The first point to remember is that there's a big difference between a registration run and a visa run.
While registration itself might be tricky, the good news is that the travel part is easy. All you have to do is leave the country, come back and re-register.
A visa run, however, is a different can of worms. The trick here, travel agents say, is thinking ahead about the documents you'll need to take with you.
For example, technically, all applicants for visas lasting longer than three months are required to submit an HIV test taken less than 30 days before the date of application. But some of Russia's embassies are more vigilant about asking for it than others.
"Embassies in Washington and London don't require it," said one travel agent -- although those embassies' web sites state clearly that they do. "Estonia and Finland can ask for them, but don't always."
Leigh Ehrlich, who's lived in Russia for 10 years, recommended calling ahead.
"My advice would be to call the embassy three times on different days to check the information from everybody there," Ehrlich said. "Sometimes you call them and get different information from different people."
For those who do find they need an HIV test, the American Clinic in Moscow provides test results the following day for $52. The European Medical Center is more expensive at $97 for its next-day service.
The Baltic states are a popular choice for a quick visa fix, particularly Estonia.
Tom Fennel, a travel agent with Avantix.ru, said that Estonia can work out as a cheaper destination than other Baltic states. Round-trip tickets on Aeroflot from Moscow to the Estonian capital Tallinn start at $120, he said, while Riga in Latvia goes from $260 and Vilnius in Lithuania from $220.
Taking the train doesn't work out any cheaper. A one-way train trip from Moscow to Tallinn costs 1,650 rubles ($57) for a coupe or 3,400 ($119) rubles for first class, while a ticket to Riga costs 2,150 rubles ($75) or 3,350 rubles ($117), and Vilnius costs 1,550 rubles ($54) or 2,900 rubles ($100). Trains to the Baltic capitals, leave daily -- Riga takes the longest at 16 hours, then Tallinn at 15 hours and Vilnius 14 1/2 hours.
Other popular options include Helsinki, which starts at $275 for a return Aeroflot airfare.
Ehrlich said that in her experience the Russian Embassy in Helsinki is more efficient than Tallinn.
"In Helsinki, I got there at 9 a.m. and had my visa ready by 10:30 a.m.," she said. "I went to Tallinn twice. There were lines of people outside, and they had all these reasons for why they couldn't give me the visa until I gave them extra money. From now on I'm going to try to go to Helsinki every time because it was so easy."
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