Valdaysky National Park

The Valdai hills are a moraine upland left by the last glaciation, and their significance is hydrological: this is the watershed from which rivers run to the Caspian, the Baltic and the Black Sea, and the Volga rises here from a spring in a bog at Volgoverkhovye, marked by a chapel built over it. The national park protects about a hundred and sixty thousand hectares of that country - some two hundred lakes in kettle holes, spruce and pine forest, bog, and villages. Lake Valdayskoye is the centre, and on an island in it stands the Iversky monastery, founded in 1653 by Patriarch Nikon and rebuilt through the following centuries, reached now by a causeway. Walking, water and cycle routes run through the park. Valday is on the old road and the railway between Moscow and St Petersburg, which is why it has been visited for centuries.

What you actually see

• The watershed - the divide sending rivers to three different seas.
• The Volga source - a spring in a bog at Volgoverkhovye with a chapel over it.
• The Iversky monastery - a 1653 foundation on an island in Lake Valdayskoye.
• The lakes - around two hundred glacial kettle holes across the park.

When to go

May to September for walking and boats; the Volga source road is poor in the rains. Two days to a week. Winter brings skiing.

Honest expectations

The Volga source is a modest spring in a bog and disappoints people expecting a river - the interest is what it becomes. Mosquitoes and ticks with encephalitis risk in summer. The monastery is active; dress and behaviour rules apply. Roads to the outer sectors are rough.

Nearby

Valday town is on the lake; Veliky Novgorod is north-west.