How to make your trip to Russia as enjoyable as possible: 8 easy ways
Miscellaneous / / March 25, 2022
We tell you how to choose the right direction, find accommodation and entertainment in any city in the country.
1. Define a goal
Answer the question "What do I want to do while traveling?" See the sights, arrange gastro tour, go in for extreme sports, enjoy nature, or maybe just take a break from the hustle and bustle in quiet place? Defining a goal will help you not to miscalculate the choice of direction and not be disappointed in the end.
For example, Krasnaya Polyana will appeal to fans of active entertainment, but is unlikely to satisfy connoisseurs of historical monuments. And Veliky Novgorod or Rostov-on-Don, on the contrary, will rather please those who want to look at the old buildings and walk around museums. If the ideas of the ideal destination do not immediately come to mind, you can search the Internet for selections of cities, for example, by the query "top places for a gastro tour in Russia."
2. Explore the sights ahead of time
It’s not bad to go to Tula knowing only about the traditional gingerbread, or to Volgograd for the sake of the “Motherland” monument. plan, but still, in order to get the most out of the trip, it is better to read in advance about other interesting places. This will help you get an idea of the city, outline a rough vacation plan and understand how many days it is worth going there. Here text guides on the Internet or video reviews will come to the rescue. Additionally, you can look for sights that only city residents know about, such as courtyards with cool graffiti, areas with non-obvious historical buildings, or private museums.
It is also worth reading about interesting places nearby - there may be a cool museum complex or an amazing natural site. So, an hour's drive from Kaliningrad, the cities of Svetlogorsk and Zelenogradsk are located, in which the old German buildings have been preserved and there is access to the Baltic Sea. And next to Yekaterinburg there are the Deer Streams park and the Bogdanovichsky quarries, which are called the Ural Mars because of the color of the water.
3. Download useful apps
They will make your journey more comfortable and safer. And some of them are already most likely on your smartphone.
- Taxi service. In some cities, local carriers operate, they can be cheaper than federal services.
- Online maps. It is better to load the city or even the region to which you are going to in advance so that it is easy to build routes even without the Internet. This is especially important if you are planning to visit attractions in the suburbs, where there is a risk of poor communications.
- Application for booking accommodation. They make it easier to find a convenient place to stay and at any time you can quickly contact the landlord: the owner of the apartment or the hotel administration.
- Ticket finder. For the modes of transport that you plan to use. There it will be possible to book tickets or at least find out in advance the schedule of train and bus flights.
- Public spaces aggregator. It makes it easier to find cool places nearby: read what other tourists think about them, look through photos, and find out the cost of visiting. And it will also allow you to immediately sweep away towards an institution with a low rating.
- Online guides. Audio tours, quests and ready-made routes will make the trip more interesting.
- car sharing. If you have a driver's license, renting a car will help you explore the city and its surroundings more comfortably.
4. Make sure the connection is available
Otherwise, it will be difficult to use useful applications and share experiences with friends. Before the trip, go to the website of the mobile operator and check your tariff for roaming in Russia. If the Internet connection and calls in another region are included in the price, everything is fine. And if they charge extra for them, think again.
So, if you live in Moscow and are going to Irkutsk for two weeks, it would be more profitable to change the tariff or purchase a new SIM card on the spot. And if you go to Tver for the weekend, it is more likely that the operator's commission will cost less. Especially if the hotel has Wi‑Fi.
5. Choose the best way to travel
The most budgetary way can also be the most inconvenient at the same time. And sometimes vice versa. Therefore, it is important to compare the cost and time on the road by bus, train, train, plane - to find the perfect combination of price and comfort for yourself.
For example, you can get from Chelyabinsk to Ulyanovsk by direct train in a little over a day or fly with a transfer in seven hours. At the same time, the second option will cost several times more: a train ticket costs a little more than 1,000 rubles, and a plane ticket costs from 6,490 rubles. The choice of transport in this case depends on the wallet and the duration of the trip: if there are only five days for a trip, spending two of them on the road is not a good idea.
6. Find comfortable accommodation
Grabbing the most budget option is not always right. A cheap apartment may end up on the outskirts of the city - the difference in price will be erased by transport costs. In addition, daily trips by bus or subway can ruin any vacation. Therefore, before booking, study the map of the city and choose the perfect location for yourself.
- In the center, if you plan to see the main sights of the city - this way you can reach most of them on foot. And even if one of them is on the outskirts, it will be easier to get to it, because more public transport runs through the center.
- Close to bus or train station, if you plan to ride around the region, and not spend your entire vacation in one place.
- Any other cool area. If you do not want to live in a noisy center and there is no ready-made travel plan, read the opinions of residents and tourists on the Internet - there may be good advice.
7. Try the local cuisine
All regions of Russia have their own traditional dishes. Even if the purpose of the trip is not gastronomic experiences, it is worth stopping by cafes and restaurants with local cuisine. There is a chance to randomly find a new favorite dish! For example, in Kazan, try echpochmak and kystyby, in Ulan-Ude - buuzy and buchler, in Ryazan - kalinnik and loaves, in Astrakhan - rakhmanka and Astrakhan fish soup.
Prices in establishments with local recipes are not always higher than in the usual chain catering. And you can find a good dining room, cafe or restaurant in a search engine: look at the photos of the interior, the price tag on the menu and user ratings.
8. Check discounts and cashbacks
Traveling is cool, traveling for the benefit of the wallet is doubly cool. Therefore, before buying tickets and booking a hotel, you should surf the Internet. Three steps can help you save money.
- Check the cost of tickets both in aggregators and on the official websites of carriers. The price for the same route may be lower both in the first and in the second. Choose the best offer.
- Look for discounts and promo codes. These can be both for tickets and for hotel accommodation.
- Check if your bank has an increased cashback. You don't need to have a mile card to do this. Some banks offer a large cashback for buying tickets or hotel reservations on specific sites: to receive benefits, you just need to follow the link from the application and make a purchase.
Save on traveling in Russia also will help tourist cashback from Rostourism. Thanks to him, the holders of the Mir card can return 20% of the cost of booking a hotel or buying a ready-made tour. The maximum refund amount is 20 thousand rubles.
To receive cashback, there are only three conditions: the trip must take place between March 15 and July 1, it cannot last less than two nights, and payment must be made no later than May 1. Also, before buying, you need to connect your card to the loyalty program of the Mir payment system.