Roads are the backbone of Russian transport, with 552,000km of them stretching all over the nation. Roads in Siberia and the East are generally frozen over and impassable in winter months and routes have to be altered drastically to avoid these roads. Examples of driving distances are as follows; Moscow to St Petersburg 692km; Moscow to Minsk 690km; Moscow to Rostov-on-Don 1198km; Moscow to Odessa 1347km. On the majority of tourist routes signposts are written using the Latin alphabet, making things easier for confused eyes.

Road regulations: Traffic drives on the right-hand side of the road, with speed limits in built up areas of 60kph (37mph) and 90kph (55mph) elsewhere. Honking the horn is forbidden, unless doing so will prevent an accident. Carrying unauthorised passengers or hitchhikers is illegal. Driving under the influence of any drugs or alcohol is illegal. Every car must be fitted with registration plates and stickers depicting which country it is from, as well as being fitted with seatbelts, a fire extinguisher, a first aid kit and a red triangle or red light for emergency warnings. An international driving permit is necessary along with a national licence. Visitors in their own cars must also carry these documents at all times: their passport and visa; their itinerary card bearing the visitor’s name and citizenship, the car registration number and full details of the itinerary presented upon entry to Russia relating to the route to be taken and the date and place of stopovers; the form provided by Customs on arrival guaranteeing that the car will be taken out of the country on departure; petrol vouchers purchased at the border; insurance cover documents, either purchased before entry or from the Ingosstrakh.

It is not recommended that motorists drive at night if at all possible.

Public transport in Russian cities is both comprehensive and cheap, with the metro, trolleybus and tramway offering electric transports – the metro stations in Moscow and St. Petersburg are architectural beauties in themselves, and the metro system operates on a token system. Taxis are also available in the street, and can be hailed in the street or hired from the ranks or by phone. It is recommended that visitors use only officially marked taxis and that they do not share cabs with strangers.

Domestic flights operate out of all airports in the country, with travel between major cities offered by a number of flight operators. It should be noted that in the 1990s Aeroflot was splintered into a number of smaller operators and suffered a series of accidents, earning a reputation for poor safety. This record, however, has turned around hugely in recent years. Approximate flight times are as follows: from Moscow to Bratsk is six hours and forty-five minutes, to Donetsk is one hour and thirty minutes, to Irkutsk is seven hours, to Khabarovsk is seven hours and thirty minutes, to Kharkov is one hour and fifteen minutes, to St Petersburg is one hour and thirty minutes, to Volgograd is one hour and fifty minutes and to Yalta is two hours and fifteen minutes. Coaches and taxis to domestic airports are available from cities, as they are for international airports.

The Russian rail system is relied on more heavily than its road network, and the 87,079km of tracks are predominantly used for to transport cargo around the country. There a are only a few long-haul journeys available to tourists and reservations must be made every time. Children under five travel free, and children aged five to nine travel at half price. The Trans-Siberian Express, one of the most famous trains in the world, is a journey that anyone visiting Russia should at least think about travelling on. Running from Moscow, through to the Pacific Coast and on to Yokohama in Japan, taking ten days, passing through seven time zones over 9745km and being the worlds longest continuous train journey – it really is an experience that shouldn’t be missed. Other long-haul train journeys popular with visitors are the Trans-Manchurian Express, which ends up in Beijing in the PR of China, and the Trans-Mongolian Railway, which again ends up in Beijing, but passes through Mongolia and the beautiful capital of Ulaan Baatar.