An ancient peripheral town Suzdal is world-famous for its Kremlin and White Monuments listed as UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The annual Cucumber festival there is a unique opportunity to experience this town, and take part in contests and other amusing activities with locals.

Place: Suzdal, Russia

Location: 220 km (135 miles) North-East of Moscow

Date: 15 July 2017

The Cucumber Festival takes place annually in midsummer, during the harvest of vegetables in one of the most ancient Russian towns, Suzdal. It provides parades, contests and concerts, music and dancing, games and raffles, and, of course, cucumbers prepared in every way possible, making them Suzdal’s delicacies. Have you ever tasted a cucumber jam? The people here use cucumbers in thousands of different dishes, from cucumber soups, to cucumber cakes and rolls, and even cucumber drinks.

The region’s most famous entertainers perform different plays relating to cucumbers. Tourists also can buy cucumber souvenirs made of clay, wood and other materials.

One of the most important events of this festival is the cucumber eating contest, where competitors try to eat as many cucumbers as possible in the set time limit. Judging by the whole atmosphere of the festival, the winner probably receives some cucumbers as the prize.

Festivities. Photo by Andrey Atulkov

Once the Cucumber Festival is over, Suzdal returns to its routine of a provincial town barely modernized since its heyday back in the 11 -13th centuries. Suzdal will introduce to you another Russia; you can witness the rustic lifestyle of a peripheral town that tourists rarely see in the big cities. Suzdal will fascinate you with its white-stone walls, riverside convents and monasteries, as well as typical Russian wooden architecture around the main treasure-trove – Suzdal's Kremlin.

The Kremlin in the town of Suzdal

A wander around Suzdal will give you a glimpse of medieval Russia, with the decorative wooden frames of the houses, magnificent 12th-13th-century buildings and vegetable gardens that feed many local families.​

If we inspired you to step back in time and experience an authentic and tranquil atmosphere of this provincial town, why not to contact our specialists to arrange your trip to Suzdal and find out all your options?

​On the main image: Spaso-Evfimiyev Monastery, photo by Yuree Markevich.