Travel in Chechnya & Dagestan: is it safe?

[steven]

I did! A female "zikr" in the town of Duisi in Pankisi Gorge, Georgia. A bit more low-intensity compared to this one, but also really special.

The guides...life has taken over at Caravanistan HQ. Just trying to keep everything afloat for the moment, no ETA on future work...

[AreWeThereYet?]

Oh well, will wait with bated breath!

[getslate]

Hi all, just adding to this post, what many have already confirmed. Travel to Chechnya and Dagestan IS safe. I'm an American and live in the North Caucasus. There is a lot of security at checkpoints and throughout these two republics, which is understandable with the conflicts from the 1990s and early 2000s, but as a result things are much more stable for travelers. As a foreigner traveling thru the region, you may occasionally be asked questions at checkpoints, but this is normal, you aren't being singled out. Feel free to reach out if anyone has any questions......

[TheVantasticBrice]

Hi,

We are overlander traveling in van and we were from Kazaksthan To Georgia trogouht Astrakhan Makaskala Derbent Gamsutl and Grozny. Lot of police/army checkpoint on the way but they were polite friendly and didn't ask for money. We were discret but didn't feel unsafe.
Mountain in Dagestan are amazing

[Granite2018]

Travelled from Vladikavkaz to Grozny, Machachkala, Gunib and then Astrakhan. As already mentioned, lots of security and armed soldiers, but at no point did I feel unsafe. Maybe my preconceptions about Chechnya played a part in it, but I did not feel particularly comfortable in Grozny. Can't quite put my finger on it, but I just felt there was underlying tension. Security was stepped up across the republic in late June/early July after several incidents of police officers being attacked with knives in the area Southwest of Grozny.

Vladikavkaz felt just like the rest of Russia to me and Dagestan was great, the people there are very friendly and it's less conservative/strict than Chechnya. I would advise everyone to dress conservatively throughout the North Caucasus. Wearing shorts is forbidden in Grozny and women should dress modestly.

Strangely, it is deemed culturally unacceptable for women to smoke on the street throught the whole of the North Caucasus and it does attract unwanted attention from young men looking for an argument.

[steven]

I would definitely agree that Chechnya feels very tense. You feel people are afraid. Dagestan has a much more free feel.

Attacks seem to indeed always be aimed at the police, never at foreigners. The Russian state is enemy number one.

[AreWeThereYet?]

I'm intrigued, does anybody have any blog posts/articles about day-to-day life in modern day Chechnya or Daghestan to share?

[steven]

I think you have the best chance by searching in Russian with Google Translate for travel blogs. I did not find much information in English last year, a bit more in Russian. For locals, Instagram is the main medium. Not many stories perhaps but at least a lot of pictures of daily life.

[globetraveler]

Traveled there end of July 2019, on the way from Astrakhan to Tbilisi. Stayed one night in Grozny. People in Chechnya are truly fantastic and sooo hospitable! I didn't feel unsafe at all! Even when two radical islamic youngsters approached me and told me to dress properly (I was wearing short sleeve pants, it was 35C). Aside that everything was great. Hitching worked pretty good.

[getslate]

I live in the North Caucasus region and produce a podcast called CaucasTalk about the culture, history, and tourism prospects here. This is an interview we did with a local friend, Abdullah, from Grozny about Chechnya. You are right that there is little info about life in Chechnya today, especially positive info, so hopefully this can be something to get you started.....

https://caucastalk.com/44-2/

Here is one we did with a Dagestani guy, Hasan, as well......

https://caucastalk.com/episode32/