Vegetarian food
There is no dearth of restaurants in St. Petersburg, Sochi or Moscow. Except Sochi where I thought the choices for vegetarians was limited, there are plenty of choices for vegetarian food. There are few Indian restaurants as well. The restaurants generally have menus in English and that actually helped me in a McDonald outlet where the staff did not understand English. Vegetarian options get limited when travelling out of major towns-e.g. in Pushkin, Rosa Khutor, Peterhof. The cost of a meal in any decent restaurant is quite reasonable though higher than in India.
I did struggle a bit on way to Rosa Khutor. One reason was the organised tour that I was compelled to join. The bus halted at a restaurant for wine tasting and lunch but it was a disaster for me as there was nothing vegetarian on the menu. No one in the restaurant spoke English, the guide too did not speak English but called the agent in Sochi who then managed to convey what constituted a vegetarian meal- no meat, no fish, no eggs! The waitress helpfully offered to serve a salad with a local ‘vegetarian’ bread.
I could barely finish a quarter portion(the sides only) of the ‘vegetarian’ bread as the centre half was covered by egg! Not sure if vegetarians who eat eggs would like to eat this!
Accomodation
Plenty of choices for accommodation but yes, 4 or 5 star hotels will cost upwards of INR 10k-11k per night for a double roomwhile 3 star hotels little under INR 10k. Rates obviously vary depending on the season and the location. I travelled at the beginning of the tourist season and booked hotels about 3-4 weeks before travel.
In St. Petersburg, it is probably best to stay near Nevsky Prospect. Even Vasilievsky Island in good. Otherwise, do ensure you are near a metro station.
In Moscow, city centre-the area near Red Square/Kremlin is best. Hotels are more expensive here but worth the extra cost if you look at the time you would save otherwise. Arbat street can also be a good option. Again, do make sure you are close to a hop on hop off bus stop and Metro.
Be careful when engaging taxis
Like in many other places around the world, one should be careful while engaging taxis. And very important to be aware of the normal fares. On couple of occasions, I ended up paying very high fares. Uber is much cheaper but the Uber app is in Russian and so difficult to use for a tourist. On couple of occasions, we requested restaurants where I was dining to book and that worked out beautifully and I would pay cash. The drivers operating to and from the airport normally understand and speak a bit of English.
Upon arrival at DME, the first taxi counter quoted an exorbitant rate(15,000 roubles) to travel to Metropole Hotel where I was staying. When I told them the fare should be around 3000 roubles, they immediately responded by saying it is premium taxi but dropped the fare to 10,000 roubles. Anyway it was still way to high. Another taxi operator approached us and quoted 4,000 roubles. Overall still on the higher side but given it was past 10PM, I agreed.
I have had this experience in few other places around the world as well but I have never understood why the governments allow this state of affairs to continue. No harm if taxis are to charge a bit higher fare but why cant there be transparency and fixed fares. After all, this is often the first impression that a visitor has of the country beyond the airport.
It was a similar story on the return journey to the airport. I noted the fare meter was running way ahead! And I mentioned this to the driver. Against a normal fare of 2500-3000 roubles, the meter finally ended at 5,900 roubles !. This time, on the last day in Russia, I decided enough is enough and told the driver I would not pay that much as the normal fare should not be more than 3k. He immediately brought the fare down to 4k which I paid him more as a tip over the normal fare as he had agreed to stop by at Red Square on way to the airport.
In St. Petersburg too, on couple of occasions, I ended up paying a lot more than normal, including 3000 roubles for a 2 km ride once. Caveat Emptor.
Travel to and within Russia
The two gateways to Russia are Moscow and St. Petersburg. Moscow has two international airports-Sheremetyevo(SVO) and Domedodevo(DME). They are situated on almost opposite ends of the city. Almost all the foreign airlines and the major Russian airlines(Aeroflot, S7, Rossiya) fly into these two airports. There is another international airport Vnokovo(VKO) but very few foreign airlines fly into VKO.
St. Petersburg is served by Pulkovo airport(LED). Sochi too has an international airport but the flights are limited and do not operate through out the year.
If both Moscow and St. Petersburg are on your itinerary, it might take sense to fly into one and fly out of the other. I chose to fly into St. Petersburg and flew out of Moscow.
Within Russia, given the distances, travelling by air is the best option though for shorter distances, such as Moscow to St. Petersburg, one can take the high speed train called Sapsan.
The airfares are about slightly higher than what I find in India. I preferred to travel in any of the 2 largest Airlines in Russia- Aeroflot and S7.
Currency
The Indian Rupee and the Russian Rouble can be exchanged almost at par. So for all Indians, most of whom I presume love converting foreign currency costs into INR, there is no conversion required!. Average costs are higher than comparable costs in India…taxis, tours, entry prices, hotels etc but the infrastructure is far better.
While exchanging currency in Sochi, the banks accepted only the new and crisp notes. I was carrying Euros – so bear this in mind and keep the used/crumpled Euro notes for your Europe trip! Original passport is required for the exchange.
Original passport required for booking train tickets
I was not allowed to book train tickets at Sochi Railway station in the absence of original passport. I am told foreigners need to carry their original passport when booking train tickets.
Registration upon arrival
Foreigners are required to register with Russian authorities upon arrival. However, the onus of registration is with the host-hotel, apartment owner etc. but do enquire with the host if registration will be done. Do check the latest position whenever you travel.
Russian visa application does not require income proof
I decided to apply directly at the Russian Visa Application Centre in Chennai instead of submitting application through an agent. There were 2 counters in Chennai, operated by 2 ladies, one Russian and the other Indian. I must say they were very helpful in ensuring the application forms were correctly completed. The application itself is only 2 pages. When it comes to supporting documents, 2 matters stand out – income proof documents are not required(yes, this is right ……no tax returns, pay slips, audited financials etc.) and secondly, a Tourist Voucher issued by an authorized Russian operator is required. The voucher contains details of travel to Russia, with hotels and dates. There are several such operators who have an online presence. I sent the required particulars with a fee of USD 15 per application to OSTWEST.COM TRAVEL AGENCY and in couple of hours, received the Tourist Voucher by eMail. At the Visa Application Centre, I was asked to make minor edits, which I did online and which required the Tourist Voucher to be reissued for my spouse. Within couple of hours, I had the revised voucher at no extra cost in my mailbox.
I received the visa within a week.
How I almost missed my Russian vacation due to lack of schengen transit visa
My first planned trip to Russia almost did not happen, thanks to the requirement of a transit visa/schengen visa at Paris airport.
In May 2018, I had booked Air France from Bengaluru to St. Petersburg and Moscow to Bengaluru, with change of planes at Paris. On the night of travel, I reached the check in counter of Air France at Bengaluru airport around 11PM. After looking through my passport, the check in lady asked for my Schengen visa or the airport transit visa. I replied I was not travelling to Schengen area but to Russia. She replied that Indian passport holders need a Schengen or Transit visa if travelling through Schengen area to a non Schengen area, even within the airport. Alternatively, a valid US or UK would also work. All this seemed very illogical but maybe it has to do with the way the Paris airport is organised. I was told even Frankfurt would have required transit visa.
I had the US visa so I was fine but my wife’s and son’s US visa had expired. They were very sure that I would not be able to clear immigration in Paris and hence was denied boarding! This is the first time I has faced a situation like this.
Luckily, my tickets were cancellable before take off and they said they would make a note I was denied boarding and refund the fare after mandatory deductions.
Now, this was totally unexpected. While all my hotel bookings and domestic airlines in Russia were on cancellable basis and hence I would not have lost much on cancellations, I was just not prepared to go home!
It was already 11.45 pm and I had to quickly evaluate other options. Jet Airways to Amsterdam was one but their itinerary required a night’s stay in Amsterdam and hence schengen visa! Next I though of flying to Delhi early next morning and taking Aeroflot to Moscow. Tickets were available but this route would have been a lot cumbersome-staying overnight in a nearby hotel, then to Delhi, onward to Moscow and then St. Petersburg. I would lose a day.
Then I evaluated the middle east carriers(Emirates, Etihad and Qatar) and struck gold, literally, with Qatar Airways-
- Exactly 3 seats were available on the Bengaluru-Doha sector with the flight taking off at 3.45AM; no better example of the intangible called luck.
- No transit visa required..…there is actually visa on arrival for Indians;
- The airline actually flew to St. Petersburg and Moscow from Doha daily. So I did not have to change my itinerary at all.
I could not book online but immediately called their call centre and made the reservations. It was beyond 2 PM when I received the final tickets by eMail. Later on, I realized that I had missed spotting a very simple and silly error. My wife’s gender was ‘Mr’ as per the ticket. Luckily, it did not create any problem.
I was told that later in 2018, the French government has waived the requirement for a transit visa for Indian passport holders. Not sure of Germany though. So whenever booking a connecting flight, do check about the need for any transit visa.
