Russia
Phone Code
+7
Capital
Moscow
Population
144 Million
Native Name
Россия
Region
Europe
Eastern Europe
Timezones
Anadyr Time[4
UTC+12:00
+25 more
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Russia is the world's largest country by area, spanning eleven time zones between the Baltic Sea and the Pacific coast, with territory across both European and Siberian Asia. Moscow is the political and cultural capital; St. Petersburg, the former imperial seat founded by Peter the Great, sits on the Baltic in the country's northwest. A unified e-visa lets citizens of more than 60 countries apply online for short stays without an invitation letter; other nationalities and longer stays require a traditional consular visa arranged through a registered host. Passport must be valid at least 6 months beyond the date of entry.
Russia Visa & Entry System
Russia offers two main visa pathways. The unified e-visa lets citizens of more than 60 countries — most EU nations, Japan, China, India, Singapore, Turkey and others, though not the UK, US, Canada or Australia — apply fully online for a single-entry visa without an invitation letter, hotel booking or other supporting documents, valid across the Russian Federation including Moscow and St. Petersburg. A traditional consular visa is required for stays beyond the e-visa's limit, multiple entries, or nationalities the e-visa does not cover; it involves an invitation or tourist voucher from a registered Russian host, confirmed accommodation, travel insurance valid in Russia, and a more demanding, paperwork-heavy application, which is why many travellers use a visa agency. See the visa categories below for the specific requirements and current fees.
Common Visa Types
Unified E-Visa
For tourism, business, guest or humanitarian visits. Available to citizens of more than 60 eligible countries. Apply fully online at evisa.kdmid.ru — a low fee, a few calendar days' processing, no invitation letter or hotel booking required. Valid across the Russian Federation, including Moscow and St. Petersburg. Single entry; no extensions once in Russia except in emergencies.
Tourist Visa (traditional)
For tourism where the e-visa does not fit — stays beyond 30 days, multiple entries, or a nationality not eligible for the e-visa. Apply at a Russian consulate or visa centre with an invitation letter or tourist voucher from a registered Russian tour operator.
Business Visa
For business meetings, conferences and commercial activities. Requires an official invitation from a registered Russian company issued through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Application similar to tourist visa but with business invitation. Multiple-entry options available (90 days, 180 days, 1 year). Does not authorise employment — a separate work permit is required.
Transit Visa
For transiting Russian territory to a third country. Required for land and rail transit (Trans-Siberian passengers crossing Russia to Mongolia or China need this). Some nationalities require transit visas even for airport connections without leaving the international zone. Requires onward ticket and destination country visa if applicable.
Essential Information for Russia Travellers
Russia's scale is the defining fact of any trip here: crossing it end to end by rail takes over a week, and even a well-planned three-week trip only samples a handful of regions. Most first-time visitors anchor around Moscow and St. Petersburg, with the Golden Ring's medieval towns an easy multi-day add-on from Moscow. Lake Baikal and the wider Trans-Siberian route are the standard way to see Siberia, usually broken into stages rather than ridden non-stop. Kamchatka, in the far east, is a separate and far more remote trip reached only by air, better suited to travellers with more time and an appetite for genuine wilderness.
Discover Russia
The line runs as a single track from Moscow as far as Lake Baikal, then splits: the original Trans-Siberian continues northeast to Vladivostok, while the Trans-Manchurian and Trans-Mongolian branches turn south toward Beijing, via Harbin and Ulaanbaatar respectively — each requiring its own transit visas for the countries crossed. Riding the full Moscow-Vladivostok line non-stop takes six to seven days, which is why almost nobody does it that way; the standard approach is to break the journey at Yekaterinburg, marked as the exact border between Europe and Asia, at Novosibirsk, Siberia's largest city, or at Irkutsk, the closest major station to Lake Baikal.
Ways to Experience This Destination
9,289 km from Moscow to Vladivostok — the world's longest railway journey, crossing eight time zones. Three routes share the same line as far as Lake Baikal before diverging: the Trans-Siberian continues to Vladivostok, the Trans-Manchurian branches toward Beijing via Harbin, and the Trans-Mongolian branches toward Beijing via Ulaanbaatar. Classes range from budget open-plan dormitory cars to shared 4-berth compartments to premium 2-berth cabins — fares vary by class, route and season, so check current pricing when booking. Best June-September.
Moscow's Kremlin, Red Square and St. Basil's Cathedral, the Bolshoi Theatre, Tretyakov Gallery and ornate Metro stations. St. Petersburg's Hermitage Museum (Winter Palace, 3 million+ items), Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood, Peterhof Palace fountains, Catherine Palace and the recreated Amber Room. June-July White Nights in St. Petersburg bring near-24-hour daylight.
The world's deepest and oldest freshwater lake (1,642 m deep, 25-30 million years old). Summer: boat trips, hiking the Great Baikal Trail, Olkhon Island's dramatic cliffs. Winter (February-March): walking and skating on crystal-clear frozen ice, ice caves, hovercraft trips. Gateway city Irkutsk retains historic Siberian wooden architecture.
A circuit of ancient Russian towns northeast of Moscow preserving onion-domed churches, monasteries and kremlins from the 12th-18th centuries. Suzdal (open-air museum town), Vladimir (UNESCO cathedrals), Sergiev Posad (spiritual heart of Russian Orthodoxy), Yaroslavl and Rostov Veliky. Day trips or 2-3 day circuits from Moscow.
The Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia's far east — active volcanoes, brown bears fishing for salmon, geysers, hot springs, and pristine wilderness. One of the planet's most remote inhabited regions. Accessible by air from Moscow or Vladivostok. Guided expeditions required for most areas. A serious adventure destination.
Bolshoi Theatre ballet and opera in Moscow, Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, world-class symphony orchestras, the Tretyakov Gallery (Russian art), the Russian Museum (St. Petersburg), and Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff and Stravinsky performed in the concert halls where their music premiered. Ticket prices vary widely by seating and performance — check current pricing when booking.
Money & Currency
Russian Ruble (RUB)
Currency code: RUB
Practical Money Tips
Foreign cards do not work — plan a cash-only trip
The single most important money fact for a visitor: foreign-issued Visa and Mastercard do not work anywhere in Russia — not in ATMs, not in shops or restaurants, and not through the mobile wallets linked to them. The international card networks do not operate in the country, and the domestic Mir system works only with cards issued by Russian banks. There is no workaround to plan for: the money you bring in cash is the money you have. Build the whole budget on that assumption before departure, and confirm the current situation close to travel, since payment access is a domain that changes.
Exchange cash at licensed bureaux — never on the street
Licensed exchange offices (обмен валюты, obmen valyuty) operate throughout Russian cities — in airports, banks, shopping centres and standalone bureaux. The structure of rates is stable even as the numbers move: airport and hotel desks are consistently the worst value, city-centre bureaux the best, so change only what the first day needs on arrival and the rest in town. Bring clean, undamaged notes — torn or worn bills can be refused outright — and expect euros and US dollars to be the currencies every office handles; other currencies may not be accepted outside the largest banks. Never change money with street changers: unofficial exchange is where visitors get cheated.
ATMs exist, but not for you
Russian cash machines are everywhere in cities and entirely beside the point for a foreign visitor: they serve domestically issued cards only. Do not build any part of the plan around withdrawing money after arrival. The working sequence is the one cash-only destinations always reward: estimate the full trip cost, carry it in euros or dollars, exchange in stages, and keep the reserve secured in more than one place.
Carrying and spending: small notes, split reserves
Treat the trip the way experienced travellers treat any cash economy. Split the reserve between luggage, person and the hotel safe rather than one wallet; carry a modest day-wallet you can open in public without exposing the rest. Keep a stock of small-denomination ruble notes for taxis, markets, metro tickets and street food — large notes are for the exchange office and the hotel, not the kiosk. When estimating the total, add a genuinely generous buffer: running out of cash in a country where your cards do not work is the one failure with no easy recovery.
Note: Always check current exchange rates before traveling. Currency exchange is available at airports, banks, and authorized money changers.
Embassies in Russia
These foreign embassies and consulates are based here. Choose a mission to open its in-depth guide and contact details.
Key origin countries
Citizens of more than 60 countries can apply online for the unified e-visa, which needs no invitation letter and covers most of the Russian Federation for short stays; travellers from other countries, or anyone wanting a longer or multiple-entry stay, need a traditional consular visa arranged through a registered Russian host — check the current eligible-country list and requirements before applying.
Not reliably — check current card acceptance before you travel, and plan to carry cash (Euros or US dollars) to exchange for Rubles at official exchange offices, which are widespread in Russian cities.
Riding Moscow to Vladivostok non-stop takes six to seven days, but almost no one does it that way — most travellers break the journey with stops at cities like Yekaterinburg, Novosibirsk or Irkutsk, turning it into a multi-week trip rather than a single continuous ride.
This overview comes from Visaja's worldwide missions database (visaja.com), checked against official government sources; for binding answers, the mission itself always has the final word.