Some of Russian culture lives in theatres and books. A lot of it lives in places nobody would call culture: a steam room, a nine-storey block, a coffee counter on the ground floor of that block. This is a short guide to three of them.
1. The banya: not a sauna, a social event
A Russian banya is a wet steam bath. Water goes on hot stones, the air gets heavy, and people take turns with a venik — a bundle of birch or oak branches used to beat and fan the heat into the skin. Then you cool off: a cold shower, a plunge pool, or snow if you are outside the city.
The rhythm matters more than the temperature. Several short rounds, long breaks with tea in between, conversation. People go with friends or family and stay for hours.
First time
Drink water, not alcohol. Leave when you feel dizzy — nobody will judge you. Wear a felt hat if one is offered: it protects your head from the heat. Public banyas are usually split by gender; check before you go.
2. Panel blocks: the backdrop everyone knows
Mass-built prefabricated housing — the khrushchyovka of the late 1950s–60s and the taller panel blocks that followed — was the Soviet answer to a housing shortage. Whole districts were built from the same designs, which is why an identical flat in an identical block in another city is a joke Russians instantly understand.
Foreigners often see them as grim. For most people who grew up there, they are simply home: a courtyard with a playground, grandmothers on a bench, a corner shop. Many of these courtyards now also have new playgrounds and small cafés on the ground floor.
The block is not the aesthetic. The life around it is.
3. Coffee: the quiet revolution
Russia is historically a tea country, but in big cities specialty coffee has become ordinary: small counters, often takeaway-only, serving flat whites and filter coffee to people on their way to work. Raf — espresso with cream and vanilla sugar, whipped together — is a drink you will find in Russia and rarely elsewhere.
If you want one practical tip: order a raf once, for the story. Then order whatever you usually drink — the quality is often better than you expect.
What we are not claiming
Customs vary by city and by family. Prices and opening hours of specific banyas and cafés change, so we do not list them here — check the place directly before you go.