Ukraine, Kyiv, St. 7 Mykhaila Omelyanovicha-Pavlenko, of. 7.
1 USD: 41.79 UAH
1 EUR: 43.95 UAH
1 RUB: 0.38 UAH
Sign in to your account

Movement by car in Russia: notes of the driver on the route Kyiv-Moscow-St. Petersburg

Movement by car in Russia: notes of the driver on the route Kyiv-Moscow-St. Petersburg

Your Driver Company provides service - car rental with a driver in Kyiv, throughout Ukraine, as well as in the near abroad. We book business or tourist trips from Kiev to Russia, Belarus, Moldova and Poland. So, in early July 2019, the company received an order for a trip to Russia once again: from Kiev to Moscow, St. Petersburg and back.

Passing the border between Ukraine and Russia

 The road from Kiev to the Russian border along the Kyiv-Kipti-Glukhov route took 4 hours. The road surface on this site differs little from the average Ukrainian road: in some places it has a smooth surface, in some places - potholes. Our car crossed the border through the border point Bachevsk - Troebortnoye. Ukrainian border was passed in half an hour. On the Russian border the car was inspected, I had to get all the things and fill out a customs declaration and migration card. The total travel time of the two border post was a little over 3 hours.

 Border crossing features:

1) It is necessary to declare cash, if the total amount is more than $ 10,000 (in equivalent) per person.

2) The Ukrainian-Russian border can be crossed on the internal Ukrainian passport.

 The reverse crossing of the two boundaries took two hours.

 The general route was as follows: Kyiv - Kipti - Glukhov - Bryansk - Kursk - Moscow - St. Petersburg.

 Immediately, after crossing the border, fuel prices were pleasantly surprising. 95th gasoline costs in average 19 hryvnia per liter. Therefore, you don’t need to rush to fill a full tank, as drivers usually do before traveling to European countries.

Free and paid roads

The road to Bryansk consisted of one lane in each direction. On the road, there were practically no cameras recording the speed of movement of vehicles.

 When approaching Moscow, there are two sections of the toll road with the cost of 150 rubles (60 hryvnia). The state of roads is very pleasing: absence of potholes, high-quality markings and a large number of direction indicators.

Getting around the Moscow Ring Road leaves unpleasant impression: around 7 o'clock in the morning there were huge traffic jams already.

 For quick and comfortable movement to St. Petersburg, we decided to use the toll road. The 684 km long M11 motorway consists of several sections. Movement on M11 costs about 630 UAH. The cost of such a trip may seem unnecessarily high. But the lack of speed cameras and perfect pavement itself certainly justify the cost. A small congestion of the St. Petersburg toll road allows you to use the cruise control without problem.

It should be noted that the speed limit of the Russian Federation on toll roads is 110 km / h. True, it was noticeable that nobody adheres to the speed limit. Some cars moved at a speed of 200 kilometers per hour and more! Well, who doesn’t like to drive fast? The road from Moscow to St. Petersburg takes about 6.5 hours.

In St. Petersburg, one could travel a lot by car. The roads in the city on the Neva are also ideal. Particularly impressive was the road called WHSD (Western High-Speed ​​Diameter). This elevated road passes over the city. When we drove along it, it seemed that we were flying rather than riding. (See photo below). The cost of moving to the WHSD is 200 rubles or about 80 hryvnia.

 To experience the usual roads of Russia, we decided to go back on the free highway. Approximately half of the road has two lanes in each direction, and the other half of the path has three lanes, the middle of which changes its direction of movement through some distance. This was done in order to be able to safely overtake the vehicle ahead.

Free roads also left a good impression: there are no pits, clear markings are throughout all the road. True, there is a high density of transport: many mig and small trucks. Also, there is a huge number of speed cameras. In the Moscow region, near pedestrian crossings, I have seen more than once a speed camera with a speed limit of 20 km / h (!). On the one hand, such control is very annoying, but on the other hand, it should be recognized that such restrictions are a security issue.

Food on the road

On the way there are many gas stations where you can get hold of hot dogs, cafes, restaurants and even such famous fast foods as McDonalds, KFC and Burger King. The only thing at all gas stations is a terrible quality of coffee, which, at the same time, is expensive: 90 -120 rubles or 38-50 UAH. The best coffee was in McDonalds: only 65 rubles (27 UAH) for a portion of double espresso.

Navigation features

 A few words about navigation. To Moscow we used the popular Google Map. But after the case when the Google service led by a non-existent road in Moscow, our driver immediately began to use Yandex maps. It should be recognized that Yandex Maps was much better. This service has never failed for 10 days of use. The main advantage of Yandex Maps is that it shows speed cameras and when approaching the location of the camera, Yandex voices the speed limit figure. This helps greatly to avoid fines.

 Despite the presence of police posts and policemen standing along the road, a close acquaintance with the traffic police of Russia was avoided. In the absence of traffic violations, the car of the company wasn’t stopped on a 4200 km trip.

Despite the established stereotypes, you can drive to Russia by car. Fuel in the Russian Federation is inexpensive, and railway transport ticket prices are too high. So, on the Kiev-Moscow train, the price of one ticket comes to UAH 3,600. It turns out that it is very profitable to use the car for traveling several people in Russia. Crossing the border takes not much time. Despite the fact that the driving style of Russian drivers is about the same as in Ukraine, the roads and traffic management are at a very high level.