Drom travel. Road trips. Travel to neighboring countries

Road trips

Road trips and adventures

In general, it happened a long time ago, back in 2016. The North has always attracted me with its brutal nature and unique culture. Thoughts about a trip somewhere more northern have been cultivated for a long time. One day I got together with a friend (to celebrate something) and decided to move somewhere to the North. At that time, I had already been to Karelia (I traveled to Belomorsk), so I needed another location. Time was limited as always (9 days off for May holidays), so according to the time/distance ratio Arhangelsk region was the optimal fit. In addition, the Arkhangelsk region is a real treasure trove of monuments of wooden architecture, which attracts all sorts of lovers of everything Northern (like us). That's what we decided.


By chance, several years ago my family and I moved from the city of military glory, Khabarovsk, to the hero city of St. Petersburg. And again the road began to beckon, especially since here, as on Far East, there is a place to walk horses and unwind. Once again looking at the western part of the map of our vast Motherland, my gaze fell on Kola Peninsula…


What do you know about Kolyma? I think most will name: camps, cold, hordes of midges and herds of bears right on the road. Oh yes, herds of bears are right on the road, which can only be driven by a tractor. I’m exaggerating, of course, but when people learned that we were going to Magadan, they said in all seriousness: “There are no roads there!”, “There are bears climbing out there today.” Etc. But that couldn't stop us.


The idea for this trip originated much in advance, back at the end of 2017. In general, my wife and I really love various trips, but the birth of three children made us very sedentary people for a long time. But the children grew up, we waited, dreamed, selected options and finally decided.


I have a drop of Polish blood in me. And when I retired, I decided to sort out some family issues. In particular, to find the mass grave of his grandfather, the commander of an anti-tank fighter division, who died on Christmas night 1944 in Belarus (which was done), and at the same time figure out his ancestry.


I prepared thoroughly for the trip, monitoring the opening hours and prices of everything that interested me, and drawing up something like a daily schedule. The trip plan is as follows: Late evening start from NN - arrival in St. Petersburg, cultural education 7 days - lunch start from St. Petersburg - overnight in Cherepovets - early start from Cherepovets and to the village with a stop and a walk around Yaroslavl, with a stop in Ivanovo and a quick run through Textiles Pro - 5 days rest in the countryside and then back to work.


The only thing I was afraid of was a landslide. Georgian Military Road(same as in 2016). In case of bad weather conditions and a closed border, I prepared a plan B and even a plan C. One was to go to Georgia through Azerbaijan. The second plan was to stay in the Caucasus: Elbrus - Dombay - Grozny - Makhachkala - Derbent (Caspian Sea). In any case, we got mountains + sea. But I really wanted Georgia.

Are you planning to go on a road trip for the first time? Or have you already conquered more than one thousand trails and roads in your car? In any case, the “Road Travel” section will help you avoid a lot of problems and prepare you for many surprises along the way. Preparing for a trip by car is a serious matter, so here you will learn about the capacity of various cars and their behavior on a long trip. We talk about what obstacles you may encounter on a road trip around Russia, how the car reacts to the peculiarities Russian roads, as well as about the sights and interesting places that we meet on our way. If you are planning a road trip around Europe, you will also find a lot of interesting things here. The road trip reports of our correspondents contain photographs taken along the way and useful tips for those who love independent travel by car.

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  • Mitsubishi Pajero Sport - "Good warmth"

    Do you know what the Mitsubishi Pajero Sport and alpacas – amazing animals that live high in the mountains – have in common? South America? Let’s share a secret: the first one helped us get acquainted with the second ones and learn a lot of interesting and very useful things about them


  • Audi A6 - "Tandem for fun"

    Getting joy from life and from everything that surrounds us is in some way an art, especially when it is possible in ordinary everyday activities. But, if you travel in the new Audi A6 in Spain, it’s easy to become a hedonist - the car and the country are simply created for pleasure


  • Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross - "Time Machine"

    Classic and modern – can they be organically combined? In search of an answer to this question, we took a Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross and went to the stronghold of domestic crafts - the Museum of the History of Russian Shawls in Pavlovsky Posad


  • Skoda Octavia - "Likes for... station wagon"

    The traditional rating system is no longer popular - today many things are measured by the number of likes. We also decided to join the modern trend, and chose the border of the Moscow and Vladimir regions as a testing ground for the Skoda Octavia Combi


  • January 18, 2019

    Mitsubishi L200 -
    "Notes of a Naturalist"

    Animal world always attracts, and exotic birds and animals - especially. That is why we, in the company of a Mitsubishi L200 pickup truck, went to the border of Moscow and Kaluga regions at the Sparrows Bird Park


  • January 03, 2019

    Land Rover Discovery -
    "Height"

    While traveling in a Land Rover Discovery along the Pamir Highway, we didn’t encounter much off-road conditions. But perhaps this was the most difficult route of all past expeditions within the framework of the “Discovering Russia” and “Time of New Discoveries” projects


  • Jaguar E-Pace, Jaguar F-Pace - "Cat Breed"

    Mountain serpentines and the broken asphalt of Romania came in handy for testing the crossovers of the Jaguar brand - E-Pace and F-Pace. Both cars showed themselves to be real “predators”


  • Skoda Kodiaq - "Bear Path"

    Classic holidays in Altai include fishing, hunting, horse riding and river rafting. We have added a trip in Skoda cars to this list, using the top-end version of the Kodiaq mid-size crossover, released in Nizhny Novgorod

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 come, and can it happen, if from my first acquaintance 16 years ago to this day, I managed to visit 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 into beauty. 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. From old tent They pulled up a tarpaulin so as not to spoil the trim 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. The initial options are 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 relied on his experience in many aspects).

13.12.2017 6144 32

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.

12.12.2017 16382 31

Arkhyz - the lost world

This is probably in the mountains and they make mineral water there - that’s where my knowledge about Arkhyz ended. On family council a decision was made 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.

11.12.2017 8024 30

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.

07.12.2017 16155 55

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 practical actions. The route was built and calculated, gas stations were marked, and the vehicle was technically prepared. For maximum comfort manufactured sleeping area- 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 who are involved in tourism offered to go on a week-long tour as an assistant guide, in exchange for the opportunity to visit for free most interesting places. 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.

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 a pleasant experience

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Traveling by car is always a celebration of freedom and satisfaction of one's own curiosity. The trip from St. Petersburg to Berlin is only about seven thousand km, so we set off on a long journey. The first city was Vilnius. Very beautiful city Ishko, 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 fed us to our hearts content 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, and drank local beer. Berlin and Saxon St.

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The Kaluga land is full of holy places, it is truly the heart of the Russian land, so every summer we visit 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 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, federal highway- this is a vacation, we fly like on wings. There are cameras everywhere, it’s better not to exceed the speed, because you’ll 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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In Yakutia great amount 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 we passed all tests and exams, receiving a document higher education, decided to present myself with a vacation trip to Altai. My husband, mom and dad went with me. All our lives, our whole family loved to often get out into nature, so the “tent” lifestyle suited us quite well. We spent a week studying possible routes, the “optimal flight” trajectory, so to speak. In the end, we settled on a trip towards the southern border, where the famous “Martian Valley” is located. We planned the trip for 10 days; the speed of travel was not important, because fabulously beautiful views and picturesque landscapes awaited us ahead. In “5th gear” mode it was not possible to get acquainted with these beauties. We purchased all the necessary supplies and clean water, decided to cook the dishes over fires, so we stocked up accordingly, taking into account this genre. We were not going to go to a deserted region interspersed with permafrost, populated areas

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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 her family used to go there, well, our madam wanted it))) Indeed, in Khakassia there are amazingly beautiful reservoirs 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 planned to relax culturally on 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, the 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'll note good track to Pyatigorsk, I didn’t see any sections being repaired, there was free movement without congestion and 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 capital of the Turks - 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. Lost several times correct route when sometimes they 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 straight to Optina Pustyn 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. Let's go to Pskov, the places here are swampy, there is a lot of moisture, settlements almost not. 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. Very beautiful place. And there are funny names in the Pskov region: the river is not big

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Everyone of course adore this beautiful seaside city of Odessa with its impressive charisma and rich history. Almost everyone has been there 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 to South Palmyra from Chisinau. 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. 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 free places in hotels, 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

 

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