Level 1 (easy)
Cruise
Level 3 (moderate/active)
Regular Tour
Level 1 (easy)
Cruise
Foreign citizens entering Russia must have an entry visa in a valid national passport. Make sure that your passport is current and will be valid at least for 6 months after your departure.
A visa to the Russian Federation is a document, permitting stay in Russia for a specific period of time. Visa lists entry/exit dates, your name, passport details, and a purpose of travel. Please note, that your Russian visa is an exit permit just like it’s an entry permit: if you lose it or stay over your designated departure date, leaving the country could be more troublesome than entering it.
There are six different types of visas depending on the purpose of the visit, including tourist visas, business visas, and private visas.
To obtain tourist visa you will need an invitation letter from the company which organizes the tour for you.
Receiving your visa check carefully all information stated in visa. For more details, contact the Consulate of the Russian Federation.
Non-visa countries:
– Azerbaijan
– Argentina
– Armenia
– Belarus
– Bosnia and Herzegovina
– Brazil
– Venezuela
– Guatemala
– Israel
– Kazakhstan
– Kirgizia
– China (if you’re travelling with a touristic group)
– Colombia
– Cuba
– Moldova
– Nicaragua
– Peru
– Serbia
– Tadzhikistan
– Thailand
– Turkey
– Ukraine
– Montenegro
– Chile
– Ecuador
Information for cruise passengers:
Cruise passengers that arrive to Russia on a cruise ship and stay for less than 72 hours do not need to obtain a visa if they are residing aboard the ship. If a person is travelling independently or wants to spend over 72 hours in Russia, then it is necessary to obtain a visa.
Since 2009 foreign tourists that arrive to Russia on passenger ferries can stay in the country visa-free for up to 3 days. Members of a tourist group can stay in the country for 72 hours if they reside on the ferry or elsewhere according to the tour program. A ferry is considered to be a non-cruise ship, which is engaged in international voyages and carries cargo and/or passengers, including passengers participating in a tour program, and has a passenger transportation permit.
In order to disembark from a ship without a visa a foreign citizen must have an ID and be in the lists of the tour group. A member of a tour group that does not have a visa can only visit places indicated in the tour program.
If you fail to find your baggage by the end of baggage receiving process, please address the Lost and Found department agent at the airport where you will be advised what to do next. Mostly the baggage is sent to the passenger by the airline – carrier within 5 days after you have declared about the baggage non-arrival.
When you arrive at the hotel it is necessary to present your passport and emigration form for check-in at the reception of the hotel. Sometimes they also require your credit card in order to be sure that all extra services, such as breakfast served in room, will be paid.
When entering Russia, tourists will be asked to fill in the emigration forms (2 copies), which are given in the plane. Emigration forms must be as carefully kept as passports during the whole period of your stay on Russia.
At a boarder check-point, tourists’ passports, visas and emigration forms must be stamped according to the official requirements. The date indicated on the stamp is considered to be the first day of the visitor’s stay in the Russian Federation.
When entering Russia, tourists over 16 years old have to fill in the customs declaration. Those tourists who have nothing to declare go through the green corridor. If you have something that should be declared you have to pass through the red channel and present the things to declare such as:
-Money, if the amount exceeds $ 10,000
-Things of special value including jewelry, artistic values and antiquities
-Musical instruments
-Items the price of which exceeds 2000 euros and whose weight exceeds 35 kg
-Weapons, ammunition, drugs and devices for their use
-Alcohol (more than 2 liters)
Souvenirs, including folk handcrafts items, need no permission to be taken out of Russia. However, it might be helpful to keep receipts, labels and cheque stubs.
Transsib (Trans Siberian railway) is the world’s famous train route that goes through the whole Russia. Stretching for over 6000 miles all the way from Moscow to the Russian Far East. The Trans-Siberian Railway can claim to be one of the wonders of the modern world. Transsib connects European Russia with the middle (Siberia) and eastern (Far East) areas. Note please, that Trans Siberian Railway is not a train, it’s a route. You can take different trains along the route.
Today Transsib begins at Yaroslavsky train station in Moscow and ends in Vladivostok. It will take you more than 6 days to travel along the whole Trans–Siberian railway. You will pass through 21 regions of Russia and cross 16 large rivers. Over 207 km Transsib passes along Baikal Lake and over 39 km by the shore of Amursky Bay of the Japanese Sea. There are 87 towns situated on Trans Siberian railway so it is recommended to make some stops along the route.