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The Two Best Ways To Save Money when headed to Russia

By Mark M Thomson

Republish: EasyPublish™ Published: 24Sep2009 Word count: 754 Viewed: 309 time(s) Get Free Content For Your Site

You’ll pay $20 for a jar of red caviar. $30 for a bottle of good vodka. $85 for a Russian fur hat…

As with any travel destination, the price of souvenirs in Russia can add up quickly. Sure, you can skimp on the gift-buying, but the best way to save money in Russia or Ukraine is to make the right decisions ahead of time, at home. In fact, hundreds of dollars can be saved just by making two wise choices: Your flight, and your lodging. An $1100 round trip from New York to Kiev might seem reasonable enough, as might $95 per night for a room in a two-star hotel, but you can do better. Much better. And this article will show you how.

Explaining the existence of travel-related websites is akin to explaining how to operate a seat belt – you feel silly explaining the obvious, but you just don’t want to leave someone out. In that spirit, allow me to mention the main travel sites. Orbitz, Travelocity, Priceline, Kayak…these are some of the most popular travel websites (and I have no affiliation with any of them). On these websites, you type in your travel dates and destination, and they search the databases of most of the major airlines, hotel chains, rental car companies and so forth. In a few moments they show you the best prices available based on the specifics of your inquiry.

A word of advice: When searching flights, be sure to check at least these four websites, and if you’re flexible, experiment with a variety of travel dates. It’s amazing how drastically prices can vary by changing your dates slightly. I’ve saved hundreds of dollars by traveling on a Saturday instead of a Friday. If you want to be completely thorough, check all seven days of the week, (though doing so on all four sites is tedious.)

After you’ve gotten a feel for the costs of your flight, go directly to the websites of the following airlines: Aerosvit (Ukraine’s national airline); Aeroflot (Russia’s national airline); LOT (Polish Airlines); and Wizzair (Hungarian). Depending on the time of year, and how far in advance you buy your ticket, $1100 might indeed be a fair deal. Nevertheless, I traveled round trip between Kiev and New York’s JFK in the summer of 2009 for $550 on LOT airlines. Though that’s the best deal I’ve ever found, I often find similar tickets in the $700 range.

The second money-saving decision you can make ahead of time is regarding lodging. Yes, if you’re committed to staying in a hotel, then by all means use the same travel sites mentioned above and find the best deal you can. But the real decision I’m talking about is whether to stay in a hotel at all. Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of nice hotels in the F.S.U. (Former Soviet Union), particularly in Moscow, St. Petersburg and Kiev. But the good ones aren’t a mere $95 per night. Think between $200 and $400 nightly. Meanwhile, for $60 or so per night in Kiev, you can rent a nice one-bedroom apartment. In Moscow, a similar apartment costs about $120. That’s a savings of between $1000 and $2000 during the course of a typical seven to ten day visit.

True, the best hotels are often perfectly located, right in the city center and steps away from the city’s main square. It’s hard to compete with that, and if such a level of convenience is the most important factor for you, that’s understandable. But if you don’t mind being a five or ten minute walk from the city center, then apartments provide a vastly more economical option. Plus, an added financial benefit to renting an apartment is the ability to cook your own meals. In Russia, for the cost of one meal in an expensive restaurant, you could instead stock your refrigerator for a week. The bottom line is that, whatever price you’re willing to pay for lodging, an apartment will give you twice the bang for half the buck.

If I’ve swayed you away from hotels and you’re interested in finding an apartment in Russia, go to your favorite search engine and type in your destination city, followed by the word ‘apartments.’ You’ll find plenty to choose from. There you have it.

Follow these two tips, and you’ll save enough money to buy all the fur hats and black caviar you can jam in your suitcase.

Safe travels!

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