Destination: Russia

Odyssey travels by coach and occasionally uses local transport, including trains and ferries. Specifics are always outlined in your tour itinerary. Because of the (at times) poor road system and the vast distances between cities, rail is often the best way to travel in Russia. Public transport in cities is comprehensive and cheap, and some of the more palatial stations in Moscow and St Petersburg are tourist attractions in their own right!

In major cities, Odyssey stays in centrally located 3-4 star hotels, with easy access to public transport. In smaller towns or rural areas, we usually stay in family-run hotels or guesthouses. On our longstay tours, during which you spend the length of the tour in a single location, we use serviced apartments.

Odyssey always engages local guides with regional knowledge to ensure an authentic experience during which you can learn as much as possible about the history and culture of places you visit.

Russia has a total area of 17, 098, 242 sq km, spanning spans almost half the globe (and two continents) from east to west and about 4,000 kms from north to south. As a result, Russia’s terrain and climate is diverse and varied. You will find stretches of tundra, dessert, dense forests, mountain ranges, lakes and rivers throughout the country.

Generally, the summers are warm to hot and the winters are cold, sometimes freezing depending where you are. You will find the mildest climate along the Baltic coast but Siberia is known for its extreme climate with very cold winters and short but hot summers. The northeastern areas around the Black Sea have much milder winters but experience heavy rainfall all year round. The most important point about Russia’s climate is that it depends where you are and when you are there.

There are 29 World Heritage Sites in Russia. 20 of these are in Europe and 9 are in Asia. 18 of the 29 are cultural sites and 11 are natural. You can find the full list here

Some of the sites include:

Lake Baikal – the oldest and deepest lake in the world being 25 million years old and 1700m deep. It is home to some of world’s most unusual freshwater faunas and has been invaluable to the development of evolutionary science.

Ferapontov Monastery – an incredibly well-preserved monastery in northern Russia that acts as an example of a Russian Orthodox monastic complex from the 15th-17th centuries.

Russian festivals are mostly based around religion, music, dance, food and drink or a mixture of all of these elements. To kick off the year, Russian Orthodox Christmas is celebrated on the 7 January and the evening of the 6th. Many people attend mass and come together to share a ‘holy supper’. On the 25 January, the country celebrates Tatyana’s Day or Russian Students’ Day to commemorate the establishment of Moscow State University. Seven weeks before Easter, the week-long Maslenitsa festivities take place. This is known as Russia’s pancake week and combines the Pagan tradition of marking the end of winter and the beginning of spring with the Christian tradition of merrymaking before Lent. Victory Day, celebrated 9 May, marks the end of World War II and impressive celebrations take place in Red Square with military marching and fireworks. In early November, Russians celebrate the communist revolution of 1917/1918, known as the Day of Accord and Reconciliation, with a big parade in Moscow.

Russia’s size and diversity means that the country’s cuisine is full of variety and very much region-dependent. However, the country is known for its hearty and festive cooking and love of vodka.

The cold weather can last up to nine months in certain areas of the country which means that people will prepare some of their winter food in advance. This means preserved foods like pickled vegetables, jams and chutneys and salted, smoked or dried fish and meat feature prominently.

Soups and stews are also popular. Borchst is a purple soup made of meat and vegetables that usually include potatoes, carrots, onions, cabbage, garlic, and beetroot. It is served hot or cold with a dollop of sour cream.

Breads and pastries are also well-loved. There are blinis, Russian pancakes, dumplings such as pelmeni and varenniki and little pies known as pirozhki to try.

Popular desserts include medovik, a cake made up of 15 layers of ginger and cinnamon spiced honeyed pastry, with sweetened sour cream and condensed milk sandwiched in between each layer, and praniki, a type of Russian gingerbread.

If you’re not keen on straight vodka, try a Moscow Mule, which is ginger beer, vodka and lime.

While much of Russia is usually safe to travel around, it’s important to stay alert to anything unusual. Also, you will often see signs warning of pickpockets in areas popular with tourists, so it’s important to keep a close eye on your belongings at all times.

Whenever you travel overseas, it’s always wise to take an appropriate travel adaptor. Russia uses 220 volt with two round pins, commonly used in Europe.