Izborsk is compact, but the best sights are spread along a short walking circuit rather than lined up on a street. Start inside the fortress, drop down to the Slovene Springs, follow the water toward the lake, then climb north to Truvorovo Gorodishche and the old cemetery.
The landscape matters as much as the monuments. Low hills, springs, reeds, and ruined mills make the defensive geography easy to read: whoever held Izborsk controlled a narrow, wet corridor on the road between Pskov and the Baltic frontier.