►Practicalities ►Budget for a trip to Russia

Your budget for travelling around Russia depends on the amount of cities you would like to visit, the standard of accommodation and the manner of travelling around. A luxurious all-planned trip around Russia is of course going to set you back, but it is definitely possible to spend less and see just as much, and even get more of a Russian experience by using public transport.  Of independent travel and getting the best prices is much easier if you speak some Russian, especially if leaving the beaten track. Below we provide a guide of what to take into account when planning a budget for different types of travel: package trips, private tours and independent travel.

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Package Trip

  Package trip is the most popular type of travel to Russia for first-time traveller to the country. Such a trip has a fixed itinerary and dates of starting the tour as well as excursion, accommodation and meal included to the price. You normally can choose the level of accommodation - 3 or 4 star hotel - this is the options that has biggest influence on the price. The number of included excursions are also generate the final price of the tour. There will be about from 30 to 50 people in the group and sometimes more if you travel on cruise ship for example (standard capacity of ship in Russia is about 220 people).

  The main plus of such a trip is that fact that you don’t need to speak or know any russian - along all the trip you will have a foreign language speaking guide or tour leader. You don’t need to think about tickets for the transport, museums or extra expenditure (unless you want to buy optional excursion organized for your group or ship passengers. The agency also will do all formalities regarding your russian visa. The bad side of such trip is you are always linked with a group - if you want to take photo there always will be lots of people, if you want to visit some museums or signts which are not included to the package it’s normally not possible and of course such trip normally goes on a trodden track. You hardly will see a real, not touristic Russia, and will no contact with ordinary russian people. Package tour is often cheaper than independent travel, but there are luxury package tours as well in Russia - for example Trans-siberian tourist train Tsar’s Gold. But again you will see Russia through the window, and all the meeting with russian will be like tourists show.

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Private tour

  Private tour are very popular in Russia, as people now want to see not only classic Moscow-St Petersburg-Golden RIng destination but other less developed but which still has its charm and authentic. The obvious  worth of visiting country with a private tour is a flexibility of independent trip and organizing support of group tour. Such tours are often calls as a tailor made trip, so they are. You tell to travel agent how many days you have, what would you like to see, what level of accommodation and transport you prefer and the agent will puzzl your trip. Also you will have your private guide and a car. But the other side of coin of private travel is a price - its is normally double price of package tour and often even more expensive.

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Independant travel

Independant Travel

Independant travel becoming very common and popular in the world, so they do in Russia. The best thing about such type of travelling is flexibility. You are free to choose where and when do you want to travel and how long to stay in certain destination, what excursion to buy, where to eat etc. But there are some difficulties and the main one is language barrier. As deeper in Russia you travel than less people can speak any foreign language. That is why you can have a “special rate” for taxi service, shop (especially on markets) and other situation when you need to pay and negotiate. Also signes and information on the street are normally not translated into english, so you need to know essential cyrillic. The only city in Russia where you can not feel this problem is St Petersburg - it is the most tourists city in Russia with good infrastructure and available travel information.

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Let’s compare the price of 1 week stay in Russia as group trip, private tour and as independent traveler. The route is essential - Moscow - St Petersburg - two capitals of Russia. Groupe tour with up to 40 people. 8 days, 7 nights. Based on 3 star hotels in both cities. Private tour based on individual guide and transport service and 3 star hotels. Independant travel based on the same hotels and transportation on the public transport and include only entrance tickets without excursion.

Please pay attention that this is just basic price for land service without air tickets and Russian visa and can vary depending on Rouble exchange course.

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As we can see on this example the cheapest way to travel is independent trip. But to do such a trip you need make some efforts to learn basic Russian language, find out how transport work and how to buy a ticket. Also you need to organize your Russian visa and registration which is not that easy as when you buy a private tour or package tour. As for the hotel it is often cheaper to book a hotel through the tourist agent, but we advise you to check popular booking sites as well. The most expensive is of course Private tour but this kind of travel is the most comfortable and flexible.

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