Vyborg Castle and Old Town

Vyborg was founded as a Swedish castle in 1293 on an islet in the bay, and the town that grew round it was Swedish, then Russian from 1710, then Finnish between the wars, then Soviet after 1944 - which is why it looks unlike anywhere else in Russia. The castle's St Olaf tower can be climbed for the view over the bay and the roofs. Around it survives genuine medieval and early modern fabric: the Round Tower of 1550 on the market square, the Clock Tower, a merchant house of the sixteenth century that is among the oldest residential buildings in the country, sections of the town wall, and cobbled lanes on the granite. There is also a substantial body of Finnish national romantic and functionalist architecture, most importantly Alvar Aalto's library of 1935, restored in a Russian-Finnish project completed in 2013 and among the significant modernist buildings in the country.

What you actually see

• The 1293 castle - a Swedish foundation on an islet, with a climbable tower.
• The medieval fabric - the only surviving medieval town remains in Russia.
• Aalto's library - a 1935 modernist building restored by 2013.
• The layered history - Swedish, Russian, Finnish and Soviet in one town.

When to go

May to September. Half a day for the castle, a full day with the town and Mon Repos park. Ninety minutes by train from St Petersburg.

Honest expectations

Much of the old town is in poor repair and some buildings are derelict and fenced. Restoration is patchy and slow. The castle has been partly closed for works for years. Vyborg is a border town and areas near the frontier have restrictions.

Nearby

Mon Repos park is on the northern edge; the Finnish border is west.