10 Travel Blogs by Passionate Travelers from Russia That Will Inspire You

In this blog post, we will be exploring one of the major digital marketing trends in 2019 in more depth: promotion through bloggers. We have previously emphasized the significance of utilizing this channel to communicate with tourists in the Russian market.

Bloggers have a significant impact on how modern travelers perceive tourism brands. However, the question remains: where and how can you find travel bloggers? To assist professionals in the travel industry, we have compiled a list of 10 inspiring travel blogs by enthusiastic Russian travelers.

On one’s own

For 8 years, a young couple from Saint Petersburg has been exploring different countries and sharing their travel experiences with their followers through captivating content and awe-inspiring tales from various corners of the world. Their journeys include motorbike trips, cycling expeditions, hiking tours, and cruises. Their blog primarily focuses on providing insights on budget-friendly and independent travel across different countries, making it highly relevant for the Russian market.

The bloggers have a strong presence across popular social media platforms in Russia including:

• Youtube – with 145K subscribers on their main travel channel
• Instagram – with 269K followers
• VKontakte – with 84K followers
• Facebook – with 3K followers
• Odnoklassniki – with 2K followers

In addition to these platforms, the couple also maintains their own website, svoimxodom.ru, where they regularly share videos and content from their travels.

Life journeys

Another platform where you can discover fascinating travel blogs is the Russian LiveJournal.

One such blog is puerrtto.livejournal.com by Alexander Lapshin, a journalist and avid traveler, who has visited nearly 140 countries. His blog is conveniently divided by regions and continents, making it easy for readers to navigate. Lapshin shares not only his personal experiences, but also historical facts about the places he visits. Whether it’s a story about an entire country or a specific neighborhood in a city, his intriguing facts and stunning photographs resonate with readers, earning his blog a place in the Top 100 LiveJournal blogs in Russia.

Based on the Google Analytics report from October 16, 2017 to October 16, 2018, the blog attracted 1.304 million unique visitors. On average, the blog received 122,000 monthly visitors during that period. An advertising post on the blog would be read by between 35,000 to 90,000 people depending on the topic. The majority of the readership, which is almost 60%, comes from Russia.

The author publishes all their articles on the following channels:

• LiveJournal (at the time of writing this article, Alexander’s journal ranked 98th in the total LiveJournal rating)
• Facebook – 21K subscribers
• Twitter – 2K subscribers

Bright about travel

Another fascinating travel blog in LiveJournal is alexcheban.livejournal.com, which is run by Alexander Cheban, a media specialist in aviation, travel, and photography.

He has shared stories from more than 70 countries he has visited in his blog.

We would like to bring the attention of airline company owners to this blogger in particular, as Alexander Cheban is a true professional when it comes to presenting and reviewing air companies. Nevertheless, other representatives of the travel industry may also be interested in collaborating with such an expert, as the pictures taken by this blogger are breathtaking.

Whenever he publishes a post on his blog, he promotes it on his social media pages, which significantly extends the reach of his content:

• LiveJournal – 200-300K monthly views; each post typically receives 20-40K views on average
• Facebook – 15K followers
• Instagram – 15K followers
• VKontakte – 2K followers

Different travels

Alexander Belenkii, who maintains the journal macos.livejournal.com, shares his captivating photo stories of places, countries, people, and their way of life. The travel blogger has a large audience both on LiveJournal and social media pages, which makes it an excellent platform for advertising placement to reach the Russian-speaking audience when cross-posting.

The LiveJournal blog receives 600-700K unique visitors every month and has over 2 million views.

• VKontakte – 6.9K
• Odnoklassniki – 63K
• Facebook – 17K
• Instagram – 35K
• Twitter – 3.8K

Different travels by Olga Salii

This travel blog has a similar name to the previous one, but it stands out for its unique presentation style and content. Additionally, it is hosted on a dedicated website called free-writer.ru.

Olga Salii’s travel blog stands out with its professional approach and vivid photography. Each post is a comprehensive travel guide that provides valuable information and recommendations for tourists. In addition to highlighting interesting landmarks, Olga also offers useful advice, such as obtaining visas or finding cheaper airfare.

Regarding advertising, Olga Salii only writes about experiences she has personally tested and shared on her blog pages or where she can write about what she has seen or tested herself. Her blog receives over 3,500 unique daily visitors and is published on her website. Her social media reach includes:

• VKontakte — 10K subscribers
• Facebook — almost 3K friends and subscribers
• Instagram — 21K subscribers (mainly showcasing pictures from photo sessions without extensive details in the descriptions)

Guides by Oleg Lazhechnikov

Life-trip.ru is an engaging travel blog by an experienced traveler who provides numerous useful life hacks for organizing trips and staying in various countries. Unlike many other blogs, he shares the real daily routine of his journeys. The blogger not only travels to different countries but also lives there for some time, or revisits the same countries several times to better understand their culture and peculiarities, which he enthusiastically shares with his readers.

Oleg’s blog features text and video reviews and reports on cities, hotels, restaurants, and other tourist attractions. He mainly focuses on European countries, Thailand, and Russia.

His blog has an average monthly traffic of around 250,000 visitors (as of January 2018).

• VKontakte — 7K subscribers
• Facebook — 2K subscribers
• Instagram — 45K subscribers (where he mostly shares content related to his travels and life with a child)

Blog by Mila Demenkova

Bptrip.ru is a blog that provides tips on how to plan and organize a budget-friendly trip (which is still very important for many Russian tourists). The author writes extensively about neighboring countries, particularly Georgia, as well as travels to Europe, Asia, and Latin America.

Through her blog, she provides detailed descriptions of the countries she has visited, including information on prices and budgets required for flights and accommodations, and recommendations for places worth visiting.

• VKontakte — 4K subscribers
• Facebook — 3K subscribers
• Instagram — 4K subscribers

Diary.Travel

There are numerous travel blogs on independent travels alone or in pairs in the Russian internet, but this blog stands out as it documents the travels of a family with three children. The blog features stories about their travels, interesting articles about different countries, photos and videos from their trips, life hacks, tips for earning money online, and useful advice for travelers. Most importantly, it covers the particularities of traveling with children. The blog provides insights on how to organize a trip with children by car, how to deal with flying with young children, and how to make a vacation with children unforgettable and exciting. Moreover, the bloggers share their experiences to prove that vacationing with a child under the age of 3 is possible.

• The blog Diary.Travel has been active for over five years, starting from 2013.
• The blog attracts nearly 50,000 unique visitors every month.
• The website has published close to 300 articles, with the number steadily increasing.
• The Diary.Travel blog’s most popular articles receive up to 150,000 views per year.

It’s worth noting that some bloggers publish their upcoming travel plans, providing an opportunity for hotels to receive a review from the blogger without having to pay for their flight to the country.

Travels alone with a dream

Olga Kolos’ blog, olgakolos.ru, showcases her extensive experience as an independent traveler with visits to 95 countries, including independent states, disputed territories, and dependent territories.

The blogger shares engaging stories and provides crucial travel details such as accommodation descriptions, transportation costs, entrance fees, bus schedules, and more.

Since 2016, Olga has been traveling with her child, and her blog now features valuable insights for parents traveling with children. Her posts include recommendations for countries to visit and suggestions on how to make the trip easy and enjoyable for everyone.

Sunsurfers (Movement of Free Travelers)

The sunsurfers.ru is not your average travel blog. Instead, it has evolved into a unique community of sunsurfers – like-minded individuals who love to travel, constantly grow, maintain a healthy lifestyle, and share their knowledge online and through events held worldwide.

The website features reports from various events, interviews with seasoned travelers, helpful tips and tricks, as well as travel videos by the founder of the sunsurfers movement, Marat Khasanov.

• VKontakte — 31K subscribers
• Facebook — 3.5K subscribers
• Instagram — 11.9K subscribers
• Youtube — 16.5K subscribers

If you’re considering promoting your travel brand through bloggers, Quarter Billion Agency Travel experts can assist you in creating and organizing various events and activities with influencers, as well as help you select appropriate bloggers based on your business’s requirements.

Additionally, we suggest reading our article “Brand Ambassador: How to Work with Opinion Leaders in the Russian Market,” which provides guidance on what factors to consider when selecting a blogger for collaboration in the Russian market.