Walking Around The City of Vladivostok

Take alleyways off the main streets. Climb hills. Follow thin dirt trails. Don’t worry. You can go anywhere unless there’s a guard to stop you. The adulation of private property, so familiar to Americans, is thankfully absent among Russians, at least when it comes to the outdoors. So get off the main streets. 
 
In the center, off Fokina, Semyonovskaya, and Svetlanskaya, it’s worthwhile to take detours through every arch. Wend your way through courtyards with crooked wooden houses, remont rubble, shiny hair salons and slot machine places. Required walks include the waterfront areas.
 
Triumphal Arch in Vladivostok - start there to take a detout - photo by Sek Keung Lo/ flickr.com/photos/losk/5984203781
 
Find the mermaid statue (a tribute Hans Christian Anderson) in the water of the Sporty Bay (Sportivnaya Gavan), near the Dinamo Stadium. Walk north, to the right, to observe strolling partakers of ice cream and/or beer. Or walk left, up the steps, towards the cinema complex Okean.
 
You might drink an espresso upstairs there. Continue uphill along upper Naberezhnaya, passing the Amur Tiger statue and taking in views of the Amur Bay. Just past the Hotel Vladivostok, the road veers left and turns into Pervaya Morskaya.
 
A quick detour down and to the right will take you to Arsenyev Street, including a bust of the explorer himself, and a scrappy smattering of wood houses looking very 19th-century. For the high views, follow the stairs alongside the funicular (cable car on rails), from Pushkinskaya Street to Sukhanova. The funicular isn’t currently running.
 
View on Vladivostok from Observation Platform near Sukhanova Street - photo by Thomas Claveirole / flickr.com/photos/thomasclaveirole/4923538803
 
At the top, take the passage under Sukhanova street, emerge, and climb more steps to the look-out. The whole of the Golden Horn Bay is visible. From here, those who aren’t tired might head for the Orlinoye Gnezdo (Eagle’s Nest). Look for the big antennas atop the next hill. Don’t worry about private property getting in the way! 
 
Another way to reach the Eagle’s Nest is to head up Utkinskaya St. and follow the dirt road.



 

Comments, Questions, Feedback?

If you have a question, please, post it in Way to Russia forum or tweet @waytorussia.

For comments and feedback about this article, use the form below.

 

 

 


Most Recent Articles:

Walking Around the City & Sightseeing in Vladivostok

To appreciate its hodgepodge of history and commercialism, beauty and crumble, you have to explore on foot--and without fear.

Submarine C-56 Museum

The C-56 Submarine Museumis located inside a World War II C-56 submarine.

Brynner House

Not a museum, but you can see the big art nouveau house where actor Yul Brynner grew up. Yul was (probably) born on July 11, 1920.