The Golden Ring is a collection of historic Russian cities, northeast of Moscow and southest of Saint Petersburg. They are close enough to each other that most could be reached from any other in 2-4 hours. Their architecture and traditional crafts make them popular for tourists. Soviet authorities created an official list of Golden Ring cities: Ivanovo, Kostroma, Pereslavl Zalessky, Rostov Velikiy, Sergie Posad, Suzdal, Vladimir and Yaroslavl.