Quickly checked a travel agent here and it's around €2.5k per person for a ten day plan. I wonder how much I could bring that price down if I were to arrange it all myself. Kind of scary to do it myself though, booking hotels etc. while being clueless.
Cries in Yankee
cries maple syrup
Which countries? I skimmed the article and didn't see a mention.
Asking because it is very much not visa free for Russian citizens, despite, ya know, all the political theatre
It is kind of surprising that China still doesn't allow visa free travel from Russia to be honest. And found the list of countries, amusingly Belarus is on the list.
https://www.china-briefing.com/news/china-visa-free-travel-policies-complete-guide/
So I guess there are limits to our professed "unlimited friendship"
An interesting question is which side didn't want to have visa free travel. Entirely possible that the Russian government didn't want to make travel to China too easy.
It should be noted that Russia isn't marinated in sinophobic propaganda like Europe is. If combating that is part of the reason for increasing European visitors then it makes more sense.
I agree, nothing cuts through the propaganda like people actually visiting and seeing the country with their own eyes. I wonder if this might also cause brain drain from Europe as economic situation continues to deteriorate.
Yes there are, the alliance is purely pragmatic due to geopolitical circunstamces. Ideologically russia is aligned with the west, but for some reason the current oligarchs in the west haven't moved on from cold war russophobia.
Putin constantly says so too. "we are as bourgeois as you, there is no communist party power here, let's negotiate."
Then again, it might just be lack of infrastructure to handle tourism coming from russia.
It appears China and Russia are visa-free for each other's tour groups since 2023.
That's funny, because I have specifically went looking for tours to China after reading this article (and again after reading your comment) and the visa requirements are there. There are supposedly some caveats: for example if one is flying transit through China, visiting Shanghai via a cruise ship or have residence permit.
Although I suspect you correct, judging by the amount of Chinese tourist groups in Moscow and Petersburg
Journey to Paradise! Where the spas are paid by the state!