Northern plus: during the holidays, accommodation was most often booked in Moscow and the Urals

Russians booked the most apartments from December 31 to January 11 in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Krasnodar Territory, Sverdlovsk, Novosibirsk, Nizhny Novgorod and Leningrad regions. They accounted for more than half of all short-term rental housing, the aggregators told Izvestia. At the same time, they started choosing apartments and houses for the New Year holidays in the summer, but the peak occurred at the end of December – January due to the traditional increase in the number of spontaneous trips. The average price per night increased by 7-9% compared to last year. Where Russians went for the longest weekend of the year is in the Izvestia article.

Where did the tourists stay

During the New Year holidays, tourists most often stayed in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Krasnodar Territory, Moscow, Sverdlovsk regions, told Izvestia in Cyan. Apartments and houses were in demand in the Novosibirsk, Nizhny Novgorod, Leningrad and Rostov regions, as well as Tatarstan.

"The five leading regions accounted for more than half of all housing bookings — 54%," the company said. "Locations with million-plus cities and other large interregional centers, which are visited not only for tourist purposes, but also for personal business, were in the top in terms of the number of bookings."

In 90% of cases, vacationers booked an apartment, in 10% — a house. The only region where suburban accommodation was more often chosen was the Leningrad Region. There is also a high proportion of house bookings in Karelia, the Moscow Region, Kaluga, Vladimir, Tver and Yaroslavl regions.

The top 15 destinations also include Nizhny Novgorod, Kaliningrad, Kislovodsk, Yaroslavl, Yekaterinburg, Kostroma, Veliky Novgorod, Pskov, added the marketing director of the Russian online booking service "Daily.<url>" by Airat Musin.

— The largest increase in bookings — 50% — was observed in Krasnodar, where the airport resumed its work, — he said. — In addition, the demand for Kostroma, the birthplace of the Snow Maiden, has increased significantly during these holidays. Thus, this city has overtaken Veliky Ustyug in popularity, where the residence of Santa Claus is located. Holiday rentals here cost an average of 9,000 rubles.

Decorate the winter: top of the most impressive activities during the cold season of 2026

Guests are expected in the New Year's capital of Russia, on the glorious Kulikovo field, in the antique Kargopol and a number of other boring places.

In addition, Minsk is traditionally popular among Russians during the New Year holidays. The demand for it increased by 30% over the year, stimulating the price increase. The rates were higher than in Moscow and St. Petersburg — an average of 9.4 thousand rubles per day.

The highest rental prices on holidays were in Nizhny Novgorod, Yaroslavl, Veliky Novgorod, Moscow, Kazan, Pskov, St. Petersburg and Kislovodsk, Airat Musin added. In general, the average rate for holidays in Russia was 7 thousand rubles per day, which is 7% more than last New Year's Eve.

Russians went on trips spontaneously

The total number of hotel and apartment bookings has increased by 18% this season, Yandex Travel said. The average price per night increased by 9% compared to last year and amounted to 10.2 thousand rubles.

According to the Avito Travel technology platform, the number of daily apartment orders increased by 22% compared to last year. Suburban real estate has become 57% more popular compared to the New Year holidays in 2025.

"Among the top 15 regions, the number of bookings increased the most in Nizhny Novgorod (+98%), Kemerovo (+77%), Vologda Oblasts (+76%), the Republics of Tatarstan and Adygea (+71% in each)," they said.

Apartments were chosen mainly in the capital: the share of orders for such accommodation options in Moscow was 16.5%, St. Petersburg was in second place with a 9.2% share, and Estosadok (a village in the Adler district of the resort city of Sochi, 3.8% of orders) closed the top three, added Elena Shelekhova, head of the OneTwoTrip travel planning service..

— Krasnodar and Kazan also entered the top 5 with a share of 3.5%, — she said. — The average duration of apartment bookings during the January holidays in the country was 2.5 days.

Tourists started choosing apartments and houses for the New Year holidays in the summer, but the peak of activity occurred at the end of December. More than half of all bookings turned out to be spontaneous, said Elena Bobrovskaya, a leading analyst at Cian.

— Metropolitan regions and regions with large cities remain the leaders in booking housing for the New Year holidays. The purpose of a significant proportion of trips is not tourism, but personal matters," the expert added.

More than half of the bookings, 54%, were made no more than three days before the date of the trip, that is, they were spontaneous, she said.

The main driver of spontaneous travel bookings is often a randomly discovered profitable offer, said the head of international projects "Fly.<url>" and Lyubov Voronina, Managing Director of the Let's Fly tour operator. The contrast with the usual prices plays a key role.

"Last—minute tours with a very attractive price are also becoming a strong incentive, allowing, for example, to go to Vietnam for 100 thousand rubles," she said. — Motivation can be more complicated. Some airlines periodically launch large-scale promotions with significant discounts, such as 50% on airline tickets. Many people, trying to fix a favorable price, first purchase tickets, and only then select a suitable tour or hotel for them.

How Russians choose routes

The choice of destinations for New Year's trips and the surge in spontaneous bookings are quite natural and reflect several stable trends in domestic tourism that have developed in recent years with the active support of government policy, says Ekaterina Kosareva, managing partner of the analytical agency VMT Consult.

"Moscow and St. Petersburg traditionally remain the centers of attraction during the festive period," the expert noted. — These are cities with the most intense event program, well-developed infrastructure, convenient logistics and a predictable level of service. For a tourist, this is the minimization of uncertainty: even with a spontaneous trip, you can rely on transport, leisure, gastronomy and a wide range of accommodation.

Rules of silence in Russia: when it is allowed to make noise according to the law and what to do in case of violations

There are no special restrictions and indulgences for the New Year holidays.

Residents of neighboring regions are also traveling to the Sverdlovsk, Novosibirsk and Nizhny Novgorod regions, Ekaterina Kosareva noted. This is a quick and logical way to change the situation without complicated logistics.

"A combination of developed urban agglomerations, business activity and cultural routes plays a key role here," she said. — In addition, it is in these regions that the quality of the urban environment, event tourism and small forms of accommodation has increased significantly in recent years, which directly affects the choice of travelers.

The interest in spontaneous trips on New Year's holidays is largely explained not only by changes in travel habits, but also by deeper psychological reasons, neuropsychologist Maria Todorova believes. Such trips become a way to gently restore inner balance during a period when a person is accumulating emotional fatigue.

"The end of the year is a time of taking stock, high expectations and often hidden tension," she said. — Even if everything looks good on the outside, the psyche is in a state of overload: a lot of responsibility, obligations to family, work, children. A spontaneous trip in this situation acts as a form of a permitted way out of tension, without long discussions, complicated plans and additional pressure. It is important for a person to quickly change the environment in order to give the nervous system a signal: the danger is over, you can exhale.

From a neuropsychological point of view, changing spaces and unplanned trips is one of the fastest ways to switch the brain from constant monitoring mode to recovery mode, the expert emphasized. That is why the peak of such trips falls at the end of December and the beginning of January, when the need for a reboot reaches its maximum.