Questions about traveling to Russia ?

Question

I am going to Russia (Moscow & St.Petersburg) in January 2007 to visit my boyfriends family and I wanted to know:

1. What type of clothing should I bring ?
2. How do women there usually dress ?
3. Are there any good clubs in St.Petersburg ?
4. Any other information or advice you have :)

Thanks for everyones help :)

Answer 1

1) Bring warm clothing for the day
2) Bring sexy fun stuff for at night. There are great clubs in Moscow and Petersburg and you want to be dressed well...not looking like the typical ugly American.
3) Yes, your boyfriend will know them.
4) Try all the different foods and drinks. Immerse yourself in the country. Study up on some history and a bit of the language. It is an absolutely fascinating place and I am guessing you will love it.

Answer 2

Dress quite warmly, because January is the coldest month, so temperatures go down to -30, -40 about the record in my lifetime and St. Petersburg is even colder than Moscow, where I live. Women dress no differently from European or American women, just a little more fashionably.(jokes) But anyway you should be OK with the warm clothes you have in your wardrobe. Clubswise, I dont know that much, because I live in Moscow, but in St Petersburg, they raise the bridges at about 1.30, so unless you plan to come back that early or spend the whole night and 1/2 the morning in that club, I'd advise you look at clubs on the same island, as your boyfriend's house. Any other information. Well, St Petersburg is renowned for its high crime levels, so try not to go out alone after dark. Otherwise its a nice city (not as nice as Moscow though)
Enjoy!
Anyways shouldn't your boyfriend be telling you all this?

Answer 3

It would be very cold by that time, at least it should (but this winter is weird). Don't forget a hat, scarf, warm boots with a fir inside, and of course gloves. Cause you don't want to get cold while you do sightseeing!!!

Women in Russia usually dress like most americans do only for holidays or when they going out. In overall they dress always nice, beautiful, and in huge cities like Moscow and St.Petersburg they like to show their best clothes - famous brands and so on!

Of course there are clubs, a lot of them.

always watch for your bag (purse)!!!! everywhere!!!!


good luck to you, if any other questions, you are welcome to ask!

Answer 4

1.What to wear ?

Firstly some facts about Celsius scale:
0° C ice melts/water turns into ice
-20° C cold winter day
+20° C nice summer day
+30° C hot summer day
+36.6° C normal temperature of human body
+100° C boiling point of water

You also can find formula to convert temperature from Celsius to Fahrenheit

You see generally weather in Russia is very unstable. Winters are much warmer now then were say 10-15 years ago. This year it was warm (+8° C) even in beginning of December. Usually winter temperatures are from (– )5° C to (– )10°C. But all of the sudden temperature can go down to (– )20° C or sometimes to (– )25° C. (– )30° or (– )35° is possible but not for a long time and more likely in February(it's the coldest month). If remember correctly when it’s (– )25° C children may not go to school.
When temperature rises say 0° C - + 3 ° C snow turns into grey nasty mass and it’s easy to get your boots wet and later catch a cold. Also remember that wind is your worst enemy. Sometimes (– )20° C without wind is not as cold and nasty as 0° C with moderate wind and snow. It’s colder in the country. And yes it's colder in Peter because of Finnish Gulf (humidity, wind)

Summary

It’s a good idea to have different kind of clothes:

for strong frosts: very warm boots better with natural fur inside, warm coat (also natural fur is a better choice), warm hat, warm gloves and scarf. Standard bottle of vodka 0.75 l is a must (just kidding)
for moderately cold days: сashmere coat, gloves, beret, scarf.
for windy and snowy days: something windproof and waterproof. Maybe Columbia ? Also good for skiing, skating, snowboarding. Waterproof boots. Small bottle of vodka

If you will stay for a week or so maybe you get lucky and you will not use most of your clothes but it’s better to be prepared. Stories about people dying from frosts are true but they are more about homeless/old/drunk people. Something like this: drunk man fell on ground, fell asleep and never awakened. Sad story…

2. Come and you will see. Actually differently depending on age, income, tastes, and social status. Russian women try to look sexy every time of the year and I'm damn sure they succeed!Boots with high heels, tight jeans, accurate make-up even in winter. I think my wife could give better answer in this section. ;)

3. We have a lot clubs in Saint Petersburg. Actually I am not a club guy anymore so I can’t give any recommendation..
I think you just come and pick one up. It’s not a big problem really.

4. You can take a look at my answer to “Good and bad things in Saint Petersburg” which was underrated/thumbs down rated. It makes me laugh when people (mostly American) who were in Russia once and saw everything through travel bus window say: “I know real Russia” and give funny advises.
Don’t listen to anybody, come here, have a good time with your boyfriend and see real Russia!

Answer 5

1. Bring normal clothes. But since you'll be visiting in January, bring warm clothes! Don't leave without a scarf, mittens, warm coat (doesn't have to be fur, but prefferably), and hat.
2. Women in Russia (especially in large cities) dress just like women in the US or England (wherever you're from).

Other advice: try some pirozhki in Russia. they are the best food in the world!

Answer 6

January will be about the middle of winter there. Get a good down coat (I got the one I wore there at Eddie Bauer). gloves, hat, a scarf definitely boots. Only major sidewalks in Moscow are shoveled or salted in winter so you'll need to be careful if you go down some side streets. Moscow had record cold January of this year...several people died as a result... so be prepared to spend your evenings indoors if this happens again next year. That kind of cold is NOT something you want to mess around with.

I was amazed to see women wearing high heels to walk the treacherous ice-covered sidewalks, but they're determined to be fashionable. Many Russian women wear shearling or fur coats...they're much cheaper over there than they are in the states so you may want to consider buying one while you're there. I almost did.

Aside from that, Russian women wear clothing like everyone else in the western world.

I have no idea about clubs in St. Petersburg (we only toured Moscow and a few cities in Siberia) so hopefully someone will post on that, but there are a few things to remember when you go.

Do not bring any valuables that you're not willing to keep on your person at all times. At every hotel we stayed in, from the largest to the smallest, we were told that the hotel could not be held responsible for valuables left in the rooms. And we did have some items stolen from our rooms.

Always make sure your wallet is securely put away and safe from pick pockets. My wallet was stolen while I was there and after I got back from Russia, my Russian coworker said she wasn't surprised. She said this, not I -- theivery is a pasttime in Russia. People do it because they can, not because they need to. If they see something they can take, they will take it whether they need it or not.

Bring lip balm. The Russian winters are very, very dry. Because of restrictions on liquids on airplanes, you'll probably have to buy skin cream or lotion once you get there.

While you're there...learn something about the country and the people. Not many people get to go and we did see some Americans there and all they wanted to do was go to clubs and eat at American franchises. (this is one of the reasons why Americans aren't taken that seriously when they travel).

We ate tons of borscht and learned how to drink vodka like good Russians. We learned as much of the language as we could while we were there. We went to Red Square and St Basil's, we went to restaurants where the Russians go, not the tourists and made lots of friends there. (OK...I had ONE lapse and got some fries at McDonalds...sue me!). You're going to be in St Petersburg, go to the Hermitage Museum...it's one of the largest collections of fine art in the world, many of which were acquired by Catherine the Great herself and it's housed in the Winter Palace where Tsars and Tsarina's, including Nicholai II and his daughter Anastasia, made their homes since the 1700's.

One last thing...hopefully you're not vegetarian. Vegetarianism is a very new concept in Russia...two of the guys in my band are vegetarian and for the most part they survived only on bread and potatoes until they found a TGI Fridays in two of the 5 cities we visited. We did meet a few Russian vegetarians while we were there and they admitted it wasn't easy maintaining the lifestyle. The only time we saw fresh vegetables was mainly at breakfast.

Have a great time.

Answer 7

Anja I think January will be colder than December,
but you have chance to buy russians fur goods