Autumn school holidays are the one week when a family trip can happen on ordinary weekdays: shorter queues, calmer museums. Three historic towns work well from St Petersburg — Veliky Novgorod, Pskov and Vologda. Each has a fortress at its centre each a single day's drive away.
With children, compact towns win. A kremlin where everything sits inside one wall means short walks and easy breaks.
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Why the autumn week works
Midweek travel changes the maths: the same streets that are packed on a Saturday are walkable on a Tuesday. Keep two plans for the weather — walls and embankments for a dry day, a museum and a long lunch for a wet one.
One big sight per day is enough. Children tire of moving, not of looking.
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Veliky Novgorod: the kremlin and St Sophia's
The detinets is walls, towers and one large cathedral inside, all on a human scale. St Sophia's sits deep within; it is dark and quiet, worth mentioning to a child after the noise of the ramparts, but the size and the old paintings need no explanation. Afterwards, cross the bridge — the walls look better from the water.
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Pskov: the Krom
The Krom stands on a promontory with walls above the water — the most legible fortress of the three. The climb up the rampart is short but slippery after rain. Inside there is a cathedral and a square; outside, low stone quarters that are pleasant to wander without a plan.
Author, licence, Wikimedia Commons
