Anyone been to Russia?

[glitterbiscuits]

I posted this with no success in Short Haul

We are thinking of Moscow and St Petersburg in October with our older teenagers. All vegetarian.

Anybody have any top tips please?

I think your lack of response is because so few people have holidayed in Russia with vegetarian teens!

We spent 3 days in St P last summer with our teen but that was via a cruise ship so I can't help an awful lot.

We really enjoyed our time in STP though, there was an awful lot to see & we didn't even go in the Hermitage. A segway tour was a highlight. It wasn't warm in August, quite grey and rainy so I would be prepared for pretty grim weather in October, might put me off altogether going at that time of year. We only ate one meal off ship, at a fairly famous restaurant called Teplo which had veggie options.

Assume you have looked into visas already? We got ours via the tour company but had to be accompanied by their guide at all times, we couldn't wander by ourselves.

I was hoping for some general advice, I just thought I’d add the more specific details about my family as Mumsnet has a wider demographic than my usual circle!

Segway tour sound great. Thanks for that.

Yes, I have visa research to do. I know we have to go in person to be fingerprinted.

Weather in October will be cold! DS wants a Ushanka hat!

We did both a couple of years ago and I didn't particularly like it. Visas are very expensive and difficult to get. I felt ripped off all the time. People are unfriendly and cold. We had two kids, not quite teenagers but 9 and 10 years old. Communications are difficult and I think it would be quite hard if you are a vegetarian.

To top it off, we had an accident in St Petersbourg and tested their health system (which was fine) but the police turned up, interviewed us, asking for our papers, loads of questions, the hotel owners were trying to get us to sign papers to say that we wouldn't take them to court, it was an absolute nightmare. Although DS got good treatment the dealing with the police was pretty scary.

I would much prefer to go to a country such as Croatia, Slovenia, Slovakia, or Macedonia?

I've heard from a friend in my exercise class that you can't just decide to go to Russia on holiday, but you must request to go, and await a letter of invitation

It's true, you do need an invitation, but proof of hotel booking/accommodation will usually suffice. I went to Russia on holiday a couple of times many years ago, pre kids so obviously without teenagers in tow, and it is an amazing place to travel around. Well worth a visit, but be mindful of your time zones, as we almost missed our flight coming out of St Petersburg, as it is it a different time zone from Moscow. Give yourself much more time than you might anticipate to organise visas et cetera, especially if you're doing it for multiple people. (We had to go up to the embassy in London to get all of our paperwork finalised). With regards to being vegetarian, I was vegetarian when we travelled all those years ago, and it was a complete nightmare if I'm honest. However, that was the best part of 20 years ago, so I'm sure things have moved on significantly since then! Happy Cow is an excellent app/website that you can use to search vegetarian restaurants around the globe. (I've just done a quick search, and there claim to be 81 veggie places in Moscow). If you can struggle through all the visa admin, it is a fantastic place to travel.

www.happycow.net/searchmap?kw=&location=Moscow&vegetarian=true&vegfriendly=true&bakery=true&bnb=true&catering=true&delivery=true&farmers=true&health=true&organization=true&other=true&vegshop=true&distance=10&distanceType=km&limit=81

Thanks. It wouldn’t be my first choice for a holiday but DS is very keen and this trip could be a good incentive for GCSEs!

I have been scratching my head all day to try and remember the name of this restaurant now I've got it! It's a chain of restaurants called Marketplace, inside they give you a magnetic card, there are different 'stations' inside where you can order food/drinks, you can choose pasta, pizza, traditional Russian food, salads, stews, rice, etc. It's good value and there were many different veg options. You can also watch the cooks prepare the food which the children enjoyed. Then you take the magnetic card to the till and pay.

They are a chain so you can look them up in different places in Moscow and St Petersbourg.

market-place.me/en/

www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaurant_Review-g298507-d3535651-Reviews-Marketplace-St_Petersburg_Northwestern_District.html

www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaurant_Review-g298484-d10378428-Reviews-MarketPlace-Moscow_Central_Russia.html

Thanks @Twofishfingers ! I will add that to my list.

I posted in your other thread- you do have some responses there!

My ds went to St Petersburg with my dsis ( they do a different city every year during Feb HT) . They are not vegetarian but were not very impressed with the food overall . They organised private tours with an English speaking guide which helped a lot with getting around and seeing things , although ds does speak a bit of Russian anyway .

I went to Moscow for work for a few days, I wouldn't chose to vacation there, but it's very interesting. The Kremlin is huge for example. It's a very male dominated society. My first thoughts were it was exactly like thr move dr zhivago as it was winter and snowing and the police (or military I'm not sure) were marching round the streets in long grey coats, with red armbands, and fur hats.

Culturally it's very different to Europe. The wine costs an arm and a leg. As said, it's interesting, and worth a visit, but I would probably connect there on my way elsewhere and spend two or three days exploring and move on.

We spent a few days in Moscow and loved it. Not sure about finding vegetarian food available but I might be worth learning and writing down the Russian for it, just in case. We found Red Square really interesting and the metro stations are beautiful definitely worth a trip.

Been to Moscow many many times. ( l lived in a former ussr republic). At the time it was awful to visit Just because of the difficulties getting visas and the people were seriously unapproachable. But things have dramatically changed for the better over the years. You really have to go with an open mind. St Petersburg is stunning (maybe spend more time there then Moscow imo). When friends visited for the first time I always booked a tour guide for them. It’s definitely a culture shock for most western Europeans.

Thanks to everyone.

If anyone has been recently what are the prices like? For meals? Are there things to buy in the shops?
I still have a bit of an image of people queuing for bread!

I have been there many times and enjoy visiting for work, but I wouldn't choose it as a vacation, if that makes sense?
The Visa process can be expensive, timely and difficult. And once you're out there it's really not a cheap destination.
Vegetarianism is easier to deal with than it used to be but it's still not commonplace and depending on how strict your kids are, even things that don't have meat in will often be cooked in meat broths and the like.

Happy to answer any specific questions.

Used to live there. It's REALLY expensive. Tolstoy was a vegetarian if that helps. But you will generally considered a bit weird and a sucker for being ripped off because you have a "limited" food range.
I don't believe this about vegetarians but many Russians do.

Ps you originally posted this in short haul, how short a time are you thinking of going for? It's not a European style one hour flight and even travelling between Moscow and st p will take a day...

I have just come back from St. Petersburg, I went to a symposium there as a speaker then had 2 days sightseeing on my own. It's a beautiful city but I didn't get a great 'feeling for it'. I found being a woman on my own attracted a lot of attention, I went for lunch in a restaurant and was hassled continuously by men and waiters asking why I was on my own. That may have been a coincidence but it wasn't nice. The visa process was straightforward though and the hotel I stayed at was lovely!

Pretty short haul - 3 hours on the plane.
Quickish flight between Moscow and St P. Or overnight train.

I wore a wedding ring on the Russian side when I was there (I wasn't married) to make men think I had a big scary bloke at home who would beat the crap out of them if they gave me any bother.
You will not get to see "the real" Russia, if that's what you want. The sights are good in St P - less scenic in Moscow apart from Red Square. And it is REALLY REALLY expensive.

Have you looked at the responses to your original thread in short haul? I posted a fair bit there with a couple of suggestions for restaurants, but don’t really want to repeat it all again here.

The exchange rate was really good for us last year and as such it was not expensive at all- quite the opposite! Not sure how the ruble is against the pound these days, though.

Some not entirely accurate or slightly out of date answers on this thread.
Moscow and St Petersburg are in the same time zone. You can get an overnight train between the two, but there is also a high speed day train that takes just 3.5 hours.
While it's still not super vegetarian friendly, there are more places now that cater to it, e.g. www.inyourpocket.com/moscow/restaurants-and-cafes/Vegetarian Incidentally, lots of Russians go vegetarian - or even vegan - for the duration of lent and restaurants cater to this, but that won't help you if you go in October.

The In Your Pocket guides for both cities are generally pretty good, up to date and free.

The exchange rate with the pound is a lot better than it was a few years ago, and a lot of things are generally very cheap (including public transport, taxis, vodka, beer, local food). Anything imported and seen as fancy has a premium (e.g. Wine, foreign food restaurants aimed at the rich).

Google Russian visas and you will find lots of agencies which can talk you through the process and provide any necessary paperwork.

Russians do tend to be a bit cold to strangers but extremely warm to friends.

It's a great place to visit, and enough people speak enough English for you to be able to get by (plus more and more signs, public transport announcements etc are now also done in English). But if you are not usually adventurous travellers, you may enjoy it more on a group tour.

Ps for getting around the metro is fabulous and there is some fabulous decor to be observed in different stations and Uber is easy and relatively cheap (taxis can be a little unpredictable if you don't speak the language).

I've been to St Petersburg a couple of times. It's improving as the years go by. The outlook is somewhat more Scandi-european than other parts of Russia.

There weren't that many English speakers who weren't guides, though. The food was terrible, quite frankly. The people are just quite brusque and busy, but I didn't find them dissimilar to Londoners tbh.

It was quite cheap, and safe in the daytime. I wasn't so keen at night outdoors.