Travel to Russia

Flying to Russia

Russia's main airline, Aeroflot (www.aeroflot.com), flies from the UK and the USA to Russia. Another airline operating direct flights from the UK is British Airways (www.ba.com). Flights tend to be pricier in the summer and around Orthodox Christmas in early January.

Major airports are: Moscow Sheremetyevo International Airport, Moscow Vnukovo International Airport, Moscow Domodedovo International Airport, St Petersburg Pulkovo Airport, Strigino Nizhny Novogorod International Airport, Samara Kurumoch International Airport, Sochi International Airport, Vladivostok Airport, Ekaterinburg Koltsovo Airport and Irkutsk Airport.

Flight times

To Moscow: from London - 3 hours 45 minutes; New York - 9 hours.

To St Petersburg: from London - 3 hours 20 minutes; New York - 10 hours 50 minutes (including stopover).

Departure tax

None.

Travelling to Russia by Rail

There are various connections from London. The main route is: London-Brussels-Cologne-Warsaw-Moscow/St Petersburg. The journey from London to Brussels can be made by a variety of train and ferry services (including via Eurostar), or via the Channel Tunnel. There is a sleeper service from Cologne to Warsaw and another from Warsaw to Moscow.

The Allegro high-speed train connects St. Petersburg and Helsinki and takes 3 hours 30 minutes. There are through trains or coaches from other Western and nearly all Eastern European capitals, from CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States) countries, and from China, Mongolia and Turkey. 

There is also a rail connection to Moscow from Paris, which travels via Germany, Poland and Belarus, for which you need a transit visa.

Driving to Russia

There are several routes into the country by road. From Estonia, it is possible to cross the border at Narva. From Finland, there are crossings at Nujamaa and Vaalimaa, although travellers should be aware that there have been numerous reports of bandits active on this road. From Georgia in the south, it is possible to follow the Georgian Military Highway, but this route is often closed to foreigners. In Ukraine, the M3 autoroute runs from Kyiv (Kiev) to Moscow.

Getting to Russia by boat

The St Peter Line Ferries (www.stpeterline.com) have regular voyages to St Petersburg between March and December, from Stockholm, Tallinn and Helsinki. It is also possible to catch a ferry from Trabzon in Turkey to Sochi and Novorossiysk. In the Far East, DBS Cruise Ferry (www.dbsferry.com) runs ferries from Vladivostok to Sakaiminato, Japan via Dongae, South Korea.

Cruise ships

Several cruise companies stop at St Petersburg, offering voyages between seven and 21 days. Companies running these include Princess Cruises (www.princess.com), Costa (www.costacruises.co.uk), Cunard (www.cunard.com), Holland America Cruises (www.hollandamerica.com) and Royal Caribbean (www.royalcaribbean.com). Other ports visited include Sochi and Vladivostok.