@Nicole @madmalkav @seanblue
In various dictionaries, it is translated(and in textbooks taught) as “to go home/to return/to leave”.
帰 represents the idea of “homecoming”.
Generally, 帰る expresses the idea of going to the place where a person originally should be - where they belong. Their “base of operations”.
So that’s why it can mean their home country/their city/and most often their home.
戻る is wider than that since it can mean returning to a place(including home), but also returning to a state(coming back to health etc), returning lost items, turning back etc.
So if we traveled like this:
(we live here) USA (アメリカ) -> Germany (ドイツ) -> Poland (ポーランド) -> Russia ( ロシア ) (we are here now)
We would say:
ポーランドに戻る
ドイツに戻る
アメリカに帰る/戻る