Russia Trip Report: Autumn Foliage and Palaces
Thanks to this group, I had a very smooth trip to Russia to see the autumn foliage and palaces. I'm very grateful to the group and would like to share some information for your reference.
Flights
Round-trip Air China tickets cost 11.6 million VND, with a transit in Beijing. I flew on October 3rd and returned on October 13th. I highly recommend this airline because they provided airport shuttle service, transit hotel with breakfast, and continuous meals and drinks (including alcohol) on the plane, along with blankets and pillows. I don't understand how they make a profit!
Accommodation
I booked homestays on Zenhotel. You can also book on Onetwotrip or Ostrovok. The same apartment might have different prices on these three apps, so book whichever is cheapest. I spent a lot of time choosing apartments suitable for my group, prioritizing locations close to attractions (within walking/bus/metro distance), with elevators for luggage, and a kitchen for preparing breakfast. I was very satisfied with the two apartments I rented.
- Apartment in St. Petersburg: Arthome at 40 Moika River Embankment. This street has many homestays and is very close to the Hermitage. You can walk to all major attractions in St. Petersburg. The price was 6.5 million VND for 4 people for 3 nights.
- Apartment in Moscow: GM V Stalinke on 1st Tverskaya-Yamskaya Street. This avenue is compared to Trang Tien street in Hanoi and leads directly to Red Square. I was extremely pleased with this apartment. It had 3 bedrooms, accommodating 8 people, 2 toilets, and both a bathtub and a shower cubicle, allowing two people to bathe simultaneously, which was perfect for our large group. The interior was luxurious. The host was a company specializing in Airbnb rentals in Moscow, and their office was right across the street, so we could leave our luggage there after checkout and continue exploring. The price was 13.5 million VND for 8 people for 3 nights.
Transportation
Taxis were very cheap, so I used them for most of my travel, except for a few days in St. Petersburg where I bought a 3-day public transport pass. I was able to log in to Yandex Go using my Vietnamese phone number. Try this method; several people in my group could log in and receive OTPs, so we mostly used taxis. Logging into Yandex Maps first and then Yandex Go allowed us to receive OTPs. I did this login from Vietnam. Alternatively, if your group has one roaming SIM, you can receive Yandex Go OTPs in Russia after activating roaming.
eSIM
My group used various options: some used roaming, some bought 3GB/day eSIMs, and others purchased 20GB/10-day eSIMs. We happened to travel during a period when the Russian government was scanning international SIM cards, causing intermittent issues with most SIMs. However, the 20GB/10-day package worked flawlessly, providing constant internet access for video calls.
Itinerary and Tips
My itinerary included the famous attractions, similar to most tourists. In autumn, you must visit the Tsaritsyno Estate to admire the golden leaves and try on aristocratic attire. I returned with 72,000 rubles in various denominations, which were easy to spend. Many places couldn't provide change for 5000 ruble notes. I exchanged my leftover rubles at a lower rate than the market in Ha Trung.
Credit: Le Thuy Tran
