Eastern Europe
Russia
The European part alone is larger than any other country on the continent, and contains two of its greatest cities.
- Capital
- City
- Destination
- Russia
Check government travel advice before planning anything here
European governments advise against all or all but essential travel to Russia, citing the security situation, the risk of arbitrary detention, limited consular assistance and severely restricted flight and payment options. This page is a record of the European part of the country and is not a recommendation to travel there.
EuropeDoor keeps a page for every country in Europe, including the ones nobody should be travelling to right now. A page here is a record, not a recommendation, and countries at this level are excluded from the Journey Planner.
Russia west of the Urals is geographically European and holds Moscow, St Petersburg and the Golden Ring of medieval towns. St Petersburg was built from nothing on a marsh in 1703 as a deliberate window on Europe, and the Hermitage is among the largest art collections in the world. This page records that; the advisory above governs whether any of it is currently reachable.
Getting around
Historically an extensive rail network including the overnight Moscow–St Petersburg services. Current air links to Europe are severely limited and Western cards do not work.
When to come
Historically the White Nights in June for St Petersburg. This is context, not a recommendation.
Worth knowing
- Check your own government's current travel advice; most advise against travel.
- This country is excluded from the Journey Planner.
- Western bank cards do not function and consular assistance is limited.
At the table
- Blini, with sour cream and whatever is in season
- Pelmeni and borscht, both contested across borders
- Black bread and pickled everything
Travel regions
2 editorial regions, each opening onto its cities.
Popular destinations
The destinations we have written most about, which is not the same as the ones most people go to — and is the only ranking we can honestly compute.
Fixed points in the year
The record
What we hold about Russia, where each figure came from, and when it was last checked. The score says what this country is for, not how good it is — it is useful once you are already interested and is not a reason to be.
- Capital
- Moscow
- Currency
- RUB — Russian rouble
- Languages
- Russian
- Population
- 144,373,535 (2019) — Natural Earth 1:50m admin 0 countries
- ISO codes
- RU · RUS
- Time zone
- MSK (UTC+3, no DST) in the European part
- Membership
- No EU or Schengen membership
- Typical day
- €40–110 per person ≈ RUB 3,800–10,400 indicative
- Best months
- June, July
- Quieter months
- May, September
- Facts checked
- not verified why this matters
Europe Experience Score
How this is calculated — derived from our own tagging, not from measurement. It says what a place is for, not how good it is. The tick on each bar is the median across the whole Atlas, so a bar short of it is a dimension this place is not for.