All haircut jokes aside for now, Perm’s been around a very long time – from the time of the Permian period, in fact… which is named after Perm, and all the geological finds made in the area. If you’ve ever bought travel insurance, and been asked whether you want “European” or “Worldwide” – well, Perm is the further East you can go on “European” cover.

Have you ever watched the film (or read the book) “Dr Zhivago?” The bits not set in Moscow are in an imaginary city called “Yuryatin” – in real life, that’s Perm. The Public Reading Room on Sibirskaya St is where Yuri and Lara first meet, and “Lara’s House” is on Lenin St. Of course these are the real locations of the book – the film couldn’t be made “on location” because of Cold War era politics. Perm was also the starting-point for the Great Siberian Tract – the post-road which preceded the days of the Trans-Siberian Railway, and was the convict chain-gang route East even after the railroad was built.

The vast open wildernesses of the Urals Mountains (a few hours out of the city) are superb for rafting, and hiking… and they also made a great place for the USSR to hide its secret “Gulag” camps. The only one left visitable in the country is the Perm-36 camp – about 3.5 hours from Perm, but you’ll need special transport to reach it. Perm also has a famous ballet troupe.

The Russia Experience offers unique holidays and a chance to discover new places - like Perm. Step off the train here and find a corner of Russia immortalised by Boris Pasternak in Dr Zhivago, and a real sense of the vast scope of this great country.