TRAVEL GUIDE TO RUSSIA 2025

Practical information about visa to Russia, insurance covering your Russian adventure, where to enter & dos and don'ts for travellers in 2025

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PENGUIN TRAVEL goes Russia – this year too 
- this travel guide is dynamic. Latest update 07FEB25(sections: Visa to Russia, Visa Support, Insurance, Internet and phones)

Travel to Russia is safe, with normalcy in major cities like Moscow and St. Petersburg, Perm, Ekaterinburg, Irkutsk, and Vladivostok. The Trans-Siberian Railway is connecting Moscow with Vladivostok and the Sea of Japan as usual and all the interesting sights along the railway are open for visitors. Mount Elbrus is open for climbers, the salmons are jumping in the rivers on the Kola peninsula and you can relax in warm, mineral-rich waters of the Baransky volcano -one of Sakhalin's top natural attractions.

Despite challenges in recent years traveling to Russia remains feasible and optimistic. Russia's borders are open for tourism and both traditional and electronic visas are available.

While international sanctions pose some challenges, we here aim to provide updated information and practical recommendations for travelers ready for a Russian adventure in 2025.

Visa to Russia
It has never been easier to obtain a Russian visa: Apply on-line for a stay up to 16 days through the electronical portal here.  The application can be submitted no earlier than 40 days and no later than 4 days before the expected date of entry into the Russian Federation. It takes about 4 working days and once issued it is valid 60 days for entrance through any international airport (see current list here). Note that land border crossings (automobile checkpoints) are limited. If you enter Russia from Mongolia, the border is at checkpoint Naushki in Buryatia.

Russian consulates are issuing visas for travel to Russia for tourism, visiting relatives etc., as usual. Since 15th of June 2013 it has also become possible to apply for an electronic visa to certains cities and since 1st of August 2023 it is possible to apply for visa to stays all over Russia. The visa procedure can start 3 month before you intend to enter Russia.

Electronic visa (E-Visa). A total of 55 nationalities can apply for an electronic visa to Russia, for stays of up to 16 days. The day of arrival and the day of departure are counted as two days.The electronic visa is giving you the big advantage that it is not necessary to go to the consulate or to the Russian visa centers as long as you and your travel plans live up to the conditions you must fulfill. The fee in 2024 was 52 USD.
Regular (ordinary) or paper visa. In the Russian consulates you still have the option to apply for a paper or traditional visa allowing longer stays (for tourists up to 30 days) than the electronic visa, if your plans do not meet the conditions required for an electronic visa (like multi-entry or passport holders from USA, Canada, the UK and Australia). Visa fee depends on the embassy/consulate/visa center of the country where you obtain the visa - normally issued within 10 working days (some countries have a faster option against an additional fee). Please be aware of spedial requirements if you apply for visa in country different from the country of citizenship.
Invitations are still required for regular visas. If you need visa support we are here to help you to get your Tourist visa - just like we used to before the world went off the rails.
Travel to Russia without a visa (Visa-Free). There are countries that do not require a visa to travel to Russia, such as Cuba, Colombia, Peru or Venezuela, among others, although under certain conditions. In this case you do not have to apply for a visa, but you must have travel insurance for any eventuality that may arise.

Russian Visa Support
E-visa applicants are not required to submit an invitation letter, hotel booking confirmation or any other document confirming the purpose of their travel to Russia. For a regular or paper visa you need to present a voucher and invitation document (called visa support). The visa supporting documents must be issued by a company officially registrered in Russia. For all tours with Penguin Travel this service is included in the price.

Insurance covering Russia
A travel insurance is not only a good idea, but it is a must to enter Russia regardless of your visa.
If your insurance company cannot cover your travel to Russia some Russian insurance companies like GoingRus and Attollo Assistence provide the service having the option to pay with card from a country outside Russia.

The medical insurance must be valid throughout the territory of the Russian Federation (corresponding with the information in the visa) and throughout the stay period. Here you find the requirements:
• Buy the insurance in advance! It is not possible to buy it when arriving in Russia.
• The insurance policy has to be in Russian or English (no other language). Be sure that you get the policy in PDF format to print it in advance and show it along with your visa.
• In the policy must be stated: Policy number and date, period the insurance covers, full names of the insured (identic to visa and passport), period of validity, list of medical coverage (min. 30.000 EUR or equal in other currency), the area covered by the insurance (World/Russian Federation/ Europe, Russia included) – the territory of Russia includes Europe and Asia, signature of the insurance company.

How to enter Russia
To enter the largest country in the world we recommend to use air transport - and within Russia you have busses, railways and domestic flights at your disposal. Entrance over land is limited for the time being.

St.Petersburg has one big airport: Pulkovo-LED (Пулково) with about 37 international flight connections among which you find flights from Belgrade, Istanbul, Yerevan, Tbilisi, Tehran, Abu Dhabi

Moscow has 3 internationl airports: Sheremetyevo-SVO (Шереметьево) and Vnukovo-VKO (Внуково) about 26 km.from the centre and Domodedovo-DME (Домодедово) with about 42 km to the centre. Use the links for further information about the airports. 

When looking for a flight connection into Moscow we recommend to check following airlines: Air Serbia, Pegasus, Turkish Airlines, FlyDubai, Qatar Airways, Utair, Uzbekistan Airways, Belavia, SCAT, China Eastern Airlines, Air China, China Southern Airlines

And for mainly domestic flights, but not only, the Russian airlines: Aeroflot, Pobeda, Yakutiya, Azimut, Rossiya, Azur Air, Smartavia, Severstal Airlines, Ural Airlines (from Istanbul and Yerevan), S7 Airlines (from Istanbul)

Internal Airport Irkutsk-IKT(Международный Аэропорт Иркутск) is about 60 km from the Siberian city and has connections to Ulan Bator, Vladivostok, Moscow, Kamchachatka a.o.

Vladivostok International Airport-VVO (аэропорт Владивосток) is about 44 km from the centre with connections to Moscow, Irkutsk, Yekaterinburg, Beijing, Tashkent, Seoul a.o.

If you cannot get your flight ticket paid by card online, try these seach-engines allowing international card payments:Aviasales.com or onetwotrip.com

Money - rubles - payments
Forget all about your credit card (if issued outside Russia) for the time being and use this simple recommendation for payment in the local currency, rubel:

Bring enough USD / EUR and change on spot. The rate of exchange is less atractive in the airports. Use the exchange services of the banks (Sberbank / Сбербанк is the biggest and also a state-owned bank)

Take cash with you and exchange to rubles in a bank in Russia. Bring EUR or USD (max. 10.000 EUR/USD without declaration). Remember to bring banknotes without any defects.

Find a bank offering a good rate of exchange (see here). The official rate of the bank you can find on many websites, check the location of the bank and the working hours. Sberbank / Сбербанк is the biggest and also a state-owned bank. If you arrive outside the opening hours we recommend you to exchange only a minimum in the airport.

If you insist to pay by card you have to get yourself a card valid in Russia like UnionPay bank card (Chinese) or to purchase a bank card in Russia.

Internet and phones
As a country, Russia entered the digital world a long time ago and in virtually all areas, digitalization has long since taken over. Russians are online 24/7. Of course you find wi-fi every where, also on some trains (unfortunately we cannot inform you in advance) - sometimes the wi-fi is free, sometimes you pay a fee - just like in every other country in the world. In remote and/or mountainous areas there might be poor cell signals.

Also in 2025 roaming is expensive - we recommend you to use wi-fi. Use some time before your trip to download practical apps (for navigation, sights of interest, translation etc.) and check the application for offline use. 
Remember the wi-fi in most public places is unsecured, hotel and restaurant signals may be weak, and slow, but what to do ( the answer is paying your provider back home).

New for 2025: It is possible, but complicated and time-consuming for travellers to buy a Russian sim-card. A new regulation as of January 1st stipulates certain conditions for SIM-card sales to foreign citizens. The change was made for security reasons - Russia is the world's largest country. Maybe you find offers and prices online, but practically it is not possible. If you see any offers in the airports "on old SIM-cards" be aware that such do not exist and you are not permitted to use it.

Tourist tax and registration of tourists
The 1st of January 2025 a new Tourist tax was introduced in Russia. This tax is calculated based on local decisions about the location and category of the accommodation. To ensure a minimum contribution, the government has set a daily charge of at least 100 rubles.  The tourist tax will begin at a rate of 1 per cent of the lodging costs in 2025 and will be increased to 3 per cent by 2027. The intention is that the tax collected will be used for investments in tourism infrastructure. The fee is to be paid on spot in rubles. As the implementation is on-going we don't have the amounts for 2025 yet.

Rediscover the Trans-Siberian magic by train
Today the Trans-Siberian Railroad is an electrified double-track line enabling millions of people to cross Russia east- or westbound, from the Japanese Sea and with a connecting line from Moscow to St. Petersburg the line reaches the Baltic Sea. See more about traveling the by train in Russia here.

Stopovers on the Trans-Siberian Railway
Curious about which cities you can visit? Here you find our suggestions.

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See the full list of our travels to Russia 2025 here (2 pages) - or contact us : www.penguintravel.com/Pages/contacts.html  for further information.

This travel guide is designed to assist you in planning your trip to Russia. However, it remains the traveler's responsibility to stay informed about all applicable rules, requirements, and any updates leading up to departure. Please note that the information provided is for reference only and does not carry any liability.

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