Blog
Time zones in Russia
Russia has 11 time zones. Every zone has the same time on its territory. In Russia time is not adjusted to winter/summer time, thus time difference with some countries may change in one hour on autumn and spring. Together with the international time system based on Greenwich meridian (UTC), Russia has its own scale with the baseline Moscow time (MSK). Thus, the time in Kaliningrad can be described as UTC+2 (meaning that in Kaliningrad it is 2 hours more than in the UK) or as MSK-1 (one hour less than in Moscow).
Time zones and transport
Important to know: plane and train tickets have local time. Before 2018 trains in Russia departed and arrived at Moscow time because the unified time was considered as more convenient to manage the system of train traffic. Besides that, passengers could more easily calculate the time en route, irrespectively of the time zones that they change while travelling. Nevertheless, now the time both in the tickets and on displays at train stations is showed in local time.
Travelling and time zones
If you travel within the particular regions of Russia, you may not necessarily witness the difference of the time in various time zones. For example, if you take a Golden Ring tour and visit Moscow, Yaroslavl, Rostov the Great and other cities of the central region of Russia, you will stay within the Moscow time. The same story if you visit the Russian South: you will not need to adjust your watch from the Moscow time as you will be in its realm. However, as soon as you take a longer trip such as Trans-Siberian Railtrip, you will be able to experience difference time zones. You will start from Moscow with baseline Moscow time, then proceed to Ekaterinburg where it is going to be 2 hours more than in Moscow (MSK+2), then to Krasnoyarsk (MSK+4), Irkutsk (MSK+5) and finish in Vladivostok where the time difference with baseline time will be 7 hours.
Travelling with the train, you really experience the size of the country and its expansion. Though taking a plane, you will also experience a curious effect: if you fly from Moscow to the East, then you will lag behind the time and you will land in Vladivostok with seven hours of time lag. Alternatively, if you fly back to Moscow you are ahead of time: you may take off in Vladivostok at 10 a.m. at local time, spend about 8 hours at the plane and land in Moscow approximately at 11 a.m. (MSK). Feels like an eternally long day!
