Savior's Cathedral, Pereslavl Zalessky

Pereslavl Zalessky (Russian: Переславль Залесский, pe-re-SLAHVL za-LESS-ki) is a city in Yaroslavl Oblast and a part of the Golden Ring route.

Understand

The city was founded in 1152 by Prince Yuri Dolgoruky 5 years after Moscow. In medieval times its fort was besieged and the city was ransacked by Mongols and later on by Polish-Lithuanian armies. Next to the city is Plescheyevo lake, the cradle of Russian Fleet, where young tsar Peter I did his marine military exercises. Besides, the site is a birthplace of Alexander Nevsky.

In 2021, it was home to 37,000 people.

Get in

Pereslavl Zalessky is located on M8 and R74 highways. Moscow bus station at Schyolkovskaya metro station serves buses to the city and the travel will take 2-3 hours. There are also buses to Yaroslavl and Sergiev Posad. The town is not served by train though. If you're going to the town from the north, you can consider changing to the bus in Yaroslavl or Rostov Veliky (from train) or in Petrovsk from elektrichka.

Get around

Panoramic view of Pereslavl Zalessky

The city is rather small with basic historic attractions in the center and easily explorable by foot. You'd typically need about two days to get acquainted with the city.

See

Museums

• Pereslavl History and Art Preserve (take a bus#1 from the bus station to the stop 'Museum'), ☏ +7 48535 3-81-00, fax: +7 48535 2-31-24, museum@pereslavl.ru. May-Sep: Tu-Su 10:00-18:00. There is an original small boat botik of Tsar Peter (who was to become Peter the Great) inside the museum in the area. You can also order excursions around the city. 
• Pereslavl Kremlin surrounded by the rampart hill.
• Museum of Narrow-gauge Railways Kukushka, a wide open-air area showing steam-engines, carriages, hand cars, trucks, automobiles and a tank [1]. Museum is about 25 km to the west of the town, if you don't have a car, you'll most probably have to hitchhike there, as the only transport to get there is 2 buses to Kupanskoe in the morning. Detailed route with pictures is on the Russian version of the site with pictures [2]. Open W-Su 10:00–18:00. E-mail: info@kukushka.ru.
• Museum of irons (Музей утюга), an exhibition of old irons.
• Museum of kettles (Музей чайника) [3], a private collection of copper, porcelain and nickel silver kettles. On the route to Kukushka museum, but only 3 km from town, so it's possible to walk. Across the street from the museum of kettles - museum of history of money (Музей истории денег).
• Plescheyevo lake National Park with a dendrological garden.

Monasteries

• Goritsky Monstery
• Nikitsky Monastery (on the northern shore of the lake in some distance of the city)
• Saint Trinity Danilovsky Monastery
• Sretensky Novodevichy Monastery
• Fedorovsky Monastery

Do

Kite-surfing in summer.

Buy

• Embroidery, fabrics of the local factory.

Eat

• 1 FISCH HERBERG (Сельдь Царский Посол), Kardovskogo Ulitsa, 22 (conspicuously multi-colored building, so hard to miss), ☏ +7 920 109-94-00. M-F 08:00-21:00, Sa Su 08:00-23:00. Featuring local freshwater herring (Pereslavl vendace), also called the Tsar's Herring, as the centerpiece of its offerings, including herring ice cream, but this Dutch-Russian restaurant that also functions as a hotel/hostel, has cool paintings and caviar and sushi too. (updated Jun 2021)
• 2 Pereslavskaya Sloboda, Pereulok Veterinarnyy, 3, ☏ +7 920 133-90-53. daily 11:00-23:00. Set amongst an obscure complex of guest apartments, this restaurant features among other things mushroom soup, buckwheat salad, and borscht. (updated Jun 2021)

Sleep

• Rest bases on the lakeshore.
• 1 Hotel Pereslavl (Переславль), Rostovskaya Ulitsa, 27 (City center), ☏ +7 495 272-01-40. The biggest hotel with a travel agency, a bar, a cafe. Organization of horse-riding. from 1601 руб for double room. 
• 2 Nikolin Park Guest House, Ulitsa Gagarina, 28, ☏ +7 910 819-55-69. A cozy guest house with breakfast available on site for an extra charge, plus you can look out at a monastery from the premises. 1673 руб. (updated Jun 2021)
• 3 Victoria Plaza, Prigorodnaya Ulitsa, 10Б, Pereslavl-Zalessky, ☏ +7 800 301 11-76. Big modern-looking structure with restaurant, bar, complimentary breakfast, kid's arcade, hot tub, and some lake views, though not right on the lake. 2110 руб. (updated Jun 2021)

Cope

• Pereslavl agency of travels and excursions, 27 Rostovskaya st, ☏ +7 48535 31353, pbp.05@mail.ru. Excursions around the city. 
• YarOblTour, office 4, 1 Kuznetsova st, ☏ +7 48535 3-07-76, yarobltur.peresl@mail.ru. Acceptance of foreign tourists and excursions in the city and Yaroslavl Oblast. 

Go next

Depending on the direction of your journey you could move clockwise/counterclockwise along the Golden Ring cities like Rostov Veliky, Yuryev-Polsky, Yaroslavl or get back to Moscow. All routes are served by bus.