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Because == Roads ==Do not expect all M roads to be dual carriageways – sometimes even a major road is a narrow, unpaved muddy patch. Generally speaking, the further East you can get dropped off and immediately hitch onwards go, the worse the road condition gets. But even on nearly all roads main connections in Russialess remote areas, for example from Moscow to Kazan, using a sign the road is never necessary and not always in good shape in fact connection with the community recommends against ithuge traffic, travelling will take much more time than in Western Europe. In spite of the country's size, there There are very few roadsreal motorways, here there is little ambiguity in where you could be goingthough, when hitching from marked with a given location. Hitchhiking green sign of an autobahn same as in Russian is called ''Автостоп'' (avtostop)Europe. It literally means “car stopping”, and Standards are improving too; there is basically an ongoing policy of funding the only word understood as hitching (i.e. travelling by getting lifts for free).When people ask you anywhere rebuilding many roads in Russia: куда ты едешь? (where are you going , which will bring standards to?) you should answer: я еду автостопом (ya yedu avtostopom) then they will ask you another question and this time you say the name of the citya much higher level.
Do not write places names on cardboards – nobody in this country cares to read them. OrThe southern provinces of Russian Caucasus like [[Dagestan]], [[Chechnya]] (worldwide most victims), if you still want to use the paper[[Ingushetia]], write a region number instead of the name (see below [[North Ossetia]] and [[Kabardino-Balkaria]] have problems with terrorists and land-mines and it could be very dangerous for travelling there for both foreigner and for a list of reg numbers)Russian from Central Russia. These areas better be avoided.
Especially Small towns might have a small chance of being a little dangerous if the southern provinces [[Dagestan]]person differs much from locals, [[Chechnya]] (worldwide most victims), [[Ingushetia]], [[North Ossetia]] especially in the night. Villages and [[Kabardino-Balkaria]] have problems with land-minesbig town are completely safe.
=== Border Crossings, Police, Visas and formalities ===
* [[Cheboksary]]* [[Samara]]* [[Irkutsk]]* [[Murmansk]]* [[Novosibirsk]]* [[Omsk]]* [[Petrozavodsk]]* [[Rostov-on-Don]]* [[Sochi]]* [[Ufa]]* [[Ulan-Ude]]* [[Voronezh]]* [[Yekaterinburg]] Count about 5 days Citizens of most countries need a visa, the notable exceptions are most former Soviet states (apart from [[Moscow]] to [[Novosibirsk]], the Baltic states) and about 18 days from Moscow to [[Vladivostok]]Israel. Most visa types require an invitation.
Unfortunately, Russia still lacks a large hostel network. You can find several hostels in Moscow and in St. Perersburg, and they are gradually spreading over the country; but as for now, in almost any city nothing of the kind is available. To find both accommodation and company, you can use [http://hospitalityclub.org Hospitality Club], [http://couchsurfing.org CouchSurfing] and Russian+Ukranian+Belorussian Livejournal community [http://vpiska.livejournal.com Vpiska]. The official language of the latter is Russian but you can use English as well (ask other members to translate your post to Russian in the end of your message if you like). Just post the name of the locations you are planning to stay in, or your route, the dates of your possible arrival, the number of your party, some information about you and your mobile number. If travelling long distances through the country, it is advisable to bring a sleeping bag and tent. If sleeping by the side of the road, try to find a place obscured by trees, and avoid places with stray dogs. Sleeping by the road is usually very safe, provided you are not visible. Security guards and police will usually not bother you even if they see you, since nature-tourism is still quite popular in Russia.
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'''Russia''' is the largest country on Earth, and is a fantastic country for hitch hiking. It is well ingrained within the country's culture, and it is a much more comfortable way to see the country, compared to taking the train. Despite the popularity of hitch hiking compared to other countries, people will still be surprised by what you are doing.
It is possible to cover vast distances per day when hitching, greater than 1000 km if you are lucky, but generally only when using major M roads in Western Russia. Do not expect all M roads to be dual carriageways – sometimes even a major road is a narrow, unpaved muddy patch. Generally speaking, the further East you go, the worse the road condition gets. But even on main connections in less remote areas, for example from Moscow to Kazan, the road is not always in good shape in in connection with the huge traffic, travelling will take much more time than in Western Europe. There are real motorways, though, marked with a green sign of an autobahn same as in Europe. Standards are improving too; there is an ongoing policy of funding the rebuilding many roads in Russia, which will bring standards to a much higher levelor Siberia through Trans-siberian railway mainline.
In spite of popular belief about the dangers of Russiacountry's size, and perceived problems with the policethere are very few roads, as a hitch hiker you will more than likely have no problem there is little ambiguity in the country. Police will usually not bother where you at allcould be going, even if they know when hitching from a given location. In areas about 50 km from cities you are a foreigner (except at may just stay on the border - that is another matter), road and as long as you take the usual precautions, you will not find yourself in danger from any person - get rides with high success which other cities the cold however, in winter time, is a much bigger issueroads go to. Being offered copious amounts of alcohol can also be a problem!
=== Maps ===
Also, there are maps almost completely presenting full infrastructure of some cities including public transportation system at [http://www.2gis.ru/ 2gis.ru]. November, 1st 2009 there were 22 cities: Астрахань, Барнаул, Бийск, Екатеринбург, Иркутск, Казань, Кемерово ,Красноярск ,Курган, Нижневартовск, Нижний Новгород, Новокузнецк, Новосибирск, Одесса, Омск, Пермь, Самара, Тольятти, Томск, Тюмень, Уфа, Челябинск. U can use on-line version or download installer and use maps off-line. Also there is opportunity to use 2gis on Windows Mobile platform and even on usual cellphone with Java MIDP-2 engine (needs internet access).
== Hitching ==
Also, there is a possibility to get a lift by talking to drivers on gas stations. You will not be misunderstood but since there are almost no highways and you can point your thumb anywhere, wasting time on a gas station waiting for cars is not preferred unless there is heavy raining, or the spot is bad etc. If there are two of you one can hitch on the road and the other one ask people on nearby gas station; that really might bring you a lift faster. But the “default” method of hitchhiking in Russia is still thumbing on the roadside ;)
Do not write places names on cardboards – nobody in this country cares to read them. Or, if you still want to use the paper, write a region number instead of the name (see below for a list of reg numbers). Because you can get dropped off and immediately hitch onwards on nearly all roads in Russia, using a sign is never necessary and in fact the community recommends against it. Again, in spite of the country's size, there are very few roads, there is little ambiguity in where you could be going, when hitching from a given location.
== Language ==
Hitchhiking in Russian is called ''автостоп'' (avtostop). It literally means “car stopping”, and is basically the only word understood as hitching (i.e. travelling by getting lifts for free). A more colloquial word for it is "попутка" (poputka). When people ask you anywhere in Russia: "куда ты едешь?" (where are you going to?) you should answer: "я еду автостопом" (ya yedu avtostopom), then they will ask you another question and this time you say the name of the city. It might be better and more polite to ask "Вы могли бы подкинуть меня в направлении ..." (Vy mogli by podkinut menya v napravlenii ...), which means "Could you give me a lift in the direction of ...".
Level of speaking English is rather low especially among people older than 40 and even not all young people speak it with a sufficient level. You might ought to learn Cyrillic script for your own convenience. It is quite simple for a person familiar with English or Greek alphabet and is learnable in 2-3 days.
== Safety ==
[[File:2001 Hitch-hiking in Russia.jpg|thumb|280px|left|[[User:Sigurdas|Sigurdas]] hitch-hiking towards [[Murmansk]] from [[St. Petersburg]]. Winter 2001.]]
In spite of popular belief about the dangers of Russia, and perceived problems with the police, as a hitch hiker you will more than likely have no problems in the country. Police will usually not bother you at all, especially when they know you are a foreigner (except at the border - that is another matter). You should also avoid drunk people and people who look aпgressive or look like "[[:wiki:ru:гопник|gopniks]]". and as long as you take the usual precautions, you will not find yourself in danger from any person - the cold however, in winter time, is a much bigger issue. Being offered copious amounts of alcohol can also be a problem! Some consider Russian roads are not among the safest on Earth; this might or might not be true. The concentrartion of dashing driving is higher than in Europe. Many drivers and their passengers do not fasten their belts outside cities, but you always may do it for yourself.
Its common knowledge Russians like to drink vodka, but you will unlikely meet a drunken driver unless you go deep into some village area; driving drunk is heavily penalized in Russia so majority of people never wants don't want to run the risk if there is at least a single police checkpoint on the road (on all the major roads, there are many). But, just in case you encounter a car with a drunken driver inside – wave him away and wait for a sober one.
[[File:IMG 9652.JPG|thumb|200px|right|[[User:Lucysd|Lucysd]] 200 km from [[Mongolia]]]]
If the area feels unsafe you might want to hitchhike from police post to police post. The police posts situated on all highways with intervals of about 100 km. These posts, commonly called "ДПС" (Post DPS), are good places to hitchhike since cars will drive by slowly, and police is always close. You can also ask the police officers to help you get a ride which really might work. Be prepared to be asked for your ID or even run a cell-phone check (verification that your cell is not in the stolen cells database), though. Also, there is a possibility to get a lift by talking to drivers on gas stations. You will not be misunderstood but since there are almost no highways and you can point your thumb anywhere, wasting time on a gas station waiting for cars is not preferred unless there is heavy raining, or the spot is bad etc. If there are two of you one can hitch on the road and the other one ask people on nearby gas station; that really might bring you a lift faster. But the “default” method of hitchhiking in Russia is still thumbing on the roadside ;)
=== Girls and solo-hitching ===
Somehow, Russians are still very amused by foreigners, and many report that solo traveling even extremely long distances, like Central and Eastern Russia, for a foreign girl who speaks some Russian is absolutely safe since she is treated like someone ‘from the outside’ by virtually everyone. Keep in mind that being a foreigner you are somewhat protected from some issues that Russian hitchhikers face on the roads.
The general consensus is that, providing your passport and visa are in order, you will have no problem entering Russia. Even hitching in at remote border crossings in the middle of the night is fine. However you are very likely to be held when leaving the country by a land crossing, particularly if hitching out. You will most likely be required to describe your trip in great detail, and explain other passport stamps. Do not worry if this happens, just answer their questions and you will be allowed to go. (eventually)
If you are travelling anywhere North of St. Petersburg, particularly around Murmansk and towards Norway, it is highly recommended that you register your visa. In early 2011, user haggismn had registration and other documents checked three times at the various military check points. (not including the Norwegian border itself)
== Cities = Border Crossing ===* [[Moscow]]* [[St. Petersburg]]
=== Number plates ===Russian number plates contain a region code, that indicates the origin of the car and possibly the drivers destination.You can write it on a cardboard instead of a place name and use while thumbing. See [[Russian plate numbersAzerbaijan]] for a list. == Border Crossing == Citizens of most countries need a visa, the notable exceptions are most former Soviet states (apart from the Baltic states) and Israel. Most visa types require an invitation. === [[Azerbaijan]] ===
The border seems to be open only for holders of CIS passports.
Please check the discussion about this. Before there is an confirmation by a traveller that crossed that border, the status will not be updated only to "open" instead of "disputed".
==== [[Belarus]] ====
The border between Russia and Belarus is open. You will feel almost like in other parts of Europe, no border controls with an everlasting que at all. This is of course a nice time-saving fact, but it also means that you will recieve no entrance stamp to Russia.
After the German embassy was creative enough to recommend to go to an airport and ask random police for an entrance stamp, the ministry of foreign affairs in Moscow confirmed that this is no problem for an overland traveller on another border and at the crossing to Kazakhstan nobody asked about the missing stamp.
==== [[People's_Republic_of_China|China]] ====
The crossing at Zabaykal'sk/Manzhouli requires that you are on board a vehicle. It is possible to get on board a Chinese tour bus for around 300 roubles. It is also ok to stand before the entrance to the border area and wait for a ride. As long as its not too cold, you shouldn't have any problem getting a ride. If you are not Chinese, Mongolian or Russian, prepare to be interrogated by the Russian border police about your journey. Coming from China is a similar process, however you will probably not be interrogated.
==== [[Estonia]] ====
It is possible to cross the border by foot.
==== [[Finland]] ====
* [[Torfyanovka-Valimaa border crossing]]
* [[Brusnichnoe-Nuijamaa border crossing]]
==== [[Georgia]] ====
The [[Verkhny Lars-Darial Gorge border crossing|Verkhny Lars - Darial Gorge crossing]] was reopened on March 1st, 2010 and since July 2011 is open for international travellers as well. Getting into [[Georgia]] via [[Abkhazia]] is not possible. For more specific information, check the [[Abkhazia]] article.
==== [[Latvia]] ====
It's no problem to walk over the checkpoints between Latvia and Russia.
* [[Terehova-Zasitino border crossing]], towards [[Riga]]
==== [[Lithuania]] ====
No border from Lithuania to the main land of Russia (so you have to go via Latvia), but there are several border crossings between Lithuania and Russia's [[Kaliningrad Oblast]]
* [[Chernyshevskoye-Kybartai border crossing]]
==== [[Mongolia]] ====
==== [[North_Korea|North Korea]] ====
As there is currently no chance for independent travelling/hitch hiking in North Korea, there is also no possibility to cross the border by hitch hiking.
==== [[Norway]] ====The high amount of security between Murmansk and the border with Norway is a relic of Soviet rule, when people could escape into Norway without fear of being deported, unlike Finland. You will find that it isn't possible to walk to the border. From about 5 km 5 km out you will need to be in a vehicle. However, hitching is no problem, provided your documents and registration are in order (they will be checked). The army may also assist you in getting a ride at the military check points. If you are leaving Russia, prepare to be interrogated at the Russian side of the border about your journey.
==== [[Poland]] ====
* [[Bagrationovsk-Bezledy border crossing]] with Russia's [[Kaliningrad Oblast]]
==== [[Ukraine]] ====
The country is Russia's eternal 'native brother' and, despite all the political mess that constantly happens between the two states, [[Ukraine]] is one of the countries that is very easy to enter from Russia (Russians do not even need a foreign passport to enter it, as well as for [[Belarus]]). Make sure that the border crossing is working before attempting to use it. The big gate on the M2/E95 road ([[Moscow]] to [[Kharkiv]]) can be crossed on foot, which is very convenient because you do not have to wait in the line of the cars and you wont make your driver wait for you in case you have any delays with your passport. You will have to leave the car before all the checkpoints begin, though, or you will be considered a car passenger by the border police.
== Cities ==
* [[Moscow]]
* [[St. Petersburg]]
* [[Cheboksary]]
* [[Samara]]
* [[Irkutsk]]
* [[Murmansk]]
* [[Novosibirsk]]
* [[Omsk]]
* [[Petrozavodsk]]
* [[Rostov-on-Don]]
* [[Sochi]]
* [[Ufa]]
* [[Ulan-Ude]]
* [[Voronezh]]
* [[Yekaterinburg]]
Count about 5 days from [[Moscow]] to [[Novosibirsk]], and about 18 days from Moscow to [[Vladivostok]].
=== Number plates ===
Russian number plates contain a region code, that indicates the origin of the car and possibly the drivers destination.
You can write it on a cardboard instead of a place name and use while thumbing. See [[Russian plate numbers]] for a list.
== Sleeping ==
As for 2014, a traveller may find at least 2 or 3 hostels in any city with population higher than 400k population. The average price is about 500 rubles (in some towns it may go as low as 300 RUR). Quality and amount of hostels in Moscow and St. Perersburg are renown for bad quality and high prices. Hostel network is gradually spreading over the country. To find both accommodation and company, you can also use [http://hospitalityclub.org Hospitality Club], [http://couchsurfing.org CouchSurfing] and Russian+Ukranian+Belorussian Livejournal community [http://vpiska.livejournal.com Vpiska]. The official language of the latter is Russian but you can use English as well (ask other members to translate your post to Russian in the end of your message if you like). Just post the name of the locations you are planning to stay in, or your route, the dates of your possible arrival, the number of your party, some information about you and your mobile number.
Long-distance truck drivers are often very hospitable, and many will allow you to sleep in the second bunk of their cab.
