Tuutari Park, Bornitsky quarry, geological masterpieces and cozy Meadows

An hour's drive from the city center is Tuutari Park, a year-round center for active recreation. The park is located at the foot of Kirchhoff Mountain. From its top you can see St. Petersburg. In winter you can go snowboarding or skiing here. In the warmer months, you can enjoy the rope park, zip-lining, biking or rollerblading.
Horseback riding and horseback riding in the fields are available (you have to sign up a day in advance). There are also regular events of all kinds, from children's competitions to open-air races.

I suggest having lunch at Boggeta Pub in Gatchina. Nice and original interior, tasty food and an open terrace.

The Bornitskiy quarry surprises with its beauty. Sand dunes and emerald water - after a few minutes you forget that you are a couple of tens of kilometers away from St. Petersburg. You have the feeling that you are in a real desert. The ascent to the heap is quite steep, so choose comfortable sneakers or boots for the walk.

Near the village of Belogorka near the estate of A.G. Eliseev in Gatchina district you can find a geological natural monument. Here, on the river Oredezh the rocks of Paleozoic age have come to the surface. In the red rocks you can discern the fossilized skeletons of kistepecker and armored fish (now extinct) and other animals. It's a great place to feel the power of nature and reflect on the eternal.

In the 1980s, there was a sand pit in this area. Because of active groundwater, sand mining had to be stopped, machinery was removed, and the quarry quickly turned into a lake in the middle of a pine forest.
Small Luzhsky Canyon created an ordinary forest creek flowing into the lake. The creek is especially turbulent in the spring, but in the summer it almost dries up. Over several decades, the flow of water has created a real natural miracle. You can walk along the bottom of the canyon all the way to the "waterfall" - do not spare time for this little attraction.

Isn't it time to stop for a vacation? You can stretch your legs, fill up your tank, and buy supplies for the road at "Gazpromneft" gas stations.

And here we are in Luga. I suggest having dinner in the restaurant "Chaplin", a cozy and quiet place, where there are no noisy discos.

Let's take a stroll along the evening meadow. The name of this small town was given by the river, and its name, in turn, comes from the word laugas ("marsh" in Estonian). Pushkin stopped here several times on his way to the Pskov estate.
The town was badly damaged during the Great Patriotic War. Miraculously, a handful of old houses survived, which you can see today. The special pride of the locals is the Resurrection Cathedral in pseudo-Russian style (1887) and the Catholic Church.

Luga's nightlife is not too boisterous. Let's not waste time looking for the best bar, but rather go to the hotel: tomorrow you'll have to walk a lot - it's better to get a good night's sleep!