Travel tips for Russia and a complete budget travel guide

Our Russia travel guide goes beyond the cliche when it comes to planning a trip to Russia, travelling in Russia advice, and travel tips for Russia. After exploring Russia for two weeks, we can very well say that Russia and its people aren’t as portrayed by the western media!

Tsars, Communism, Vodka, and Kremlin — if these are your first thoughts about Russia, then it is time to re-read, research, re-update, and change your thinking about this world’s largest country.

Because, with 160 ethnicities, some 100 languages, and 29 UNESCO heritage sites, Russia has a plethora of things and experiences to offer beyond the cliche’.

Russia travel tips and travel advice

I had earlier covered the following topics in the first part of my Russia travel guide.

• The perfect season to visit Russia
• Places to visit in Russia
• Planning a Russia itinerary
• How to apply for a Russia visa
• All about Russia tourist voucher

Planning a Russia trip with our Russia travel guide

This write-up is the second part of our comprehensive Russia travel guide, put-together for planning a self-curated trip to the land of Kremlins. It includes all the travel tips for Russia, suggestions, and advice on travelling in Russia

Where to stay in Russia—Hotels, and Accommodations 

You will require confirmed receipts of hotel accommodations if applying for a Russian tourist visa, with a stay that extends 14 days. Else, you may go ahead and do it later, once the Russia visa is approved.

I used both Booking.com as well as Airbnb for our entire Russia trip. And, this also includes for our stay at Almaty in Kazakhstan.

The cost of accommodation for one night in Russia starts from as little as 400 rubles and could reach up to 15k-20k rubles and beyond.

We chose something around the parameters that I’ve mentioned under ‘Tips for booking accommodation’ a little further, and, also our budget.

The apartments that we chose on our Russia trip ranged between 3000 rubles to 3500 rubles per night, which came with a fully functional kitchen, washing machine, and other facilities.

Where to stay in Saint Petersburg?

When searching online for ‘where to stay in Saint Petersburg’, look out for accommodations in Saint Petersburg. I mean, try to search for stay options within the city limits of St Petersburg. Surely, you will thank me later for this travel tip for Russia!

Search for options to stay in Saint Petersburg that are nearer to the Hermitage as much as possible. Or at least make sure to opt for a property that is walkable from the metro( indicated by blue M on the map). Else, you would end up wasting time, in just commuting from one place to another.

Properties on Fontanka embankment and Nevsky prospect are well-connected and are great locations for stay. In fact, a lot of backpackers stay in the hostels around the embankments.

Try to look for stay options inside the brown circle that I’ve marked on the St Petersburg map below.

I opted for a quieter place just beside The Hermitage Museum on the Moyka river embankment, a bit away from the pubs and bawdy crowd.

Where to stay in Moscow?

Wondering where to stay in Moscow? Fret not. Moscow offers a lot of stay options and is well connected by the metro.

In Moscow, try to stay near the Brown Line of the metro. It literally encircles the touristy part of Moscow.

Arbat is a great neighbourhood to stay in Moscow, however, I found it a bit expensive.

Prospekt Mira and Basmany district are relatively considered family-friendly areas, and, are excellent neighbourhoods to stay in Moscow.

We tried staying nearer to the railway station as well as the metro, as we had planned a couple of day trips from Moscow.

Tips for booking accommodation in Russia

1. Check if the property has a centralized heating system which is a must during Autumn and Winters.
2. Confirm if the property has air conditioners, as Russia can actually get pretty warm in summers. Most of the properties do not have ceiling fans.
3. If you are a vegetarian like me and are travelling on a budget, look for accommodations with a small kitchenette. Check if the price is inclusive of using the gas, electricity, all rooms, and the kitchenette. There are properties with private rooms as well as the whole apartment open for rent. So, do explore this aspect.
4. Most importantly, make sure if the apartment or hotel has hot running water, depending on the month of travel.
5. Kindly verify the number of beds and sofas. I remember finding an apartment very close to the Hermitage which had absolutely no bed. The owner did not reveal unless I asked him about the availability of beds and their count. Finally, he informed us that they had two single narrow sofa beds. But we were three people!
6. Make sure, the apartment building has an elevator/lift if opting for anything more than the first floor. I found a lot of stay options on the fourth floor or the loft of heritage buildings without an elevator.
7. The nearest metro should be at a walkable distance, say 10mins!
8. Also, verify if there is at least a departmental or grocery store around. You will need them to buy those coveted bottles of drinking water and needed groceries!
9. Many apartments/hotels may not provide WiFi.Double-check on this.
10. You may have to get yourself registered once in Russia. Do gather more information on this aspect and discuss it with your host. We did not go through the registration process and no one ever asked us either.

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Where did we stay on our Russia trip?

Here are the links to the accommodation in Moscow and St Petersburg where we stayed. All of these were trust-worthy.

For St Petersburg: Moyka River Embankment

For Moscow: NYC styled apartment

The owners are friendly and helpful, while the properties are exactly as shown in photographs without any discrepancies. Of course, this is from my experience and I am not certifying them in any way. Stay at your own discretion.

Note: These aren’t affiliate links.

And, we stayed at Irina’s home in Suzdal. A beautiful blue cottage. Check the property on Booking.com

You may also use my link to get a credit when you book your first stay with Airbnb: PolkaJunction’s referral credit

Travel tips for Russia — Flight bookings from India

Try to do the flight bookings from India and back, as a round trip always on the same airlines. Read further for other information…

Flight bookings on India to Russia flights

Book your India to Russia flight tickets at least 2-3months in advance. The airline ticket pricing is quite dynamic and an early booking helps you save almost 10k-15k INR on every ticket.

There are two airlines with direct flights to Russia from India – Aeroflot and Air Astana. We flew Air Astana and the experience was excellent.

I wouldn’t personally recommend Aeroflot, as I am not very happy with either their customer care or response to the Delhi office. However, I know many who have had a great experience with Aeroflot and not with Astana. So, I leave it to you.

I also know people who opted for a dummy booking of tickets/ looking out for fully-refundable tickets only to cancel them later once the Russian visa is obtained. We did not do anything of that sort, so I have no clue about it.

We took a chance, by booking partially refundable tickets through the official site of Air Astana, even before our Russian tourist visas were sanctioned. Do this only if you are damn sure of the dates of travel and have a lot of time prior to your Russia trip.

This because, you never know why a visa may be rejected, though, the chances of rejection are minimal if all the required documents are in place.

Flight Bookings on Russia to India flights

Recently, airline companies have sent circulars and emails, asking customers to book their round trip tickets too with the same airlines. This means, if you are flying out of India to Russia on a tourist visa by Air Astana, then, your return tickets from Russia to India should also be booked with Air Astana. So, do confirm this before booking your flight tickets.

While booking tickets through Air Astana, also verify if there is a StopOver Holiday Package on offer, and book accordingly.

For example: When we were planning our Russia trip, there was this 1$ stop-over package for Almaty and Astana in Kazakhstan. And, we opted for it to visit Almaty. Another country to explore!

Advice on travelling and commuting in Russia

The best mode of transport in Russia to commute from one city to another is the train.

And, to commute inside the cities, the options are either to walk or catch a bus or Marshrutka ( a shared taxi sort of thing) as most of the touristy places are often concentrated in one area as a cluster.

In the case of larger cities like St Petersburg and Moscow, blindly trust the metro. Trams are slow and sluggish, so I suggest you steer clear of them. Maybe take a one-off joy ride in them instead.

Purchase of metro cards

Metro is the best mode of transport, both in St Petersburg and Moscow. There are metro cards especially handy for tourists, called Podorozhnik in St Petersburg, while in Moscow they are known as Troika.

You can buy them at the ticket offices of the subway stations by paying a small fee, that gets refunded once you return the card.

Top these cards with the amount of money you intend to spend in commuting through metros wither at the counters or at the kiosks or online. However, note that the un-used amount left in the card isn’t refundable.

You can read more about the metro cards and prices on the official website of St Petersburg and Moscow metros: http://www.metro.spb.ru/en/pricetickets.html  and http://transport.mos.ru/

Check this information as well to understand Troika: https://www.mos.ru/en/news/item/31475073/

Booking of train tickets in Russia

The trains in Russia are super-efficient and some of the routes are catered through bullet trains called SAPSAN and LASTOCHKA. And, of course, who doesn’t know of the famed Trans-Siberian train?

Almost all the destinations in the earlier suggested list of places to visit have airports except Veliky Novgorod and Suzdal.

However, if you are on a budget, then the most economical thing would be to fly into either St Petersburg or Moscow from your destination and then use the train to commute from one to another.

For example, we flew from Delhi to Saint Petersburg with a stopover at Almaty. From St Petersburg, we reached Moscow by the very efficient SAPSAN train. And, then flew out of Moscow to Delhi.

Do not fall prey to other unofficial sites for booking. Always book your train tickets, be it the bullet trains or the passenger ones through the official website in English of Russian Railways: http://eng.rzd.ru/

The website’s first page in English should look similar to the one below. Create an account on this and then you are good to start with your bookings on Russian trains.

Tips to book train tickets in Russia

1. Although the Russian railways’ website is in English, once we log in, the sub-pages may show up with Cyrillic font. Use the ‘Google Translate’ app to read these pages.
2. Ticket pricing is dynamic and differs from seat to seat. Hover the mouse on the seating plan and it should show the price. Choose accordingly.
3. Different classes of coaches have different pricing. Also, there are Russian trains where just a few of the coaches are equipped with a restroom. You may want to consider this if travelling with kids.
4. There are coaches where pets are allowed too. So, if you are Pet allergic like me, do keep this in mind while choosing the coach.
5. Express trains provide a refund after booking, while some do not. And, the refund process in the latter case is quite a tedious affair, I heard. So, again keep this in mind while booking the tickets. Read the rules and regulations thoroughly so that you don’t incur a loss.
6. There are numerous train stations in both Moscow and St Petersburg. Make sure, you check the boarding point of the train, calculate the distance from your accommodation and then book the time slot at your convenience. Dedicate a buffer time of at least 30-40 mins for boarding the train, and, another 30-60 mins for travelling across the city to reach the station.
7. Take a print-out of the tickets and carry a copy along.

SIM, network connectivity and adapters to use in Russia

These are some of the often-overlooked travel tips for Russia and for that matter any country. Hope you find these tips for visiting Russia useful.

• There are four popular mobile network companies in Russia – MTS, BeeLine, Tele2, and Megafon. Almost all of them have the option of a tourist SIM. You can choose according to your requirements as each of them vary in their prices by a 100rubles or two.
• You can also purchase a SIM at the airport itself as we did. We opted for one Tele2 SIM at the airport. And, an MTS SIM later at a railway station. It cost us 600 RUB each and came topped with 40-80 minutes of free talk-time+ unlimited network data. You will need to show your passport and they themselves get the photocopy done.
• Make sure, you insert the SIM and get it activated at the outlet itself. There have been incidents when the activation has failed later. Remember this the most of all the travel tips to Russia, if you want to use your phone in the first instance.
• Also, it is advisable that you have international roaming activated on the mobile number connected to your international travel card or credit card so that you get your OTPs in case of any issue and also for receiving transaction SMSes. Again this would be the foremost of our travel tips for Russia!
• The network connectivity of both Tele2 and MTS is good. However, in smaller Russian towns, network connectivity is still an issue.
•  Russia uses power plugs and sockets of type C and F. The standard voltage is 220 V while the standard frequency is 50   Hz. If the power adapter with the right pin reads “110-240 volts”, then the adapter is compatible.

By Chameleon, bran & plug-wash – This file was derived from Schuko (CEE 7-4) re-wireable. Wikimedia

How to overcome the language barrier on a Russia trip?

There definitely was a language barrier with us being Tamilians and a majority of people in Russia conversing in Russian. language. Wondering what happened to the conversations in English? Well, you can’t expect the whole world to converse in a foreign language, isn’t it?

Actually, we did use English as and when we could. However, we managed quite well with Google translate and also by communicating with signs.

Use Google translate when stuck due to a language barrier. This would be my advice for travelling in Russia and one of the foremost travel tips for Russia

All about Russian food

Russia is predominantly a meat-eating nation. Hence, vegetarian/ vegan dishes aren’t widely available.

St Petersburg and Moscow do have vegetarian restaurants, however, it is quite a tedious task to search for that perfect resto that always seemed so elusive to us. Also, we noticed that even the MCDs do not serve a vegan/vegetarian version of their burgers there!

What are the available options for vegetarians and vegans in Russia?

Steamed rice, mashed potatoes, soups made of vegetable stock, bakery products, and salads are your best bet.

Indulge in flavoursome vegetarian soups and buckwheat porridges. There are a few vegan joints run by Jews. And, they make really filling and tasty falafel wraps. Also, are a handful of Indian vegetarian restos run by ISKCON devotees.

Russian foods to eat as a vegetarian or vegan

Look out for kiosks and push-carts selling an oval-shaped/ boat-shaped fried potato-filled buns called Pirozhki. They are usually priced between 25-50 rubles. These are often sold alongside their meat-filled versions. So, ask for the potato-filled ones from the seller.

Often bakery products come loaded with fish and meat. As vegetarians, you may want to stick with egg-less pancakes, wheat blini loaded with sour cream and varenye ( a delicious fruit preserve).

If you’ve no qualms with eggs in your cakes and muffins, then there are a lot of options.

Russia has its own version of doughnuts sans any filling or topping. They are made with just a hole and dusted with powdered sugar. It is known as a pyshki in Saint Petersburg and the places specializing in them are called pyshechnaya.

Muscovites ( people of Moscow) call them ponchiki and the cafes that sell them as ponchikovya.

Tips for visiting Russia as a vegetarian and vegan

• I suggest carrying instant poha (an Indian delicacy) packets, ready-to-eat meals, and instant noodles to supplement your food requirements. We prepared our breakfast and dinner on almost all days at our apartment while opting to have pastries and pies outside. This definitely helps a vegetarian to save time as well as money! Of course, we did taste plant-based Russian delicacies while travelling by trains.
• The departmental stores and supermarkets do stock fresh loaves of bread, cheese slices, and farm-fresh vegetables. Buy them to prepare your own cheese sandwich and keep it handy to satisfy your hunger on-the-go.

All about Russia budget travel tips

A two-week-long family trip to Russia is very much doable on a budget, provided you stay in budget accommodation, carry some ready-to-eat food, and cut unnecessary expenditures.

Russia trip cost

A Russian trip cost usually comes to around INR 65,000- 70,000 per person and even lesser for a solo traveller.

While for a family of three, be prepared to spend close to 2.2 lakh INR to 3 lakh INR. You can save approximately 15K INR on flight tickets and another 30K INR if staying in hostels.

Here is an approximate break-up of our expenditure for two weeks in Russia. All the values of this Russia trip cost are in INR.

Travel tips for Russia — ATM and money exchange options

I suggest you opt for an international travel card to save on a mark-up fee.

ATMs are available almost on all streets of Moscow, St Petersburg, and are often concentrated around the tourist areas in the country-side. Certain banks do charge a currency mark-up and this gets shown on the kiosk screen once you insert the ATM card. Avoid those bank ATMs.

Carry dollars instead of rubles. And for emergencies, some amount of rubles in hand, around 3k rubles for each person, is recommended.

Digital money is not very prevalent in places like Suzdal, Vladimir, and other smaller towns when compared to St Petersburg and Moscow. So, do keep some change in the form of rubles at hand.

Nowadays, the immigration authorities at Saint Petersburg want to make sure that visitors have enough money in their bank account. So be ready to show them your account details online.

Anything above 2.5 lakh in your account should be a green signal for a smooth entry( for couples). Also, be ready to be interrogated on this and verification of hotel details for at least an hour.

Shopping in Russia – Travel tips for Russia

Russia is definitely a shopping haven. From catering to budget shoppers to the luxury end, Russia has it all.

While in Russia, you want to pick some souvenirs as a remembrance from your Russia trip.

So, shop for Russian chocolates, Matrushka dolls(nested ones), woollen wears, colourful Easter eggs, and the ubiquitous souvenirs- magnets and key chains.

Best places to shop in St Petersburg and Moscow Russia

In St Petersburg, Nevsky Prospekt is the best area to shop, while in Moscow either the Arbat area or the Izamaillovsky market would be an ideal place to shop for souvenirs.

How about safety issues while on a trip to Russia?

• As in any country, be wary of picket-pocketers and fake guides on your trip to Russia.
• Do not buy museum and boat ride tickets from unknown sellers.
• Take care of your belongings when in markets and trains across Russia.
• Definitely, do not pick up fights.
• Above all, listen to what your instinct says…the gut feeling rules when travelling on your own. Use it to your max!

Travel tips for Russia- Apps to be downloaded

• Google Translate – A must.
• Yandex maps – because google maps aren’t accurate most of the time in Russia.
• Yandex taxi – Uber does not work in many places.
• Download the apps of Booking.com and Airbnb in case you have booked your accommodation through them.
• Holy Cow app for Vegan and Vegetarian restaurants.
• Gismeteo to know accurate Russian weather.

Hope this Russia travel guide with its dose of travel tips for Russia, is comprehensive enough to plan your budget travel trip to Russia. Feel free to get in touch with me through the contact form for clarification and assistance with your trip to Russia.

Photographs shot on: Google Pixel, One Plus and Sony Alpha

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