Yekaterinburg_

Straddling Europe's edge and Asia's dawn in the Ural Mountains, Yekaterinburg pulses with industrial grit softened by gleaming Orthodox spires. Digital nomads appreciate its subarctic winters yielding to vivid summers, solid WiFi in repurposed Soviet cafes, and easy flights connecting to Moscow or Beijing. Dive into its Romanov history amid a burgeoning craft beer scene that fuels late-night coding sessions.

The city is located on the Iset River between the Volga-Ural region and Siberia, with a population of roughly 1.5 million residents, up to 2.2 million residents in the urban agglomeration. Yekaterinburg is the fourth most populous city in Russia, the largest city in the Ural Federal District, and one of Russia's main cultural and industrial centres. Yekaterinburg has been dubbed the "third capital of Russia", as it is ranked third by the size of its economy, culture, transportation and tourism, behind Moscow and Saint Petersburg. Yekaterinburg was founded on 18 November 1723 and named after the Orthodox name of Catherine I (born Marta Helena Skowrońska), the wife of Russian Emperor Peter the Great. The city served as the mining capital of the Russian Empire as well as a strategic connection between Europe and Asia.