Nearly nine thousand exclusive photographs from all over the country were competing in the "Travel at home" 2016 photo contest organized by the Russian TRIP2RUS.RU tourism website, with the support of Russia's Federal Agency for Tourism. A jury of well-known Russian photographers, journalists, PR-professionals and travelers chose 32 winners in seven categories.
Here are some of those prize-winning photographs, which are literally inviting you to go to Baikal, Vologda or Altai and explore the vast beauty of Russia.
"Bounty Island" (the Languishing heart Island, Primorsky Region) by Vitaly Berkov. First place in the "Landscape" category.
"Christmas morning in Ural" (Sverdlovsk Region) by Sergei Fedorov. Joint second place in the "Landscape" category.
"Gold of Kolyma" (Magadan Region) by Antonina Andreeva. Joint second place in the "Landscape" category.
"Dargavs - Ossetia" (Republic of North Ossetia-Alania) by Magomedshapi Taymasov. Joint third place in the "Landscape" category.
"Misty Morning" (Altai Region) by Rinat Yamaliev. Joint third place in the "Landscape" category.
"Dawn in Dunilovo" (Ivanovo Region) by Evgeny Vorobiev. Special prize in the "Landscape" category.
"Aurora" (St. Petersburg) by Azat Bikkinin. First place in the "Sights" category.
"Mamaev Kurgan at night" (Volgograd Region) by Ruslan Mironovsky. Second place in the "Sights" category.
"Sunset at VDNKh" (Moscow) by Ruslan Tokhtiev. Joint third place in the "Sights" category.
"The Saviour Priluki Monastery" (Vologda Region) by Andrei Belavin. Joint third place in the "Sights" category.
"Kupala Day wreath" (Arkhangelsk Region) by Evgeny Mazilov. First place in the "Folk traditions and crafts" category.
"Shaman" (Irkutsk Region) by Alexey Lisitsyn. Second place in the "Folk traditions and crafts" category.
"Passing the traditions" (Krasnodar Region) by Olga Pogorina. Joint third place in the "Folk traditions and crafts" category.
"Once, during Maslenitsa" (Moscow Region) by Oleg Zadorozhnyy. Joint third place in the "Folk traditions and crafts" category.
"Guide to the Teletskoe Lake" (Altai Republic) by Alexander Savchenko. First place in the "Narrative photos" category.
"Me, you and the silence" (Republic of Karelia) by Anastasia Manina. Second place in the "Narrative photos" category.
"St. Petersburg’s cowboy" (St. Petersburg) by Vladimir Palchik. Joint third place in the "Narrative photos" category.
"Arman’s fields" (Magadan Region) by Artem Kovalev. Joint third place in the "Narrative photos" category.
"Fly, airplanes" (Primorsky Region) by Igor Zhabsky. People's Choice Award in the "Narrative photos" category.
"Perepechi," an Udmurt national dish (Republic of Udmurtia) by Julia Semenova. First place in the "Gastronomic journey" special category.
"What could be better than the Caucasian cheese" (Republic of Mordovia) by Victoria Igushkina. Joint second place in the "Gastronomic journey" special category.
"Baikal fish" (Irkutsk Region) by Eugene Vitiugova. Joint second place in the "Gastronomic journey" special category.
"Nightingale Grove" (GrilFest 2016, an international BBQ festival in Belgorod) by Ilya Dubousov. Joint third place in the "Gastronomic journey" special category.
