December 3, 2014. Yekaterinburg proved to be one of Russia’s top five cities to visit in 2014, Travel.ru claims. The website’s rating was based on the data available on this year’s tourist bookings.

The top ten best places to visit in Russia are Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Kazan, Sochi, Yekaterinburg, Krasnodar, Nizhniiy Novgorod, Perm, Novosibirsk, and Samara.

According to Travel.ru, this year travelers make 3.5-day trips around Russia on average and spend an average of 3,900 RUR per night in a hotel (which is 15% less than abroad). As for Yekaterinburg, tourists arrive for three days and spend some 3,700 RUR per night in a hotel on average.

‘The number of online bookings for Yekaterinburg hotels doubled in 2014 compared with last year, while the share of trips around Russia that get booked online rose to 40%,’ says Travel.ru Director Marina Kolesnik.

Moscow remains the most expensive place to get accommodation, and Perm proved the cheapest one, with the average hotel stay coming, respectively, to 4,700 RUR and 2,600 RUR per night. Sochi is this year’s Russian city with the longest duration of stay: six days on average.