shave and shower, it was still a bright and sunny day (around 24 degrees), so I headed out.
1. The Church on Blood
The first sight I came into contact with was the Church on Blood also known as All Saints Church, although I didn’t go in as the little museum was closed (damn you, Monday.) The church is probably the city’s most prominent landmark, marking the spot where the Romanovs were brutally murdered during the Russian Civil War in 1918. In front of the church, there is an imposing but evocative memorial to the family. Two American girls in my hostel really enjoyed their visit to the museum there, which was on my list for the following day, but a torrential downpour meant I chilled out in my dorm instead.
2. The red line tourist trail
The beautiful Dom Sevastyanova is one of the highlights of the red tourist trail (seen on the pavement)
From the church, I joined the red line tourist trail. If you’re looking for things to do in Yekaterinburg to get to know the city – this should be first on your list. Yekaterinburg has three different tourist trails, including a yellow ‘sports trail’ which marks out a running/jogging/roller blading course. (I’m not entirely sure what the difference between the other two trails is.)
I took the red route and took in Yekaterinburg via the City Pond, the beautiful Dom Sevastyanova (which you unfortunately can’t get too close to) and the Plotinka (which is where the city was founded). After that, I carried on a bit further along the small river, looped back along ul. Vaynera, the city’s main shopping avenue and then headed back to my hostel to charge my figurative and literal batteries.
The trail wasn’t the most exciting, but it was a great way to get a feel for the city and enjoy the nice weather.
3. Yekaterinburg’s weird monuments
One thing I encountered on my city trail was Yekaterinburg’s handful of bizarre monuments – and when I say bizarre, I’m really not exaggerating. This topic could easily have been its own blog post.
A monument to the QWERTY keyboard – because why not?
First up is the monument to the QWERTY keyboard. And it looks exactly like you’d expect it to – exactly like the iconic keyboard itself. There isn’t really any commentary on why it was created or why it’s there, but I found it weirdly enjoyable. I tried to take photos of the keys to send cryptic messages but I think I just made an Instagram collage spelling out HELLO. I’m so wild.
Monument to the Beatles
Close by there’s also a monument to the Beatles. This is actually done pretty nicely, with just an outline of each member of the band on a brick wall, with a mosaic record on the floor before them. On my visit, each of the members was painted in with a different colour, but a quick Google suggests that the graffiti around the statue changes regularly. A monument to the Beatles isn’t so strange considering they are one of the world’s most successful bands, but the group has absolutely no ties to Yekaterinburg whatsoever…
Monument to the humble cheese grater, obviously.
Then on my way to ul. Vaynera, I came across this monument in front of a Burger King. Now, I was utterly convinced that this was a monument to a cheese grater, but no amount of Googling told me much about it. Finally, I managed to find this article via Yandex.ru which informs me that this is in fact a monument to the humble cheese grater.
The article (in Russian) starts by saying, “Unusual monuments can be found in every city and Yekaterinburg is no exception.” You can say that again! My endless Googling discovered that I missed the city’s monuments to the invisible man, a dog clearing up after itself and Michael Jackson.
4. A run around the city pond
On my second morning in Yekaterinburg, I woke up early and went for a run around the city pond. It was my aim on my Trans-Siberian to do a physical activity in every city I visited – either hiking, running, cycling or a long walk. The city pond is perfect for getting in a decent run – one loop is almost exactly four kilometres.
I was also told that Shartash Lake is great for cycling when the weather is good.
5. Europe/Asia borderpoint
The money shot: straddling the continents
Now fair warning: the European-Asian “border” is a complete tourist trap. It is a fairly arbitrary line situated right next to a huge highway (as in, practically on the highway) surrounded by trees. However, it is still completely worth it for a few cool photos. The Ural mountains genuinely do mark the area where Europe and Asia meet and this landmark is simply a nice visual representation of that (there are several other markets all in different places). It’s pretty easy – and cheap – to get a taxi out here. 600 RUB seemed to be the standard price, with 5 minutes of time at the monument. Our driver charged 4 RUB extra for each minute after that.
6. The gangster cemetery: Shirokorechenskoye Kladbishche
Yekaterinburg was a mafia-run city in the mid-90s and a great place to see this part of the city’s history is the Shirokorechenskoye cemetery. Supposedly. I’d read about the cemetery a few years earlier and saw that there are even several different tours but decided that simply getting a taxi out there would be much cheaper (it is pretty easy to combine with the Europe/Asia border, as it is similarly located out of town).
What I did not plan for was that the cemetery is huge. And without knowing where to go, we missed almost all of the most imposing-looking tombstones (although we did see a depressing number of married couples or family members who all seemed to meet their demise on the same day). All in all, instead of being a fun look at some very pompous headstones, it ended up being quite a depressing look at people who had died young.
7. Traditional Georgian food at Khmeli Suneli
If you don’t already know about the sheer wonder that is Georgian food, educate yourself now here. It is my favourite food in the world.
Khmeli Suneli (TripAdvisor link) was a very fancy and good Georgian restaurant. Although it feels more like an experience, than just a restaurant – the interior is beautiful and rich in colour and atmosphere. The menu is exhaustive (with good smaller-sized khachapuri options for lone diners, like me). It seemed popular with groups, possibly because the waiters don traditional hats and sing for birthdays (which sounds super tacky but wasn’t at all). Not cheap but worth the price.
Things to do in Yekaterinburg (Part 2): 2 things I didn’t do
Now on my second afternoon in Yekaterinburg, just after getting back from the cemetery, the rain started. Torrential rain. And it didn’t stop until late into the night. The kind of rain that made us choose a restaurant based on its proximity to the hostel and nothing else.
It was bad. But I was also feeling lazy. So I spent several hours just kicking back in my dorm instead of exploring the city like a good tourist. So here is a short list of the things I could have done, but didn’t.
Map of Yekaterinburg’s location found in my hostel – where I spent most of my second afternoon
1. Panorama at Vysotsky Tower
This standalone skyscraper features highly in a lot of lists of things to do in Yekaterinburg, namely for its panorama viewing platform. It seemed futile to go up in the pouring rain so I gave it a miss. One guy in my hostel went and said it was ‘fine.’ Make of that what you will.
2. Ganina Yama monastery
A bit further out of the city, the monastery (TripAdvisor Link) is nevertheless a popular thing to do in Yekaterinburg. Built where the Romanov family’s bodies were hastily buried in a mine shaft, the monastery is deep in the woods. Tours seem to go there quite regularly, coupled with a visit to the Europe/Asia border.
General impressions of Yekaterinburg
Exploring Yekaterinburg
In all honesty, it’s hard to know how to feel about Yekaterinburg. Even looking back six months later, I still find it hard to sum up my lasting impression about Russia’s fourth largest city.
I can’t help but feel like I didn’t use my time in the city very well. But I’m also not sure whether I wish I’d had more time there or not; did I merely scratch the surface of Yekaterinburg or is the city simply easily covered in a day and a half?
Before visiting, it’s safe to say my expectations were quite high. In my final year of university, I read up a lot on Yekaterinburg and decided it was a city I would really like – so much so, I even applied for a job teaching English here (which I didn’t get).
Prospekt Lenina in Yekaterinburg – one of the city’s main promenades
I could never put my finger on why I felt such a draw to the city but I guess I liked the idea of a huge cosmopolitan city that wasn’t Moscow or St. Petersburg – just an ‘ordinary’ Russian city. Which Yekaterinburg definitely is.
Ultimately, I found it quite hard to get under the skin of the city and just didn’t have any strong feelings about it either way. I know the city is a popular stop for people wanting to break up their Trans-Siberian journeys, but somehow I feel there are better cities that might leave a better impression.
More on the Trans-Siberian:
Heading West:
Perm:
13 reasons I loved Perm
Heading East:
Tomsk:
Is Tomsk worth the detour from the Trans-Siberian?
Krasnoyarsk:
6 reasons to visit Krasnoyarsk
Hiking in Stolby Nature Reserve