NNogi | FeetNN private guided tours in Nizhny Novgorod local guides
Unique sightseeing walking and driving private guided tour “Nizhny Novgorod – European Heart of Russia” has three parts: "Kremlin and Pokrovka", "Dyatlovy Gory hills", "Auto 3 hrs".
Perfomed by journalist, historic preservation activist, local guide in Nizhny Novgorod Sergey Sipatov and his collegues.
The description, price and booking of the private guided tour can be found below.
A tour can be booked either wholly (green button below) or in parts (look below).
Book not later than 24 hrs before meeting. Tours for adults.
Reviews are below.
Location: Nizhny Novgorod
Time: Monday to Sunday, 10:00 to 18:00
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Sightseeing tour
"Nizhny Novgorod – European Heart of Russia"
Nizhny Novgorod is one the most ancient and picturesque cities of Russia. It is located on Dyatlovy Gory hills at the spit of the two largest European rivers – the Volga and the Oka, in the heart of the East European or Russian plain. Incredible views, the biggest mark in history, as well as warmth and comfort of the province will definitely touch your feelings.
The fortified town of medieval Rus – Nov Grad Nizhny. The largest center of world trade, “Pocket of Russia” before the revolution 1917. The largest Soviet industrial city of Gorky. Homeland of Kozma Minin, Ivan Kulibin, Maxim Gorky and Valery Chkalov.
"Kremlin and Pokrovka" (walking tour, 2 hrs, 3 km) - main pedestrian street Bolshaya Pokrovskaya, commercial and residential real estate of 19th-20th centuries, Drama theater, famous citizens, monuments and museums, contemporary Art, Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin, Dyatlovy Gory hills, Volga’s waterscape, Church of the Archangel Michael (1631), Eternal flame, administrative buildings of 18th-20th centuries, exhibition of military equipment of 1941-1945, Stalingrad's (Chkalov’s) stairs
Our walking tour will start from the main pedestrian street of Nizhny Novgorod - Bolshaya Pokrovskaya which in 19th-20th centuries was a noble and merchant street. We will see such masterpieces as GosBank (State Bank) opened for the 300th anniversary of Romanov’s family by emperor Nikolai II and Drama theatre which was opened by performance of Fyodor Chaliapin especially for 1896 All-Russian Art and Industry Exhibition, one of the largest ones in the world. Then we shall go around the Kremlin and inside of it. This is the unique monument of history and 16-th century architecture, the second largest in Russia and the only one with height difference of 80 meters. It was one of the winners of the Federal project-contest “Russia 10”.
Here everyone will touch the ancient walls of Kremlin and will have the chance to visit the oldest church of the city – Cathedral after Michael the Archangel (1631) and the grave of Kozma Minin in it. The Kremlin has incredible views on Volga and Zavolzhye (area behind the Volga). There are a lot of cultural and historical monuments in the territory of the Kremlin. They include Arsenal (now - the Center of Contemporary art) and the House of Governor General (State art museum) constructed with the participation of emperor Nikolay I, Cadet Corps after count Arakcheev, a constructivism monument - Dom Sovetov (House of Soviets) built in the form of an airplane, the display of the Second World War military equipment manufactured in Gorky (Nizhny Novgorod) and the Eternal flame. At the end of our walking tour we will find ourselves in Stalingrad's (Chkalov’s) stairs and admire once again the wonderful Volga views.
Start: Bolshaya Pokrovskaya, 26 - GosBank. Finish: Verkhnevolzhskaya nab. 1 - Chkalov monument. Length: 3 km.
The route map of “Kremlin and Pokrovka”: Click here!
For 1-7 people's group the price is 7000 rur per group. If your number is greater, then the price is 1000 rur per person.
"Dyatlovy Gory hills" (walking tour, 2 hrs, 3 km) - Dyatlovy Gory hills, views at the spit of the Volga and the Oka, merchant chambers and churches of the 17th-19th centuries, wooden Nizhny, famous citizen Ivan Kulibin and Maxim Gorky, Soviet and modern arcitecture, street art
Our walking tour will be focused on Dyatlovy Gory hills which have incredible view on Strelka (spit) of the Volga and the Oka, the great Zavolzhye views where, according to foreigners, Russia begins. This is here where almost 800 years ago Nov Grad Nizhny (New Fortress of Lower lands) later - Nizhny Novgorod was founded by a descendant of Rurik and Kievan Rus’ dukes, the grandson of Moscow’s founder Yuriy Dolgorukiy, Yuriy II Vsevolodovich.
Behind the Oka which divides the city into two parts, we will see world-famous Nizhny Novgorod (Makaryev) Yarmarka (trade fair), the largest in the Russian empire. Due to this trade fair people called Nizhny Novgorod “the Pocket of Russia”. We will also learn that not far away from the trade fair there was the world’s largest All-Russian art and industry exhibition of 1896. And especially for holding this exhibition Nizhny Novgorod changed beyond recognition and by now it has kept all the magnificence and the fame of that time.
We will see three remaining merchant chambers of the 17-th century and the wooden houses on the stone foundation which Nizhny is famous for. We will learn the stories of setting up two churches in the 17-th century, one of which is related to divine rescue of Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin and to the name of the longest historical street of Nizhny Novgorod - Ilyinskya street. We will visit the place where Ivan Kulibin, an ingenious self-taught mechanic, was born and lived the most part of his life. We will pass by a house where Maxim Gorky, the “thunderbird of revolution” used to live when he was a child (our city was named after Gorky in Soviet epoch). Besides, we will walk along upper embankments of the Volga and the Oka, admire the view on Rozhdestvenskaya street from above, the view on Pochayna’s gulley and get acquainted with the sacred river Pochayna near which the Kremlin was constructed.
Start: Bolshaya Pokrovskaya street, 13 – Drama theatre. Finish: Zalomov’s street, 2 - Azimut hotel. Length: 3 km.
Route map: “Dyatlovy Gory”: Click here!
For 1-7 people's group the price is 7000 rur per group. If your number is greater, then the price is 1000 rur per person.
"Auto 3 hrs" (driving tour, 3 hrs, 20 km) - Minin and Pozharskiy’s square, famous sitizens and heros, Upper embankment of Volga, mansions, museums and monuments, Cable car from below, Lower embankment of Volga, Stalingrad's (Chkalov’s) stairs, Narodnoye Edinstvo (People’s unanimity) square, Rozhdestvenskaya street and Stroganov's church, Kanavino bridge, Strelka, Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, Nizhny Novgorod trade fair, Dyatlovy Gory hills, views at the spit of the Volga and the Oka
We will drive following the routes described above (except Kremlin, where you can only get in on foot) and visit all the places we admired from Dyatlovy Gory hills, and even those places which you will not find in the travel guide. We will start the trip from the main square of Nizhny Novgorod - Minin and Pozharskiy’s square. We will drive along the Upper embankment of the Volga, one of the main places for walking. It has views on Volzhskiy Otkos (the Volga slope) and wonderful architecture. Then we’ll go down to Cable car, the biggest in Europe, and look from far at the ancient Pecherskiy Monastery, founded by a monk of the Kievo-Pecherskiy Lavra (Monastery of Caves) in 1330. We will go along a beautiful lower Embankment of Volga, admire from below the Stalingrad's (Chkalov’s) stairs which is the biggest in Russia. We will visit Narodnoye Edinstvo (People’s unanimity) square where Kozma Minin appealed for the rescue of the motherland.
We will also visit one of the most beautiful churches – church of Synaxis of the Most Holy God's Mother constructed in Rozhdestvenskaya street by merchant Grigory Stroganov in the end of the 17-th century.
By means of Kanavinskiy bridge, which itself is a monument, we will cross the Oka and find ourselves in the territory of Nizhny Novgorod trade fair. We will visit Alexander Nevskiy Cathedral, which is the biggest in the Volga region and has a unique construction. We will look from far at Staroyarmarochniy Spasskiy Cathedral which is the prototype of St. Isaac’s Cathedral in St. Petersburg and the oldest building of Nizhny Novgorod trade fair. And we’ll surely see Glavniy Yarmarochniy Dom (Main Fair House). Then we’ll go up the Dyatlovy Gory hills and look from far at Blagoveshchenskiy Monastery which was founded in the same year as Nizhny Novgorod (1221), Nizhny Novgorod circus, the biggest in Europe, and all beautiful places we have been to - from above.
Start: Bolshaya Pokrovskaya street, 1 - Minin and Pozharskiy’s square. Finish: Zalomov street, 2 – Azimut hotel. Length: 22 km. Car: Lada Kalina 920 or foreign car.
Route map: “Auto 3 hrs”: Click here!
For 1-4 people's group the price is 10000 rur per group. If your number is greater, then the price is 2500 rur per person.
Topic-based guided tours
Our list has also different classical and topic-based routes which will help you to see ordinary and unordinary Nizhny Novgorod – its history and its present.
Ukraine in Nizhny Novgorod
We will start our tour along Upper embankment of the Volga from the monument to great Russian pilot Pyotr Nesterov, who was an aircraft designer and an aerobatics pioneer, the author of loop (Kiev, 1913) and the World War I hero - he was the first in the world to conduct a ramming – it happened in the battle for Lvov town (1914). Then we’ll see a wall memorial to Taras Shevchenko, a great Ukrainian poet, ingenious rebel Taras Shevchenko who lived in Nizhny Novgorod in 1857 – 1858.
We will visit Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin and we’ll remember Simon, Vladimir-Suzdal bishop who became a monk in the Kiev Pechersk Lavra (Kiev Monastery of the Caves), and who was father confessor of grand duke Yury II Vsevolodovich, Nizhny Novgorod founder and the descendant of Kievan Rus’ dukes.
Standing near Pochayna river, we’ll remember Pochayna river’s forerunner from Kiev, this river having the same name. On the Upper embankment of the Oka (emb. Fedorovskogo) we’ll stand near the “sailboats” with flags of cities and towns twinned with Nizhny Novgorod and remember Kiev’s duke Svyatoslav I of Kiev who beat Khazar Kagnate: his sailboats used to drift along this river.
Besides we’ll remember that the name of Kunavino Sloboda (settlement) which is located on the other bank of the Oka and which accommodated Nizhny Novgorod (Makaryev) trade fair, this fair being the largest in Russia and famous all over the world. Besides Kunavino sounds similar to the name of a monetary unit Kuna which was equal to 1/50 of grivna.
Start from monument to Pyotr Nesterov (VerkhneVolzhskaya nab., 9а).
Socialist city of Gorky automobile plant
In 1930-1940 Gorky automobile plant (GAZ) was the largest in Europe. Due to this fact Nizhny Novgorod was called Russian Detroit. We will visit a unique Socialist city (SotsGorod) constructed especially for workers of the GAZ plant in the style of constructivism and Stalin’s Empire style.
The guide tour will begin near the Museum of Gorky Automobile plant history (you can visit the museum by yourself). There a huge display of the Company’s model line-up is provided, including unique cars of Soviet and Russian automobile industry manufactured in Nizhny Novgorod.
Then we’ll see the neighboring territory of SotsGorod which is not less popular than the Plant. SotsGorod is the residential area constructed especially for the workers of the auto giant in the soviet style of constructivism which gave birth to the world trend in architecture and art, as well as in style of Stalin’s Empire. During the unhasting walking tour we will discuss the history of SotsGorod, its architecture and life in the light of that epoch, plant’s work and its founders’ destiny, the country and the entire world.
GAZ history museum working hours: Monday – Thursday – 9.00 a.m. to 6 p.m., Friday 9.00 a.m. to 5.00 p.m., Saturday - 9.00 a.m.to 4.00 p.m., Sunday - closed.
Entrance tickets are paid separately on-site:
for adults - 100 rubles, for children – 50 rubles.
Start of the guided tour: GAZ main checkpoint (metro station "Kirovskaya") near the monument to lorry GAZ-АА.
Quarter of 1833 year
At our tour we’ll get acquainted with historical quarter unique for Russia which borders were planned in 1833. We will see and learn how the history of the quarter is related to the names of Maxim Gorky, Ivan Kulibin, Alexander Pushkin, Ekaterina II, Nikolai I, the world’s largest All-Russian art and industry exhibition, the establishment of people’s education system, to the beginnings of historical and archival activity, Orthodoxy and Charity with a capital “C”, to revolution, to the only museum of the intellectuals in the world, as well as to many other things.
Our tour will begin from the Church of St. Pyotr and Pavel, the only monument of Russian baroque of the middle of the 18–th century. Near it there is a grave of Ivan Kulibin, an ingenious inventor who gave birth to all Russian mechanical science and who is called Russian Leonardo da Vinci. We‘ll visit this place and I’ll tell you about his inventions which were ahead of time.
Then we’ll see one of the first industrial schools constructed at the expense of a merchant Sergeev (we will also learn how much money he donated to in icon-stand gilding of St. Pyotr and Pavel Church). We will learn how the merchant – charity giver and philanthropist gave money to develop people’s education system, helped the teachers not only in Nizhny Novgorod but from all over the Russia. We’ll learn how the world’s largest All-Russian art and industry exhibition of 1896 is related to Sergeev’s industrial school.
Then we’ll pass to the house of Pyotr Albitskiy, St. Pyotr and Pavel church prior, and we’ll learn who was the author of a writing about Alexander Pushkin, a great Russian poet, staying in Nizhny Novgorod, where this book is now and how the archive-keeping was started in Nizhny Novgorod.
Then we’ll go to the house of Fyodor Stolyarov, a bourgeois, a midsized merchant whose house is the most decorated with wood carving. We’ll learn which Emperor ordered by his decree to build wooden houses with stone foundation, why they represent an example of national ideas on beauty and why they attract tourists from Europe and Japan.
Then we’ll move to Nevzorov’s family house, we’ll learn about the origination of revolutionary movement, about the connection of Lenin with this house, about the Museum of Nizhny Novgorod intellectuals where the atmosphere of the end 19 – beginning of 20 century is recreated, this museum being the only one of such kind in Russia and maybe even in the world (at present the museum is closed and the exposition is moved to a different place).
Then we’ll go to the houses of a handworker Sergey Pavlov and bourgeois Sergey Sobolev. We’ll learn about their contribution to development of charity and people’s education. We will also go to the place where in the end of 1990-beginning of 2000 the first rehearsals of $7000 rock group took place. This group is famous not only in Russia but all over the world; it produced albums in Japan and re-recorded them in England and Italy at the expense of ordinary people (donations).
We’ll learn how to help to save and reconstruct the neighborhood which has been sentenced to destruction by local authorities.
Start near St. Pyotr and Pavel church (Maxim Gorky street, 141а).
All-knowing guides
Our guides will tell you a lot of interesting things - as they are not only interested in the history of the city but they also stay on top of the latest events of its life.
Transport
Transport services can be provided if the route objects are very far away. The car is provided for small groups and the comfortable minibus is for big ones. Those who want to feel the city’s individuality can use its public transport or other vehicles – for example, a bike or a cable road.
Translator
Foreign guests may use our translator’s services. Translation is available from any language, except Klingon and bushmen’s languages.
Photo shoot sessions
Our photographer will take a photo of you on the background of a beautiful landscape, a famous monument, a peculiar construction or at the exiting period of the guided tour.
Reviews
Elena Ivanova
We came to Nizhny Novgorod for November holidays. Three hours of the tour passed very quickly. Sergey knows his city’s history very well and he can speak about it in an interesting and amusing way, adapting easily his presentation to the clients’ requests. We spent our time very well. When we come to Nizhny Novgorod again we will definitely want to meet Sergey once again in order to continue the acquaintance with Nizhny Novgorod.
Roman Aleksyuk
The guided tour passed very well. Though we were not lucky with the weather which was a bit bad. The day before it had snowed and it had got very cold. The sidewalk and all ladders were similar to a skating rink. But it was the only disadvantage.
I liked the city. At once.
It has been well said that the main assets is people. Our guide Sergey is my first acquaintance from Nizhny. And such luck!
An extravert, enthusiastic and cheerful person. He passed two days with us. He didn’t just conduct the tour but he was a real guide into the city’s history. I have never noticed his looking at his watch or establishing the limits of our communication. He has a good plan of presentation. But we often asked questions, switched to details and he always answered.
For Sergey personally: Thank you once again for your attention and a great desire to tell us about your city. The things you do are not within the framework of the concept of a standard guided tour. This is much more. And we are grateful to you. We really liked it.
Mariya Batanina
We are extremely grateful to Sergey for such an exciting and informative walking tour. It wasn’t just a guided tour, it was a like a conversation with a friend, a very interesting person who loves his city and is proud of it. We would never see so many amusing places and would never learn so many wonderful facts which are not described in travel guides if Sergey weren’t our guide. Our walking tour lasted for 3.5 hours but it went in the same breath. In the evening we shared impressions with friends who live in the city and they didn’t know a half of what we had been told. Thanks a lot to Sergey! We will definitely come back to Nizhny Novgorod once again!
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