Travel to Russia

[Chris_Жанна 11]

Hello,

Just wondering how hard is it to obtain a Russian tourist visa? Are there any tips anyone could give me on where to look for cheap tickets to Moscow or Ekaterinburg? Any info would be useful. Thanks.

Chris

[Steve S 2]

A Russian tourist visa is not hard at all to obtain, for about $200. There are various travel agents you can find on the internet, one of the major ones being gotorussia.com which I favor because I can drop off my documents in person at their Atlanta office (they are also based in San Francisco). You do not have to worry about an "invitation" letter from Russia -- they will take care of it. There may be cheaper ways out there, which I will be curious to hear about, but this way has certainly been easy for me. I just got my passport/visa delivered to me this past week, for my third trip that is coming up.

Another advantage of living in Atlanta, I can fly non-stop to Moscow on Delta. I just keep an eye on the fares as I am getting ready to make my travel plans. This summer the fare was a little more then half the price of comparable peak season in 2008. Domestic tickets on Aeroflot -- I have not found any way to shop around for a good fare, and have just left myself at the mercy of whatever quote the travel agent (gotorussia or travelrussia) gives me. They do not have flight times throughout the day like we are accustomed to in the USA, so you may be stuck with a long layover. My domestic travel expense has varied more than 3-fold, irrespective of exchange rates. Maybe you know someone in Russia who is savvy about airplane travel and will be able to shop fares.

[Chris_Жанна 11]

Thanks Steve. I will talk to my S/O and see what she can find. This is just a back up plan for now, as my S/O is supposed to visit at the end of July on her tourist visa. If she has any problems at the POE at JFK, it's a plan B to spend some time together while we wait just in case.

[bobb 0]

You most likely will find round trip tickets originating in Russia will cost more than a round trip ticket originating the U.S. for the same flight dates. I paid $200 more for my Fiancee's ticket from Moscow to SFO for this August as I paid for my flight from the U.S. when I go visit and then bring her here.

For me an extra $100 or $200 is worth it if there are fewer stops and good times between connections. If you want to save some money sometimes be careful not to have 'short' layovers. You just never know when a delay will occur. All in all an extra $100 or $200 is peanuts in the overall total cost of this endeavor.

American has a direct flight from Chicago and United just began a direct flight from Dulles recently. If you have air miles with either of these companies you might check their flights out.

[Rob_Lesya 4]

As Steve says, you can find many agencies online that will help you with the Russian Tourist Visa. gotorussia.com is a popular one. You can use them for the "full service", where they will take care of everything for you or save a few dollars by simply using them to get the "invitation letter", then apply for the visa yourself at the Russian Embassy (or the Consulate that serves your area).

As for tickets to Moscow, it depends on how much time and effort you want to put into the process. I recommend putting together a variety of different sources -- domestic travel agents, Russian travel agencies (you can find quite a few of them online), the major travel sites -- Travelocity, Orbitz, Expedia, etc., and the individual airlines sites that serve Moscow -- Delta, American, United, etc. Spend about 30-60 minutes a night playing around on these sites. After 3-4 nights you'll have a pretty good idea of the average price from your area to Moscow and will then be able to identify when a good deal comes along.

As for Russian domestic tickets, again domestic and especially Russian agents can help you. Travelocity also sells domestic tickets on Aeroflot and S7. And you can always go to the source-- Aeroflot.ru and S7.ru. Both of them occasionally offer "web-only" fares that are incredibly good. Especially if you can book tickets a month or two in advance you can often find extremely good prices (That's true for tickets between Moscow and Chelyabinsk as well, Steve. ) Aeroflot currently offers 4 departures and arrivals daily to E-burg through SVO. S7 offers only 1 daily arrival/departure through Domodedova.

Of course I'm sure you'll get other recommendations in the coming days. Good luck with your search ... and let us know where you get a good deal.

Edited June 30, 2009 by Rob_Lesya

[Rob_Lesya 4]

As long as we're talking about travel ---- Did anyone see the article yesterday in the MoscowTimes regarding SVO3? Aeroflot claims to be committed to having it up and running before they begin their winter schedule this year. Of course, they have been promising this terminal since they first talked about joining SkyTeam back in 2002.

But man, what a wonderful change it will be to have this thing FINALLY open!! -- ALL Aeroflot international and domestic flights in ONE terminal, as well as all SkyTeam member flights (i.e., Delta). What will the poor taxi mafia do!?? -- no more $100 cab rides between Terminal 1 & 2. But what a wonderful thrill it will be to not have to endure Terminal 1 !! But this will now be the giant mark of distinction between us "old farts" and the "newbies". I can hear the discussion now, "Boy, you just don't know how good you've got it now! Back in my day, we had to drag our luggage 5 miles through the snow just to GET to the terminal! We considered ourselves lucky just to be able to SEE a chair in a terminal!"

Of course, something tells me that it probably wouldn't be a good idea to book a flight through SVO on the opening day!

[slim 1,525]

On that note, make sure you join Delta SkyMiles and/or Aeroflot Bonus. If you fly over there once or twice you have enough miles to get a free domestic ticket and you can even use it for domestic inside Russia. Plus, it's really nice to call their customer service section from anywhere in the world and talk to a real human (in real American English) and have them find a flight for you, reserve it, and direct you where to go.

I was stuck in the Middle East a couple years ago (when Israel invaded Lebanon) and couldn't get a ticket through the local office. I called the SkyMiles folks, and they got me on the next flight out. I'm pretty sure they'd be able to do something like that in Russia too.

[Neonred 3,569]

On that note, make sure you join Delta SkyMiles and/or Aeroflot Bonus. If you fly over there once or twice you have enough miles to get a free domestic ticket and you can even use it for domestic inside Russia. Plus, it's really nice to call their customer service section from anywhere in the world and talk to a real human (in real American English) and have them find a flight for you, reserve it, and direct you where to go.

I was stuck in the Middle East a couple years ago (when Israel invaded Lebanon) and couldn't get a ticket through the local office. I called the SkyMiles folks, and they got me on the next flight out. I'm pretty sure they'd be able to do something like that in Russia too.

Two weeks ago I had to call Delta, twice, and both times I spoke to a real human speaking "Indian English". Maybe it's just my luck.

[Thomas-n-Elena 0]

We have had good luck flying out of Grand Rapids, through atlanta to Moscow then aeroflot to Irkutsk. When Lena and Sasha went to visit Papa and Baba we drove to Chicago, flew united to Domodedovo and then S7 to Irkutsk round trip for less than $900, the S7 flight was $310.

Advice is fly midweek, planes arent as crowded so you have little more room to stretch out and the restrooms dont get so nasty. Plus if you get really bored you can join the mile high solo club(sorry cant help but add inuendo).

Search for the same flight on different sites, some get better deals than others, change days of departure and arrival by one day or two, always if you think you can negotiate well over the phone call the airlines direct, use E-tickets if possible. Watch for the fees, also watch if you use certain airlines they charge for the depart and return trip separately so they can hit you with extra fees.

Other than that good luck on your trip enjoy yourself.

And always remember somebody loves you, dont ask me why.

[Jeff and Tatiana 0]

Hello,

Just wondering how hard is it to obtain a Russian tourist visa? Are there any tips anyone could give me on where to look for cheap tickets to Moscow or Ekaterinburg? Any info would be useful. Thanks.

Chris

Chris,

There has already been a tremendous amount of great advice, but I do also want to add what I have done the few times I went to Moscow. Look locally! I found a nice visa place here in town, Dallas, Texas, that specializes in Russian visa's. He has a relationship with the consulate in Washington DC and it is only about $185 or so each time I have done it. I have heard as the others mentioned that Gotorussia is also a good chioce. I just like have a local guy to go to. Also a bit of internet searching and you will find resources for the visas and also maybe a russian community that has a visa person that will help. For me it turned out to be right down the street!! Anyway, just wanted to let you know of another method to do the visa part.

Flights, well everyone has touched on it. Living in Dallas, then for me it is American Airlines, seeing as Dallas/Fort Worth is an American Airlines Hub as is Chicago Ohare. So I can fly to DME non stop in most cases in conjunction with British Airways. I have done it enough now that Tatiana's flight to me when she gets her visa will be completely coveredy by frequent flyer miles!! Best advice I have, is just shop shop shop. DME and SVO just go back and forth till you find the best deal. Keep in mind though as you pass the October 15th date of this year, you will enter what the Airlines call Non Peak Travel. This is the time when usually the deals dry up a bit and the number of flights offered go down as the airlines anticipate more paying customers traveling for the traditional USA holidays. Up untill that time though, there are some GREAT offers out there!

Best of Luck and hopefully you won't need plan B.

-Jeff

[Tnic 5]

Mon, Tue & Wed seem to be the cheapest days to fly.

I did my visa myself. I used a travel agency in my girl's hown town for the invitation ($50) and had them register my passport ($45) when we arrived. I printed the application from the consulate site, filled it out got the pix and sent a bank check with express return FedEx and had my visa within a week. We live in New England so the NY consulate is where we send our info. I really isn't complicated.

The next time I go I'm getting a Private (home stay) visa so I can stay for 90 days and work on my Resident visa.

Udachi

[Chris_Жанна 11]

Thanks everyone, I really appreciate all the great advice/info . You guys are great! Thanks again!

Chris

[clueless_in_usa 8]

If you have plans to travel to Russia two or more times a year, it is worth getting a Business visa (valid for a year) instead. It saves time and money and allows for better planning. This route is especially convenient if you plan a short vacation with your SO (to Turkey, for example), which will require you two entries to Russia at the same time.

The only hard requirement to get a Business visa is to have used a tourist visa already in the past. They require a copy of your previous visa before they approve the Business invitation.

If you use this route, do use gotorussia.com, because my experience is that others will not tell you about extra charges to send you the original invitation via FedEx before it is too late (for Business visas you are required to submit the original invitation. For tourist visas you can send a copy). Then your cost will increase $50 to $100, even though their sites do not say so. Gotorussia.com includes this charge on their totals, unless you need a rush delivery (usually not necessary if you plan in advance).

Business visas are a little more expensive and take longer to get, but are great if your plans include more than one trip to Russia a year. Besides, it saves blank pages on your passport, another hassle if you run out of them (no visa can be granted if you do not have at least two consecutive blank pages on your passport).

[eekee 182]

If you have plans to travel to Russia two or more times a year, it is worth getting a Business visa (valid for a year) instead. It saves time and money and allows for better planning. This route is especially convenient if you plan a short vacation with your SO (to Turkey, for example), which will require you two entries to Russia at the same time.

The only hard requirement to get a Business visa is to have used a tourist visa already in the past. They require a copy of your previous visa before they approve the Business invitation.

If you use this route, do use gotorussia.com, because my experience is that others will not tell you about extra charges to send you the original invitation via FedEx before it is too late (for Business visas you are required to submit the original invitation. For tourist visas you can send a copy). Then your cost will increase $50 to $100, even though their sites do not say so. Gotorussia.com includes this charge on their totals, unless you need a rush delivery (usually not necessary if you plan in advance).

Business visas are a little more expensive and take longer to get, but are great if your plans include more than one trip to Russia a year. Besides, it saves blank pages on your passport, another hassle if you run out of them (no visa can be granted if you do not have at least two consecutive blank pages on your passport).

Be careful with business visas though, because the relatively recent new laws regarding them state that if you have one, you can only spend every 90/180 days in Russia and once you have a business visa, you cannot get another visa for several months. Also, I do not believe that DC requires the original invitation. The NYC consulate does. Also, visas that are good for over a certain amount of time--can't remember if it's 30 or 90 days--and all multi-entry, student, and work visas require an HIV certificate as well.

I have also gotten visas without having 2 blank pages before. I have pages in my passport with a visa on both sides. I did get extra pages though, and they gave me 2 sets so I have like 80 pages in my passport now or something.

Edited June 30, 2009 by eekee

[AKguy 1]

I have a dual entry business visa that was good for 2 90 day visits and I didn't need an HIV test.