If you’re looking for a Russia travel guide, let me save you time from the very first line: right now, no printed guidebook is truly up to date. The usual ones —Lonely Planet, DK Eyewitness, Rough Guides, Insight Guides— were all written before 2022, and since then almost everything that really matters for planning a trip has changed: card payments, flights, the visa, accommodation, and even the apps you need on the ground.
In this article I’ll tell you which Russia guidebooks are on the market and what year they really date from, why no publisher keeps them updated, and what the only alternative that’s still being revised is. I’ll be honest with you: the Russiable Guide is one I wrote and update myself, so I’m not exactly neutral. But the publication dates of the other guides are public, and you can check them yourself in any online bookshop.
This is step 9 of my guide to planning a trip to Russia in 10 steps, where you’ll find everything else in order.
No publisher keeps a Russia guidebook up to date anymore
Until 2022, travelling to Russia was relatively simple and the big publishers put out guidebooks fairly regularly. Since the start of the conflict in Ukraine, they’ve all frozen their coverage of the country: neither Lonely Planet, nor DK, nor anyone else has updated their Russia guidebooks.
The most striking case is Lonely Planet: its general Russia guide is stuck at the 8th edition, from March 2018. You’ll see it on sale as “new”, and even reprinted with a 2025 date, but inside it’s the same 2018 text, from before the pandemic and the war. The rest are no better: DK Eyewitness stopped in 2019, and Rough Guides and Insight Guides haven’t released a new Russia edition in years.
Why a 2018 Russia guidebook can catch you out
An old guidebook wouldn’t be such a problem if Russia were a stable destination. The trouble is that, since 2022, it’s precisely the most practical part of the trip that has changed. Here’s what a guide from before the war will get wrong:
- Card payments. Foreign Visa and Mastercard cards stopped working inside Russia in March 2022. An old guide will tell you to pay with your usual card; today you need to bring cash, get a MIR card, or use alternative methods.
- Accommodation. Booking.com, Airbnb and Expedia have left Russia. The older guides recommend booking through Booking; today you book on Russian platforms like Ostrovok or Sutochno, which do accept foreign cards.
- Flights. There are no direct flights from the European Union and the airspace is closed. You travel with a stopover via Istanbul, Yerevan, Baku, Belgrade or Dubai. No guide from before 2022 accounts for this.
- Visa. In August 2023 the unified e-visa was relaunched for dozens of countries, much faster and cheaper. Old guides still explain the traditional visa with an invitation letter.
- Connectivity and internet. Google Maps only half works; people use Yandex Maps and Yandex Go; some apps and services are blocked, and it’s worth bringing an eSIM and, in some cases, a VPN. None of this appears in a 2016 guide.
- Tours and tickets. GetYourGuide and Civitatis have also left the country. Today guided visits are booked through local platforms.
With a paper guide from six or seven years ago you can enjoy the cultural side —the history, the monuments, the museums—, but for the logistics you’ll be working from wrong information from day one.
The Russia guidebooks on the market (and what year they really date from)
These are the main Russia travel guidebooks you can still buy, with their real latest edition. I’m telling you honestly, so you know what to expect from each one.
Lonely Planet Russia: the most complete, but frozen in 2018
It’s the most complete guide there is to the whole country: it covers Moscow, St Petersburg, the Golden Ring, the Trans-Siberian and even the most remote regions of Siberia. The problem is that its real latest edition is the 8th, from March 2018. It’s good for inspiration and cultural background, but not for planning your trip today. If you still want it, you’ll find it in any bookshop or on Amazon.
DK Eyewitness Russia: beautiful and out of date
The DK Eyewitness guide is the most visual one: loads of photos, floor plans and 3D cutaway illustrations of the monuments. Perfect if you’ve already got everything organised and just want to understand what you’re going to see. As for practical information that’s valid today, none. Its last edition is from 2019.
Rough Guides Russia: practical, but stuck before the war
Rough Guides has always been a good pick for independent travellers, with honest reviews of places to stay, eat and drink. The catch is that there hasn’t been a new Rough Guide to Russia in years: the last one is from before 2022, so its practical information on payments, bookings and transport no longer holds up.
Insight Guides Russia (and the rest): older still
Insight Guides Russia is a photo-heavy, culture-focused guide, great for understanding the country’s history and art — but its last edition is around 2019-2020, again before the war. The same goes for the other names you’ll come across, like Fodor’s or Frommer’s: older still, and only useful now for the monuments, not for anything practical.
Trailblazer Trans-Siberian Handbook: the Trans-Siberian niche
This is the exception that proves the rule: this guide specialised in the Trans-Siberian is still being updated and remains the reference for that route. But it’s in English only, it focuses solely on the railway journey and, on top of that, Trans-Siberian tourism for Western travellers has been all but frozen since 2022.
So which Russia guide is actually up to date?
The conclusion is awkward but clear: if you want current information for travelling to Russia right now, no paper guide will do, because the country changes from one month to the next and a printed book is out of date the moment it’s published. The only way to go with reliable data is an online guide that gets updated every time something changes. That’s why I created the Russiable Guide.
It’s an interactive web guide —with maps, forms and online resources— that also includes a downloadable PDF version to read offline or print. It brings together more than 120 chapters, sections and maps, and it’s revised every time there are changes to visas, flights, payments, borders or transport. It’s organised in two parts:
- Before the trip: the 10 steps to prepare everything —visa and e-visa, flights with a stopover, accommodation with a foreign card, trains, money and the MIR card, medical insurance, eSIM and internet, tickets and shows— plus the current situation at the borders.
- During the trip: day-by-day itineraries for Moscow and St Petersburg, with opening times, routes, transport, museums, restaurants and excursions to Red Square, Peterhof or Tsaritsyno.
More than 3,200 travellers have already used it to plan their trip, you get permanent access to all future updates, and it’s translated into five languages. The price is €29.95 as a one-time payment.
Is a guide for travelling to Russia still worth it?
More than ever, but with one important caveat. Today, reliable information about Russia is scattered across forums, Telegram groups and blogs —many of them out of date too— and it’s hard to tell what works from what doesn’t anymore. A good guide saves you weeks of searching and, above all, spares you costly mistakes: booking in the wrong place, arriving with no way to pay, or buying a flight with an impossible connection. The only condition is that it’s genuinely up to date. A 2018 guide, however beautiful, no longer meets it.
Frequently asked questions about Russia travel guides
Is there an up-to-date Russia guidebook in print?
No. No publisher has updated its Russia guidebook since 2022. Lonely Planet stopped at its 2018 edition, DK Eyewitness at 2019, and Rough Guides and Insight Guides haven’t had a new Russia edition in years — all of them predate the big changes to payments, flights and visas.
Is a Lonely Planet Russia bought today any use?
The one you buy today is the 8th edition, from March 2018, even if it’s reprinted with a later date. It’s fine for cultural background and monuments, but its practical information on payments, accommodation or transport is out of date.
What’s the best Russia travel guide right now?
The only one that stays current is an online guide. I write and update the Russiable Guide, a web guide with a PDF version that gets revised every time visas, flights or payment methods change inside Russia.
Can I travel to Russia with an old guidebook?
You can, but you’ll go with the wrong information on the essentials. A guide from before 2022 will tell you to pay with Visa or Mastercard, book on Booking, or fly direct from Europe — and none of that works anymore.
Do I need a guide if there are free blogs online?
Blogs give you scattered pieces, often contradictory or outdated. A guide organises all the information step by step and verified, and saves you the work of checking what still works and what doesn’t.
How much does the Russiable Guide cost?
€29.95 as a one-time payment, with permanent access to all future updates. It includes the interactive web version and the downloadable PDF version.
If my advice is any use after years helping travellers plan their trips: keep the paper guides for dreaming and understanding what you’re going to see, but for the practical side —payments, flights, visa, accommodation and bookings— use information that gets updated. That’s what makes the difference between a complicated trip and one that runs smoothly.
