Moscow and St Petersburg

[Munkfish]

The daughter of a guy at work is off to Russia soon as part of her degree course. Since the EU sanctions on Russia came into effect, getting a visa has become much more of a pain. She had to go to a doctors between Christmas and new year and pay £90 for an HIV test as part of her visa application.

Why did she not go down the clinic and get it done for free?

 

[jamie (not that one)]

Absolutely do not fly under any circumstances as was suggested above. Russia has the worst safety record in the world and was responsible for 50% of all air crash deaths last year. The train is very easy to get between the two cities, is very comfy and only takes a few hours. Four at most.

As for getting around the Moscow metro is spectacular but you can walk around Moscow easy enough if you're staying in the centre and you see more that way too. A lot of young people will speak some English but hardly any older ones. I found the Russians to be friendly and quite open but it seems others on here had a different experience.

 

[NooBHA]

Visa is realitvely straightforward - send it off to the embassy, let them check it and you are laughing

The metro in Moscow can be a bloody nightmare to navigate as it is all in cyrilic. Still, getting lost down there isn't the end of the world. Some of the stations are breathtaking

I also found it problematic because everything is in Russian alphabet but both cities are superb.

i didnt find the visa an easy process either. It has to be signed by whoever you are staying with. For instance, if in a hotel then the hotel has to confirm your staying there.

The other thing i didn't like was that you pay for food by ''weight' especially meat. I recall being in a kebab shop and they aked do you want to add this and add that and add this and add that. And me not knowing that everything they added, then the cost was going up like a Turkish Taxi Drivers meter in Istanbul. It ended up costing me close to £20 for a kebab.

Once past those 3 small glitches then both Places are absolutely superb