If you’re a foreigner, the only practical way to get from Kaliningrad to Moscow or St Petersburg is to fly: about two and a half hours in the air, more than a hundred flights a week and tickets from around 50 euros. The Yantar train crosses Lithuania and Belarus and causes serious problems for foreigners, the Ust-Luga ferry arrives in a closed town and, by road, the eVisa won’t let you back into Russia. I’ll explain why, and how to buy your flight with a foreign card.
Why so many travellers enter Russia through Kaliningrad
Since 2022 there have been no direct flights between the European Union and Russia. One of the cheapest and simplest ways to reach Moscow or St Petersburg is to fly to Gdansk, Warsaw, Vilnius or Kaunas, cross into Kaliningrad by road and, from there, take a Russian domestic flight. Since Kaliningrad is already Russia, that last leg is a domestic flight: no passport control and no customs.
The route works both ways: plenty of travellers enter through Kaliningrad and leave through another border, or the other way round, finishing their trip with a flight to Kaliningrad to cross into Poland or Lithuania. I explain how to cross that land border in my guide to crossing into Kaliningrad overland. This article is about the next leg: from Kaliningrad to the rest of Russia.
First, the visa: the eVisa is single-entry
The unified eVisa is valid for the whole of Russia, lets you stay up to 30 days, and you can enter through the checkpoints in the Kaliningrad region (Khrabrovo airport and the road crossings from Poland and Lithuania) and leave through any other authorised checkpoint. With it, entering through Kaliningrad and flying on to Moscow is no problem at all. Who needs it and which checkpoints you can use are covered in my guide to the Kaliningrad visa.
What you really need to keep in mind is that it’s single-entry. Any route that leaves Russia and comes back in (through Lithuania or Belarus, for example) uses up that entry. That’s what rules out almost every alternative to flying. If you travel on a US, UK or Canadian passport, you can’t apply for the eVisa and need a regular visa; if yours is single-entry, what I say below about the eVisa and the train applies to it too.
By plane: the way to go
From Kaliningrad airport (Khrabrovo, KGD) there are more than a hundred flights a week to Moscow and daily connections to St Petersburg and other Russian cities. The basics:
- Kaliningrad–Moscow: about 2 h 40 min. Aeroflot, Pobeda, S7, Ural Airlines and Smartavia all fly it, among others. The cheapest tickets start at around 4,000–5,000 rubles (about €50).
- Kaliningrad–St Petersburg: about 2 hours, at similar prices.
- Other cities: there are direct flights to Kazan, Nizhny Novgorod, Yekaterinburg, Novosibirsk, Murmansk, Arkhangelsk, Perm and Saratov, among others.
Flights don’t cross Lithuanian airspace: they go round over the Baltic, which adds 30 to 50 minutes from Moscow and about 20 from St Petersburg compared with the direct route. That’s already built into the schedules you’ll see.
How to buy the flight with a foreign card
Russian airlines don’t accept Visa or Mastercard cards issued outside Russia on their websites, and Western search engines don’t show their flights. I use Aviasales: it’s the Russian flight comparison site, it shows every domestic flight and sends you to agencies that do take foreign cards. Search for “Kaliningrad (KGD)” to “Moscow (all airports)” or to “St Petersburg (LED)”, compare and buy from the agency that accepts your card.
If you want to see the process step by step, plus other options, check out how to book your flight to Russia with a foreign card and where to search for flights to Russia.
Tips for the day of your flight
- Leave plenty of time. Khrabrovo sometimes has delays due to airspace restrictions: on 20 September 2026 around thirty flights were delayed. Don’t book the border crossing and the flight on the same day, and if you’re connecting to another flight in Moscow, leave several hours.
- Bring your passport. Even though it’s a domestic flight, you’ll be asked for it at check-in and at boarding. It’s the same one you entered with on your eVisa.
- Check what baggage is included. With Pobeda, the basic fare only includes a small backpack. Since March 2026 there are also new rules for flying in Russia that are worth knowing about.
- Getting to the airport. Khrabrovo is about 25 km from the centre. Bus 244-E takes about 45 minutes and costs 180 rubles. If you have luggage or you’re arriving in the city straight after crossing the border, a transfer booked in advance saves you hunting for a taxi: I use iWay, which accepts foreign cards, and you’ll find more options in my guide to transfers in Russia.
By train: the Yantar, best avoided as a foreigner
There’s a direct train between Moscow and Kaliningrad, the “Yantar” (Amber): it leaves Moscow’s Belorussky station in the evening and reaches Kaliningrad about 20 hours later, passing through Minsk and Orsha (the 147Ч, which follows a similar route, also leaves from the same station in the afternoon). For Russians it’s a normal way to travel. For a foreigner, though, it’s a bad idea, for three reasons:
- It crosses Lithuania sealed. Nobody can get off the train on Lithuanian territory, not even EU citizens, and the simplified transit document issued with the ticket is designed for Russian citizens.
- It crosses Belarus. At the Belarus–Lithuania border you go through Belarusian border control, but Belarus’s visa exemption for Europeans (extended until the end of 2026) doesn’t cover travelling on to Russia. And between Belarus and Russia there’s no border control and no checkpoint on the eVisa list, so the Russian eVisa is no use on that stretch. I go into detail in how to travel to Russia through Belarus.
- You leave Russia and enter again. With a single-entry eVisa, you couldn’t get back in. And even if it were your first entry, it still wouldn’t work: the train enters the Kaliningrad region through the Nesterov rail crossing (the checks are done at Chernyshevskoye station), which isn’t on the eVisa list of checkpoints (Chernyshevskoye is on it, but only as a road crossing).
If your paperwork isn’t in order for this journey, you risk being taken off the train. My advice is clear: if you’re not a Russian citizen, don’t take it. The same goes for the train between St Petersburg and Kaliningrad (the 079Ч, which leaves from Vitebsky station and takes about 25 hours): it still runs, but it also crosses Belarus and Lithuania, so it has the same problems.
Once you’re in Moscow or St Petersburg, though, the train is a great option for the rest of your trip; I explain how to buy tickets in how to buy train tickets in Russia.
By ferry: Ust-Luga–Baltiysk
There’s a ferry line between Ust-Luga, in the Leningrad region, and Baltiysk that doesn’t pass through any other country. It’s mainly a freight service that takes passengers: the crossing takes about 40 hours and a berth in a cabin costs from around 6,000 rubles. There are few passenger places and truck drivers get priority.
For a foreign tourist I don’t recommend it: Baltiysk is the base of the Baltic Fleet and is closed to foreigners without a special permit, and I haven’t been able to confirm that the ferry takes foreign passengers. On top of that, it doesn’t sail often and takes two days to do what the plane does in two and a half hours.
Since 2025 there’s been another option: the Antey ferry, which links St Petersburg (Morskoy Fasad terminal) with Pionersky, on the Kaliningrad coast. It takes about two days and a cabin costs from around 7,000 to 12,800 rubles per person. Pionersky isn’t a closed town, so on paper it’s a better fit than Baltiysk, but I haven’t been able to confirm that it takes foreign passengers or how often it sails at the moment.
By road: not on an eVisa
To drive from Kaliningrad to the rest of Russia you have to cross Lithuania, and then Latvia or Belarus. The simplified transit document for Lithuania is for Russian citizens, so a foreigner would be leaving Russia for the EU and entering Russia again through another border. That isn’t possible on a single-entry eVisa: you’d need a regular multiple-entry visa. If you’re travelling in your own vehicle and want to combine both areas, the sensible thing is to plan it as two separate trips; you’ll find more information in visa for travelling to Russia by car, motorbike or motorhome.
Summary: which option to choose
| Option | Duration | Approximate price | For foreigners? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plane to Moscow | 2 h 40 min | from around 4,000–5,000 ₽ (about €50) | Yes, the recommended option |
| Plane to St Petersburg | about 2 h | similar | Yes |
| Yantar train to Moscow | about 20 h | varies | Not recommended |
| Ust-Luga–Baltiysk ferry | about 40 h | from around 6,000 ₽ | Not recommended |
| St Petersburg–Pionersky ferry | about 2 days | 7,000–12,800 ₽ | Unconfirmed |
| Car through Lithuania | a day or more | varies | Not on an eVisa |
Before you fly on, it’s worth staying a couple of days: Kaliningrad is unlike anywhere else in Russia. There’s my guide to things to do in Kaliningrad and another on the coast and the Curonian Spit, and everything I’ve published on the exclave is in the Kaliningrad section.
Frequently asked questions
How long is the flight from Kaliningrad to Moscow?
About 2 hours and 40 minutes. The plane goes round Lithuania over the Baltic, which adds 30 to 50 minutes compared with the direct route.
Is the flight from Kaliningrad to Moscow international?
No. Kaliningrad is Russian territory, so it’s a domestic flight, with no passport control or customs. Even so, you’ll be asked for your passport at check-in and at boarding.
Can a foreigner take the train from Moscow to Kaliningrad?
It’s not recommended. The Yantar train crosses Belarus and Lithuania; the Russian eVisa is no use on the stretch between Belarus and Russia, the Belarusian visa exemption doesn’t cover transit to Russia and the eVisa is single-entry. If your paperwork isn’t in order, you risk being taken off the train.
Can I enter Russia through Kaliningrad on an eVisa and leave from Moscow?
Yes. The unified eVisa is valid for the whole country: you can enter through the checkpoints in the Kaliningrad region, fly to Moscow and leave through any other authorised checkpoint, as long as you don’t leave Russia in between, because it’s single-entry.
How do I buy a Russian domestic flight with a foreign card?
Russian airlines don’t accept cards issued outside Russia on their websites. The practical option is the Aviasales comparison site, which shows every domestic flight and redirects you to agencies that do accept foreign Visa or Mastercard cards.
