Best time to visit Russia
This giant country boasts a whole heap of weather, but in general, winters are cold and long and summers brief and mild.![]()
Early autumn (Sep-Oct) is the best time to visit to avoid crowds, heat and showers, and to see the wildlife of Kamchatka, but it’s hard to generalise! A country as vast as Russia experiences a huge range of weather. Siberia has very cold, long winters and short, warm summers, while west central Russia, home to Moscow and St Petersburg, has a continental climate, with four seasons and less extremes. St Petersburg on the Baltic coast is the mildest, with July peaking at 23°C and Feb dropping to -7°C. Moscow falls to -10°C in Feb and can reach a toasty 25°C in July.
Russia, month by month
Kamchatka Weather Chart
MIN °C
MAX °C
RAIN (mm)
JAN
-16
-7
75
FEB
-16
-7
58
MAR
-13
-3
54
APR
-8
1
35
MAY
-1
5
23
JUN
5
13
25
JUL
8
16
26
AUG
9
17
59
SEP
5
14
65
OCT
-1
7
75
NOV
-7
0
63
DEC
-14
-5
60
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Olga Sitnik, from our local supplier ExploRussia, discusses the best time to visit Russia:
“For nature lovers, for sure, it’s summer from May to September. Then you can easily explore cities on foot, go trekking and stay outdoors with pleasure. For winter lovers it is quite a thing to go in winter. For sure, one has to be ready for this kind of experience, with winter gear and boots, but you’ll enjoy unbelievable winter landscapes, skating, skiing. And for example, try walking on Lake Baikal, because the ice is really thick and transparent.”
“For nature lovers, for sure, it’s summer from May to September. Then you can easily explore cities on foot, go trekking and stay outdoors with pleasure. For winter lovers it is quite a thing to go in winter. For sure, one has to be ready for this kind of experience, with winter gear and boots, but you’ll enjoy unbelievable winter landscapes, skating, skiing. And for example, try walking on Lake Baikal, because the ice is really thick and transparent.”
Festivals & events in Russia
Maslenitsa
Celebrated in the week before Lent, this Eastern Slavic folk festival bids farewell to winter and welcomes in spring. People fill up on traditional pancakes – blini – that are said to resemble the sun, because they’re round, golden and warm! Feasting on them is central to the week-long celebration, as is group fist fighting (yes really), troika rides, fireworks, singing and burning a Maslenitsa scarecrow that symbolises winter.
More about Russia
Our Russia travel guide grapples with this vast nation, exploring its history, explaining its customs, currency and cuisine and whetting your appetite for an exciting vacation to the world’s biggest country. We have also given our opinion on Russia’s underrated and overrated highlights, so you can begin to plan your trip and narrow down your options.
Our Russia map and highlights page picks out 13 of the most interesting and exciting destinations in the country, plus we have included some travel times and possible itineraries, to help you make the most of your time here.
Petrograd, Leningrad, St Petersburg... Russia’s second city has gone through many incarnations. Its history of revolutions and assassinations has shaped the history of the whole country and, consequently, the world.
Once the political powerhouse of the Soviet Union, Moscow is home to fantastical monuments, brutalist architecture and extraordinary art, from its world-famous ballet to the intricate Fabergé eggs in the Royal Treasure House.
From Moscow in the west to Vladivostok in the Russian Far East, the world’s longest railway takes you to interesting towns, wonderful natural sights and remote regions, as Europe gives way to Asia.
The little-known region of Kamchatka is an isolated peninsula on Russia’s far eastern coast, best known for its untouched landscapes and abundant wildlife.
Big cat safaris in Russia are a truly spectacular experience, and a fantastic opportunity for those with the patience to wait on the appearance of Siberian tigers and Amur leopards, venturing out in search of prey.
For some invaluable advice, we have talked to our expert local suppliers who know Russia well and pulled together their most useful Russia travel tips.
You may not approve of Russia’s actions on the global stage, but it pays to know a little more about its approach to the domestic life of its citizens before you visit.
