Where in Russia did monarchs LOVE to travel?

Peter the Great

From St. Petersburg to Moscow in three days, stopping only to change horses? Yes, that was Peter the Great's style. No overnight stays, no get-togethers: once you've made up your mind, you have to go. Knowing Peter's love of fast travel, up to 100 carts would be waiting at post stations along the route, ready to depart immediately. And while he was building the new capital, he traveled very often.

The first Russian emperor also loved mineral waters – he visited Carlsbad, Pyrmont and Spa – and he wanted similar resorts to exist in Russia. Peter was also among the first to visit Marcial Waters. A wooden palace was built for him near the spring. In winter, the journey there took him three days. During his healthy rest, he didn't neglect his amusements: he even composed a humorous instruction for the "marshal of the assembly of those receiving treatment at the waters" – a "position" occupied by his favorite jester, Dacosta.

Catherine II

Fourteen carriages, over 100 sleighs, not counting 40 spares, and over 3,000 people – this was the empress' cortege when she arrived on the Crimean Peninsula in Summer 1787. She was accompanied by Prince Grigory Potemkin and foreign guests –  Polish King Stanisław Augustus, Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph II, French ambassador Count de Ségur and Austrian Field Marshal Prince de Ligne. Bakhchisaray, Sevastopol, Sudak, Feodosia – this was the Russian monarch's first visit to Crimea after its annexation to the Russian Empire. The journey lasted more than six months and, according to recollections, it resembled a ceremonial procession with sightseeing.

Twenty years earlier, the empress had traveled along the Volga region on her river flotilla, which included passenger, kitchen and hospital galleys. A separate ship was allocated to foreign ministers. The voyage lasted just over a month: Catherine visited Cheboksary, Kazan, Nizhny Novgorod and Uglich and, from Simbirsk, she returned overland.

Alexander I

Writer Alexandre Dumas, who liked to slightly embellish reality, wrote that this Russian emperor traveled so much that it was as if he had circled the world six times. Whether this is true or not, Alexander I did truly enjoy traveling. In 1819, he set out on a journey through Russian Finland.

In early Summer 1818, Alexander set out for Crimea: he was the first Russian monarch to visit the cave city of Chufut-Kale and traveled as far as Kerch. Seven years later, he returned to the Black Sea, visiting Yevpatoria, Alupka, Gurzuf and Bakhchisarai, strolling through the Nikitsky Botanical Garden and admiring the views from the Oreanda Alleys, which he had recently purchased for his wife. Alexander fell ill at the time, but he continued his journey and reached Taganrog, where he subsequently died.

Nicholas I

In the 1830s, Nicholas traveled throughout the European part of Russia: he disliked leisurely travel and always ordered the carriage to be driven as quickly as possible. Typically, these trips began in early fall and, by the end of the season, the emperor would return to the capital. Required highlights of the visit included reviews of local troops, assessments of fortifications, visits to hospitals and educational institutions, as well as some sightseeing. He visited Crimea and the Caucasus, Pskov, Novgorod, Smolensk, Voronezh, Tambov, Tula and other cities.

Actually, it seemed the emperor was always on the road – unfazed by the Spartan conditions or potential dangers. Once, while traveling through the Penza province, the emperor's carriage overturned, breaking his arm and collarbone. He didn't wait for help and set off on foot to the nearest district town, about 18 km away, jokingly referring to the incident as a "somersault".

Alexander III

In Fall 1888, Alexander traveled with his family to the Caucasus, traveling along the new Vladikavkaz Railway. He visited Rostov-on-Don, Novy Afon, Novorossiysk, Mineralnye Vody, Vladikavkaz and Tiflis. In Baku – a place never visited by Russian monarchs before or since – he visited the Nobel oil refinery. Alexander was also given a troop review at the entrance to the Borjomi Gorge.

From Batumi, the imperial family traveled to Sevastopol, where they boarded a train to return to St. Petersburg. On October 17, the train crashed near Borki station; the monarch and his family miraculously survived.