Reviewed: 27/06/2022
We are deeply saddened with the latest political events and we sincerely hope that a peaceful resolution will be found to a conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
Your safety is our highest priority and is central to the preparation and arrangement of all our tours. All travellers are advised to read the FCO travel advice for the country they are travelling to. Please see up-to-date details on the FCO website:
- Ukraine – https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/ukraine
- Russia – https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/russia
- Mongolia – https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/mongolia
Holidays departing before 30/04/2022
We will review all reservations on an individual basis and will offer alternative options.
Due to a high volume of calls, we are getting extremely busy. Please do not phone our office, as we need to prioritise the customers who are due to depart soon. We are aware of the situation and will be in touch.
Holidays departing after 30/04/2022
We are not cancelling any tours to Russia. You can get to Russia now via Turkey, Serbia, Gulf States. All tours can be arranged as initially booked with the exception of tours to China, where international borders are still closed. Russian and Mongolian borders are now open.
We have customers who are travelling with us in Russia in April, May and we constantly gather their feedback. All feedback we receive is positive and our customers are not experiencing any issues while travelling.
All Russian consulates issue Russian visa and our visa department will assist you with the visa application process.
So we suggest not to cancel your travel plans especially if you are due to travel in summer or autumn. Alternatively please see some options presented below.
If you decide to cancel, all cancellations will be subject to our booking conditions. However, to make planning more favourable to you, we have modified our cancellation conditions. You can cancel the trip up to two weeks before departure and lose only your deposit and the cost of the services that have already been provided to you (visas, travel insurance – which cannot be refunded). You can also postpone the final payment until two weeks before your departure. Please also check with your travel insurance, they may cover your cancellation costs. Our best advice here is to wait and not to start panicking.
Alternative travel options
We also propose to consider the following alternative tour options. We will do our best to keep any rebooking / cancellation charges to a minimum. Your travel consultant will reconfirm the fees. We will also be happy to offer a special rebooking discount. All destinations are open and there are minimum covid-related restrictions.
- Caucasus and beyond, visit:
You can visit just one country or plan a cross-border tour. We have a dedicated website for tours to the Caucasus. Please view available travel options (please note, we can arrange a tailor-made itinerary should you prefer) – www.best-of-caucasus.co.uk
- Central Asia, visit:
- Uzbekistan
- Kyrgyzstan
You can visit just one country or plan a cross-border tour. Tour options – www.china-and-beyond.co.uk
- Baltic states: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania. You can also combine your visit with Finland or Sweden.
Please contact us with travel ideas and we will be able to send you an offer. All tours to Baltic states are provided as individual itineraries.
- Mongolia If you initially planned a Trans-Mongolian tour
Tour options – www.china-and-beyond.co.uk
How to change your reservation
If you wish to change your reservation, please let your travel consultant know. Please note, all modified reservations will be subject to our booking conditions in terms of cancellations.
Unfortunately, at this stage we cannot provide more information. We closely monitor the situation and once relevant facts become available we will update this page accordingly.
Hello ,are the tours to Russia still on? I am in UK. 5 day st petersburg and Moscow this year.
Dear John Baines, thanks for your message. Yes, we are planning to run tours to Russia this year. We sincerely hope that the conflict will be resolved peacefully very soon. Currently, there are restrictions in terms of air travel and flights availability is very limited. Most people use Turkish Airways via Istanbul.