Lenin Square

As a reminder of its Soviet past, a vast brooding statue of Lenin still glowers over a city centre that has already lost much of its Communist feel.

Good for souvenir photos, as a meeting point and just as beginning of your walk or drive about the city.

You may see just married couples visiting here and sipping champagne. Pleasant gardens around this square and open air exhibitions.

Monuments to the Bolshevik leader are the key to a new competitive sport called Lenining. 

A 23 year old woman has been fined for running down Lenin Avenue in Tomsk in sub-zero temperatures - wearing only her swim suit.

A splash of green in the middle of the bustling city, at least in summer, with fountains and pleasant cafes.

Horse rides at weekends, with live music concerts. 

Right opposite Novosibirsk City Hall at Lenin square. 

Perhaps the best located hotel in Novosibirsk for those who need to be right in the city centre. A two minutes walk from the Lenin Square, ten minute drive from Novosibirsk Glavniy train station, and about 40 minute drive from Tolmachyovo airport. 

Tsentralnaya Hotel is a budget option, covering the basics like free wifi, free parking, ATMs, air tickets office, sushi bar and a buffet, laundry, ironing and hairdressers. 

The hotel offers studios, as well as deluxe and standard double and single rooms. 

Completed during the Second World War, and with its first performance three days after peace in Europe on 12 May 1945, it is arguably the most extraordinary building in all Siberia. 

Located on Lenin Square, it includes a vast dome some 60 metres wide and 35 metres high supported by neither columns nor girders. The dome is some 8cm thick, meaning that the ratio to its radius is less than that of a hen's egg. 

The theatre has a capacity of just under 1,800, with a total area of 11,837 square metres and a volume of 294,340 cubic metres.

Longest established Irish pub in Novosibirsk. Formerly 'Beer Mug', it was also the first Irish pub opened east of Urals in 1997. 

Certainly worth a visit, even for a quick pint of - always fresh - Guinness.

It is only a short walk up the Krasniy Prospect from Lenin Square, where the Opera and Ballet is; two rooms, sitting up to 60 people, get crowded on weekends, when popular local bands play live music. 

Now the fun begins: tourists swimming in -60C and momentous meeting between the seasonal icons Chyskhaan and Grandfather Frost.

Marriott opens prestigious new hotel on 16 June in Novosibirsk, Siberia's biggest city.