Traveling to Russia

Where in Russia? I've been to Moscow a few times and am planning on going to St. Petersburg next month.

I stayed in Chelyabinsk for a month in March, went to mountains arround to go snowboarding

Abzakovo and Bannoe and Miass

It was nice and fun, certainly not as good as resorts in America or Europe.... but fun

I will go back in October to Chelyabinsk again.... but i dont know where i will take a trip to this time

Any Advices on going to St. Petersburg? How to live there cheaply?
How ok are Russians speaking a foreign language like English, German, French?

>>1273422
the cool russia starts beyond Ural mountains. Go anywhere there

>>1273422
Where are you from? Keep in mind you'll more than likely need a visa to enter the country even for the most simplistic of trips. Other than that, it's an amazing country and the people I encountered Could not have been better

>>1274145
Hostels for sure and a lot of young people there speak English to a degree. American culture is everywhere so learning English has become a common thing there.

>>1274145
if you go for youngsters in big cities like Moscow or St. Petersburg there is a high chance that they'll speak English. The older ones it is very unlikely. German is more popular than English I'd say, but for the "educated" part of the population (businessmen). French is very rare in my experience.

If you go to a smaller city, expect no one to speak even the most basic English. I was in Krasnodar (not exactly a small city), trying to reach a small WWOOFing village and I almost got lost if not for a taxi driver that spoke a little bit of English and indicated me the way to the bus station

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>>1273422
>Anyone ever been? How was the trip?

Part I

Hello anon! I am here in Russia since six weeks and doing alright. Here some infos

Murmansk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjZpNjdzCvo
Up north. You can see aurora borealis. You can cross to Norway. Have some huge monuments. When i was day, it was never dark because of polar day.

Olenegorsk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VEwDgT4uu0
Small city. My impression was they mostly have russian tourists. Only a few things to see, so if you are short on time you can skip

Kandalaksha https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYzRVRc8zvs
Having a swim, enjoying the kerelian kitchen. Agin if you are short on time, you can skip.


Kem https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdBo2X_oQpE
Small city. Different religious sites. Good for a hike. Again if short on time, you can skip

Petrozavodsk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z43iLHcX2qY
First recommendation. Chill place especially if it is good weather and you are at the quayside.

Saint Petersburg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nF9dC8RHNw8
Well, this city needs no introduction. Run over by tourists. Tours tours tours on bus, on boat and wtv. But you will find a lot of russian who speak english

Vyshny Volochyok https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-o5tcobdd2s
Small place, if short on time, you can skip


Tver https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gM3B6v31h74
Second remmendation. Pretty cool place. They put some effort in presenting the city. Many activities.

Moscow https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TADa-UwlRqQ
Well, it is the capital. Around the red square it and the main cathedral the street is crowded. Metro is efficient (at least i found) and easy to understand.


Nishny Novgorod https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVcFD1Ez5Zs
Big city. Different possibilities for activities. If you have the time you can go.

>>1274197
Part II

Arzamaz https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5UuYrLMf3o
Rather smaller city. Most landmarks can be found in the center. If you have the time you can go.

Cheboksary https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpU3Wa0SSKU
Recommendation 3. They have some sort of amusement park around the lake. Pavillions, bars, rent a boat, etc. Probably a nice place if you go with your GF

Ulyanovsk - no vid yet
Well, when I was there it had heavy rain. Streets were flooded. All means of transportations had stopped. Unfortunately I can not give any review.

Kazan - no vid yet
Recommendation 4 and a must go in my opinion. Tartastan has apparently some money, so they put it to some good use. Very nice promenade. Hosted some games of the confed cup in June. Most people seemed to love it.

Samara https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8fXh2RXr1o
A lot of maintenance is going on there. So if you go to Samara at the world cup next year, it will all be polished. Nice city to go, if you have the time.

>>1274197

Part III

Ufa https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqwZGu_yoes
Big city, over a million people. If you plan a vacation to Russia, you should plan Ufa in (besides Kazan).


Chelyabinsk - no vid yet
Well, I guess you can skip this city if you a short of time.

Yekaterinburg - no vid yet
Big city. Many activities but also many tourists especially at the season (now).

Does anyone have that "book" that someone released here about Russia? I lost it :(

>>1274168
>>1274185
Thanks guys.

Have another question. Maybe a strange one. Is it true that many people are very direct and sincere on a personal level? I find that an intresting skill. Mostly because my people are too shy or polite to say something personal.
I heared that from a book, and it came from the soviet times.

>>1273422
I don't want to make another thread so I'll ask here.

I want to go to the World Cup next year. I'm looking to stay im Moscow.
Is there a place where wc tourist will be housed like they did in germany with special tents?
Is couchsurfing a good option?

>>1274253
>I want to go to the World Cup next year. I'm looking to stay im Moscow.
>Is there a place where wc tourist will be housed like they did in germany with special tents?
>Is couchsurfing a good option?


I am the guy from >>1274200
Went to the confed cup in June and watched some games live. You just book a hotel in Moscow, order your ticket and get your fan id. not that hard.

If you go for the world cup next year, apply NOW for the visa free entry for the games.

Couchsurfing is an option, like everywhere else. Just check the reviews of your host. If it is yuri with a 3 room apartment and 20 good reviews, it is probably good to go. if it is boris, in a bunker 20km outside the city with no reviews whatsoever, it is probably a no go

>>1274253
>Is couchsurfing a good option?
When there is a few extra thousand people in town, crazy soccer fans at that, I wouldn't count on some individual owner not to suddenly take a higher bidder, or host their actual friends. I would stick to a traditional hotel, a major chain, before I counted on something like couchsurfing, when not only will you be paying an expensive price as your final hotel rate last minute, but face tons of full hotels with zero vacancy issues. Too risky if you can't financially recover or be inconvenienced.

>>1274241
Mmmh it didn't feel like it really, but then again I didn't have a whole lot of interactions with locals since I can't speak Russian very well.
I think this comes from the fact that there is no "servicing" culture in Russia imo. I don't know where you come from, but I'm from France, and here we expect basic politeness/courtesy from waiters, cashiers etc. Just stuff like "hello" and "goodbye, have a nice day" you know ? But in Russia it's not rare that people in the service industry will just do their job and that's it, no hello, no goodbye, even if you try speaking Russian. Don't take it personally or think they are being rude, it's just how it is.

>>1273422
>Anything worth seeing when I get there?
Moscow and Saint Petersburg > shit > other cities
The nature is great though.

Vladivostok had the most beautiful young people I've seen on average walking around the city square and when I was going to Club Ra. It was really surprising seeing nearly everyone care about their appearance.

Food was good. Some old women made me a turkish wrap "shavyerma" and said "adushi" which apparently means made with the soul. It was fucking delicious. Had some other food stuff and visited a soviet inspired restaurant, among other things. Also saw a theatrical performance about WW2, a guitar show and a street market and some memorial parade with tanks.

8/8 m8 would go again.

This is as an American and I've been around quite a few countries.

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>>1274923
Pic related.

>>1274185
>German is more popular than English I'd say
wut
this is only true for some very specific areas where ethnic Germans from the Urals area were deported during Stalin times. Most Germans from those areas have left by now anyway, so by now I don't think there's any part of Russia where that statement would be true.

>going to Moscow in September
>go to bank to buy roubles since euro is strong today
>"I'm sorry sir we don't sell those here and it's unlikely you will find them anywhere, else"
WTF I thought the cold war was over

>>1274221
the guy made a website to put it on but it looks like it's down; I remember it was also a Google Doc but I don't have the link.

He put "Matryoshka Suka Blyat" on the title page if that helps.

>>1275983
dude exchange booths are almost any major metro station

>>1275983
Okay I didn't know that
I said that because I met a middle-aged man in an hostel in Moscow who spoke French (my language) and German, and he told me that in his days, mainly German (and sometimes French) was taught at school , not English. He was around 45-50 years old

>>1276020
Sorry I meant >>1275981

Fucking phone-posting ruining 4chan lmao xd

>>1274925
>he actually enjoyed shaurma
Most russians consider it to be the shittiest type of street food.

>>1275985
https://yuki.la/trv/1216175

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>>1276076
Ironic. Most people would consider Russian food to be shittest anywhere.

>>1276076
My Russian friends considered it drunk food and I ate it while drunk so I was so quite satisfied regardless of how people associate with it.

>>1274145
what an arrogant fuck. what are the chances of you speaking a foreign language like Russian?

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>>1276310
Russian food always looks fucking weird, but sometimes its pretty gud.

>>1273422
St. Petersburg
Moscow
Nizhny Novgorod
Kazan
Yekaterinburg

These cities are worth visiting (in order of it's beauty and geographical location). Petersburg is the "most european" city of Russia, it's even called Northern Venice sometimes for its architecture and plenty of islands of Neva river.

Moscow is the capital and most populous city with emerging business centre/downtown and ring structure.

Nizhny Novgorod is famous for being the city of merchants and trade centre of Volga regions. Now this city is going through hard times, but it still has beautiful architecture and is the most Russian city of the country by its spirit.

Kazan is the half-russian half-tatar city with the interesting mix of russian and eastern architecture with beautiful churches and mosques which are often neighbouring. The city is actively building now and is considered by some people as "the third capital" (after Moscow and Petersburg).

Yekaterinburg is the developing city located on the border of Europe and Asia. It is worth mentioning for the significant rise of cultural activities and events in the past decade. This city is considered as hipsterous and has a plenty of little comfy places to spend time and money in.

I don't know much about the asian part of Russia tho, but there are some places worth mentioning like Novosibirsk, Altai mountains, Vladivostok and Baikal Lake.

Most youngsters speak English pretty well, not ideally, but at least they will help you to find the way to the nearest bank, metro station or bus stop. Some older people, especially in city centre, may help you too.

t. muscovite
(And sorry for mah not-so-good English)

>>1275985
oh shit, I didn't know it was down, I'll re-upload it somewhere else

here is one of the versions, I still haven't got down to making a final release, so many places appeared in Moscow this Summer, I have to write several new pages

https://dfiles dot ru/files/or55cep9p

>Anyone ever been?
Yes;
>How was the trip?
Fine.
>Anything worth seeing when I get there?
Lenin's corpse.

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>>1278454
I agree most of the part.
I am the guy who fagposts some russian videos now and then because I am currently traveling from Murmansk to Vladivostok.

I would add to the list Ufa (>1 million ppl)
Petrozavodsk (Karelia)
Tyumen

If you like hiking you could go to Kandalaksha https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzQNgtjw-9k

>>1274185

I was in a russian hospital once because the doctors thought my appendix was about to burst. One of the guys I was sharing a room with spoke french. Unfortunately I don't and my Russian wasn't good either.

>>1274584
My experience with waiters and waitresses varied. When I first went in to a Russian restaurant I spent about 60 seconds standing around looking like an idiot before i realized that I had to seat myself. Luckily they were pretty good, they found whoever spoke the best english and got me a menu in english to look at.

There's a nice little french bar/cafe that I went to a couple of times on my last weekend. The waitress was very nice and even remembered what I had ordered a couple of nights before.

The one thing Is that you have to make it very clear that you're ready to leave, otherwise they'll let you sit around in the restaurant for hours.

>>1276076
Compared to what? I never saw much other than shuarma. Some of the places were pretty good too.

If you go to Moscow I recommend seeing the VDNKH, Sparrow Hills, at least one of the art galleries, the Kremlin/red square, and gorky park.

Honestly the most fun I had was just walking around the city. Don't be afraid of getting lost, you'll always find a metro station.

I'm going to spend Christmas in Moscow this year. Also visiting St. Petersburg and Kazan. I have an extra week to plan an extreme winter exploration trip. I'm so excited I feel like a little kid planning a trip to the moon.

>>1274201
how is yaroslavl like?

>>1274201
>>1278513
Sry anon, my route was from Moscow to Nizhny Novgorod and later Arzamas. Did not pass Yaroslavl. But maybe another anon has some insight. Greetings from Siberia
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Olc54qM1yM