This Monastery is simple wonderful, I was two times , one in summer and one time in winter with snow blue sky and temperature near -20°, in any case just beauty! Only one suggestion, ask for the restoration work, to avoid seeing only scaffolding.
It's the most luxury looking monastery around Moscow. Walls are looking as the Great wall in china. Cathedral buildings inside are brilliantly decorated. So beautiful.There is holy spring which is famous in medical effects as it's known. Long line to take holy water into bottle. So famous place near Moscow, everytime full of people.Before Petersburg was built, Moscow was the capital and this monastery was the main church for Russian emperior. King and queen visited this monastery often on the way to go to their dacha near there. You can see 1917 revolution memorial statue near and you can enjoy good time baking shashilik in the thick beautiful forest near there. You need to think about traffic jam from/to Moscow, especially on Friday evening and Sunday afternoon. So many moskovites go to and from their dacha, road is fullfilled with cars. Anyhow really good place to see and feel Russian othordox church atmosphere. Some kind of active and luxury.
I liked the Sergiev Posad lavra. It's a remarkable ensemble of different churches and other buildings. However for me it's not a place for a whole day trip from Moscow, you can see the main sights within two hours if you don't insist on taking guided tour which might not be that interesting if you're not visiting the monastery for spiritual reasons. I would recomend visiting in winter instead of summer when tourists are herded inside from large tour buses and the place can be super crowded. Even in winter there are many people, but you'll be left with much more breathing space. And just read some guide or you might easily get bored with narrative that has much more to do with religion than history and culture. Some of the sings are quite amusing, such as: In this church, you can only pray for health.
I went there with my 5 year old son. The place is crowded: the tourists come by bus-loads! There is not enough benches to sit and the bathrooms smell terrible. My son got bored in 5 minutes so I had to entertain him by buying hand-made toys. They are expensive though: a wooden sword for 15 dollars. The only nice shop there is a pastry stand: everything is freshly made and delicious!
The best timing to visit is in the early morning. There are several mass held in the different church and it is very interesting to see what Russian people do in their religious ceremony. The day I visited had three masses on 05:30, 06:30 and 08:30, time duration was half an hour. The basement of the assumption church only opened until 10 in the morning, but it was worth to visit. The Lavra was so beautiful in the winter. I really enjoyed my nice walk. There were several shops which sold some religious stuffs and souvenirs and they were very amazing and cheap. Don't forget to fill your bottle with holy water.
I was lucky enough to visit this place during Orthodox Christmas. The place is magnificient. A must see.
Beautiful churches and glimpse into Russia's less talked about history. Worth the short commuter's train ride from Moscow. And try the kvas!!!! Super cheap and the best in the whole country!!
A nice two hour drive towards Yaroslav takes you to this small but picturesque town.We drove on a saturday but that also did not help as we encountered traffic snarls both while going and coming back. The road seems to be under construction for a small stretch outside Moscow...!The Monastery is stunningly beautiful....a true gem to visit if you are a believer in the faith or even otherwise. We went with our six month old for a day trip and it was worth it.The small stalls outside sell souvenirs at reasonable rates (especially if you compare them to Moscow).Parking is a major issue and the official parking is not allowed for tourists. You can either leave your car outside on the road or put it in paid parking (certainly damn cheap ).
You will be fascinated: in spite of all Russian nationalistic and populistic idiosincracies, this is a true gem to visit. The mainsay of the Golden Ring of Russia. It is worth-visiting this year in particular, when the monastery is celebrating the 700 anniversary of the birth of its patron saint, Sergiy from Radonezh.
Went there yesterday. Took 2 hrs of traffic to get there only to see scaffolding covering almost every building. Many were closed and there was really very little to see. The churches were very decorated inside, but no different to others we have seen in Moscow. Unless this place has religious significance to you it is not worth the traffic. Took us 3 hrs to get back. Hint. If you want a real toilet not the pit style, really smelly ones on the way in, wait till you get to the church of the trinity. There is one you pay 10 R for but it has a seat, is clean and does not smell right near entrance to the church. Don't bother with photography pass, not much to photograph. I am sure this place looks stunning when you can see all the buildings. It is being renovated for its 700 anniversary next year. Go after that!