Cheap Flights to Russia

Most popular in	August	High demand for flights, 17% potential price rise
Cheapest in	November	Best time to find cheap flights, 3% potential price drop
Average price	£190	Price for this month
Cheapest price	£43	From London to Moscow

Cheapest prices for Russia flights by month

January

£189

February

£205

March

£199

April

£232

May

£234

June

£248

July

£261

August

£268

September

£243

October

£144

November

£127

December

£262

Currently, the cheapest month for flights to Russia is November. The most expensive month for flights is August. The cheapest prices are shown above but prices will vary according to departure times, airlines, class and how early you book.

When is the best time to fly to Russia?

Choose a month below to see average flight price and weather conditions.

£300

£250

£200

£157

Price	£157 - £297
Temperature	-3 - 24 °C
Rainfall	35 - 94 mm

January is typically the best time to fly to Russia, but there are other times where great deals are available. If weather is an important factor for you when considering when to fly to Russia, the warmest period tends to be July, with the wettest being June.

When is the best time to book flights to Russia?

The price you pay for your flight to Russia may vary depending on when you book. For the best chance of a lower fare, look to book 60 days in advance of your trip. Fares are likely to increase a fortnight or so before your departure date.

Days before departure

Which day is cheapest to fly to Russia?

The cheapest flights to Russia are usually found when departing on a Wednesday. The departure day with the highest cost at present is Sunday.

What time of day is cheapest to fly?

At the moment, flights in the afternoon are likely to offer the best value for money for your Russia trip. A flight at midday will more often than not be of higher cost.

From the colourful, onion domes of Red Square in Moscow, the treasures of the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg to the frozen landscape of Siberia, Russia exerts a strong pull on the imagination.

This vast, vast country bridges two continents (Europe and Asia) and has 11 time zones stretching from Kaliningrad in the West to Ratmanov Island in the Bering Strait in the east.

Moscow is its jewel and capital city, but there are more reasons to visit Russia than to see the Kremlin, Red Square, or experience its hedonistic clubs – even if cheap flights to Russia have become more plentiful in recent years. St Petersburg was capital of the Russian Empire for more than 200 years until the revolution in 1917. Its cityscape is magnificent, its public buildings awe-inspiring, and its treasures straight out of a fairytale.

Away from the man-made wonders, there are more than 30 national parks, skiing and snowboarding at Mount Cheget and Mount Elbrus and the Lapland Biosphere Reserve in Murmansk, which is home to reindeer, elks, brown bears and wolves.

Russia climate

The largest country in the world, Russia has several different climates. About 65 per cent of it is under permafrost, but in the most populated areas such as Moscow and St Petersburg there is a continental climate – hot summers and very cold winters with lots and lots of snow. Along the Black Sea coast, in Sochi, a humid subtropical climate holds sway – mild winters and hot summers. Northern European Russia and Siberia has a subarctic climate and along the Arctic Ocean shore (and islands) the climate is polar.

When to fly to Russia

Peak season:

Moscow and St Petersburg are two of the most popular tourist destinations and they are “visitable” for much of the year. The early summer (May and June) has the festivals, exhibitions, carnivals and concerts; autumn (September) is a great time to visit for the foliage; and late winter (January and February) is when these cities are covered by thick falls of snow. Moscow’s temperatures can range between -30 to 30 degrees; St Petersburg’s average winter temperature is about -10 degrees and summer highs are about 25 degrees.

St Petersburg (and other northern cities such as Helsinki, Stockholm, Oslo and Aberdeen) enjoys White Nights when the sun does not set until after 10pm – twilight melts into dawn – between late-May and early-July.

Off season:

Winters are bitterly cold. If you look for cheap flights to Russia in the off-peak season, be sure to bring plenty of warm clothes.

Getting around Russia

Aeroflot Russian Airlines, the national airline, has a comprehensive domestic flight network. It flies from Moscow to several cities including St Petersburg, Kazan, Samara and Vladivostok

S7 Airlines is based in Novosibirsk and flies to several destinations including Irkutsk, Kazan, Moscow, Nizhni Novgorod and Omsk.

Transaero offers flights around much of the country including to St Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, Kiev, Odessa, Chimkent, Tashkent and Kamchatsky.

Rail: the Trans Siberian railway is the longest railway in the world. It starts in Moscow and chugs through Nizhni Novgorod, Kirov, Ekaterinburg, Omsk and over to Vladivostok.

Russian Railways operates a good range of passenger services throughout Russia, from Archangelsk to Zabaykal’sk. Journeys are inexpensive, if slow, but there are usually three classes of service on long journeys. Travel third class (Platskartny) for a more “Russian” experience. Moscow and St Petersburg have metro systems; good service and really beautiful stations.

Bus travel is also cheap and links cities and towns around Russia, but is not very comfortable. The main bus station in Moscow is called Schyolkovsky Bus Terminal.