With some great day trip options in the surrounding area, renting a car makes good sense. Without one, it wouldn’t be half as easy to soak up everything that Kaluga, 17 miles away, has to offer. Among your first few stops here ought to be Kaluga XXI Century, Tsiolkovsky State Museum of Cosmonautics History and Tsiolkovsky Memorial House Museum. Locals will also likely point you in the direction of Serpukhov, 45 miles away. If you only see one attraction here, make sure it’s Serpukhov Music and Drama Theatre. (But we’re also big fans of Vysotsky Monastery and Church of All Saints.)