Hi. I was planning on travelling to Russia in about a month and a half. I was going to get a cheap flight into Estonia, go to Russia for a month from there, then through the Ukraine and Moldova to Romania and then to Bulgaria for about a week which I’d fly out of. I’m starting to wonder if I should stick to cheaper destinations than Russia. I’m quite poor. I don’t tend to pay for accomodation much ( meet kids around or Couchsurf ) but don’t know if with all the visa nonsense how possible travelling in such a way would be. I do want to go to Russia quite badly though. I just don’t know if I’d come home with more debt than it’d be worth. Is Russia worth it or should I find other distinations?
So now I’m thinking I should do Romania ( my main focus, I want to stay for 3 months volunteering and looking around 
, Ukraine, Moldova, Bulgaria ( where I will fly back to London from ) and I don’t know where else, if anywhere else. Any suggestions? Is Bosnia and Herzegovina worth a visit? Should I try and get over to Croatia ( it’s not super close to my already chosen destinations but not terribly far )? And where should I start this trip from as now I wouldn’t start from Tallin, Estonia? Also, where in Ukraine should I visit?
I will have enough money to spend about $25 a day, everything over that will be the debt I come home with. I have to buy my parents and sister birthday gifts while travelling as well as I’ll be gone for their birthdays. I’ll be staying in hostels and with locals. I’m travelling for about 5 months. I’m interested in history ( I tend to be drawn to dark, horrible events ), art ( surrealism mostly, I love Flemish painting to give you an idea of my taste , culture ( I’m a cultural anthropology major ), nature, I love to stay in small villiages with locals, I occasionally like to go out but it’s not my priority. I’m travelling alone and am a girl, I’m not concerned about this but will not hitchike because of it. Um…oh, and I’ve been to Poland, Czech Rep., Slovakia, and Hungary so I’m not really looking for suggestions to any of those places.
Any help would be so appreciated. Thanks.
Ukraine: I consider Kiev a “can’t miss” as well as Crimea — Yalta, Simperopol, Sevestipol. I’ve not been to L’viv, but it’s a popular destination — perhaps more like nearby Poland than Ukraine. I worked for a month in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s 2nd largest city near the Russian border. I loved the place, but it’s more a University and industrial city than a tourist attraction. It might be worth a day’s stop if you were taking the train from Moscow to Crimea.
I agree that Ukraine is really worth visiting, I’ve been there for 2 1/2 weeks this summer and that was way to short. Kiev is just amazing, so is Crimea. Chernobyl is just weird to be there.
I am going to squeeze in my own question re: Russia here
I’d like to visit Moscow & St. Pete’s. I do have a limited amt of time (about a week, + a day or two max)... what’s the ideal split between the 2 cities?
I’ll be visiting a friend in Moscow so I am assuming I’ll spend at least 4 nights there. Is 3 days enough for St. Petersburg??
Jana,
Please let us know how your trip to Russia turns out. I’ve been told getting into Russia can be a grueling task (especially for Americans). According to the Lonely Planet guide one must have hotel reservations before a visa can be purchased. Perhaps I’m too cynical but that sounds ripe for scamming. I’ve also read that Americans and westerners in general are subject to harassment by Russian police and some locals. How serious these accusations are I don’t know. I would love to visit Moscow and St. Petes one day. Please share your stories once you return. I would love to hear them and I’m sure others would as well.
I’m off to Moscow, Nizhny Novgorad and St Petersburg in a couple of weeks, even getting the visa’s is a pain in the arse, travel within Russia isn’t fun either, unless you are on a company expense account or have a lot of money the food is also really bad.
I’ve got about 8 trips planned to Russia and the Ukraine this year. What makes the place good to visit is the people, Russians are great.
For Ukraine I would suggest Lviv, [=“arial”][=“2”]Kamenets-Podolsk, which has a really nice castle, Kiev, possibly Uman’ and it’s Sofiyivka park, Odessa and Crimea.
As far as going to Russia, it definatly is a pain getting a visa and as far as I know the price for it is going to increase very soon if it has not done so already. As of last year, I think, you no longer need to stay in an “official” place in order to get registered. It’s possible to stay whereever you want as long as a form is filled out by whoever is the owner and taken to the police. Because of this they no longer stamp your immigration card. An relatively painless way to do this is to pay a couple of dollars to a tourist company and they will register you. Then you will be able to go wherever without any problems. I registered in Moscow for a month and then went on the trans-siberian railroad making six stops without any problems.
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Solon ( or really anyone who’s been to Ukraine and Russia ), did you prefer one over the other? I really want to visit Russia but am extremely poor. I’m wondering if I really should spend the money on visiting a pretty expensive country or on a visa when there are cheaper, possibly equally interesting countries to visit nearby.
Russia definatly has more attractions but Ukraine is relatively inexpensive and friendlier. If money is tight, I would recomend Ukraine. As far as I know, foreigners are no longer charged a higher price for museums and other things, unlike in Russia where sometimes you sometimes have to pay more than five times the price of a native. Plus, the dollar has dropped considerably in relation to the ruble but not so much for the Ukrainian hryvna.