Cultural activities & excursions

The Curonian Spit At your arrival in Kaliningrad, you will have the possibility to follow a guided tour of the city. We also offer students a free excursion in Kaliningrad or in its surroundings per week (as a rule, tours are in Russian). These excursions will allow you to discover the rich history and the wonderful nature of the region, for example the Curonian Spit and its gigantic dunes. You can also meet Russians to practice the language and to better know the inhabitants of the enclave. If you wish, the school will find a tandem partner for you: a Russian student who learns your mother tongue and with whom you can speak alternatively in each other’s language.

Kaliningrad is the best place to study Pushkin’s language while looking for the Teutonic Knights’ last traces! You will also be able to visit the highest sand dunes of Europe, the world’s largest amber mine, Swedish castle ruins, the headquarters of Russia’s Baltic Fleet and other even more surprising wonders. It is good to know that the everyday life has eased since the end of the nineties, offering foreign visitors all what they need.

You can go to Kaliningrad all year round and the city is well linked to the rest of the world, thanks to its international airport and train station.

Here is the list of most popular destination and approximate duration of excursion that are proposed at the russian language school in Kaliningrad, In fact, we can organise an excursion to literally any place in the region and we often ask our students, where they would like to go, so the mentioned places are not the only places to visit – they are just the more frequent ones :

  • City-Tour Kaliningrad (4 hours)
  • Yantarny – Svetlogorsk (8 hours)
  • Svetlogorsk (6 hours)
  • Curonian Spit (8 hours)
  • Yantarny (4 hours)
  • Yantarny – Baltiysk (6-7 hours)
  • Tchernyakhovsk – Georgienburg (9 hours)
  • Baltiysk (4 hours)
  • Fortification of Königsberg (4 hours)

Now a bit of explanation:
Svetlogorsk (Светлогорск, former german name – Rauschen) – is the most popular and the most good-looking resort at the seaside. About 35 kilometres to the North-West from the center of Kaliningrad.

Yantarny (Янтарный, former german name – Palmnicken) – is the little town on the sea coast, where amber mining runs most intensively nowadays, with some elements of resort place. Widest beach on the coast. About 45 kilometres to the West / North-West from the center of Kaliningrad.

Baltiysk (Балтийск, former german name – Pillau) – avant-port of Kaliningrad, located right where the Kaliningrad Bay flows to Baltic Sea. Home of the Russian Baltic Navy, and used to be a restricted area in the Soviet times. Still has very nice beaches. About 50 kilometres to the West / South-West from the center of Kaliningrad.

Curonian Spit (Куршская коса, german name – Kurische Nehrung) – a national park. It is a thin stripe of sand dunes, one hundred kilometres long, that isolates Curonian Bay from the Baltic Sea. The Spit is divided between Kaliningrad Region (Russia) and Lithuania. During the excursion only the Russian part of the Spit will be visited. The Spit begins at the resort town Zelenogradsk (Зеленоградск, Cranz), which is located about 35 kilometres from the center of Kaliningrad to the North and used to be a resort of Kaiser during German era.

Tchernyakhovsk (Черняховск, former german name – Insterburg) – town located close to the geographical center of Kaliningrad Region, second most-populated (after Kaliningrad) in the region. Used to have two big castles in it, one of which (Georgienburg) still can be visited and observed. Distance to Kaliningrad – about 100 kilometres to the East.

We can help you to organize a trip in the rest of Russia too. Moscow is only one night away by train or one hour by plane. The Trans-Siberian rail track brings its passengers to the very Far East until Beijing and Vladivostok. Don’t miss the stop at the wonderful lake Baikal. And for Russian airline tickets and hotels throughout Russia, why not booking online? You will find further travel information on our FAQ tips and tricks page and an active forum for questions.