Voronezh Travel Guide

It can be difficult to navigate the streets of Voronezh as many of them have two names - the old pre-revolutionary name and the more recent Soviet one. Many of the streets have had their names changed back to the original but are often referred to by the Soviet name or vise versa. Some streets have both names written on the signs but not all and the maps rarely have both.

watch out for men on the street asking you to come inside their businesses to gamble , trade U.S. dollars for Rubles or ?

Unique Suggestions: we were told if you were exchanging money with one of the the dishonest locals that the police are in on it with them. They get your dollars then the police man will walk up to you and ask you what are you doing. You would have to say nothing since it's illegal to exchange dollars for rubles on the street and then you would be left with no cash and sent on your way with the police man and the other man splitting the money you just gave him. Most everyone does exchange money on the street with the "mafia" men but you have to know the right ones to exchange with. Not many poeple use the banks there. But being from another country you're better off getting a few less Rubles on the dollar in a real bank, than trying your luck at exchanging on the street. Even the locals have been known to get ruffed up by them and their money stolen, nothing you can do about!

Fun Alternatives: Exchange money in the real banks only! It's easy just have to have your passport.

Luggage and bags: Pack your luggage light you will end up carrying it and will have to get it into a bus or train on your own in a hurry! We found that one med. size bag on wheels worked best don't take a large one. And then a small carry on duffle size one to strap on the top of the roller one or a backpack wouldhave work even better than a duffle. Also pack a sleeping eye mask, you'll be glad you did! We had our luggage lost in Moscow for a few hours and we packed a carry-on bag with one change of clothes with ALL our medicines for the whole trip, so we didn't worry about any of the luggage missing we could have easliy bought everything that was in those bags that were checked in.

Clothing/Shoes/Weather Gear: check the weather right before you go. I packed a gortex rain jacket perfect for June rained a few times and was nice in the cool mornings and evenings, you can stuff a light weight jacket into your shopping bag. Don't take umbrella. Wear good walking shoes and some clothes that will serve more than one type of outing. Women take a scarf with you to get inside the churchs there! All married women have to wear a scarf in the churches. I took a none wrinkling skirt, light weight capri pants were my favorite, and a pair of jeans. I over packed with lots of clothes just a few essentials and a few different tops, a dressy one, tank top, light weight sweater , and 2 regular everyday shirts. When you pack everything unpack it all and repack lighter! You can buy anything you want over there if you forgot something and or need something else to wear, buy it at the Central Market at one of the blue/white tents, even nice sandels for just a few dollars are there so don't over pack!

Toiletries and Medical Supplies: antiseptic, small brown bottle of red iodine less than 2.00, bandaids, travel packs of kleenex tissues. Don't use or trust the medicines there, bring extra medication heard of diabetics using more insulin from stress, alka-seltzer great! unsented baby wipes, tyenol 3's for the plane, the long train ride took the stress off us and helped us get to sleep. Had a prescription for antibiotics, that was a life saver! The first day being there our noses & throats burned from the pollution, We took acidophilus (good bacteria, found in yogurt also), buy that is shelf stable no refrig. needed, we ate a few times food that upset our stomachs but we never developed intestinal worms (traveler diarrhea). But do pack something for diarrhea. Advil for headache

Photo Equipment: bring a few disposable cameras you'll be glad you did to take in places where you could get your good camera stolen. It may not even be an expensive camera but they don't know that , and don't carry it around your neck or in a camera bag you'll have tourist written all over you! Also be careful on charging up your camera with electric plug converter, I took over 200 hundred pictures and still had charge left in my battery. We used a digital camera. Check at home first how many pictures you can take with you camera. I wouldn't have taken my charger (more weight in my luggage) if I had known how many pictures it would have taken without a recharge. and taking a few extra disposables would give me more pictures if my camera battery would have died. We could have put our pictures to disc. if we wanted to while we were there if we needed more space on the cameras memory card, but they didn't have any disposable cameras they didn't know what they were.

Camping/Beach/Outdoor Gear: take good bug spray! we used full-strength deet OFF! it's in a little bottle in the camping section of walmart. A little went a long way! the bottle was less that 3 inches tall so it didn't take up much space

Miscellaneous: You can buy the same things that are in the U.S. over in Russia. they have all the same product made by american companys just written in Russia you will reconise the packaging. Everything from candy bars, toothpaste, gum, pepsi and coke products everywhere throughtout the country. The bottle water we bought was bottled by pepsi company didn't have any trouble finding it was with all the other pepsi products throught the city at street side vendors. cost about 32 rubles for a 2 liter.

During the winter, the 9km is turned into a cross country skiing track, great fun and great exercise to get out of the city. You can also ice-skate here outside. In the summer, it's a roller skating track.

Equipment: For skiing bring gloves and a warm coat and hat; thick socks are essential.
You can hire skates for 30 roubles.

Favorite thing: In every home we visited they had an electric water kettle that boils water super fast within a short 3 minutes. The ones we seen in Voronezh was made out of plastic, they were stained from the dirty water, yellowish/brown. They have a separate heating base, an a automatic shut-off when it comes up to a full boil. I checked after getting back home and yes we can buy them in America, with the right plug end. Where have I been hiding all these years not to see this great water kettle! Buy one that comes off it's heating base and that the heating element is covered (easier to clean), has auto shut-off when it comes to a boil, has a view window to see how much water is in the pot, and I've even seen ones with strainers in the pouring spout to catch sediment that's in the water. Also buy one that has a 1500 watts of power or higher, faster heat up time and one with the element that is covering the entire base. I heard the plastic ones do leak sometimes, but stay cool to the touch and some of the stainless steel ones gets real hot to the touch but are easier to clean and won't turn yellowish color. If you have wiring in your home that your high power appliances trips the breakers you made have a hard time with this kettle since it will take alot of power real fast like a high power hair dryer is the same wattage. Best thing we seen there! In the picture was at a families home and this was the only stainless steel one we seen.