July 23, 2013. Yekaterinburg is now Russia’s third most popular city in terms of summer trips for Saint Petersburg dwellers and the seventh most popular city for Muscovites, a press release by an online booking service Oktogo.ru states.

‘The top ten cities most often visited by Saint Petersburg residents are Moscow, Sochi, Yekaterinburg, Nizhniy Novgorod, Pskov, Veliky Novgorod, Kazan, Kaliningrad, Anapa, and Murmansk. The residents of Moscow prefer Saint Petersburg, Sochi, Kazan, Yaroslavl, Krasnodar, Rostov-on-Don, Yekaterinburg, Samara, Pskov, and Kaliningrad,’ the press release says.

According to the web portal, Saint Petersburg residents travel to Yekaterinburg two times more often that the inhabitants of the capital, and they stay in the city for three and a half days on average.

‘This year, as far as beach holidays in Russia are concerned, both Muscovites and the inhabitants of Saint Petersburg are heading for Sochi, and the most popular weekend trip destinations are Yekaterinburg and Kazan. The fact that Ural Football Club has joined the Russian Premier League is expected to increase the number of tourists coming to Yekaterinburg, and not only during the games season,’ says Oktogo.ru Support Director Olga Favarizova.