Russia - Getting Around

Internal travel, especially by air, can be erratic and may be disrupted by fuel shortages, overcrowding of flights and various other problems. Travelers may need to cross great distances, especially in Siberia and the Far East, to obtain services from Russian government organizations or from the U.S. embassy or its consulates. Russia stretches over 6,000 miles east to west and 2,500 miles north to south. Winter can last a long time.

Unlike the old days, you can go just about anywhere you want these days. You don't even need to use Intourist to get around. The cheapest way into Moscow from Cheremkhovo airport is via the regular bus. You can use rubles. Taxis usually require long waits and one DP reader suggests having your sponsor pick you up at the airport. You can also pick up a private car from one of the many people who will try to offer you one. Expect to pay $50 in real money (not rubles) or the equivalent amount in cigarettes. For about the same price, you can arrange a car in the arrivals section. You must use a credit card. In Moscow, most taxis demand U.S. dollars, or one to three packs of cigarettes, or R10 to R20.

About half the roads in Russia are paved. The worst time to traverse Russian roads is during the spring, when the rural roads become muddy rivers. About 20 percent of the roads are simple tracks. The railways are the major means of transport, with most routes spreading out from Moscow on 11 major trunk lines. There are 32 railway subsystems within the former Soviet Union. The main route is the passenger artery through Russia along the Trans-Siberian Railway, which travels east from Moscow across Siberia to the Pacific and China, Mongolia and Korea.

Traveling by sea is also an efficient way to get around Russia, particularly in the Baltic. Twenty-seven former Soviet passenger ships form the largest such fleet in the world.

Russian airlines service 3,600 population centers inside Russia. Airlines are viewed as buses with wings, so don't expect much. They are adding new Western aircraft to the various Russian airlines, so ask what kind of plane you'll be on. The severe winters can affect schedules and flights into places like Tajikistan, and airlines are subject to fuel shortages.

The telecommunications infrastructure remains underdeveloped. Only 30 percent of urban and 9 percent of rural families have telephones. More than 17 million customers have ordered telephones, but are still waiting (sometimes for years) to have them installed.