10 useful APPS for travelling across Russia in 2025
These smartphone apps will help you not to get lost on Russian streets, order a taxi and remain in touch, among other handy things! Happy travels!
1. Yandex Maps
‘Yandex’ is one of the largest technological companies in Russia, which provides many helpful services. ‘Yandex.Maps’ is a free app that contains detailed maps of every single Russian city, in which you can create a route taking real-time traffic into account, a route on public transport or simply on foot; you can also view ratings and reviews for cafes, restaurants and virtually every other place you can think of. You can also download maps of entire cities to use when offline.
The app is currently available in Russian, English, Spanish, Turkish, Arabic, Azerbaijani, Kazakh, Serbian, Ukrainian and Uzbek languages.
2. Yandex Go
This multipurpose app allows you to order taxis in different comfort and price categories, car sharing, food delivery, courier services and electric scooter rentals. The app is available in both Russian and English and has a very user-friendly interface. It is important to remember that, in Russia, you can only pay with Russian debit/credit cards, so, if you don't have one, you should choose ‘cash’ as your payment option.
3. Russian Railways
Russian Railways
The official Russian Railways app allows you to book and buy tickets for trains throughout Russia and is available in Russian and English. If you want to buy a ticket online, you will need a Russian debit/credit card. However, you can buy tickets at train station ticket offices with cash.
4. Aviasales
Aviasales
This is Russia's largest service for buying air tickets. In the app, you will be able to compare prices and choose the most budget and convenient options. You can also subscribe to a destination and the app will send automatic notifications if/when the price drops/rises.
Additionally, you can choose a hotel and read detailed guides to this or that city. The app also currently supports more than 20 languages.
5. Ostrovok.ru
This is an aggregator of Russian hotels, hostels and apartments for rent; in essence, the Russian equivalent to ‘Booking.com’, with very similar search and results filter tools.
Unfortunately, you can pay with a Russian debit/credit card; however, many properties offer a cash payment option upon arrival. You can book a stay in advance from abroad, even without a card.
6. Sutochno.ru
This is an accommodation search engine app (like ‘Airbnb’). It offers a wide range of apartments and houses for short-term rentals. The interface is available in Russian and English.
7. Yandex.Translate
Yandex.Translate
This app will help you to communicate with Russians easier: it translates speech and text and is similar to ‘Google Translate’. It also works with screenshots – for example, of Russian-language websites and apps that don’t have the required language you need available.
8. Zenhotels.com
This is an international service for booking hotels worldwide, including Russia. It also accepts Visa and MasterCard issued in any country.
9. Russpass
This is a travel app that will help you plan trips, book tickets, excursions, hotels, etc. The app offers you to get acquainted with the sights, museums and theaters of the city you are in and allows you to even create your own itinerary. Available in Russian, English, Arabic and Spanish.
10. Yandex Metro
Subway maps of all Russian cities that have a subway system can be accessed in this app.
It will help you to not only find a route between stations and calculate time, but it will even tell you the time intervals between trains and the most convenient train carriage to board (at the head, middle or end of the train, depending on your journey) for a quick transfer or exit.
The app is also currently available in Russian and English.
