Hot answers tagged russia
78
In Bulgaria, Russia, former USSR countries and others, it's considered offensive not to drink when you've been invited to, and you might need a good solid excuse if you decide not to drink at all. Expect to be on the receiving end of some good-natured banter if you decide to abstain completely.
Medical reasons are a possibility, although it will be ...
26
I was in the unfortunate position of being insistingly encouraged to drink 3 years ago on the Trans-Siberian. I was much worse for wear after that experience, and sought out suggestions (in fact I really shouldn't have had that much considering my meds).
Anyway, this year I returned. And indeed, the best way if you can't just refuse outright, is simply to ...
20
Yes, the situation has greatly changed since 2001 :)
Today you can get into Saint Petersburg in many ways by ferry:
By St. Peterline company ferries:
by "Princess Maria"
Monday, Thursday, Saturday at 19:00 from Helsinki (you'll be at St-Petersburg at 09:30 AM next day)
by "Princess Anastasia" (sorry, only link in Russian are available)
Wednesday, ...
17
As a Russian and non-drinker, I want to add some info about the culture of drinking in Russia.
First of all: You don't have to drink vodka, even if your partners are. It is ok if you just say: I can't drink alcohol as strong as vodka, I need wine (or cocktails, or whatever you need). Ask women about this - they're more reliable in such situations. But if ...
17
I'm a Russian who doesn't drink vodka. If your goal is not to drink at all - just say so and be done with that. If you like to drink a little but just don't want to kill your liver - tell them that you prefer cognac or whiskey (whichever you like the best). Wine will also work but probably raise a couple of "be a man" things.
The goal is to have a drink ...
16
First of all, you must be prepared to such trip - it is 4 days long from Moscow to Mongolia (with changes), and you should get some stuff like electronic books or films. Also you should think about possibilities of recharging your electronical devices - charges are available not in all trains and not at each stations.
After those choices, I recommend you ...
15
Any recommendations as to where?
Firstly, you should choose the trains. For now, you have such options:
Direct train 020Щ(sch) "Vostok" ("East")
Moscow (departure at 23:55 PM every Saturday) - Beijing (arrival at l5:32 AM every Saturday), do not goes through Mongolia.
Direct train 004З
Moscow (departure at 21:35 PM every Tuesday) - Beijing ( arrival ...
15
It's called SAPSAN, there are 7 trains in both directions Saint-Petersburg > Moscow and Moscow > Saint-Petersburg.
Here is link to schedules (Google Translate)
Prices are here (translation). There are business and economy class tickets available.
The average journey is no longer than 4 hours in one direction.
All trains serve every day except train 154 ...
13
You need a bit more information. Are you going with a tour or solo?
I went solo and I don't really know any Russian aside form what I picked up while there. I stayed on the Europe side of the Urals, and bounced between hostels. It is definitely more difficult to go solo, but with some pedimiming and patience, it is easy enough. Contrary to a lot of ...
13
You're very unlikely to get them rejected if you go through an agency, as they'll make sure you have all the right information before they submit it to the various government departments.
I use http://www.visatorussia.com/ in 2008 to get a tourist visa, and this year for a 3 month double entry business visa, and both times they were fantastic.
Both ...
13
Well, everything is for sale. There are companies out there that will provide you with an official invitation for set prices. (try Google)
I've bought a (single entry) business invitation some years ago, and everything worked out fine. I've met several travellers (in Russia) who bought tourist visa invitations.
Some gotchas:
The invitation will not be ...
13
GMaps for the geographical center of Russian Federation.
As you can see, this is a mountain located lake with no cities among many miles from it. Also this lake is on Arctic Circle, and not very well explored by people. We even doesn't know the maximum depth of it.
Also you have to know that this region is a seismically active - you can see the trees at ...
12
As I know, in Russia visas can be achived for two ways:
By the invitation from some people or company in Russia, and I think this is not for you, because it not very stable way to get visa.
By the touristic trip or voucher. This can be made by travel agencies. Try to choose famous one, like http://nevatravel.ru/
Also in some cities you can stay for three ...
12
There's good news and bad news.
The good news - you CAN camp anywhere, except the church land, private gardens and near water reservoirs. We researched this in 2008 and found many, many resources online saying it's perfectly fine to camp even on the side of the road. We even checked this with locals in Novosibirsk when we got there. However, they ...
12
First of all, I'm not recommending visiting Chechnya either. It can be really dangerous. But the real danger is in the other republics in the region, especially Ingushetia.
If you're serious in your decision to visit Chechnya - I have "good news" for you - Ramzan Kadyrov (chief of the Republic) is doing his best to attract new tourists to the reconstructed ...
12
First of all, Taiga is very big thing, so address in the Taiga isn't much helpful for you :)
Secondary, my apologies about some information is only in Russian, especially maps.
The Curch of the Last Testament has their village in the Krasnoyarsk Krai. Their site is very old, and the only thing working there is the main page. Also they have international ...
11
Actually, this is one exception where an organized "shore excursion" works better than venturing out on your own. In other words, you will be better served taking the tour with the cruise line. The cruise line takes care of the paperwork involving the entry visa.
We disembarked at St. Petersburg with the cruise company and had the visa taken care of, ...
11
Going with a cruise line is an exception to the rule that you need a visa. Basically, Russia uses the visa requirement to control the inflow of visitors. But if you are with a cruise line that has ALREADY submitted to Russian controls, you are effectively "controlled." The cruise line will only organize tours/excursions approved by the Russian government, ...
10
The situation is very complicated. Georgia says that Abkhazia and South Ossetia are Georgian territories, and you can go there from Georgia by this border crossing:
to South Ossetia from Gori - my friends from Germany made a trip this year.
If you get into these territories not by these points, you would get problems (fee from $1200 or jail up to 5 ...
10
There is single point to cross border between Georgia and Russia: Verchniy Lars. It is open for the cars since March 1, 2010. Note that you have to get the Georgian and Russian visas to cross the border.
You can't cross the Georgian border from South Ossetia or Abkhazia territories! It is criminal in the Georgia, and you can get problems there.
Update:
...
10
Personally I didn't plan much, just went with the flow, but that depends on how much freedom you have.
Work out how much time you have. Bear in mind that a Russian tourist visa is 30 days, but you can get a Business visa for tourist purposes (I had zero problems) and that's valid for 60 days, multiple entry.
Work out your budget. Hostels are pretty cheap ...
10
From quick search, I found out, that (as EU citizen) you can get 72-hours visa to Kaliningrad at the border.
You can get 72 hours visa only at 3 points:
- Kaliningrad airport, if you arrive by plane
- Russian-Polish border (Bagrationovsk and Mamonovo).
Another way is to get your visa in Poland is in consulate in Warsaw, but that may take longer.
10
Really, if you are concerned about, leave it at home. Buy a $5 watch if you feel the necessity to have a watch. This is one worry which is so easy to avoid.
Now if you want to travel with it, you can. Sometime between departure and arrival you will get a Customs Declaration Form and the rules are usually found on the back. Any embassy for the destination ...
10
Given how many camps there were you could be sure to find a few:
Соло-Тур offers tour in the North Urals (info in Russian)
Blog on Tour of "Dneprovskiy" near Magadan with contact information on how to get one set up. (Russian)
DVS Tour - Information about the tour is in Russian but the company provide information in English as well though not about the ...
9
You can stay without registration during 3 month after you came. But you need to have a document that confirms that (airplane or train ticket will work).
If you want to stay longer - you'll need to get a temporary registration in the police. That may be painful, because this registration is bound to a place where you live and should be made for you by your ...
9
Actually there's a third, rarer option. But it's the option I'm on currently.
If your trip is going to be longer than 30 days, you can't use a tourist visa - as that's the maximum length, and you can't extend it.
You can, however, apply for a business visa and are perfectly entitled to say it's for tourism. I got a letter of support from my company ...
9
You have two option to solve this problem.
There is two types of visa you can get: touristic and private (homestay) visa.
The main difference between them is the form of invitation:
For the touristic you must provide the hotel voucher for all time you will be in a Russia. As you going to hitchhike, it will be very expensive to pay for the hotel you not ...
9
If it's more than a day or two, I would try to memorize the following words in Russian:
numbers 1 to 3
hello, bye
please, thanks
excuse me/sorry
Those alone will get you a long way.
Also, it certainly helps you to get around and find shops/hotels/etc if you're able to read Cyrillic. A lot of international words are the same, just look differently. From ...
9
There was a triple suicide bombing as recently as August.
You can get more travel advice from the various foreign offices of world countries, but they all say pretty much the same thing:
This advice has been reviewed and reissued with an amendment to the Safety and Security – Political Situation section (politically motivated demonstrations). The ...
9
First, I can really recommend to read through www.waytorussia.net. This seems a very good online resource that could answer all my questions when I planned my trip through Russia last spring.
Therefore, I can recommend the service a third-party company provides over this website. You have to pay 20 US dollars and they book a hotel for you, send you the ...
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