Saint Petersburg Travel Forum

Hi

My husband[diabetic insulin] and I are thinking of doing a 4 day trip to St. Petes on our own as the inclusive tours are so expensive.

We're thinking of taking organized coach trips and airport pick up through Viator. May be someone has a better tour company they could recommend please. Also any hotels in central St. Pete's. We're thinking of hotel Doeteskvy - is this OK

We've heard that there's a lot of street crime and not being the fitest of people we couldn't handle it or take the stress before we went.

The other thing that worries us is the cost of meals out = one tour company suggested that you allow £150 per person for evening meal.

Has anyone any ideas on car hire please - whats the driving and traffic like + gas prices

Given the large number of visitors in June would we get into Pushkin and Tsarkoe without being on an organized excursion - or is there someway that we could pre-book tickets.

All advice greatly received -

Thanks -

I stayed at the Dostoevsky last September, it's nicely located a couple of blocks from Nevsky Prospekt and clean and modern inside, also it's on top of a shopping centre which has a supermarket. The food served in its own restaurant is OK but nothing special. I was with a (Belgian) group so can't advise on other issues except that I didn't notice any street crime at all, no doubt it exists as in any other city but it's not as if you will automatically get mugged the minute you put your nose outside - and I spent a lot of time wandering around alone. On the other hand I really don't know that I would like to be looking after a hired car: I don't think the Dostoevsky has a parking garage. Surely you would have much less stress with someone else doing the driving? Can you read traffic signs in cyrillic?!
As regards food, it depends on whether you would be eating in "proper" restaurants (hard to define but certainly anything with table cloths) and hotels, when you could certainly spend that sort of money, but I'm sure it's not necessary.
Btw, "Pushkin", in this context, IS Tsarskoye Selo, I don't think you can prebook tickets without going through an agency like Viator.

I think following topics need REALLY to made into separate VT "corner":

1) train travel in continental Europe + some Asian countries, see
http://forum.virtualtourist.com/discussion-388842-1-1-Miscellaneous-0-0-World-discussion.html
Also how to avoid being ripped-off by "knowledgeable" ticket sales agents in UK/Ireland, overseas and China

2) how to buy/sell on eBay and avoid being scammed

3) how few brave souls managed to survive street crime in horrible + dangerous + savage East Europe where brown bears are walking on the Red Square, mafia machine-guns every overseas visitor down in Naples and every foreign tourist is sexually assaulted on JAT airplanes before being ethnically cleansed at the customs (I did hear such concerns recently)

http://forum.virtualtourist.com/discussion-389048-1-1-Travel-0-147332-Naples-discussion.html


Hint: one of 1)-2)-3) is a non-issue, but the rest is, a crowd of people fall victim every day, possibly every hour.

For instance here, I see already 10 potential fraud victims (don't they see, it's a fraudlent listing?)
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=120188345237

And it has nothing to do with crime-ridden St. Pete, JAT personal raping airline passengers and Italian "godfathers" with machineguns in midde of Naples.

Grrrrrrr...... :-/

There does seem to be an increasingly common (mis)conception that the majority of European cities are crime-ridden dens of iniquity.

They aren't. End of. Use common sense as you would (I assume) in any city: don't flash your valuables, keep wallets/purses etc safe, don't carry huge wads of cash/your passport sticking out of your back pocket, don't go down badly-lit streets alone late at night........as I said, common sense.

I've heard that all US cities are full of crack-driven gun-carrying (and using)knife-wieding gang members. I don't believe this is the case. Nor should you believe everything you are told. Logic should tell you that if a city were so dangerous, no tour operator would ever consider taking people there (and there are loads and loads of tours to St Petersburg organised by the most reputable of companies)!

I really would not consider hiring a car. Parking and navigating an unknown street system with signs in an alphabet you can't read will be a nightmare. Sort out some day tour possibilities, or use taxis/public transport.

150 GBP (is that what you meant to type?) is ridiculous; either you misread the weekly meal allowance, or the company site/paperwork has a typo/is completely inaccurate (I suspect, if it is GBP, they meant 15 per meal).

Get your trip planned (and sort out a good, pocket-sized phrasebook to help you understand signs etc) then relax about it, go and throughly enjoy your visit. I will be entirely amazed if you do not.

Leics is of course right and indeed, the gun-wielding mugging rapists are more scarce in Denver downtown than Russian churches in San Francisco.

- If you go to individual tour you will need to arrange a tourist visa. The easiest way to do it is via
www.waytorussia.com web site. There is excellent FAQ and many things and misconceptions can be cleared.

- I really wonder, that you are scared about £150 diner prices (clearly, there is a period missing somewhere, I could do it (barely!) with the period after "1", but doing it after "5" shouldn't be a problem. You also being scared about the streetcrime... BUT NOT SCARED ABOUT THE DRIVING!!! Imgine, you are driving in a country with every sign in Cyrillic and many inexperienced newbie drivers who cannot command their cars yet due lack of experience.

Gas prices are among the cheapest in the world, but it's IMHO irrelevant for you. Please look at the www.waytorussia.com and you will understand why. St. Pete is better than Moscow - but please just don't.

There is much to do in St. Pete, also if you feel bored (?) you may go to a 1-day excursion to Novgorod. There is no need to pre-book any ticket.

Also for hotels, www.waytorussia.com offers quite a bit of info, you can look at it.

Probably adding a "Tourist Trap" for £150 Dinner, that is either a misprint or really it's a scam. But Russia has nothing to do with it, Lev is right - these tour operators in wanted to "take" you for a ride.

My dad was a diabetic. by the way. He was traveling to Moscow, Tbilisi and some rural places in Russia without major issues.

I have to disagree with Pupulainen, I thought I had learned the cyrillic alphabet before going but I still puzzled over street and traffic signs apart from "CTOP"! There are some quite detailed signs hanging above streets in the city centre, which I would never have been able to read and digest quickly enough to get into the right lane.
150 GBP would have to be for a meal at something like the Grand Hotel Europe and even then, surely for two! Have a look on http://www.virtualtourist.com/travel/Europe/Russia/Gorod_Sankt_Peterburg/Saint_Petersburg-564323/Restaurants-Saint_Petersburg-European_Cuisine-BR-1.html

I have to add one thing... stricktly speaking, yes, the "usual" Cyrillic is not that tough. It's extremely logic and there are only minor variations very easy to remember... with one exception.

I teased people in an other thread with the city of 3YYH XAPAA. It's written exactly like that, sometimes it's also written 3VVH XAPAA (to make sure, "Y" and the common "U" is not confused). It will be pretty tough and knowing Russian or Serbian is of zero help, because "3" is not "Z", "Y" is not "U", "A" is not "A" and have no real idea how "AA" can be translated. Since over 2 million people speak that language it's certainly a major Cyrillic alphabet; I would dare to say, a major exception to the rule :-)

On these pictures we can see both "classic" U and "Y" the same time:

http://www.railfaneurope.net/pix/ne/Mongolia/car/passenger/05_195.jpg

3YYH XAPAA is here:

http://www.railfaneurope.net/pix/ne/Mongolia/car/passenger/05_200.jpg

I have to say, my wife and myself tried it hard to decypher the streetsigns and failed badly not just understand but even to properly pronounce them.

Pupulainen and Lev can test their Cyrillc skills here:

http://www.mtz.mn/

I did not know, you also call it "Bukvar", we just put a soft-mark after "r", otherwise it's the same.
Indeed, the difference is probalby less than between Plattendeutsch and Boarisch. For me, Saxonian is OK but a bit weird ("ich esse Kirsche und geh' in die Kirsche"). I can understand the Munich-dialect if I watch out but not the Boarisch as it is spoken in the villages. And Plattendeutsch is like completely foreign language, barely any word. Compared with that situation, Russian and Serbian sounds almost like the same language. What is sure, I cannot tell apart English accent of Russian, Ukrainian, Bulgarian and (ex)-Yu immigrants.

yes because the serbian 'ne' is like our n-reverese-e. It's a bit confusiing and it takes some time to adjust. A while ago the writing was the same, just different language reformers reformed it differently.

The proximity is perhaps due the fact, modern Russian is heavily influenced by now-extinct southern Slavonic dialect called "Church Slavic", still widely used for lithurgy.

Sambainou, Lev - the Cyrillic does not work on VT. :-((

BTW: next time you go if you want I can send you a CTS, so you would pay 100 Euro (current price, will go up ca. 20% after Dec. 8) round-trip Moskva-Naushki (+plazkarta).

We went to Lhasa via Lanzhou in 1986. We could not manage Dunhuang, unfortuantely. It is definitly on the list - but 2008 will be a much larger adventure: "how to move an entire household with 3 kids and 2 cars from USA to Europe", an other great adventure will be "how to stay financially afloat, pull up new projects and do the right thing" The pieces are coming together but it's very far from everything being clear.

You're welcome regarding CTS. There will be also a free one-way ride to any city within either Slovakia, Bulgaria or Serbia /via Romania/ (your choice), Slovakia is the cheapest (120 Euro to be expected but of course we will know only after Dec. 9 schedule change). The ticket is valid for 2 months, unlimited stopovers and it does not matter, what route you use and how far you go. You can go even to Korea via Ussuriisk-Khasan-Tumangan. ZC (Zoesan Chelto) sleepers have pretty low multiplier, so do KZD-sleepers. RZD has the highest ("thanks" Yakunin).

I just wanted to let you know that i have had great results with Viator for my family in the past. First, there's currently a coupon code out for Viator tours and services at http://travelvip.wordpress.com/2007/11/27/earn-miles-for-booking-travel. Also, you might now know that you can earn 1 frequent flyer miles for every dollar spent with them. I have found that this can add up really quickly for different tours. I think they participate in the American, United, Delta and US Air programs. Good luck with your trip!

Viator could be great but what if these coupons and f/f miles are not of terrific use?
I have well over 100 000 miles (points) with Amtrak, for instance. Too bad, (actually: too good) we are moving back to Europe soon. Not a single mile between Budapest and Beograd can be used where I will travel frequently due the nature of business. The only way I can get rid of these is to convert each year 25000 miles to Continental, so I can use on CO and their partners in Europe and Asia. But than I have to wait 5 years until these miles will be fully functional on CO.

Or maybe I can "sell"... Nope, I like cheaper tickets, no bonus miles because nothing is for free.