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Forget Wave Season cruises and early spring-break bargains — if you’re looking for great travel deals this winter, you may want to look a little farther afield. With the ruble having lost roughly half its value recently, Russia is becoming a hot, albeit frosty, destination for deal seekers.
“The ruble is devaluing at a crazy pace,” said Gwen Kozlowski, general manager of Exeter International in Tampa, Fla. “For fast, savvy travelers, there are deals to be had.”
Those deals are predicated on the fact that the ruble has tumbled this year. Where it traded as high as 32 to the dollar a year ago, it hit a low of 74 three weeks ago before strengthening to 63 in early January.
For products and services priced in rubles — restaurants, tour guides, museum admissions — that translates into savings of 50 percent or more for penny-pinching visitors. And while some vendors will eventually raise their prices in response, travelers who have their visas and plane tickets in hand stand to enjoy some serious savings.
In St. Petersburg, for example, a 400-ruble ticket to the Hermitage Museum — currently celebrating its 250th anniversary — will set you back less than $6.40 vs. $12.50 a year ago. Admission to the year-old Faberge Museum for two is around $9.50 vs. almost $19. Cap off your visit with a performance of the Mariinsky (formerly Kirov) Ballet, where great seats will cost you $80, not $150, apiece.
Moscow, meanwhile, is undergoing a culinary boom and the ruble’s collapse means you can experience it without going bust. Although based in in St. Petersburg, Elena Kachevskaya of the Express to Russia tour company recommends the iconic Café Pushkin, where you can enjoy dinner for two without drinks for less than $150 versus almost $300 last summer, or the year-old Restaurant Ugolyok, where you can get in and out for $30 or so.
Opportunity for Baldy and T and Cluckie and Bronco and Flaggie to go worship their idol, Putin, in his home state!! Take Limbaugh! I bet he's good for a few rounds!!!!
Tman strikes a pose at the Black Sea.......
Protesting affordable health care.........
A journey made all the more affordable because of the sanctions they poo-pooed long ago!!!
