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But you can always find prices and itineraries on our web-site on the Russian River Cruises pages.

Beat Regards, IntouristUK Team.

Our new Luxury Moscow City Break Tour includes a Moscow River Cruise (please see day 3 of the tour itinerary).

Or you can book a Moscow River Cruise as an optional excursion.

My tips for anyone considering doing this trip:-

1) Not for the faint-hearted but going third class (platzkartny) is a lot more fun and the atmosphere is much more relaxed and friendly.

2) Knowing some Russian (or having a phrasebook) is absolutely essential. You will be lucky to meet anyone who speaks English.

3) Don’t eat in the restaurant car. The food is lousy and expensive and it will mark you out as a tourist. Take bread, cheese, cold meats, sweets, chocolate and fruit. Make use of the station stops to stock up.

4) Share your food. It’s a great ice-breaker. Avoid offering junk food.

5) Russians are amazingly generous and the more you refuse an offer (of food, vodka, etc), the more they will persist. Polite but firm wins the day but do be adventurous. Russians adore whole dried, salted fish washed down with ‘pivo’(beer). You might say it’s an acquired taste but absolutely worth a try.

6) If you only make one stop, make it Lake Baikal and Irkutsk. Worth exploring.

7) It’s a bit of a cliche but do take your own toilet paper. Also, take plenty of wet wipes and tea bags. If you want to look like a local, take your slippers to wear on the train.

An exclusive thing about Russian trains is a tea-boiler. It works on real (!) fire, and always has hot water inside. You can buy teabags from the conductor, pour hot water, and have nice tea at any time of the day or night.

Almost every train has a carriage with a restaurant, but the food is usually of not very high quality and is overpriced (about 400R ($10) for a meal). You can always buy a snack or a beer from a conductor, or some real home made meals from the people who sell their food at the train stops along the way.

Just thought I would take a minute to let you know that both Martin and I, thoroughly enjoyed the cruise MS Nizhny Novgorod between Moscow and St Petersburg and the Ambassador Hotel. It cruise exceeded expectations in all regards. The ship was extremely clean; service and food wonderful; trips informative and interesting giving a good insight into Russia; and the staff, especially our guide, wonderful. We would recommend it to anyone!

Thank you all in Intourist for organising it for us.

Kindest regards,
Sandi

Without a doubt though the main reasons for the trip being so successful were the itinerary and the decision to have an interpreter with us 24/7. The best compliment I could pay to Intourist is that when I do go back I will seek the same itinenary again. It was exactly what I was looking for and could not be faulted. Flights were excellent, accommodation in Lviv superb and I would have no hesitation in recommending Ukrainian Airlines to friends.

What really made the visit so successful was the incredible support we received from our guide, Yoroslav. He was with us 24/7 which was essential as nobody could speak the other’s language, but he went beyond that. He was always on hand to translate, to provide guidance on traditions etc and to ensure we gained as much as we could out of the trip. He was like a member of the family and he was the main reason we achieved what we did. I would strongly recommend him to other visitors and we will use him next time.

Sorry for going on so much but it’s difficult to put into words what we did and this was wholly down to the organisation arranged by Intourist and our tour guide.

Many thanks for your own input as well.

Kind Regards,

Bill