This type of tourism is also called excursion tourism. According to the Law On basics for Tourism Activities in Russian Federation, an excursion tourist is a person visiting a country (place) for a short stay for some educational reasons for a period shorter than 24 hours with no overnight stay in the respective country (place) and employing a guide or a translator-guide. In the event such a visit exceeds one day this turns into that very cultural-educational tourism, which is a type of tourism the major purpose of which is to see places of interest, while its specific feature is to have a substantial excursion program for the trip.

Nowadays, cultural & educational tourism mostly includes educational trips for smaller groups of school students and active visitors coming for holiday to the region of the Caucasian Mineral Waters. The region has over 2,000 historical and cultural monuments that are under special public protection, while 71 of them are monuments of the federal level; 6 cities of the region enjoy the status of historical places – Stavropol, Budennovsk, Zheleznovodsk, Kislovodsk, and Pyatigorsk. These places of living history have very well preserved architectural constructions once created by the great architects – Bernardazzi, Charlemagne, Schreter, Upton, Voskresensky, Kuskov.

Besides, the region has two open-air reserve museums recognized as federal areas – Lermontovsky (Pyatigorsk), and Tartar Ancient Settlement (Stavropol). And in Stavropol and in Georgievsk you can still see the fortification line – remaining pieces of a fortress and paved ways – that have come to us from the times of Caucasian wars. Stavropol Krai cities, especially those in the Caucasian Mineral Waters area still keep the memory of famous Russian people who made great contribution into the Russian culture, and the rich literature and historical traditions serve the basis for future development of educational tourism.

A lot of places here bear connection with those considered genii of the Russian culture – Pushkin, Lermontov, Tolstoy – these names are known far beyond Russia. These places saw performances by Fedor Chaliapin, Antonina Nezhdana, Leonid Sobinov etc. Nicolay Yaroshenko – a famous painter spent many years in Kislovodsk, both living and creating his masterpieces.

The regional archives still hold records of famous events and outstanding people of the Russian history – General Suvorov, Emperor Nikolas I, and prominent Soviet figures – Kirov, Ordzhonikidze, and many others. Stavropol Krai was homeland to Mikhail Gorbachev – the author perestroika; Yuri Andropov – the famous secretary General of Soviet Communist Party; Alexander Solzhenitsyn – a writer too famous to introduce him to people.

This region has especially warm memories of Mikhail Lermontov – a genius of the Russian poetry. The so-called Lermontov places in the Caucasian Mineral waters area include the open-air museum – a federal place of interest that attracts numerous of tourists.