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    1. Königsberg Cathedral on Kant Island, KaliningradThings to Do in Kaliningrad: A Guide to Planning Your Trip to the Russian ExclaveYes, you can visit Kaliningrad as a European tourist, and it’s worth it: with the Russian eVisa you can cross overland from Poland or Lithuania or fly into Khrabrovo airport, and in two or three days you’ll see Königsberg Cathedral and Kant’s tomb, the Fishing Village, the Museum of the World Ocean and Baltic amber. […]
    2. Sunset over the Kaliningrad riverfrontKaliningrad Visa: The e-Visa, the Border Crossings and the Outdated Information to IgnoreTo enter Kaliningrad you need the same visa as for the rest of Russia. If you’re a citizen of any EU country, Switzerland, Norway or Japan, the e-visa is all you need: AED 238 (about US$65 / €58), you apply online and it arrives in four days. If you’re from the US, the UK, Canada, Australia or New Zealand, […]
    3. Inside a Russian Post office (Pochta Rossii) in MoscowHow to Send a Parcel or Letter to Russia in 2026Sending a parcel or a letter to Russia is still possible in 2026, but not the way it used to be. DHL, UPS and FedEx suspended their shipments to Russia in 2022 and never resumed them, so the big international couriers are out of the picture. What’s left depends heavily on where you’re sending from […]
    4. Shaman Rock and the beach at Cape Burkhan on Olkhon Island, on Lake BaikalFrom St Petersburg to Lake Baikal in 24 Days: Nicolas and Lara’s ChronicleNicolas and Lara are 29 and 28, live in Paris and have been travelling around the world since January. Russia was one of their stops: 24 days, from 4 to 27 August 2026, from St Petersburg to Olkhon Island, by way of Moscow, Suzdal, Kazan, Yekaterinburg and three nights in a row on the Trans-Siberian. […]
    5. Snowy birch forest at dusk seen from the Trans-Siberian windowMoscow to Vladivostok Non-Stop: Jérémie’s Trans-Siberian, from Estonia to ChinaJérémie, aka NomadeSurRails , set off from Lille in February 2025 with one fixed idea: to get from France to Japan without ever getting on a plane. Russia was the big chunk of the journey: in by bus from Estonia, three days in St Petersburg, two in Moscow, then the Trans-Siberian from Moscow to Vladivostok […]
    6. Wooded hills and snowfields under a blue sky, seen from the Trans-Siberian windowMoscow to Vladivostok Non-Stop: 7 Days on the Trans-Siberian, Guy’s StoryGuy lives in Rivesaltes, in the Pyrénées-Orientales in the south of France, and in March 2026 he did what plenty of people dream about and never get round to: Moscow to Vladivostok on the Trans-Siberian, 7 days and 7 nights in one go, without getting off the train, to catch the ferry to South Korea […]
    7. Aerial view of Vladivostok's Golden Bridge over the Golden Horn BayVladivostok: What to See, How to Get There and Where to Go at the End of the Trans-SiberianVladivostok is the end (or the start) of the Trans-Siberian: 9,288 km from Moscow, seven hours ahead on the clock and the Sea of Japan right in front of you. In this guide I cover everything you need in practice: how to get there and how to leave, which visa works, how many days to […]
    8. Red Square, Moscow captured on a bright day with tourists, historic architecture, and clear skies.Travel to Russia in 2026: Is It Safe? The Practical Guide for Planning Your TripAre you turning over the idea of traveling to Russia now and not quite sure whether it’s a good idea, whether it’s safe, or even whether you can go at all with the war in Ukraine in the background? I get it. The short answer is: yes, you can, and yes, for a tourist it’s […]
    9. Queues and Waiting Times at Russia's BordersQueues and Waiting Times at Russia’s Borders: the Best Telegram Groups with Real-Time InformationIf you are about to cross a land border into Russia, Telegram is the best source of information you will find. Official websites publish rules and opening hours; Telegram groups tell you how long the wait is right now : how many cars are queuing, whether they are running interviews, what time the pedestrian list […]
    10. Best eSIMs for Traveling to RussiaThe Best eSIMs for Russia: Which Ones Actually Work, According to TravelersBuying a physical Russian SIM card has become all but impossible for a tourist since the 2025 rules came in, which require registering it on the state platform Gosuslugi with a SNILS number. So if you want mobile internet in Russia, the realistic route is an international eSIM bought before you leave. But before you […]
    11. Palace Square in St Petersburg in the evening light, with the Alexander Column and the General Staff Building“The Last Bastion of Old Europe”: Thomas’s Six Days in St PetersburgThomas and his wife live in Erfurt, in Germany, and spent six days in St Petersburg at the end of August 2026. They flew in from Nuremberg via Istanbul, entered with an eVisa , took no cards they could use and paid for the whole trip in cash. His account is short and practical, and […]
    12. The colourful towers of the Izmailovo Kremlin seen through falling snowNew Year in Moscow on Cash Alone: Sophia’s Chronicle from SingaporeSophia lives in Singapore and spent a little over two weeks in Moscow across New Year, from 26 December to 11 January. She applied for her eVisa entirely online, landed at Sheremetyevo in the small hours with a stack of US dollars, and found out very quickly that her bank cards were useless in Russia […]
    13. Smiling older man sitting on a bed in a pine-panelled room with a guitar hanging on the wallLearning Russian at 78: David’s St Petersburg ChronicleDavid lives in the UK and travelled to St Petersburg in the spring of 2025 on a regular three-month tourist visa, which he applied for in person after going up to Edinburgh twice. He was 78 years old. He did not go for the Hermitage: he went to sit in a classroom and learn Russian. […]
    14. The enamelled and gilded domes of the Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood against a deep blue skyBuying Roubles on Facebook: Mweru’s St Petersburg ChronicleMweru lives in Perth, in Australia, and travelled to St Petersburg in July 2026 on a regular tourist visa. She was going to a family wedding, but the logistics were entirely her own: she arranged everything from the other side of the world, crossed in at Narva, and arrived with a week’s worth of roubles […]
    15. Mongolia visaDo You Need a Visa for Mongolia? The 30-Day Exemption, ExplainedIf you hold a British, Irish, EU, Australian or New Zealand passport and you’re travelling to Mongolia as a tourist, you don’t need a visa in 2026 for stays of up to 30 days. Mongolia has extended its visa exemption for citizens of 34 countries, and it runs until 31 December 2026. Your passport is […]
    16. Travel Belarus Visa Free - Featured imageTravel to Belarus Without a Visa in 2026: Requirements and How to EnterYes, you can travel to Belarus without a visa. If you hold a British, Irish or other European passport from a list of 38 countries, you can enter visa-free and stay up to 30 days, and since July 2024 you no longer have to arrive by plane: any international border crossing works, road, rail or […]
    17. The Grand Cascade and the Sea Channel at Peterhof seen from the palace terraceTwo Minutes at Passport Control: Alican Kutlu’s Saint Petersburg ChronicleAlican Kutlu spent five nights in Saint Petersburg in June 2026, on a regular tourist visa and in the middle of the White Nights. He wrote to me with a short list of the things that worried him before flying, and then went through them one by one to tell me what actually happened. It […]
    18. Safety and security in Rusia - US GovermentIs Russia a Safe Country to Visit? The Real Situation in 2026Is Russia a safe country to visit right now? The honest answer has two sides. In terms of everyday safety, Moscow, Saint Petersburg or Kazan are cities with little street crime, plenty of police and cameras everywhere: practically every traveller who writes to me agrees they felt safer there than in many European capitals. But […]
    19. The white Cathedral of Christ the Saviour with golden domes on Victory Square in Kaliningrad during a snowfallTwelve Hours at the Mamonovo Border: Саймон’s Kaliningrad ChronicleСаймон lives in the United States and he spent his Christmas holiday getting into Kaliningrad the hard way: a cheap flight to Gdansk, then overland. The crossing he had budgeted a few hours for took twelve. Getting back out was harder still, because Polish land borders had started turning away his nationality and he found […]
    20. Snow-capped volcanoes rising above the city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky on a clear dayInto Russia by Ferry from South Korea: Neil’s Far East ChronicleNeil lives in Glasgow and this was already one of seven trips he has made to Russia in the past two years, so he knew exactly what he was doing. What makes his story different is how he got in and how he got out: he entered through the port of Vladivostok on a ferry […]