Getting to Russia » Means of Transportation
Means of Transportation
· By ship. There are limited cruise and ferry services between Russia and Finland, Turkey and Georgia. The main ports and harbors: Arkhangelsk, Astrakhan, Baltiysk, Kaliningrad, Khabarovsk, Murmansk, Nakhodka, Novorossiysk, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, St. Petersburg, Sochi, Vladivostok, Vyborg. If you deliver your bike to Russia, be sure, you don’t need any, either ATA, nor de Passage, as sometimes brokers ask these documents from the client! For details it’s better to find local broker office, they will help you to go through the custom procedure.
· By train. We have rail links with adjacent countries: Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland (Kaliningrad Oblast), Belarus, Ukraine, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, China, Mongolia. The Trans-Siberian Railway runs from Moscow to Vladivostok, and you can get a train from there to Beijing; you can also take the Trans-Mongolian via Ulaan Baatar to Beijing. You should
know that delivering your bike by train, you have to empty and clean the tank, pour out oil and all liquids.
· By plain. The fastest way to get to Russia is by plane, it will cost you about 350 euro return from Europe and about 800 euro return from the US (east coast). There are many regular flights from major world cities to major Russian cities (Moscow, St-Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, Nizhniy Novgorod, Omsk, Novosibirsk end others). Usually, Aeroflot (Russian airlines) and our domestic airlines will have the lowest prices. There are some European low-cost airlines (Germania Express, German Wings, Alpieagle, Air Berlin etc), which operate their flights to Russia.
· By motorcycle. To drive in Russia, you will need an International Drivers License, third part liability insurance (you could buy it beforehand from local insurance companies, who have an agreement with Russian insurance company, or try to buy it on the border, but we know the cases of fakes), passport, visa and a motorcycle with registration documents (which prove your ownership). If you have visa more then for 30 days, you should fill up the declaration for temporary bike importation, frontier guide notes a date of bike export there. If you are late to export it due this date, you are obliged to pay a penalty in amount of motorcycle cost. So if for some reason you are late, come to the closes custom office (each big city has it) and ask to prolong the date of export, producing some adequate reasons. From Europe, the way is not long, but there are often lines on the border so be prepared to wait. Though frontier guides often pass motorcyclist first.
Entering Russia by motorcycle is not any different from entering Russia by other means: the same border control, the same rules and the same frontier guards. Crossing the border through Ukraine and Byelorussia could be a little confusing and might cost some extra money (don’t forget to check if you need a transit visa!). The frontier guards are and they like to collect money for nothing. Also they expect to be treated like Gods, so you better be nice and try not to make them angry. Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia try to behave themselves like civilized Western countries, so if you are a foreigner trying to enter Russia they probably won’t pick any problems with you. Although these guys can still be mean, they really won’t cause much of a problem unless you are rude to them or break any small rules or laws. It is very easy to enter Russia through Finland and the frontier guards there are quite relaxed. This is a very busy border and if you are nice and do everything correctly, in terms of documents and paperwork, you won’t have any problems.