Russia Travel
Many of us were sent to the countryside for the summer in the childhood, but no one could have thought back then that this can also be a type of tourism. And now this is a whole direction with huge demand: silence, fresh air, simple physical work and high sky above the head, this is exactly what city dwellers lack.
Today, more than four thousand objects provide rural tourism services in Russia, and in the future, they will be ten times more. Most popular among tourists are Altai Krai, the Republic of Karelia, Vologda, Belgorod, Kaluga, Ryazan, Nizhny Novgorod and Pskov Regions. Voskresensky District of Nizhny Novgorod Region was the first to be successfully certified according to the international standard in Russia: it has the official status of an ecologically clean area since 2005. And in the Altai, they created the only Russian association entitled the Peasant Hospitality, which is a part of an international association that includes only rigorously selected rural guest houses.
Rural tourism is not only swimming in the river, hunting, fishing, picking mushrooms, bathing in village banya and horseback riding, but also working in the garden, caring for animals and farming assistance. The traveler lives in a village house instead of a hotel and is called a guest instead of a tourist.
It’s possible to become a full-fledged villager for a week or two, but with less work. But what’s everyday life for local people is unforgettable new impressions for city dwellers. To take a horse ride to a field in order to meet the sunrise, lying in tall grass, to milk a cow in the shade of a stable, to whip butter, to chop wood, and then to go to the river or to the forest.
Tourists often choose places where village life can be combined with visiting monasteries, estates and other attractions; and some prefer rural tourism because of delicious food: eco vegetables and fruit, fresh milk and wonderful dairy products, honey from the local apiary and freshly baked bread.
This kind of rest is also popular among families with children, because in the village, a child can walk outdoors for days on end.
According to the World Tourism Organization, until 2020, rural tourism is one of the five world most promising types of tourism for development. And our country with its tiny villages amidst huge fields and hills is an ideal place for this kind of recreation.
