8:00 Meeting your English-speaking driver at your address in Moscow. Transfer to Vladimir (200 km).

11:30 Meeting your English-speaking guide. City tour of Vladimir. Vladimir was once the mediaeval capital of the Russian state and so is an important city in terms of Russian history. The highlights of this tour include:

• Assumption cathedral, 1158, with the unique fresco by Andrey Rublev dated 1408 - the main cathedral of the city. For over 200 years this cathedral held the revered Our Lady of Vladimir Icon, which Prince Andrey Bogolyubsky brought from Vyshgorod in Ukraine to Vladimir. The icon was later transferred to Moscow and can now be seen in the Tretyakov Gallery. According to legend, the icon was created by Luke the Evangelist. The interior still retains fragments of frescos by Andrey Rublev. (CLOSED ON MONDAYS)
• Golden Gates - a rare monument of Russian 12th-century defensive architecture and all that remains of the walls which once surrounded Vladimir.
• St.Demetrius’ Cathedral - one of the most remarkable monuments of mediaeval Rus. It was built in the 1190s as a palace temple of Grand Prince Vsevolod the Big Nest of Vladimir and is decorated on the outside with engravings of plants and animals. (CLOSED ON TUESDAYS (IN WINTER). 
• The Lacquer boxes and Crystal glass museum

13:00 Transfer to Suzdal (35 km).

13:40 Time for lunch (own expense) 

14:30 City tour of Suzdal. Suzdal is perhaps the highlight of the Golden Ring, as the whole city is an open-air museum thanks to it being practically unspoiled by modernisation and industrialisation. On this excursion you will visit:

• Suzdal Kremlin - this is the oldest part and historical core of the city. Although the Kremlin's walls no longer stand, parts of the earthen mound fortifications do remain. The buildings inside the Kremlin are now used as museums. (CLOSED ON TUESDAYS (IN WINTER)
• Nativity Cathedral (1222) with the unique Golden doors produced in 1230 – the Kremlin's cathedral is the Nativity Cathedral and the current version stands on the place of an 11th-century version which was built on the orders of Vladimir Monomakh. The interior features stunning frescos as well as a necropolis where the sons of Yury Dolgoruky have been interred along with several members of various noble families from Suzdal. 
• Spaso-Yefimiev Monastery (1352) – this is the largest monastery in Suzdal and with its large fortified walls it is often mistaken for being the Suzdal Kremlin. It was the former KGB political jail. Today it is a museum with various exhibitions including its main cathedral with its amazing frescos. (CLOSED ON MONDAYS (IN WINTER)
• Museum of the Wooden Architecture and Peasant life – this collection of wooden buildings, including churches and windmills, from various parts of European Russia, is one of the best of architectural museums in Russia. It now resembles a village in itself made up of beautiful examples of 17th - 19th-century wooden buildings which have been brought here to protect them from fire or from being dismantled.
• Trading Rows (1812) – Suzdal’s set of trading rows are still used for their original purpose and a souvenir market is held outside where you can buy a whole range of souvenirs, including bottles of the mead for which Suzdal is famed.
• The Transfiguration of Jesus cathedral 1560, the bellman performance at the monastery

17:00 Transfer to Moscow (220 km).

Arrival to Moscow approximately at 21.00