Roadtrip Russia (1) Murmansk - Machackala - Magadan

12.10.2012

Our objective was to see as many Russian republics, oblasts, krais and other entities as possible ... driving by car ... all the way from Murmansk (Arctic Ocean) to Machackala (Caspian Sea) to Magadan (Pacific Ocean).

The total distance driven within Russia was almost 20.000km.

Trip map:

Finished segments: (please click)

(2) East Front to Stalingrad

..... Northern Caucasus (previous trip)

..... Chechnya and Dagestan (previous trip)

..... Stalingrad and Astrakhan (previous trip)

(3) North Front to Murmansk

(4) TransSiberia to Chita

(5) Highway from Hell & Road of Bones to Magadan

The quality of life in Russia is pretty good these days:

excellent roads, hotels, food and nightlife even in some remote places (but not always).

Beautiful girls. Relatively friendly police. Hardly any tourists.

The feeling of freedom is much higher than - for example - in the US.

( P.S.: bringing lots of Rubles and a little Russian will help ! )

Our car:

A 12-year-old Mercedes ML 320 modified by us with anti-tank armouring and stealth-button ...

sorry for smiling about other traveller's pre-trip-preparations ...

actually we didn't even test-drive it before the < € 5.000 purchase ;-)

Overview of the federal subjects of Russia:

Source: Wikipedia

Overview of highways in Russia:

Source: Wikipedia

Overview of Kolyma Highway and "Road of Bones":

Sections 1 - 6 is the new all-year maintained Kolyma Highway M56
Section 7 is the unmaintained classic core part of the "Road of Bones", passing the "Pole of Cold" at Oymyakon / Tomtor

Source: Colebatch of the great Sibirsky Extreme on Advrider forum

Overview of railways in Russia: