Latvia Russia Border Crossing
 

Does anyone know any info on where to cross the border from Latvia in to Russia. I am looking at stopping in Moscow for a couple of days before heading to Kazakhstan and Mongolia.
Still in the planning phase so open to suggestions. Did a search on Google and this road to the border was suggested E22 / A12 / M9 near Zilupe
Cheers

Yes, that is one border crossing, I exited/entered there in late April. Nothing special, pretty boring road, but OK. If you have time, take a detour up to Pskov, it is a nice town.

One more comment about that road--there actually aren't that many places to stay for long stretches of the road, so you need to pick a place to stay. There is a newish motel on the main highway at Velikiye Luki; I stayed there, it was OK although the restaurant was pretty weak.

I've never stayed in Rzhev but have read that it is a tough town, so if you stay there be sure to have secure parking for the moto.

Also, for some reason a lot of people say that that road is horrible--one person even said that it basically doesn't exist--but at least on a GS the road was absolutely normal. Note that there is also a fair bit of construction going on, so be prepared for delays.

As an alternative you might want to consider the crossing a bit further north near Karsava. I used it last July because I’d heard that Zilupe can have long queues while the Karsava crossing is pretty empty. The day before I crossed I had a look at both and while Zilupe was busy Karsava was empty, so I opted for the latter: crossing took 2 hours & border guards were very friendly & helpful.

Probably me that said it didn’t exist: last July that was pretty true for the stretch between Kunya & Shakhovskaya, about 300km. I was warned not to take it, but didn’t have an alternative; I remember I didn’t see another bike on that stretch of road. The problem was that was where the repairs were, it was often reduced to a single lane & the surface was terrible & made worse by days of rain. A better rider than me and a more appropriate bike - like a GS - would have found it easier. But you still have to deal with all the deathwish maniacs in trucks, buses, beat-up Zhigulis & SUVs with blacked-out windows: there are a lot of very nasty accidents on that road.

It may well have improved since I was on it. The construction work is temporary - at least in theory - and the bits where work was completed were fine: there just weren’t very many of those last summer. I’m reluctantly planning to ride back on it to Estonia in a couple of weeks: can you remember where the construction work was in April? It may help my planning.

For accommodation I stayed at the Volyn Country Club, which is about 30 km south of the M9 between Velikiye Luki & Kunya. It’s on a hard to find dirt road, turn off is at a GAI post. All wooden houses by a lake, much nicer than the usual Russian motel.

I've ridden a lot here and you won't see other bikes on most stretches of road, so that doesn't mean much.

I don't recall where the construction was, but am pretty sure it was somewhere between Rzhev and Velikiye Luki. At most of the construction sites they have traffic lights directing traffic; if the light is red when you approach, ride up to the front and when it turns green you can zip right through the construction sites, getting stuck behind a truck is a nightmare because they go about 10kph.

Thanks for the info. I think I may well take the St Pete highway and cross at Ivangorod/Narva. Haven't ridden that route before, so at least any roadworks/traffic jams will be different ones.

Narva Crossing
 

Hi,

can you tell me if you did the Narva crossing and any suggestions? A couple of us are planning a trip to St Petersburg in June this year.

Thanks

Bob

Last time I checked, Narva is in Estonia, not Latvia...

I haven't crossed the Estonian-Russian border at Narva, but crossed it somewhere else last year; nothing special, standard border crossing.

When going from Narva to Russia make sure to prebook your exit. it is busy border exit during summer and you will save lot of waiting time doing it. See following text


https://www.politsei.ee/en/nouanded/...ugust-2011.dot


Address to book your time in border queque
https://www.estonianborder.eu/yphis/index.action

Good point, there is that weird little pre-border waiting area for that border crossing. I crossed the border in southern estonia in the middle of August (2014) without pre-booking and only had to wait a few minutes, although that does not seem to be a major crossing, and it was also pretty early in the morning (8?).

The border crossing, like other border crossings between Estonia and Russia, have special conditions for motorcyclists. If you click on Tirpse's last link and try a booking, you will see that there are always spaces for Category A vehicles. The border guards are allowed to spend 10 minutes in every hour letting motorcycles through ahead of everyone else. (However, I believe you still need to go to the staging area outside of town first, not the actual border crossing which is right in the center of Narva, next to the castle.)

If going to St. Petersburg, it might also be practical to cross at Luhamaa south of Lake Peipus. Unlike Narva, that crossing is never really busy. You have to spend more time riding in Russia, but you get the opportunity to check out the old castle at Izborsk, for example.

I might have used once that same border crossing. It is quite small and goes to Pskov, Velikiye Luki and then to Moscow.

I remember there were few petrol importerds with cars before us but not much else. It was also quite early in morning.

Yes, that is the one. If you stay in Tartu and leave fairly early in the morning, it is a nice ride to Moscow that day.