Budgeting for Russia
 

Hi all.
Just starting to plan for a trip from the UK, through Finland into the Arctic circle & into Russia & then drop down to the Stans.
As this will involve a reasonable ammount of time travelling through Russia can anyone offer advice on how much should be budgeted for on a daily basis whilst there. My limited experence of Russian prices is riding into St Petersberg this year where it was eye wateringly expensive! Mind you the petrol was very cheap :clap:.
All advice welcomed.

Andy

Russian prices
 

As you observed, petrol is cheap.

And that's about it . . . food and lodging are not. Alternatives, where possible, are camping.

There are a number of options (eg, couchsurfing.com) for finding rooms more cheaply that will even work in KZ, though not in UZ.

I spent 3 months last year crossing Russia from Vladivostok to St Petersburg (this included 3 weeks in Mongolia en-route) and my costs worked out at about $70 day overall. This was for everything from landing to leaving so it includes all port fees in Vladivostoc (about $300), insurances Russia and Mongolia ($50 and $25 respectively) and all food, petrol, accommodation and bike service items like tyres (2 fronts, 1 rear) and oil. Also includes entry tickets in major cities like St Petersburg for a few attractions.

I camped about 1/3 time (free), cheap accommodation in hostels etc about 1/3 (typically $15-$20 night) and hotels the rest ($75-$125 night). Food tended to be cheap truck stops and cafe's (average probably $10 - $15 day). I reckon if budget had been everything I might have got it to $50 day average but for me anything less would have been very tough. Remember we all have different styles and you might be more resourceful. Interestingly I didn't find St P (or Moscow) "eye wateringly expensive" - in both cities I found hostels at less than $20 night, cheap cafe's (stolovayia's) and cheap public transport. Even museums such as the Hermitage were by western europe standards not excessive (but I agree not cheap).

Hope this helps

Very interesting. SSorry to barge in, but I'm planning to visit Russia next summer.

How did you get along, do you speak some russian? Do you have any addresses or GPS location of these hostels?

Hans

only thing we found cheap in Russia was the Fuel. Although you can get a room for £10 these are few and far between in our experience .
More often than not your paying 1500 to 2000 RR out of the towns, In the cities and large towns it was more for a room and most are not so good. We did how ever find a few that were only 1000 RR and were very good. Food may look not to expensive but your on small portions .

I think the cost quoted in the other post's above would be a good guide to go by.

Dazzer and Leigh

For hotels see the Central Asia waypoints thread stickyed here.

We had no Russian when we started and left with fifty to sixty words.

We found enough English and this along with Google Translate was just fine. Take a Smartphone and get a Russian SIM (or relevant country SIM).

Thx, Craig!

Thanks for the info, thanks for the budget costs Martin. We did use some Bistro's in St P which were well priced though portions were small, it was the £20 for 2 pieces of cake & 2 coffees that was eyewatering as this seemed pretty standard accross the whole city (I like a good cup of coffee). After St P, Scandinavia seemed positively cheap & the coffee was better!
Plan on a lot of camping as accomodation costs seem to be on the up.

Thanks again,
Andy

Hello Hologragon,
WE are planning something similar so stay in touch when you have a more fixed plan. We won't do Finland but we could meet up in Russia and continue along together if you want to,
Nigel

Thats roughly my all inclusive budget when I take trips to Russia, Mongolia and the stans ... about 50 quid a day.

I am in inexpensive hotels 70-90% of the time

Thanks for that Colebatch, that's very good news, makes my budget look much healthier!
Nigel I have sent you a mail.
Thank you everyone for the info.

We only stayed in a hotel for two nights in Barnaul on the way back from Mongolia, and in a hostel in Moscow, everywhere else we just camped, really wasn't a problem anywhere.

Outside of petrol I don't think we spent more than a tenner a day living out of what we'd brought and what we found in Petrol stations.

So I guess it depends as much on what you want to budget and how comfortable you need to be

We have in our minds that traveling with our Land Cruiser.
We will use our roof tent, for 3 nights, then 1 night cheap hostel/hotel.
Really just for good shower.
Using roof mounted solar shower bags for quick, splash of a morning.

Crossing from Latvia into Russia at the A12/M9 border post then into Mongolia at Tsagaannuur.

There isn't a great deal we want to see in Russia, so we are not planning on staying there any longer than needed.

How many nights to travel?

vette