The Suifenhe–Pogranichny border crossing into Russia is the central reason this town exists and one of the more accessible China-Russia land crossings for independent travellers. Vladivostok is approximately 200 kilometres to the southeast, and the combination of twice-weekly trains and regular road transport makes the crossing feasible for those with the correct Russian visa.
The border area itself has the familiar slightly charged quality of working land crossings: currency exchange desks, visa facilitation services, a mix of travellers and traders with loaded vehicles. The Russian town of Pogranichny on the other side is functional rather than scenic, but the crossing gives immediate and genuine access to the Russian Far East, which is harder to reach from any other point along the long China-Russia border. For anyone interested in crossing into Russia rather than just reaching the frontier, Suifenhe is a better bet than the more heavily trafficked Heihe-Blagoveshchensk crossing.