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Hotels and sanatoriums of the Moscow region: why we removed these collections
Editorial Position
Updated:8 min1,622 words1

Hotels and sanatoriums of the Moscow region: why we removed these collections

Here there were seven roundups of countryside accommodation near Moscow: hotels with a beach on a reservoir, sanatoriums with a pool, houses for families with children, cottage complexes, countryside hotels, hotels with a pool, and all-inclusive options. All seven have been deleted in all language versions.

This format was sold as quiet Russia near the capital: forest, water, no fuss. From the standpoint of the sanctions rule on tourism services, a countryside hotel is no different from a city hotel. In practical terms, however, quiet outside the city also means that help in case of a problem is farther away, and the options for that help are limited in advance.

💡 At a glance:

  • which seven roundups were deleted and what united this format
  • why a countryside hotel is legally no different from a city hotel
  • what official sources say about consular assistance and dual citizenship
  • why we say nothing about sanatorium treatment
  • Last updated: 09/2026

Why we deleted these guides

Seven articles covered the entire countryside demand: from a weekend cottage to a sanatorium with treatments, and from a beach on a reservoir to an all-inclusive format an hour's drive from the city. All of them were recommendation and comparison pieces by design, meaning they led the reader toward a choice and toward spending money.

Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine began on February 24, 2022. After that date, the roundups continued to exist in their previous form and to answer the same queries. We removed all seven and set up redirects from the old addresses to this page.

The money side here is the same as in the city texts, and it needs to be stated carefully. The share of oil and gas revenue in the Russian budget has fallen to roughly 22 percent, while the share of non-oil-and-gas revenue, which includes VAT and the profit tax on the services sector, has risen to roughly 78 percent (Centre for Eastern Studies OSW, 09.12.2025). A countryside hotel and a sanatorium pay the same taxes as a city hotel, meaning they feed exactly the part of the budget whose weight is now higher than before the war.

The rule makes no distinction based on distance from the center. Council Regulation (EU) 2025/2033 of October 23, 2025 replaced paragraph 2 of Article 5n of Regulation 833/2014 with a direct ban on providing services directly related to tourism activities in Russia (EUR-Lex). The list of covered services includes travel agency and tour operator services, tour guide services, and related advertising services, and the transition period ended on January 1, 2026 (Skadden, 11.2025). Online platforms and apps that allow booking and selling tickets are covered on the same basis as agencies (Fieldfisher).

The stated purpose of the rule concerns money and leisure directly: to reduce the revenue Russia receives from such services and to curb the promotion of non-essential travel and leisure in the country (Skadden, 11.2025). A weekend cottage and a sanatorium with a pool are exactly non-essential leisure in the sense of this wording.

What "outside the city" means in terms of assistance

A city roundup tacitly assumes a normal backdrop: if something goes wrong, there is somewhere to turn. A countryside roundup assumes the same thing, only the distance is greater. Let us check this assumption against official sources.

The German Foreign Office warns that German citizens and German-Russian dual citizens face the danger of arbitrary detention (Auswärtiges Amt). It also states that Russian authorities regard German-Russian dual citizens exclusively as citizens of Russia, which also applies to military conscription (Auswärtiges Amt). And it also says that German missions in the Russian Federation are in principle unable to issue replacement passport documents outside working hours (Auswärtiges Amt).

For readers from the US, the picture is even more definite. The State Department notes that the US government's ability to help its citizens in Russia is limited: the embassy in Moscow has reduced staff, and all consulates in the country have suspended operations, including consular services (U.S. Department of State).

None of our seven previous texts contained anything of the kind, and that is only natural: a countryside accommodation roundup is structured in such a way that this kind of information simply does not fit into it.

Why we say nothing about treatment

A separate note on sanatoriums, because this is not just a hotel with treatments. A sanatorium stay is presented as a medical service, and discussing it requires medical sources, which we do not have.

Therefore, this text contains and will contain no statement whatsoever about treatment, its quality, indications, or outcomes. We do not assess the medical side, do not compare programs, and do not retell what our previous materials said about them. We simply removed those materials entirely.

What this means for you as a reader from the EU and the US

Item

Status 09/2026

Source

Services related to tourism in Russia

Prohibited by Article 5n(2) of Regulation 833/2014 as amended by Regulation 2025/2033

EUR-Lex

Transition period

Ended on 01/01/2026

Skadden, 11/2025

Online booking

Covered by the ban on the same basis as agency services

Fieldfisher

Arbitrary detention

"For German nationals and German-Russian dual citizens there is a risk of arbitrary detention" ("Für deutsche Staatsangehörige und deutsch-russische Doppelstaater besteht die Gefahr willkürlicher Festnahmen")

Auswärtiges Amt

Dual citizenship

Russian authorities treat such citizens exclusively as citizens of Russia

Auswärtiges Amt

Consular assistance for US citizens

Options are limited, consulates have suspended operations

U.S. Department of State

German Federal Foreign Office advisory

"Travel to the Russian Federation is warned against" ("Vor Reisen in die Russische Föderation wird gewarnt")

Auswärtiges Amt

We do not advise on how to proceed in the circumstances listed above: this section does not handle trip planning.

Where to go instead

The request was about quiet places not far from a major city: forest, lake, pool, a weekend house, and no itinerary. The live sections of the site answer this: the general section on where to stay, Poland with Masuria, Czechia, Germany, and Austria. The format is the same, an hour or two from the airport and a country house by the water, and getting there from Germany is easier than to any of the remote options.

The editorial team's overall explanation for the entire section is collected in the section hub. Related texts: our position on city-center hotels and our position on spa hotels and pools.

Where we stand

We believe the quiet format is no different from any other: a selection of country houses is just as much a paid recommendation as a list of hotels in the city center. In our assessment, it even has an additional quality that makes it look softer and is worse in substance: it promises seclusion and peace, which is exactly the state in which a reader is least prepared to encounter the restrictions listed above.

We also do not name specific properties. We cannot do so responsibly.

We write about the state and its policies, not about people based on their passport. There are people in Russia who spoke out against the war and received prison sentences for it. Our decision not to publish guides to Russia is about money, sanctions, and reader safety, not nationality.

Publication date: September 3, 2026. Last updated: September 3, 2026.

⁉️🤔 Frequently asked questions

Isn't a sanatorium medical treatment rather than tourism?

The regulation prohibits services directly related to tourism activities in Russia. Accommodation is not explicitly named in the list of covered services, so we do not claim anything beyond what the regulation states.

Why were the family-friendly collections also deleted?

Because the decision concerns the function of the text, not the audience. The type of trip does not change the legal framework or what the official warnings say.

Isn't a country house a private business with no connection to the state?

The form of ownership is irrelevant here. Hotel operations pay VAT and profit tax, meaning they fall into the non-oil-and-gas part of the budget. That is what we are stating, not speculation about owners.

Are you just being overly cautious?

We cite the current regulation with its number and date, and official warnings with verbatim wording. Readers can verify every point using the links in the sources block and draw their own conclusions.

Will you bring these collections back?

We make no promises with dates. The decision will be revisited when the grounds listed in the sources block change.

In short

Seven collections of country hotels, cottages, and sanatoriums in the Moscow region have been removed in full. The regulation makes no distinction based on distance from the city: from January 1, 2026, services related to tourism activities in Russia, and advertising of such services to a person from the EU, are prohibited. Official warnings from the German Federal Foreign Office and the U.S. Department of State are collected in the table above. Country destinations in Europe that we continue to cover are listed above.

How you can help

We do not collect money and receive nothing from the links below. These are official websites of organizations working with the consequences of the war:

Sources

Link check date: 03.09.2026.

tourism.com.de Editorial Team
tourism.com.de Editorial TeamTravel editorial team: research, fact-checking, updates→ All publications

A small editorial team writing guides for independent travel. We travel ourselves, but we haven’t been everywhere, so we check prices, opening hours and how to get there against official sources.