Rostov-on-Don travel guide

Rostov-on-Don, or simply Rostov, is a port city and the administrative centre of Rostov Oblast and the Southern Federal District of Russia. It lies in the southeastern part of the East European Plain on the Don River, 32 kilometers (20 mi) from the Sea of Azov, directly north of the North Caucasus.

This area where the East European Plain touches the Black Sea has seen habitation by civilizations stretching back to Scythian, Roman, Greek, and Ottoman times. In the 18th century, the Russian Empire started to lay a foothold by establishing outposts on this frontier, but then eventually with expansion of the empire it became more of a commerce center due to its premier trade location where the Black Sea meets the Don River. And it saw industrialization, too, causing it to draw people and become one of the largest Russian cities for a time.