Georgia to Russia Border crossing (Zemo Larsi - Chertov Most)

[frunze]

So, as per previous posts, I have successfully crossed this checkpoint and I can answer my own questions:

1- To buy tickets in a marshrutka between Tbilisi and Russia without a Russian card, google online services such as avtovokzalu.ru, unitki.ru and others and check the companies who do certain departures. They will have a contact number sometimes, that will be available on whatsapp or telegram. You will give your name, phone number and pay the driver on the spot. Some of them don't depart from regular bus stations and in a whole everything looks shady and not so professional but it worked for me. While they depart on time, the arrival times claimed in those websites are pure fiction, don't count on them. It will be very hard or impossible to do this without a good command of Russian. It might be possible to buy tickets in the Bus Station in Russia but certainly not possible to do that in Georgia.

2- It is quite easy to buy rubles in Tbilisi at a decent rate. Do keep trying, some of the exchange booths will not have rubles for sale, if so just go to another one.

[JackBlack92]

So, as per previous posts, I have successfully crossed this checkpoint and I can answer my own questions:

1- To buy tickets in a marshrutka between Tbilisi and Russia without a Russian card, google online services such as avtovokzalu.ru, unitki.ru and others and check the companies who do certain departures. They will have a contact number sometimes, that will be available on whatsapp or telegram. You will give your name, phone number and pay the driver on the spot. Some of them don't depart from regular bus stations and in a whole everything looks shady and not so professional but it worked for me. While they depart on time, the arrival times claimed in those websites are pure fiction, don't count on them. It will be very hard or impossible to do this without a good command of Russian. It might be possible to buy tickets in the Bus Station in Russia but certainly not possible to do that in Georgia.

2- It is quite easy to buy rubles in Tbilisi at a decent rate. Do keep trying, some of the exchange booths will not have rubles for sale, if so just go to another one.

Hi thanks for the useful info! Were you able to use these bus tickets purchased through these websites to apply for the transit visa?

[lanzone31]

Hi, just a quick update on the road on the Georgian side (to/from Kazbegi): road conditions in some sections are quite bad; last week an avalanche made the main lanes unusable, so traffic is alternating one-way in a "backup gallery", wait time is ~5-30min; other galleries have pretty large water-covered potholes, make sure to pay attention.

Very long delays are possible because trucks frequently break down; we had +2h delay going uphill because of this. The road is very steep (7-10% for many consecutive Kms), you will have to frequently overtake extremely slow trucks on narrow and curvy roads.

There are a few SIM card shops, decent restaurants, gas stations with credit cards, and a compulsory insurance center open near Kazbegi.
A tunnel under the Jvari Pass is under construction, so hopefully the situation will get better soon.

I didn't (attempt to) cross the border.