Got Russia Visa. Now where to go?

I orginally intentended to travel to Vladivostok passing thru Kazakstan and Mongolia this summer but due to not applying early enoufg for a multiple entry business visa in Ireland I had to settle for 2 entry 30 day tourist visa.
My daughter insists I must see Saint Petersburg and Moscow and while the sights will be fantastic I am worried about the costs and where to stay with the bike. Any advice gratefully received.
I am now thinking of heading south possibly to Kazakstan but not sure if enough time or on to Georgia, Armenia and Turkey and back thru Greece and the Balkans?
Any advice or suggestions would be great
Time is not too much of an issue as I am semi retired and want to travel as much as I can while I can.
Russian visa starts 15 July

St Petersburg Ibis has secure parking and only a 5 min walk from Nevskey .. where you can take a pavement cafe seat and cover yourself with drool

Are you travelling alone? We were in St. Petersburg and Moscow last summer and didn't have any trouble with bike parking, chaining the three bikes together on pavement outside Hotel Moskva in St. Petersburg and in a gated hotel complex housing hotels Alpha, Bega, Gamma and (yes, you've guessed it) Delta! St. Petersburg prices were extortionate but that was our own fault due to bad (read 'no') planning. In Moscow, we were fortunate to have a contact who negotiated us a very low price for the Hotel Bega. It isn't particularly near the centre, but the metro system is superb! (Just make sure you can read the Cyrillic alphabet.)

Beware though. It gets sizzlingly hot in Moscow in summer and air-conditioning is unheard of in most hotels. Riding in Russian cities is interesting. The biggest hazard on the roads is likely to be the car in front simply disintegrating and, if you are wondering how to get to your exit off the highway, simply do a U-turn at the next lights!

P.S. By coincidence, it was the kind Receptionist at Hotel Ibis who managed to find us a room at the Moskva. It was pissing with rain, we were soaked to the skin and the promised hostel room hadn't materialised, so we just had to suffer the £100+ per night price tag!

yamonda1 said:

St Petersburg Ibis has secure parking and only a 5 min walk from Nevskey .. where you can take a pavement cafe seat and cover yourself with drool

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Be prepared to pay car rates for bike parking at any hotel.

I am travelling alone, I have a cover and alarm for the bike but its always nice to get it in a safe place away from the road
I have only had to pay car rates once despite 2 months away last summer and that was in a very dodgy area of Budapest and it was worth it for the piece of mind

I'm interested in the fact that you got 2 x 30 day tourist visas. I had the same problem a few years ago but was told over here that I could only get 1 tourist visa at a time. If I applied for another one it would cancel the first one. I ended up getting one and then hoping that I could get one one the road. No in Astana, no in Almaty, finally got a transit one at great cost in Bishkek, Kyrgystan. Don't believe that the documents you have in Ireland or UK will have any validity elsewhere. It's up to the local consul as to what he/she accepts.

Here's a link to the blog I kept which you might or might not find interesting:

http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog/petcul/1/tpod.html

St. Petersburg great. Elsewhere never had a problem parking the bike on the two times I've been there.

Enjoy.

petcul said:

I'm interested in the fact that you got 2 x 30 day tourist visas. I had the same problem a few years ago but was told over here that I could only get 1 tourist visa at a time. If I applied for another one it would cancel the first one. I ended up getting one and then hoping that I could get one one the road. No in Astana, no in Almaty, finally got a transit one at great cost in Bishkek, Kyrgystan. Don't believe that the documents you have in Ireland or UK will have any validity elsewhere. It's up to the local consul as to what he/she accepts.

Here's a link to the blog I kept which you might or might not find interesting:

http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog/petcul/1/tpod.html

St. Petersburg great. Elsewhere never had a problem parking the bike on the two times I've been there.

Enjoy.

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No maybe I didn't explain correctly I have a 30 day tourist visa which allows me to enter Russia stay for a week, leave and then enter again.
There are 2 visa stamps in passport, 1 for 7 days and one for 30 days but with the same start date
I put on the application that I wanted to go to Kalingrad for a week, leave and travel to Russia and stay up to 30 days from the first entry.
From what I have read at the border they don't know what or where you said
when you originally said on the application
The whole visa application is a big learning curve and isn't helped that I couldn't find any visa agents in Ireland
I used Stantours who were very good and helpful but for a business visa the LOI too 4 times as long and you had to have the original letter, not an email letter which takes another 2 weeks
If I like it I'll know what to do next year

Vladivostok is beautiful, fantastic. I'll dig out some receipts on Monday for a restaurant we went to. It's still a naval base so expect to see some of the pacific fleet.

Bit of detour but Volgograd (Stalingrad) is also worth a look, incredible memorials to the fighting in the city and those that died.

I wouldn't ride a motorcycle in central Moscow


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EyeCake said:

No maybe I didn't explain correctly I have a 30 day tourist visa which allows me to enter Russia stay for a week, leave and then enter again.
There are 2 visa stamps in passport, 1 for 7 days and one for 30 days but with the same start date
I put on the application that I wanted to go to Kalingrad for a week, leave and travel to Russia and stay up to 30 days from the first entry.
From what I have read at the border they don't know what or where you said
when you originally said on the application
The whole visa application is a big learning curve and isn't helped that I couldn't find any visa agents in Ireland
I used Stantours who were very good and helpful but for a business visa the LOI too 4 times as long and you had to have the original letter, not an email letter which takes another 2 weeks
If I like it I'll know what to do next year

Click to expand...

David of Stantours good guy You can ring him any time