Akademgorodok

This is a satellite town, some 20 km to the south from the centre of Novosibirsk, amid enchanting woodland close to the Ob Sea. Accessible by local train or minibus from the city, too.

Set up in Soviet times by one of Russia’s greatest minds, mathematician Mikhail Lavrentyev, it allowed the young forward-thinking scientists who moved East from Moscow and St Petersburg a pleasant lifestyle, enabling them to work successfully.

It is home to 32 institutes and researching centres, the Siberian branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and the Novosibirsk State University. 

At Akademgorodok, and a real favourite of this guide. Don't be fooled by the exterior, from the candlelit lobby this brilliant restaurant gives you the warmest welcome no matter how cold it is. In summer, there is also patio eating outside. 

A truly fine wine list and a mixture of sumptuous European, Asian and modern Russian food, plus a young and dedicated staff who ensure that your lunch or dinner will be memorable. 

One of Denis Ivanov's excellent restaurants in Novosibirsk and not always the one that attracts most media plaudits but for us this is a gem, showing the new Russia at its finest. 

Back in Soviet times, Akademgorodok was known as one of the best places to live, a home to some of the USSR's greatest scientists.

So far the only hotel in Akademgorodok, Novosibirsk's educational and scientific satellite community. Its name in Russian is 'Zolotaya Dolina', with locals quite often referring to it as 'ZD'. 

The Golden Valley is ideally located for more than 20 research institutes and the House of Scientists which are all in walking distance. Ob sea beach on the bank of the reservoir filled in 1959 is also just a walk away through some stunningly beautiful pine and birth tree forests. 

Unpretentious, The Golden Valley hotel offers ‘an excellent possibility for inexpensive but comfortable shelter for travellers’.  

Once I managed to make the Kremlin inhabitants to talk like human beings. But this time it was a wall far stronger than the Kremlin’s.

Once I managed to make the Kremlin inhabitants to talk like human beings. But this time it was a wall far stronger than the Kremlin’s.

You may be bang smack in the middle of old Imperial Russia, and so about as far from the sea as you can get, but Novosibirsk boasts several notable beaches.

One is in the city, called Nautilus, on the west bank of the Ob River near the Tube Bridge - and gets crowded on hot summer days. 

Or venture to the Ob Sea, a vast artificial lake created in 1957, and filled in 1959 near Akademgorodok, where university students chill out between lectures. 

Olga Chekanova, 24, went from nightclub at 4am, and taxi driver dropped her 200 metres from destination.

This exceptional collection of brightly coloured historic engines and carriages, dating from pre-revolutionary times, is fascinating as much for the casual visitor as the railway fanatic. 

You can climb into many of the old exhibits, and get a sense of the extraordinary Soviet locomotives that opened up Siberia in the age of steam.

From the city, you can get here by local train, perhaps combining a visit with sightseeing in Akademgorodok and at the Ob Sea.

Valentin Danilov was released from jail on Saturday after serving eight years of a controversial 13 year jail sentence for selling state secrets to China.