Planning on going to Russia and Armenia this year, I have both UK and Australian passports, which one would you recommend using to get into Russia and any tips on traveling to Russia as a westerner in the current political climate?
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>any tips on traveling to Russia as a westerner in the current political climate?
https://old.reddit.com/r/AskARussian/comments/16qc8t0/ultimate_faq_on_travelling_to_russia/
inb4:
>reddit
looks very helpful despite being reddit, ty anon
Me and my friend will travel to St. Petersburg from Tallinn in May.
Getting to Narwa from Tallinn seems easy, but you can only cross the border by foot atm.
How do we get from Narwa to St. Petersburg? I'm guessing there are buses but I can't seem to find any informations on them.
ecolines.net
luxexpress.eu
you can book a direct Tallin-SPb ticket, for example: https://ecolines.net/international/en/booking-search?locale=en¤cy=11&returnOrigin=95&returnDestination=201&returning=0&outwardOrigin=201&outwardDestination=95&outwardDate=2024-02-29&adults=1&children=0&teens=0&seniors=0
This works despite only being able to cross the border by foot at the moment?
I am also planning this trip and would have gone this winter if not for the foot crossing so I changed to spring.
Your bus ticket brings you to Narva, get off and walk 10 mins across the border, and a bus to St Petersburg. It's all one ticket.
www.balticshuttle. ee/en
This is from LuxExpress for my upcoming trip. It's as easy as it gets.
NB! Due to the closure of the Ivangorod vehicle border crossing point in Russia for the reconstruction period from February 1, 2024, Lux Express operates trips on the route Tallinn - St. Petersburg - Tallinn with a connection at the Narva - Ivangorod border. Passengers cross the border on foot. More details on how trips will be managed:
Lux Express buses on the route to St. Petersburg stop at the marked bus stop on Peetri Square in Narva. Passengers take all their personal belongings and luggage from the bus and cross the border on foot in the general order.After the border control, the Lux Express bus will wait for passengers in the marked waiting area, which is located approx. 250 meters from the Ivangorod border control building. From there, the journey continues to St. Petersburg.
Lux Express buses on the route from St. Petersburg stop approx. 250 meters from the border control building upon reaching the Ivangorod border crossing. Passengers take all their personal belongings and luggage from the bus, and go through border control. After crossing the bridge, passengers with EU biometric passports, as well as citizens of the Russian Federation with biometric passports and Estonian residence permits pass through an automatic gate at the Narva border crossing. Passengers with other travel documents go through passport control in a separate control area. Then, the passengers head to the bus waiting at Peetri square, which travels to Tallinn.
You will be just fine. Especially large cities but really anywhere. Don't waste your time listening to fearmongering from idiots who never went nor have tried. You will have a nice time.
Thanks a lot, that sounds very easy.
okay you're welcome for giving you advice and being ignored
I am British, I have always wanted to visit Russia but I understand they are not exactly fans of the UK right now. Is it a good idea to go?
Moscow and Saint Petersburg are unironically some of the safest cities in Europe. At least 10x safer than large cities in Western Europe. Remember, its a police state.
I know it's generally safe in Russia I was just wondering if there is a lot of xenophobia towards Americans/Brits at the moment because of the Ukraine war.
Funnily enough I noticed more snobbery in Saint Petersburg, nobody gave any signal in Moscow. It wasn’t “get out” type of look, just kind of that “oh god, English speakers/americans are here” type of thing. However it’s all about preconceptions, just like for all humans. For example, I had one family clearly making American jokes and heard them mention Zelensky and other references. Eventually we got chatting, they wound up embracing me, giving me advice on what to do, and even insisted on paying for a round of drinks so I would join them to take a shot. Just be confident and considerate. You’ll be fine.
I was able to go to Sberbank and set up a basic debit account. It does have an annual fee but it’s small. You will need your passport, registration for hotel or wherever you’re staying (they’ll use that as your address for the account - don’t worry nothing goes there, it’s just a formality) and just as importantly you need a Russian sim and phone number (+7). At a major location in somewhere like Moscow they were able to work with me with my broken Russian and there was one guy there who clearly knew the specific banking terms in English as well. They will be more than happy to help, in fact they’ll get a real kick out of it. They spent time arguing in front of me about whether a green or black debit card looked better. You read so much shit online, but just go in there with what I said and you’ll be fine. Makes me wonder if the people giving certain “advice” have been recently if ever. Also keep in mind, I went in with only 20 minutes until closing and they stayed a little late just to make sure everything was working. I went back to see them and say thanks on another occasion. Great people
Thanks
So you deposited on your sperbank account the cash you had? Or maybe you were able to fund this account by somehow transferring money?
yes so I just brought in a bunch of cash myself, everything was safe, we even stayed in other cities before Russia for context of logistical safety with carrying sizable cash. To avoid issues I just brought $9,800 but that was excessive, and I exchanged no more than half of that amount. For convenience sake, I exchanged some $ for rubs at SberBank when I opened the account (not the best rate - just did it to have some in there) but there's a website just use yandex search engine and type "map of best exchange rate in x city" and you'll find good rates.
I'm British and I've been there three times, in 2018 and 2019. I realise that this was before the war and things might have changed since then but I experienced absolutely no hostility at all from anyone, one guy even paid for our meal when we found out the restaurant only accepted cash and I had no cash on me, and he knew I was British. If you're looking for someone who's British and has been there since things in Ukraine kicked off, watch this video https://youtu.be/9_KzIyzqGqU it'll show you how his experience went. Russians are very decent people but learn some Russian before you go, I speak it like a four year old but I managed.
Oh four times actually, I went to St. Petersburg as a day trip on a cruise since you can go without a visa that way, but I don't really count it because I just looked around and then went back to the ship
I'd advice against it OP because russia is taking hostages these days so they can trade them for their imprisoned spies in the west.
I don’t know about Russia, but my Australian passport gave me 3 months in Armenia on arrival.
Do you guys have tips on how to pay for stuff over there? My visa credit card is not accepted anymore and I don't see myself walking around with a backpack full of cash for a ten day stay.
>I have both UK and Australian passports
They don't like gays in the former soviet states.