Russia Travel Guide – Against the Compass

It’s incredible to see how quickly things have changed in Russia.

From booking accommodation to accessing the internet or just getting into the country, traveling to Russia is very different from what it used to be like pre-2022.

Russia is a massive country, not only in terms of land, but also in its diversity and complexity. It would be impossible to write down a compelling travel guide in just 3500 words.

However, rather than serving as the ultimate guide to traveling across each region, this post “guide” contains all the relevant updated info and recent changes that will help plan your trip to Russia, including how to look for hotels, how to get your visa, how to book domestic flights, and much more.

In this travel guide to Russia you will find:

🇷🇺 What it’s like to travel to Russia today

Until 2022, Russia was a popular destination for travelers, and nobody was ever criticized for traveling there.

Moscow International Airport had connections with pretty much everywhere in the West, embassies across Europe were always packed with travelers trying to secure their visas, and the main language heard in the Hermitage Museum of Saint Petersburg was definitely English.

But today, Western foreigners are a rarity across Russia.

You can still see Asian tourists (mainly groups from China, Malaysia and Iran) in Moscow’s Red Square but the total number of Western tourists I saw after 1 month of traveling across Russia was zero, not a single one.

This made things particularly interesting, especially when meeting English-speaking Russians, who always had plenty of questions on my country’s opinion of Russia.

What do Russians think about the Ukraine war?

The conflict with Ukraine was on the top of my mind but engaging in local politics with Russian people wasn’t really my objective, since I had traveled to Russia to learn about the country and its cultural diversity.

Obviously, I did speak about the current conflict with a few Russians, but the only thing I’ll say is that most people around…