How many times do you need to visit St. Petersburg to say to yourself: “Now I’ve seen everything here, I’m unlikely to come back here again”? For me, this moment has not yet arrived, and can it happen, if from the first acquaintance 16 years ago to this day, I managed to visit the Northern Capital only 8-9 times, and even then, several times for work. St. Petersburg opens up to guests gradually and unobtrusively, giving them the opportunity to experience for themselves what they lived before and what the city that has become a legend breathes today.
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Across the Crimea far and wide, or in search of a warm sea!
Finally, I found time to write a report on the trip that my husband and I took in the summer of 2017. This year, in anticipation of the trip, I was no less impatient than before. Already in February, during the first sunny days (the winter was snowy and cloudy), I had a premonition of traveling. The gait quickened, an involuntary smile began to appear on the face more and more often, and the gaze was directed towards the beautiful sea summer!!! In March, I already put a notebook on the table with a list of things needed for the trip. And this year my husband became more interested and began to prepare for the trip in advance, about two weeks in advance. I removed the rear seats. A tarpaulin was pulled over the old tent so as not to damage the lining at the backs.
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Car tour of Transcaucasia (October 2017)
My friend and I began to think about where we could realistically go in October - preferably by car, preferably within 10 days, preferably to see something interesting, preferably to warm up. Initial options - Baikal (was discarded for reasons of remoteness (4500 km one way) and low temperatures in October (-5...0...+5)) and fishing in Astrakhan (just the season for large catches, but the temperature is around +5 and rains ). At this time, a friend accidentally came across Boris Kozyrev’s review https://travel.drom.ru/51864/ about a trip from St. Petersburg to Transcaucasia (looking ahead, I’ll say that Boris’s series of reviews about this trip was taken as a basis when planning route, and indeed throughout the entire journey, we were guided by his experience in many aspects).
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Latvia-Hungary. Intricate family trip
Unable to curb a sudden attack of graphomania, I share my impressions of last year’s trip to the once fraternal countries, and may the readers of Drome forgive me. 2014 was a roller coaster ride on the family’s financial capabilities, and only in 2016 did we unstick ourselves a little, finally deciding to go somewhere. All the best goes to the children, so first of all we send the young tennis player Mikhail to a sports camp in Latvia. A Moscow coach of Latvian origin organized an international summer camp in his native village of Rutsava, where children go every year - mainly Russia, the Baltics, and Belarus.
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Arkhyz - the lost world
This is probably in the mountains and they make mineral water there - that’s where my knowledge about Arkhyz ended. At the family council, it was decided to eliminate this flaw in the knowledge of the Caucasus and chat with a couple of friends to make it more fun. This is my first experience in writing reviews, do not judge strictly, I will only describe what I saw and heard from the local population, and also what I paid for.
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Italian holidays, or the first pancake is not lumpy
In anticipation of writing a report on a summer vacation in the Balkans, I want to post a report on a trip to Italy in June 2016. My wife wrote it, so the story will be written on her behalf. I’ll tell you the story of our first road trip. Please don't judge strictly, this is my first attempt at writing. There were also, of course, mistakes in route planning. But everything comes with experience. So…
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The liter Toyota SuperPlatz is traveling across Russia again
Route: Irkutsk - Ulan-Ude - Chita - Krasnoyarsk - Kemerovo
But before I start writing, I want to say that this road trip turned out to be very unusual. And the point here is not at all about the route or attractions. Now, analyzing everything that happened and reviewing the film shot on the trip, I clearly understand that all accidents are not accidental. I don’t know how this happens and why everything turned out the way it did. Obviously, everyone in life has their own path of internal change, which they must go through and change, become stronger and more conscious. It so happened that this period of our lives coincided with the trip.
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Our Altai 2017
I gave birth to THIS myself, and now I live with it. In general, my wife, having tasted and tasted the taste of long-distance driving, asked for a tourenduro, because there was less and less asphalt in our route list. The choice was long and painful, but the stars aligned so that she rode into the 2017 motorcycle season on a water goose. This year, as in the past, as, I hope, in the future, our wheels have turned to the east.
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At the end of August 2016, I was returning from a trip to Mongolia. Having crossed the border in Kyakhta, I approach Ulan-Ude and see a sign: Irkutsk - to the left, Chita - to the right. I went, of course, to Irkutsk, towards home, but the thought - what would happen next, beyond Chita - appeared. Over the past winter, this idea became so strong that preparations for the trip moved into the phase of practical actions. The route was built and calculated, gas stations were marked, and the vehicle was technically prepared. A sleeping place has been made for maximum comfort - you can stop for a good night’s sleep wherever you want and whenever you want. It is worth noting that this innovation did not displease the traffic police.
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Altai - the heart of Eurasia
To combine business with pleasure, while still in Israel I decided not to stay too long in Barnaul, but to ride into the mountains, towards the border with Mongolia. My friends involved in tourism offered to go on a week-long tour as an assistant guide, in exchange for the opportunity to visit interesting places for free. Great, I always dreamed of working for food and impressions. “The main thing is to remember that in translation from Mongolian “Altai” means “golden”, and the guide will tell you the rest!” - they gave me parting words before leaving at the travel agency office.
Vacation is approaching? Serpentines, mountains, sea and descriptions of attractions - just for this alone it’s worth traveling south by car or traveling around Russia or Europe!
This site presents the best photo reports about road trips and adventures, interesting stories, reports on hauls, information about cities, information about routes and trip reports.
- Additionally: stories of car owners.
Having decided one day to travel by car with my parents, it was decided to visit the European capital of beauty and fashion, love and romance - the legendary Paris. The path ahead was not easy - 3000 km: Donetsk - Paris.
Transshipment points were planned in Poland, Hungary and Germany. Despite the fact that there were two drivers among us, we really wanted to relax and admire the sights of the countries we were passing through.
We flew to Stockholm with a large group. It wouldn’t fit in a regular passenger car, so to get to the final destination, the polar towns of Piteå and Luleå, it was necessary to rent a minibus. There are several car rental offices at Arlando Airport, but there were no cars with the required passenger capacity available.
I had to turn to my Swedish comrades. They helped and ordered Renault rental for us for 270 euros per day. Compared to the price lists of other companies, it is relatively inexpensive, especially since we paid together. Each of the 9 people in our company had to pay 1,200 Swedish kronor, which is equal to 120 euros, for four days of rent.
Every year, at the end of summer, our whole family rushes to the shrines of Kaluga land. But now the children have grown up, the youngest is studying at a medical university, so the crew of our car has decreased. But the start day has arrived.
Photo No. 1. We packed up in the evening and decided not to leave early. We travel our route over 2 days. We always stop by the city of Zadonsk. Here is one of the holiest places in the Lipetsk region. The Monastery of Tikhon of Zadonsk is probably known to every believer. Therefore, we leave at 8 am.
The time has come for the chicks to fly out of the nest. This year, my daughter graduated from school and successfully entered Volgograd Medical University. We urgently needed to take the documents to the admissions office, and we set off on our first trip to the hero city of Volgograd.
The distance according to the navigator is 547 km. After looking at the information about the quality of roads and traffic jams, we decide to leave early in the morning. Our task is to arrive before 15-00. At our beloved Gazprom, we fill up with 95-octane gasoline, run into a traffic jam, and hit the road at 8 a.m. The road to Chaltyr is easy. The track, although single-lane, is wide. We move at the maximum permissible speed of 109 km/h.
Auto Travel September 14, 2015
Introduction: The main goal of the trip was to capture three natural objects in early spring: Lake Baskunchak, Mount Elbrus and the Terek River. Travel time: March.
Road trips
Road trips and adventures
Plans for summer vacation this year were constantly changing. I was planning a long trip around Crimea, but a fresh loan for an apartment put an end to this idea. I was planning a ride around Kazakhstan to the Valley of the Balls, but my wife couldn’t go, and going into the desert without a backup driver wasn’t entirely reasonable. As a result, almost a few days before the vacation, the main places to visit and the approximate travel route were identified. Visit the historical festival in Tatarstan in Bulgar, then take a ride to our favorite water park “Golden Bay” in Gelendzhik, then proceed to the Mineralnye Vody area, where we try to get to the Djily-Su tract, then home to Samara.
22-day trip to Azerbaijan, Armenia and Georgia in June 2019. Passed over 9000 km, 5 state borders. More than 50 interesting and unique places in Transcaucasia, as well as Russia - Baskunchak, Astrakhan, Derbent, Elista. Warm, clean sea, beautiful nature, unique historical sites, amazing cuisine and hospitable people.
For two years in a row, we, a family of two adults and two children aged 2 and 4 years, have been going by car in the summer to relax at the seaside, 3 thousand km from home. I think that our experience may be useful for those who are planning, but have never yet traveled long distances with children.
Initially, Oman was not included in the project for the fourth stage of the circumnavigation of the world. The Sultanate appeared on our schedule as a backup option if we still did not receive permission to travel through Saudi Arabia. More than a year has already passed since the initial request for a visa to Saudi Arabia. The Moscow embassy reported that they only issue visas for Hajj or business visas. In fact, there is no tourist visa as a class in Saudi Arabia. There is also the option of a transit visa, but the Russian embassy is not authorized to issue them. This was followed by letters from our side to the Foreign Ministry and contact with the Russian embassy in Riyadh. Gradually, everything began to plunge into the bureaucratic abyss, the chances of getting into Saudi Arabia became more and more elusive. Realizing how this could end, before leaving we decided to add Oman to our route. This is a continuation of the previous report about the round-the-world trip “Our World”. Then we sailed from Iran to the UAE.
We went on this trip with the whole family - me, my wife Olya and children Diana and Timofey. We have the same car - a 2014 Kia Rio with a mileage of just over 160,000 km. Only now the car runs not only on gasoline, but also on propane.
I check the list again to see if I have collected everything. The difficulty is that you need to take the most necessary things, since a bicycle is not a car and you will have to carry it yourself. Many had to be sacrificed; all that was left were a few warm clothes, a sleeping bag, a tent, dishes and spare parts and tools for repairing a bicycle. You also need gas, a burner, and food for at least one day. In general, it was not possible to fit everything into one backpack. In the end, I took one large and one small backpack. According to the plan, the big one will travel on the trunk, and the small one on the back, with essentials, valuables and documents. Of course, for such trips it is better to take cycling pants, but I didn’t find them in Irkutsk and decided that I would buy them in Novosibirsk.
Back in the fall of 2018, my wife, children and parents decided to go on a road trip to the shores of Lake Baikal. The launch was scheduled for August 3, 2019, and by this time everything was ready. But, as sometimes happens, nature made its own adjustments to our plans - literally a couple of days before the start, severe floods occurred in the Irkutsk region due to prolonged rains. After a little discussion, we decide to go to sunny Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. Why this particular direction? Well, firstly, because we already had a worked out and proven route, which, like the trip to Lake Baikal, fit into the 2 weeks of vacation available to us. And secondly, we, like most residents of Russia, missed summer, sun and the opportunity to swim. Actually, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, with their hot climate and equally famous lakes Balkhash and Issyk-Kul, fully met our desires. So, the decision has been made and it’s time to hit the road.
The trip was born as an improvisation. One day, while sitting at home and having lunch, an idea suddenly appeared: to go to Western Siberia. We quickly packed up and hit the road the next day. We didn’t even estimate how many thousands of kilometers we would have to travel, along what routes. The most remarkable thing is that even with money we didn’t really figure it out; there were only enough funds one way. We walked at a speed of no more than 75, around there were endless expanses that were monotonous and hypnotizing. The road is relatively good, but we couldn’t solve the problem with an overnight stay; we spent the night right next to the road. In Siberia, the issue of hotels and places for a snack has not been thought through; you often have to make do with dry food, which is not good. After Moscow, I never came across any decent hotels. In the city itself, all cars are right-hand drive. There are hotels in the city, we found a decent motel, rested and slept. We have already walked more than two thousand kilometers. Chesham on Barnaul, Altai is inhabited, there is civilization. Roads produce pleasant impressions
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Traveling by car is always a celebration of freedom and the satisfaction of one's own curiosity. The trip from St. Petersburg to Berlin is only about seven thousand kilometers, so we set off on a long journey. The first city was Vilnius. A very beautiful town, small, but devilishly cozy. I especially liked the narrow medieval streets. I still recommend climbing the Gedeminas Tower and walking around Užupis. We stopped in Warsaw, a large city, if not huge. I heard that during the war it was completely razed to the ground. Now the metropolitan gloss is present, a beautiful city. Krakow is all artsy, bohemian and sybaritic. We ate in one restaurant, they are fed to satiety in the literal sense of the word, and all this for some symbolic sums. Prague is absolutely unique. I fell in love with this city at first sight. The views from the site of St. Vitus Cathedral are worth a lot. We walked along the Vltava embankment, visited the famous Charles Bridge, drank local beer. Berlin and Saxon St.
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The Kaluga land is full of holy places, it is really the heart of the Russian land, so every summer we visit the shrines. Until now, we continue to travel and discover something new. In the morning we start not too early and head for the city of Zadonsk, which is located in the Lipetsk region. The Monastery of Tikhon of Zadonsk is a famous place of prayer. The road to Shchepkin is of moderate severity. The distance is small, but we constantly walk along deep ruts. Then the M-4 road begins, the federal highway is a rest, we fly like on wings. There are cameras everywhere, it is better not to exceed the speed, because you will catch “chain letters” all over your head. Once I already had the pleasure of getting acquainted with these documents, there is no more reluctance. There are a lot of trucks, they significantly slow down progress towards the goal. The roads in Voronezh are good, we passed through the city without long “relaxations” and there were no traffic jams. In Zadonsk we swam in a holy spring and pitched a bivouac nearby. Roads in Lipa
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Yakutia has a huge number of wonderful places where you definitely want to go. But Nakhot is a completely exceptional settlement. Frosts in Yakutia of 40-50 degrees are commonplace and swimming in a hot spring in such weather is an exceptional pleasure. We live only three hundred kilometers from this point, and my wife and I decided to go. The frost was below fifty, so we thoroughly prepared for the trip. They took an entrenching tool, fuel, and a mining shovel. I know these places a little, I’ve already traveled along the roads there, plus the Internet helped, I read reviews. In general, in a couple of weeks we thoroughly prepared, collected information and hit the road early in the morning. In Tynda, when the frost left, it was 40 degrees. The road was normal, the cabin was warm, we had nowhere to rush, so we set off at medium cruising speed. After more than a hundred km we came across the village of Ienga. The places here are sacred, highly revered by local shamans. Stopped
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Last year, I passed all the tests and exams, having received a document on higher education, I decided to present myself a vacation trip to Altai. My husband, mom and dad went with me. We loved all our lives as a family to often get out into Nature, so the “tent” lifestyle suited us quite well. For a week they studied possible routes, so to speak, the trajectory of the “optimal flight”. In the end, we stopped on a trip towards the southern border, where the famous "Martian Valley" is located. We calculated the trip for 10 days, the speed of movement was not important, because fabulous views and picturesque landscapes awaited us ahead. In the "5th gear" mode, it was not possible to get acquainted with these beauties. We bought all the necessary supplies and clean water, decided to make dishes on fires, so they were overstocked accordingly, taking into account this genre. We were not going to go to a deserted region, interspersed with permafrost, settlements
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In June 16, my brother had to go to the Krasnoyarsk Territory for work. And my sister also wanted to see the lakes of those places. An employee told her that she went there with her family, well, our madam desired it))) Indeed, in Khakassia, there are amazingly beautiful ponds with crystal clear water. But we were convinced of this later))) There were three of us. My brother went for work and my sister and I hitched a ride. Vanya had work for a couple of days, on Thursday and Friday, and we had a cultural rest at the weekend. We set out from the city of Volzhsky at six in the evening, filled the tank of gasoline in our KIA in such a way that it would cost ten liters per hundred square meters. So, along the way there were many eateries and motels, we took with us everything we needed from food so as not to waste time on stops. There are also quite enough gas stations on the highway; we had enough fuel almost to Uzhur. The road is quite tolerable, somewhere there is old asphalt, somewhere there is new, only the place after Chebula was quite problematic. The dirt road is strewn
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We want to tell you all about the wine paradise in the 4th Reich. In Belarus they marinated us for only about 15 minutes, the Poles kept an eye on us and stood close to our faces for about 40 minutes. They muttered something in their hissing tongue and nodded their heads. We already began to think that we had a lot of drugs in the car, as well as plutonium and red mercury, but, fortunately, we were not completely suspected. They let me go with God, but without a smile. It was already completely dark when we reached a familiar hotel (this was already our 5th trip). It was raining, but it was warm, a velvet season. I recommend the Fus Hotel to everyone in Ozarow Mazowiecki, on the outskirts of the Polish capital. We decided to get some sleep, there are many countries and hundreds of kilometers ahead, and as soon as he rests, he will work. We already have travel experience; we know that prices in Germany are higher than in Poland. Therefore, we decided to buy products in vacuum packaging and all sorts of juices and waters. There is also a subtlety that is worth knowing a little about. Gasoline costs quite a lot on the autobahn in Germany.
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The whole family decided to take a grand journey of three thousand miles to the banks of the Seine in beautiful Paris. We have noted the key points - these are Poland, Hungary and Germany. There were two of us driving. One of us was relaxing in the back seat, I was sitting as a navigator. The driver closed his eyes for just a couple of seconds... We ran into the bumper of the car in front of us. The damage is minor, a broken headlight and a chewed bumper. Still, an unpleasant aftertaste remained. In Poland, cars are removed from the scene of an incident; in our country, it is absolutely customary to leave “everything as it is” in order to draw up a correct protocol. The police arrived. They drew up the papers. Then we went to the station where there was a cash register. We paid a fine, the accident was our fault, there was no doubt about it. The price of the issue is only one hundred euros, all other costs are the responsibility of the insurers. In the end, we reached the town, checked into a hotel, and rested a bit. We went to the main square for a walk. Krakow a little
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We knew more about the conquest of the Moon than about Mongolia. All winter months we studied the issue, looked at maps, photos, videos, etc. Gradually, the enthusiasm weakened; the people found various plausible reasons. In the end, out of 10 people, four kamikazes and two cars remained. They closed their ranks closer and decided: less is better, yes - better. From Khabarovsk to Mongolia the distance is quite long, more than three thousand km, we thought that this was even good, the cars would “warm up” on our territory, if some kind of incident happened, it would be possible to correct it. The first day they waved without looking for 600 km. Second day. The next day we got up very early, there was no sun yet. We quickly had a snack and hit the road. Somewhere in front of Chita, five hundred kilometers away, gas stations suddenly disappeared, we barely made it to some dilapidated gas station. We slept near the road, right in our cars. Frost and high humidity in the morning. They bypassed Chita and did not enter this settlement. The pass was steep, the road was bad
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We started in a Kia Rio from Moscow. I would like to note a good route to Pyatigorsk, I didn’t see any sections under repair, there was free movement without congestion and there were no traffic jams - in general, we drove through without stopping. To spend the night, choose the Mask-Pyatigorsk hotel. I was attracted primarily by the fact that it was built right next to the highway. By the way, the conditions are excellent! Having rested, we moved on. Having reached North Ossetia, we encountered the first stop, and it was a forced one. The traffic cops asked me to stop, so to speak. A routine check supposedly. The people here are very friendly - even at the post. After this entire successful part of our journey, we had to stand for 2 hours in a hopeless traffic jam. This was where the tunnel was. You will definitely pass it if you follow our route. We quickly crossed the Georgian border, after which we could relax and calmly move on to Tbilisi. When we “settled” in the city, we ate, drank, took a nap and went for a walk. IN
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I was in Greece! We traveled from Volgograd, of course, but I will tell you the section of our journey starting from Turkey, because in our opinion it was the most interesting. Each of us has probably already heard that the Greeks are not very hasty)) But this is their only drawback, guys. In general, it turned out to be a country of hospitable people. It’s a little expensive here, but where is it cheap? In Russia, goods are not for the poor either. We went in the summer month of July. We started in the Turkish capital - Istanbul. Our dream was to visit a small Turkish city, but remarkable for its beauty - they call it Marmara Ereglisi. The town is located near the Sea of Marmara. There, my wife and I managed to taste delicious tomatoes - small ones, well, do you understand? I finally devoured the lula kebab. Ahead of us was the border between Turkey and Greece. We drove to it quite well, admiring the beauty of nature. But there was an unexpected surprise for us there. In general, we had to stay at the radio control point. Checking the same
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The whole family of four (my wife, me, daughter and son) travel to the Baltics by car. That summer we decided to go on a long journey again. We lost the correct route several times when we sometimes tried to go around and take a shortcut near Kozelsk. We got completely lost and made a decent detour. But that is another story. But we got to Optina Pustyn straight away without any wandering. After Moscow they went to Volokolamsk. Having passed Volokolamsk, we stopped at an excellent hotel, very good, we stay here every year. Truly a place with a very good aura and luxurious rural scenery. We went to Pskov, the places here are swampy, there is a lot of moisture, there are almost no settlements. Everything around is blooming and smelling, a real jungle. Just God forbid I break down in this wilderness, what to do then... I wouldn’t be surprised if there are wolves and bears in the local forests. Near Pskov there is a wonderful village called Kobylye Gorodishche. A very picturesque place. And there are funny names in the Pskov region: the river is not big
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Everyone, of course, loves this beautiful seaside city of Odessa with its impressive charisma and rich history. Almost everyone has been to this famous city, we also decided to go by car in a small group. At the height of summer, there is nothing to breathe in the city itself, it’s more than a hundred kilometers to Chisinau and then 170 kilometers from Chisinau to South Palmyra. In total, you have to travel three hundred kilometers, the path is not that close given the scorching heat. The decision was made correctly: to go at night. If everything happens without a hitch, in the morning we will see the sea and a beautiful city. We drove without much haste, changing the wheel. The roads in this sunny country leave much to be desired, we had a laptop with us and the air conditioning worked. While we were driving, we looked at available hotel rooms and found a suitable location. Driving around these places at night is a pleasure. The smell of the steppe and fresh warm air are indescribable sensations and aromas. We stood for a while at customs, where we were bitten by mosquitoes the size of years
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The beginning of autumn was very inviting. The weather was summer, but there was no heat. My favorite season. An opportunity has arisen to visit the city of Olseunn, Norway, where we have good friends living. We planned for six days. We reached Oslo unnoticed. The road is very beautiful, which is probably why there are many lakes and forests. There were no questions with customs, we left the small airport building and immediately saw a growing cherry tree)) We were a little surprised. Still, Norway is not quite Austria or Italy. Friends met us, we went to visit them. People in Norway live modestly. It's in their blood. Nobody boasts about their wealth. To see a Porsche or Mercedes on the roads is extremely rare. These northern people are very practical and value, above all, reliability and functionality. It is more convenient for a Norwegian to buy two inexpensive cars, one for grocery shopping, and the other for a summer cottage or picnic. In total, we had to fly six hundred kilometers without looking. The road is like glass, simple and
