Abstract: The article concerns the theater practices of provincial tourists in Saint Petersburg and Moscow at the end of the 19th – beginning of the 20th centuries. With the development of mass tourism, the capital cities developed a range of tourist attractions, which every tourist was supposed to partake in. To these tourists it was no less important to familiarize themselves with the daily life of the city during their trip. In this regard, the city’s theater was particularly appealing to the provincial tourists, and going to different theaters became one of the most important practices during the whole of the visitor's trip to the city. Turning to the study of these practices is particularly relevant in light of the scholars’ growing interest in the history of daily life and recreation, as well as the development of historical anthropology, where studies focus directly on the participants of historical processes. The aim of this article is to analyze the capital cities' theaters in the context of tourist practices at the turn of the 19th – 20th centuries. Basing the methdology on Bourdieu's theory of the social world, the author concludes that the theater practices of the tourists in the capital cities were of crucial importance for the social significance of their trip. From the tourists' point of view, theaters had a double function: on the one hand, the performances on the capitals’ stages were interesting for the tourists as a bright display of artistic life, on  the other hand, the very theater buildings were appealing to the tourists as they were often an example of the latest achievements in architecture. Visiting a theater was included in the program of a tourist's trip to the capital, even if the tourist had only one day to see the city. Visiting the theatres  along with other activities during the course of tourist trips increased the cultural asset of the provincial tourists back in their hometowns and allowed them to say that they not only visited the capitals, but also partook in the big city life.