Hi, my wife is Russian and we have an apartment in St Petersburg so I can cross into the country no problem. Actually any country that doesn't require a visa to Russia (South Africa, Mauritius etc) can still visit as tourists.

There is a ferry from Magadan to Petropavalosk that runs, but if there is an issue I will leave the bike and Defender in Magadan and take a return flight (want to do some hiking and help-skiing in Kam) - Altai Peninsula is a massive natural area near Kazakhstan, huge mountains, great expanses. Re snow on Road of Bones I am hoping not too heavy (if it is we put the Rally on the back of the Defender ramp) and drive.

Great that you can get into the country, very jealous! I'm not sure that I've ever heard of a vehicle ferry from Magadan to Kamchatka before, that would be pretty cool, so please let us know if there actually is one!

Sure, I've heard of the Altai mountains but never heard them referred to as the "Altai Peninsula" before...

Have a great trip, I'm sure you'll have a great time!

That's an awesome trip but I think a bit more research will help you improve your plans.

There is no ferry from Magadan to anywhere.

There are cargo boats that transport vehicles to Vladivostok, in the summer navigation season. You might get to P-K via Vladivostok on a cargo boat (though you will most likely have to fly separately), from Magadan I very much doubt it (who would want to use that route?).

Leaving St P in September, if I understand correctly, will give you very little time to spare en route. The pinch point is crossing the Aldan river between Yakutsk and Magadan. In summer it is a 1 hour ferry, in winter you drive on the ice road. There is however a period between the first ice forming and the ice being firm enough to drive one when the route is totally impassable. The freeze starts usually in mid October. In 2017 I crossed the river by ferry on something like the 3rd October. 10 days or 2 weeks later the service stopped. Obviously this date is down to nature and could be earlier or later. You could certainly make it, but you will have very little time to spare on the way. Or, if you are prepared for serious cold, the trip is much more interesting in winter, but it can be late November by the time the Aldan river freezes up enough for the ice road to be opened.

The Altai region is a mountainous area shared between Russia, Mongolia, Kazakhstan and China. It is about as remote from the ocean as you can get and is most certainly not a peninsula.

Interested to see whether you can cross the land border. As I understand, citizens from certain countries can still visit Russia on a tourist visa but it's not clear if this is only for arrival by air. Hope you make it, please keep us informed!

EO

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EurasiaOverland a memoir of one quarter of a million kilometres by road through all of the Former USSR, Western and Southern Asia.

really appreciate all that info and ideas!!! makes such a difference to do with someone that has actually done it, and not like 10 years ago. especially about the Aldan river. My issue is that I have a friend joining me from home but I will try to get him there as early as possible. In addition to buy time I will try to either motor rail to Novosibirsk or get a friend who has a truck company to get the defender there, so the start would be there. What do you think?

I definitely know that citizens from countries that don't require a visa can visit for tourist purposes but as you can imagine those countries are not many!! Yes will let everyone know if I manage to get my foreign registered vehicle across the border, and any other route updates.

Thanks again for your advice, I suppose I have become a bit blasé about the journey, bad mistake!!!

Most welcome. I did the trip from Netherlands, where I lived at the time to Magadan, August to October. Left my car in a warehouse in Magadan, flew back to Europe, returning to Magadan mid January to start a winter trip right across Russia, sticking to winter roads, frozen rivers and lakes. You can drive on the sea in Magadan which is fun too. Reached Moscow mid March and headed to Odessa to get the ferry to Istanbul.

If you are travelling with Russians you should be ok regards cold, but don't underestimate it. Winter hit me on the 1st October on the road from Skovrodino to Yakutsk, the temperature went from 1°C to -20°C in hours, and came with 15 cm of snow. All good fun if you are prepared, not so if you come with Euripean winter gear. You'll want the best footwear you can buy (or try Russia 'valenki') sitting in a Landrover if it's much below freezing and you don't have a separate cabin heater. Make sure you have decent, proper winter tyres, not all terrains.

About shipping the car east... not a bad idea but you'll need to time it right to save much time. It only takes maybe 5 or 6 long days to drive to Novosibirsk at legal speeds. But it's less than halfway to Magadan. That said, it will give you a bit of time to stop off at Baikal and not rush too much. Siberian autumns can be utterly magnificent with the larch trees turning, or it can be a grim and rapid transition to a slushy, muddy early winter.

Looking forward to hearing about your trip.

EO

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EurasiaOverland a memoir of one quarter of a million kilometres by road through all of the Former USSR, Western and Southern Asia.

But does that apply to land borders as well? Often they are treated differently than "airport borders." If you haven't done so already, you might want to double-check. Don't mean to be patronizing, but don't want you to run into unexpected surprises like this!