Located on the Baltic Sea, Russia is huge; measuring over 17 million square kilometres - making it the largest country in the world - and spanning 11 time zones, encompassing an array of landscapes. Indeed, Russia has the largest forest reserves and, astonishingly, Russia’s lakes contain a quarter of the world’s fresh water.

Part of northern Eurasia, Russia borders a number of countries including Norway, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland, Belarus, Ukraine, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, China, Mongolia, and North Korea. The main language is Russian, the local currency is the Ruble.

MSC cruise ships visit several destinations in Russia including St Petersburg and Kalingrad. Kalingrad is an important seaport and home to a B-413 Russian Submarine which visitors can enter and look around, if they wish to experience a taste of life under the waters.

St.Petersburg is the ‘cultural capital’ of Russia and owing to the fabulous monuments throughout the city including numerous grand palaces and gardens, the whole city has been declared a UNESCO world heritage site.

From the Hermitage to Catherine’s Palace, there is so much to see and do so we heartily recommend that passengers come ashore for the day and make use of our excursion packages here to really get the best out of this amazing city.