Traveling thru Russia
 

Hello,

Just looking for some advice about traveling into Russia,

I have made plans to go to Norway Finland and Denmark next year and was hoping to go to St Petersburg and Moscow wiles I am on the road but a lot of people I talk to say they don't like to see UK registered bikes over there and the police harass you,

Can anyone shed more light on this for me please as I don't know what do now :)

Thank you in advance,

John

Sorry, but what you've heard is pretty much nonsense.

There is the odd cop in Russia who'll try to get some money from you (or anyone else), but these days it's largely a thing of the past - especially in the north-western part of the country. As for targeting UK bikes, total nonsense. How can they even see where your bike is from when you're riding towards them at a checkpoint?

EO

That has not been my experience of traveling in Russia. I traveled there on my bike in 2012, people were most welcoming and I never had any bother from the police.

Hello,

Yes i was really looking forward to riding Russia and when i was told that i was a little bit disappointed,

I am glad that i have gotten you points on the matter :)

You recommend anything along the way?

John.

You might get unlucky in Russia and get harassed. But you're much more likely to be fine.

From October of this year, many nationalities (although not UK or US) can get a free e-visa to cross into the St Petersburg region for up to 8 days, so there's really no excuse not to go from Estonia to Finland overland. SPB is absolutely worth a visit.

I recommend going north into Karelia and heading into Finland from there. But on your first trip to Russia, I think you can just enjoy being somewhere quite different (more relaxed and much friendlier in my opinion) than other parts of Europe. Saint Petersburg is beautiful but the 'real' Russia is out in the countryside.

EO

Most stupid thing I heard for a long time.

I am sure that people told you which have never been in Russia

Karelia is beautiful. But note that you'll need a full visa for it. The electronic visa for St Petersburg only covers Leningrad Oblast, with crossings between Narva in the south and Imatra in the north.