Russian Gateway (UK) Ltd was founded in 1999 with the specific aim of filling a large gap in the UK travel market for a Russian travel operator with a passion for customer service. Due to our unique product and service we now command a considerable share of the UK travel market to Russia and are proud to say we have a large number or repeat clients. We are definitely number 1 river cruise operator to Russia and, although statistics are hard to come by, we believe we are the top provider of individual Russian tours with personal guide as well. For the past few years we have been sending more and more school groups to Russia and take great pleasure in opening up this magnificent country to a new generation !

We are very selective regarding the provision of our travel services in Russia and have our own Russian headquarters in central Moscow and a small representative office in St.Petersburg - in both you will find professional and courteous staff. Our guides are the best you will find and will go out of their way to make your stay unforgettable. Your guide will be one of the lasting memories of your trip to Russia and we go to a great deal of effort and expense to employ only the very best - normally teachers or lecturers by profession they have all undergone the rigorous guide training and received their official status. We also search for the human element - caring friendly and flexible - not the automatons 'large former state tourism organisations' might provide you (we think you know who we mean !)

All of our UK staff have lived in Russia, know Russia and the Russians and travel regularly to Russia. There is no other operator like us in the UK - the service is very personal - we are small, very specialised and we like it that way.

We have been recommended by The Observer 'Ask the Experts' section, the Mail on Sunday's highly respected travel section on several occasions, Sunday Times, The Guardian and the Scottish Sunday Herald. In 2005 we have featured in the Sunday Express Magazine's "Follow in the Footsteps of James Bond" article . We also feature in the latest batch of Lonely Planet Guides to Russia and are now also featured in Frommers Guides and Rough Guides so you should be able to find bits and bobs about us all over the place ! . We don't have a PR department bombarding newspapers with offers etc - we are written about by these publications because we have been recommended by happy customers. Our Directors have given local and national BBC Radio interviews about touring in Russia. We are also regularly contacted by major publications like the Economist (see August 6th 2005 issue) for our opinions on the current situation or sometimes more specifically (for example by The Guardian about the Russian Film Industry).

In September 2002 we were responsible for sending the entire Liverpool Football Club - over 200 people to Moscow to play against Spartak Moscow in the European Champions League. In December 2006 we sent rock 'n' roll legend James Brown and his 50 strong entourage on a whirlwind concert tour to Moscow with only a few days notice - a real challenge but that is what we thrive on.

We are proud sponsors of The Promise, a UK charity set up to pioneer new ways to support children with special needs within the orphanage system in Russia (see http://www.thepromise.org.uk)