Georgia into Russia?
 

I have been told that the border from Georgia into Russia is currently closed? Can anyone confirm/deny this? I am thinking of riding from the Balkans through Turkey and up through Georgia to Moscow. I've only travelled through Latin America where I didn't need carnets etc. - will I need this sort of thing?

Thanks for any help!

g

Hi G,
Just went through the border yesterday and no problem at all! On 24/7!

To exit Georgia it took about 15 minutes.
Then we rode few miles to the russian side. All in all it took us then 3 h to get through, just all very slow but staff was friendly enough, helpful and professional.

To help you here are few tips.
Unlike europe where you wait your turn in your vehicle, there you don't!
First, once you are in a queue, get a form for passport control. Fill it and then walk to the hut of the passport control lady. Do not wait for the traffic to move!

Once you get your passport stamped, once again, abandon your bike. Don't worry no one will touch your stuff, no one did ours, lots of uniforms around.

There is a building on your left hand side. Go to the last office and pick up two custom forms. They are in russian only, BUT, there is a sample form in english on the wall, inside that office.

Do not put any luggage in the tick box. We did this as we have panniers but the custom lady made us refill the forms saying we had no additional lugagge.

Once you fill those forms, go to the custom office cabin at the front of your waiting line. There may be people queuing, get in the queue.
Once all is done you are good to go, as long as the vehicle on front of you can go too! :rofl:

For bike insurance, you can buy it after. Once you ride out, about 500m there is a big building with shop, coffee etc.
There, you will find an office where the nice young russian lady will sort out your insurance.
There is a cashpoint somewhere as we saw lots of guys leaving the insurance office and coming back with cash.

Cheers,

Thanks so much for that maria41! Good to know. Do I need a carnet for this trip or can all the customs arrangements be done at borders? That's what I found in Latin America but I thought in other parts of the world I needed a carnet? not so?

No carnet for any country central northern asia, i.e.

Russia, Georgia, Kazakh, Uzbek, Tajik, Kyrgyz or Mongolia.

Visa required of course, but not for Georgia or Kyrgyz,de pending on your nationality of course!

Cheers,

Great. Thanks for the information! Do you know if I'd need it for Turkey?

No carnet no, getting into Turkey is easy and they are very nice and helpful.

You may need a visa though as they changed requirement as of jan. 2014.
I did not as French, but my husband as british needed one, easy to do online!

Brilliant. Thanks so much for all your help! Have a great trip :)

Many thanks very useful. We are crossing that way in a few days

Turkish visa.
 

You can get a Turkish visa on the border for about 20 Euros.

Out of curiosity, where did you hear that??

There must be 20-30 regulars here on the HUBB that have been thru there and reported on it since it reopened about 2 years back.

I live in Georgia and know the border is open as I passed through this weekend.

Previous postings have good suggestions to speed your Russian experience.

Many friends doing it every month on all types of vehicle for tourism and business as it is a popular destination..

Possibly what you ve heard is,(messages from cyclist friends dd.may-2012 and sept-2013)
"" you can not cycle from georgia to russia and must be on a vehicle with your bicycle for border crossing""

Hitch hiking for 300 meters available and easy..

All the best...

Cliffi,


Can you find out if they are letting people through on an alternative route after the military highway was flooded with mud earlier this week?

Cheers,
Lukas

We will ring the British Embassy tomorrow (Tuesday)

Can I just ask which crossing we're talking about? We're planning to drive back to Oz next year via central Asia and Russia and we're trying to find a way of avoiding the dreaded Caspian ferry from Baku.

We crossed this border a few weeks ago and have seen bikers just as bikers at the Russian side, they didn't have to put the bikes on a truck. They were from Moscow.

We talk about the only crossing, on the Georgian Military Highway between Georgia and N.Ossetia (= republic and part of Russian Federation)

Don't forget that a visit to Beslan is experienced by the people as an honour and help them to live with the bitter facts from allmost 10 years ago.

We also spent some time in Grozny, unexpected relaxed. It was on my list for a long time, finally I did it. To short!!

Succes,

GRTZ,

JP

Head north out of Tblisi towards Russia. The E117 is the road number on Google maps.

Anyone crossed Georgia to Russia last few days?
 

Came into Georgia this evening from Sarp, Turkey, and the Georgian official told me there's a "problem" passing from Georgia into Russia, saying we should instead go via Azerbaijan. She used her computer internet to pull up news clips but tbh I couldnt tell what the situation was? Maybe ongoing issues following mud/land slide, or maybe ongoing advice against travel to that part of Russia!. There doesn't seem to be anything new in the news/FCO this evening so can i check, has anybody crossed Georgia to Russia in last day or two? Any new issues today? Any feed back welcome, really like to avoid Az-Baku unless necessary. Thanks.
:mchappy: :mchappy:

The Kazbegi crossing is closed due to a massive mud slide and will remain so for quite a bit of time.

If you are heading to north eastern Russia going across Azerbaijan is your best bet, transit visas are issued in Tbilisi for only $20 USD and take 2-3 days at the moment.

The same topic is being discussed in a Sochi ferry thread on the HUBB.

You could go via Abkhazia in the North West of Georgia. But you need a visa. Available on line. Up to 5 days wait. They send you a letter of entry, then you must go to Sukhumi to collect the actual visa.
Or get a ferry Ukraine.

Thanks LukasM and exrm193, it has been a bad slide then. We'll have a look at the sochi threafd but it looks like Az for us after all. Thanks again.

No probs. we are in Ukraine now

Military Road will be closed at least next 10 days. Information given yesterday on the border...

Darial Gorge might be open by the 13th June
 

Please read this link Darial Gorge might be Unblocked on Friday which says the road might be open by the 13th June which is great news and if anyone else can confirm this would be appreciated.

Are you asking if a particular border is closed? IE, south of Sochi? A friend of mine is planning to ride south from Sochi into Georgia in a couple weeks. Riders from Austria told him the road was closed. But it was a landslide that closed the road.

Last year I crossed into Georgia at Kazbegi,going south. Hours earlier I tried crossing at a border 30 miles west (straight line). The official said only local people could cross there. I assume not all crossings are open to all people.

Kazbegi is the only open official Georgia/Russia border.
Road has been closed in the last few weeks due to a landslide.

Looks like they just opened a temporary track.

More info here:

http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...cked-due-76438

and here:

http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...t-russia-76687