What to see in Yekaterinburg?

In this article, you'll find everything about the attractions of the main Ural city: we tell you what to visit in Yekaterinburg, where to eat, walk, and experience beauty.

What to see in Yekaterinburg in a couple of days

Plotinka (The Dam)

Just arrived to Yekaterinburg, and the locals have set up a meeting for you — don't be surprised if they suggest "catching up at Plotinka". This historical place in the city center is called the "cradle" of Yekaterinburg: in 1723, a dam was built here to regulate the water level in the Iset River, and then the Yekaterinburg plant was founded, around which the city grew.

Now Plotinka is a popular place for tourist walks: nearby are the City Pond and Historical Square with monuments to the founding fathers of Yekaterinburg — Vasily Tatishchev and geologist Wilhelm de Gennin.

Vaynera Street

It's like Arbat, but in Yekaterinburg: the street is drowned in shops, cafes, and whimsical photo zones. All architectural styles are mixed here, and there's a unique charm to it: pre-revolutionary buildings stand alongside concrete constructivism and modern glass structures. Pay attention to the "Granit" printing house building, and the mansions of Telegin, Blinov, Lazarev. Also, on Vaynera, there are monuments to Michael Jackson and Gena Bukin from the TV series "Happy Together". Cringe slowly enters the chat. 

Yeltsin Center

Art gallery, bookstore, cafe, archive, museum, cinema hall — it's all here: in the public, cultural, and educational center dedicated to Russia's first president, Boris Yeltsin. Among the interesting things: lectures on the events of the 1990s and the emergence of the Constitution, the bulletproof car the president used, and next to the exhibit, the "1991" cafe, serving dishes based on recipes by First Lady Naina Yeltsina.

Observation Deck at "Vysotsky"

Tourists and locals come to the "Vysotsky" business center to admire the capital of the Urals from a height of 186 meters. You can listen to an audio tour or settle into a panoramic VIP room and enjoy a cup of coffee with a view: there are four rooms to choose from, corresponding to the cardinal directions, each offering its own set of Yekaterinburg attractions.

1905 Square

Also Church, Market, Main, Cathedral — the square has been called by many names at different times, but it has always remained central to Yekaterinburg. Holidays and festivities are celebrated here, demonstrations and concerts are held, and fireworks are launched. There are plenty of attractions and activities: come to "1905 Square" to see the House of Press, the city administration building, and the Lenin monument.

Khokhryakova Street

If Rubinstein Street is responsible for parties in St. Petersburg, then Khokhryakova serves as the restaurant and bar street here, where parties go non-stop. If you're wondering what to see in Yekaterinburg in one day, head here, and the day won't end until the next morning.

Historical and Architectural Monuments

Sevastyanov's House

Ural eclecticism: Sevastyanov's House, or the House of Trade Unions, is a historical and architectural landmark at 35 Lenin Avenue. At various times, the building housed a gymnasium, the city duma, and even police headquarters, and now it serves as the Ural residence of the president.

The house was built in 1866 by order of Nikolai Sevastyanov, a well-known merchant in the city. The building stands out with its appearance: it's not just the bright turquoise color, but also a mix of architectural styles — Baroque, Rococo, Empire, and Moorish. The facade is adorned with stucco, statues, and balconies with wrought-iron grilles, while inside, luxurious finishes have been preserved: frescoes, carved wooden staircases, and marble columns. However, to enter the house and see everything for yourself, you'll have to go through a lot of trouble and request written permission from the administration, so you'll just have to take our word for it.

White Tower

This water tower was built in 1929–1931 as part of a former boiler house complex that supplied heat to industrial enterprises like "Uralmash" and residential buildings. The White Tower, designed by architect Moisei Reisher, is not a mundane industrial structure but a monument of avant-garde architecture, popular in the USSR in the early 20th century.

Previously, water was cooled in this structure, but in the 1980s, the boiler house was closed, and the complex was abandoned. In the 2000s, work began on restoring the White Tower: in 2009, the object was recognized as a regional architectural monument, regular clean-up events started in 2011, and from 2016, the building was transformed into a space for festivals, exhibitions, and film screenings. Thus, the tower was saved from abandonment and turned into a cool space and a symbol of Yekaterinburg.

Keyboard Monument

What the author wanted to say: information technologies are developing and influencing society. Yekaterinburg sculptor Anatoly Vyaltsev captured his manifesto in 2005 in the form of a huge concrete computer keyboard, which has firmly established itself among the city's attractions.

The keyboard includes all standard keys, only thirty times larger than real ones, and measures 4 x 15 meters. Over time, the monument has become a popular spot for locals and tourists: where else can you sit on a giant spacebar or jump from 'a' to 'o'?

Restaurants and Bars

Zveroboy Restaurant

The chef reinterprets local recipes. Order a salad with milk mushrooms, game for the main course, medovik for dessert, and wash it down with Ivan-tea.

Estory Food Market

When you don't know what to get, the first Ural food market in Greenwich Shopping Center comes to the rescue — there are over forty cafes here. You can eat shrimp tacos, try Ural dumplings, or test your tolerance for Korean dishes.

Sekta organic wine bar

This wine bar focuses on organic wines produced using traditional pre-industrial technologies. A sommelier will help you choose the best, and the menu offers tartares and seafood for appetizers.

Museums

Yekaterinburg History Museum

The Yekaterinburg History Museum is located in a historic building at 26 Karl Liebknecht Street, where an illegal school for party propagandists was situated in 1905. Until 1991, the museum focused on the life of revolutionary Yakov Sverdlov and the history of socio-political movements in the Urals. 

Currently, the museum's exhibition illustrates the history of Yekaterinburg from its founding in 1723. The halls are dedicated to the city's founders, industrial development, the culture and daily life of Ural residents, and famous personalities. Among the exhibits are old maps, documents, photographs, household items, art objects, and archaeological finds.

Local Lore Museum

The Yekaterinburg Local Lore Museum was founded in 1870 and has since researched and popularized the region's cultural and natural heritage. The museum houses collections of minerals, archaeological and ethnographic finds, art and household items, documents, and photographs reflecting the region's historical events. One of the most famous exhibits in the Local Lore Museum is the Shigir Idol, the world's oldest wooden sculpture, approximately 11,000 years old.

Museum of Fine Arts

Once, the museum grew out of an art gallery, and now it's an entire complex: the "Hermitage-Ural" center, the Russian Art Building on Plotinka, the Museum of Naive Art, and the Stone Carving Center.

"Hermitage-Ural" is a branch of the St. Petersburg museum. Once, Hermitage exhibits were evacuated along the St. Petersburg — Yekaterinburgroute, and now the main museum constantly holds exhibitions in the building: here you'll find painting, sculpture, graphics, and decorative applied arts. The building on Plotinka houses collections of Ural cast iron, local jewelry art, 18th–20th-century art, and the Soviet period. In the Museum of Naive Art, you'll see works by locals and artists , Kazan, Vologda, and Yaroslavl. At the Stone Carving Center, they will tell you about the craft and even let you process a stone yourself.

Parks and Squares

Kharitonov Garden

Kharitonov Garden — the city's first public park — was founded in the early 19th century on land belonging to the Ural industrialists Kharitonovs and Rastorguevs. The park was conceived in the English style with an artificial lake, an ancient grotto, and green trees. You can stroll along the alleys, feed the ducks, or join a tour dedicated to the park's history: here you'll find the enormous Rastorguev-Kharitonov Estate, the Baroque-style Church of the Ascension, and a stone rotunda gazebo.

Pavlik Morozov Park

To escape the city bustle and improve your health, head to Pavlik Morozov Pioneer Park. On twenty hectares, you'll find a children's playground, a skate park, football and volleyball fields, horizontal bars, and a dog walking area. Students from the local university have physical education classes here, and children and adults run or walk — it's hard not to be inspired by a healthy lifestyle.

Mayakovsky Park

Let's pull out another location from our wide trousers for leisurely, dreamy walks in Yekaterinburg. Once, the park was named after Stalin, but the cult of personality collapsed, and the park was dedicated to Vladimir Mayakovsky, adding a bronze sculpture of the poet by Matvey Manizer to the ensemble. Come to the park to ride the chain carousel and see the city from the Ferris wheel, have a picnic, rent a bike, and go boating. In summer, there are concerts, and in winter — an ice town, ski track, and ice rink.

Literary Quarter

A gathering point for the city's intelligentsia, a meeting place for representatives of the city's literary community. To immerse yourself in the Ural bohemia, head to the Literary Quarter between Tolmacheva and Proletarskaya streets. The park-museum preserves a dozen historical buildings from the 19th–20th centuries, which have been restored and adapted into cultural institutions: here you'll find the United Writers' Museum, the "Literary Life of the Urals in the 20th Century" museum, the Mamin-Sibiryak House-Museum, and the Reshetnikov and Bazhov houses. In addition to tours, drop by for a literary evening, book fair, master class, or lecture — they are not uncommon in the Literary Quarter.

Theaters

"Ural Opera Ballet"

Opera and ballet have been performed in Yekaterinburg since 1912 — since then, the theater has actively developed and expanded its repertoire: here you will find both classical operas and ballets — "Eugene Onegin", "Carmen", "Swan Lake", as well as contemporary works.

"Kolyada-Theater"

"Kolyada-Theater" has been operating since 1987 and is named after its founder and artistic director — Nikolai Kolyada, a director and playwright. It stages classics like "Anna Karenina" and "Woe from Wit," as well as original plays by Nikolai Kolyada himself and other contemporary playwrights, and Russian Forbes included the venue in its list of must-visit theater stages in Russia. 

Churches

Church on the Blood

The Church on the Blood, in traditional Russian style with high domes and golden crosses, was built on the site of the Ipatiev House, where the family of the last Russian Emperor Nicholas II was executed in 1918. This place is worth visiting, even if you are not religious, to learn more about history and understand the role of these events in the country's life. The complex includes a museum dedicated to the royal family and their canonization, and a memorial cross installed in 1990 at the execution site.

Alexander Nevsky Cathedral

The strict and majestic Alexander Nevsky Cathedral was laid in honor of the victory over Napoleon and built in the 1830s. The building's facade is adorned with columns and a portico, and a tall bell tower gives the church a special expressiveness. Inside the cathedral, there is a rich interior: frescoes, icons, and gilded details, an Empire-style iconostasis decorated with carvings and gold.

Surroundings

Beryozovsky Sands

When you've checked off all the ideas of what to see in Yekaterinburg, head out of town. Just 15 km from Yekaterinburg, you can find... a desert. Gold was once found in the Ural Sahara (the desert formed due to mining), and now photo shoots and open-air events are held there. Precious metal is still being mined, so it's best to go on weekends when miners aren't bustling around.

"Deer Streams" Park

"Deer Streams" is a huge park covering 13,000 hectares, 100 km from Yekaterinburg. The place attracts tourists from all over the Urals: there are hiking trails, equipped recreation and camping areas, you can fish, rock climb, and in winter, ski and snowmobile. An open-air museum, depicting the life of Ural peasants, is located within the park. Want to combine family, cultural, and active recreation? "Deer Streams" is definitely the place!