Travelling to Russia
Russia is a great place to travel all the year round. Interesting itineraries are available both in winter and in summer. All types of scenery, climates, fauna and flora, amazing landscapes and nature reserves create a vast number of tourist itineraries. Even a lifetime is not enough to try them all.
Russia is a land of records. Many figures about it impress a lot. This is the world’s largest country that spreads for almost 10,000 km (6,214 miles) east to west; it has the longest coastline, maximum drop of temperature and the largest population of brown bears, one of the best-known symbols of Russia. Glaciers and palm trees, megalopolises and small villages, undisturbed wildlife areas and sites that attract tourists from all over the world… Our country has its all. You will learn about the country’s rich culture and unique history while walking in the streets of Russian cities and towns. You will feel the aura and power while visiting the country’s unique natural sites. Here every traveler will find an activity or thing he or she likes.
Thus, you can climb mountains, admire exceptional museum collections, take photos against exhilarating landscapes, see the lifestyle of indigenous minorities or rack your brains about the mysteries of ancient sacral places. If you combine sightseeing with active leisure this will make your trip even more memorable. Russia offers countless traveling options, so it is easy to get confused. Russia.Travel web-portal has collected the brightest ideas for making your journey really remarkable. You may find their Travel Guide to make your Russian visit unforgettable!
To enter the Russian Federation, citizens of the Republic of India are required to have a visa.
Visa-free entrance to the Russian Federation is granted to:
citizens of the Republic of India - holders of diplomatic and official passports for a period of up to 90 days;
citizens of the Republic of India - members of aircraft crews.
From August 8, 2017, citizens of the Republic of India can receive an electronic visa to enter the Russian Federation through border checkpoints located in the territory of the free port of Vladivostok.
All other citizens of the Republic of India, depending on the purpose of the trip to the Russian Federation, must apply for a visa in one of the following categories:
business;
humanitarian;
tourist;
private;
training;
working;
transit.
More detailed information on the necessary documents for obtaining a visa to Russia can be found on our web-portal Visa to Russia and the website of the Russian Visa Centers in India.
Tourism in Russia plummeted in 2022. Only 200,100 foreigners visited Russia in 2022, a drop of 96.1% from pre-pandemic/pre-2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine years. Earlier, Russia had seen rapid growth since the late Soviet times, first domestic tourism and then international tourism as well. Russia had formerly been among the most popular tourist destinations in the world, though it fell off that list in 2022. Not including Crimea, the country contains 23 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, while more are on UNESCO's tentative lists.
Tourist routes in Russia include a travel around the Golden Ring of ancient cities, cruises on the rivers including the Volga, and long journeys on the Trans-Siberian Railway. Diverse regions and ethnic cultures of Russia offer different foods and souvenirs, and show a variety of traditions, including Russian Maslenitsa, Tatar Sabantuy, or Siberian shamanist rituals. In 2013, Russia was visited by 33 million tourists, making it the ninth-most visited country in the world and the seventh-most visited in Europe.
After the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, several governments, including the United States, France, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada have issued travel advisories calling on their nationals to avoid travel to Russia. For the same reason, airline routes between Russia and Western countries were closed, and supply of spare parts for some domestic airline traffic inside Russia became a challenge.
Only 200,100 foreigners visited Russia in 2022, a drop of 96.1 percent from the pre-pandemic period. Most of Europe closed its airspace to Russian planes a few days after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. Foreign-issued Visa and Mastercard cards no longer work in Russia, further impacting tourism.
Tourist destinations in Russia include Saint Petersburg (which appeared in the list of top visited cities of Europe in 2010) and Moscow, the current and the former capitals of the country, recognized as World Cities. Moscow and Saint Petersburg museums such as Hermitage and Tretyakov Gallery, theaters including Bolshoi and Mariinsky, churches such as Saint Basil's Cathedral, Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, Saint Isaac's Cathedral and Church of the Savior on Blood, fortifications such as Moscow Kremlin and Peter and Paul Fortress, squares such as Red Square and Palace Square, and streets such as Tverskaya and Nevsky Prospect. Palaces and parks are found in the former imperial residences in the suburbs of Moscow (Kolomenskoye, Tsaritsyno) and Saint Petersburg (Peterhof, Strelna, Oranienbaum, Gatchina, Pavlovsk Palace, Tsarskoye Selo). Moscow contains Soviet-era buildings along with modern skyscrapers, while Saint Petersburg has classical architecture, rivers, channels and bridges.
Nizhny Novgorod is the capital of the Volga region. Nizhny Novgorod is divided into two parts by the Oka River. The Upper City is its historical part. The Lower City is its industrial and commercial part. Here are the Fair, the old Sormovo and Kanavino, GAZ and Sotsgorod (the so-called "city in the city"), the railway terminal, and the airport.
Kazan, the capital of Tatarstan, shows a mix of Christian Russian and Muslim Tatar cultures.
Sakha Republic proposes to use former forced labour camps as a tourist attraction. Poles visit places of Communist crimes, e.g., of the Katyn massacre and Solovetsky Islands.
Museums
Russia is home to museums that include the Tretyakov Gallery, the Kremlin Armoury and the State Historical Museum in Moscow, the Hermitage Museum, and the Russian Museum in St Petersburg, the Kazan Kremlin in Kazan, etc.[citation needed] Russia has museums related to its literary and classical music heritage, such as Yasnaya Polyana associated with Leo Tolstoy, the Mikhaylovskoye Museum Reserve associated with Alexander Pushkin, the Dostoyevsky Museum, the Tchaikovsky State House-Museum, and the Rimsky-Korsakov Apartment and Museum.
Museums related to Russia's military history and military hardware include the Central Museum of the Great Patriotic War on Poklonnaya Hill, the Central Naval Museum in St Petersburg, the Battle of Stalingrad Museum in Volgograd. Museums related to science and technology include the Polytechnic Museum of Moscow, and the Memorial Museum of Cosmonautics.
The GULAG History Museum tells the story about the GULAG camps in Siberia.
In Russia, Nature Reserves have history and it has its own word of definition Zapovedniks (Russian: заповедник, plural заповедники, ) more than 100 Nature Reserves exist in Russia and more than 50 National Parks. National parks and sanctuaries of Russia include the Baikal Nature Reserve , the Altai Nature Reserve, the Lazovsky Nature Reserve, the Kedrovaya Pad Nature Reserve, the Curonian Spit National Park, the Valdaysky National Park, the Baikal-Lena Nature Reserve, the Ilmen Nature Reserve. The Seven Wonders of Russia include Lake Baikal, Valley of Geysers, Manpupuner rock formations, and Mount Elbrus. Other areas include Republic of Adygea where Fisht Mountain is located, Chechnya Republic where Lake Kezenoyam is located.
Mineral spa resorts have been established across Russia in such regions as Kamchatka Krai, Altai Krai, Krasnodar Krai, Stavropol Krai, North Caucasus region of Russia. Some cites have natural hot spring water during winter and some of Russian cities are called Russian Spa town, including Pyatigorsk, Yessentuki, Kislovodsk, Zheleznovodsk and Mineralnye Vody; these towns are jointly known as the Caucasian Mineral Waters.
Russia has one of the largest water borders in world, but only the more Southern regions are suitable for resort tourism. The warm subtropical Black Sea coast of Russia is the site for some seaside resorts such as Sochi and Tuapse.
Winter sport
A vast part of Russian territory is in Subarctic climate and humid continental climate, and that is why it is cold. In addition, Russia is mountainous in regions like Northern Caucasus, Altai Krai and Kamchatka Peninsula. The Highest peak in Europe, Mount Elbrus, is in Russia, which makes Russia a place for Winter sport. Ski resorts are in Russia. A ski resort in Russia is Sochi and its Krasnaya Polyana. Other ski resorts in Russia are Dombay in Karachay–Cherkessia in Northern Caucasus.
Russia is a destination for medical tourism. A factor in its popularity was the relatively weak ruble post-2014, which saw the industry grow from some 110 thousand clients in 2017 to some 728 thousand clients in the first five months of 2020. Stomatology is the most used (44% of patients), genecology and urology follow (25% taken together), the other services are plastic surgery (10%), ophthalmology (10%), and cardiology (5%). Most clients come from the CIS states, where receiving high-tech medical assistance can be problematic, particularly from Central Asia, which amounts for 62% of all patients; but also from Eastern Europe (32%), South and East Asia (5%). In addition to price and accessibility of complex manipulations, the difference in regulations between Russia and the clients' own nations is a driving factor for receiving care in Russia: for instance, in vitro fertilization is illegal in China, but legal in Russia.
Religious tourism
Religious tourism has two main subtypes: pilgrimage, as travel done for religious or spiritual purposes, and the viewing of religious monuments and artefacts, as a kind of sightseeing. The former is relatively insignificant for the Russian tourism industry, amounting for approximately 100 thousands pilgrims yearly.[16] The latter is more important.[citation needed] Orthodox Christianity being the most common religion in Russia, it also accounts for most religious monuments across the country.
Multiple pieces of Islamic religious architectural art are scattered across the country, from mosques to maqāms. They are mostly clustered in the historically Muslim regions. Heart of Chechnya mosque
Russia has a Buddhist minority.
Foreign travel statistics
In 2013, 27 million international tourists arrived in Russia, generating US$11.2 billion in international tourism revenue for the country. Including domestic and international tourism, the industry directly contributed RUB860 billion to the Russian GDP and supported 966,500 jobs in the country.
However, only 200,100 foreigners visited Russia in 2022, a drop of 96.1 percent.
This section is transcluded from Visa policy of Russia. (edit | history)
According to the Border Service of the Federal Security Service and the Federal State Statistics Service, most visitors arriving to Russia were from the following countries of nationality:
Total visitors by year
2019 Increase 32,866,265
2018 Increase 32,550,677
2017 Increase 32,035,443
2016 Decrease 31,466,538
2015 Increase 33,729,187
2014 Increase 32,421,490
2013 Increase 30,792,091
2012 Increase 28,176,502
2011 Increase 24,932,061
2010 Increase 22,281,217
2009 Decrease 21,338,650
2008 Increase 23,676,140
2007 22,908,625
