The Best Time To Visit

Largest country in the world, Russia has a climate which has temperatures becoming colder from south to north and from west to east, as and when it is continental. The winters are very cold, a little more in Moscow and St. Petersburg, with less snowfall in the latter. In spring, melting snow causes a slush quasi-permanent and widespread throughout the country. In St. Petersburg, the nights of June are as clear in all regions located far north as the sun does not practically. To visit Russia, mainly so avoid too muddy spring, and July and August that attract a large crowd. The fall will give you the opportunity to admire beautiful scenery of changing colors, and winter, although rigorous, has an undeniable charm: the snow is very present but the cities are very lively and the vodka flows freely !

Historically rich, politically controversial, Russia is an amazing destination and not leave you unmoved.

Moscow of course is a must: cultural capital, it is also attractive for its medieval roots, and its sites become mythical, Red Square and the Kremlin, but also the Mayakovsky museum or zoo.

The other city where you can not ignore is St. Petersburg, which includes its canals and palaces, as at the time of the tsars, and offers of places like the legendary Peter and Paul Fortress and the Nevsky Prospekt.

At the far east, Vladivostok has recently opened to foreigners, and is the center of a nature reserve where there are tigers and bears and leopards.

Quite to the south, visit Sochi, a resort on the edge of the Black Sea, enjoying of a subtropical climate of warm waters that attract tourists from Russia and abroad, as well as spas and the surrounding hills dotted with dachas.

Not very far from Moscow, Novgorod dated 9th century teems with wonders, despite the devastation of the Nazis: the icons of the Palace of Facets, the historical museum, many churches, including that of the Transfiguration of the Savior with beautiful Byzantine frescoes.

Another curiosity not to be missed, the Trans-Siberian you will also travel from one end to another in this wonderful country for a distance of nearly a thousand miles for 6 days, making you go through huge forests of birch and pines and endless steppes, then along Lake Baikal and go to Irkutsk, a city very attractive and multicultural.

The Volga Volgograd, formerly Stalingrad, with its many museums and monuments of World War II, also trace a line of journey worthy of your attention to visit the center of the country.

Whatever your background, you'll be struck by the diversity of wealth in Russia, but also conquered by the famous Russian soul, responsible in turn of extreme joy and melancholy tenacity.

Moscow is connected to major cities worldwide by flights daily, but the train is also a possibility from Paris or Berlin, or Helsinki and Prague.

To enter the country, you need a visa, complete an immigration card on arrival and you register with the OuFM.

The current currency is the ruble, which is itself divided into kopecks. It's easy to withdraw cash with a Visa or MasterCard, ATMs increasingly easy to find.

Question budget is probably the accommodation that you will return the most expensive: Moscow in particular is a city where housing is very expensive, prices are often twice against St. Petersburg. At the hotel have at least 70 € for a double room, often around 200 € in Moscow. An alternative housing is becoming more and more rental apartments renovated with a good level of comfort: a studio can be proposed for about 60 € a night, which is a good alternative to a hotel.

However, will eat much less expensive (less than 15 € per meal) and you can choose between many specialties including soups and salads as diverse as invigorating.

About safety precautions, it is advisable to update its conventional vaccinations (diphtheria, tetanus, polio) and not to drink tap water. Also, be aware that AIDS is widespread in Russia: do no unprotected sex.

To move inside the country, the train is obviously a means of choice, especially the famous Trans-Siberian Railway which takes you to Siberia or Mongolia, or even in Beijing! The aircraft is also quite interesting, although sometimes a comfort to some very basic guidelines. Renting a car is a solution acceptable to all, both the price of the roads, quite correct. In large cities, the metro is very convenient and inexpensive.

Prepare a budget for museums, which are numerous, very interesting, but unfortunately not given.

Finally, if you want to bring memories to your friends and your family, you can choose for the traditional craft is rich and varied dolls very symbolic and always charming, samovars copper or silver, painted boxes, paper mache , colorful shawls, metal plates painted with flowers and fruit color, painted wooden vessels, ceramics, wood carving, small animals or combs made of bone and vessels of the Northern Areas, jewelry semi precious stones, amber necklaces ...