Saint Petersburg Travel Forum

There has been a change of plan with the result that I have just added St Petersburg and Moscow to this year's itinerary. As for planning, this puts me way out of my comfort zone so I need some help please.

1. What are the best sites for reasonably priced hotels (must have shower/WC).

2. I can't seem to find an internal airline to fly between St Petersburg and Moscow. I find it hard to believe that this can't be done so I could do with some advice about this. www.harefares comes up blank.

3. Do the trains in the Russian Federation work in a similar fashion to the rest of Europe. For example can you just turn up and get on a train or should you book? If so, what is the best way to do this?

4. Do restaurants open late in both places? (I mean like till midnight or so).

5. Are taxis very expensive and can the drivers be trusted not rip one off?

Thanks in advance for any help you can give. In the meantime, I'm off to the Destination box above to see what I can glean from the pages of those VTers who have been to Russia.

Kate, Pulkovo and Aeorflot fly between St Petersburg and Moscow. With the trains see my Russian pages for my experiance. You can certainly go by train though.

Russian is a wonderful experiance so please go

Also when flying to Moscow, try to fly to Domedevao Airport, It is much easier

Hi there
we are going to russia this may 09
we did it through our aussie agent

we opted for an apartment cos they are better value - got one in the arbat area called arbat deluxe (you can google) and an artists apartment on nevsky prospekt in st petes

my g/f stayed in the dostoevsky hotel in st petes and liked it - reasonable for russia but still dear-its in a shopping mall which is handy
bring mosquito repellent for st petes - lots of canals

i rang a couple of hotels in moscow directly and a hostel too
the arbat wanted about 300 euros per night for may 2009
the akravel was a bit dearer again
no way was i paying that much
but we did want to be central

do not stay out in the suburbs in moscow or st petes- My g/f did and she had to come out of a creepy underground tunnel from the metro and was constantly confronted by 'helpful' drunks offering to find their hotel for them _ it was easy to get lost if you came out the wrong exit...

my glf tried to save money n moscow and went for the budget hotel and she hated it
her hotel was actoss a dimly lit park and she was scared even though she had her OH ( a cop back home) with her
the hotel was awful - she said the pillows were beyond disgusting -she at least got a better deal in st petes- a pleasant surprise- she couldnt remember the name of the moscow hotel


re flights...we wont fly internally and our agent didnt want to book us on one either!!! ( his sister was terrified the whole flight from moscow to st petes - shonky feeling plane) but i know people will be flying all the time and they dont fall out of the sky all that often lol

we are going by train _ second class from moscow to st petes overnight
we bought the ticket already through our agent....

the 1st class private berth cost double
as it is the 2nd class cost 278 each ( im travelling with OH)

the metro is supposed to be good but be warned - it is hectic and my g/f just had to push like the rest of them - noone is about to let you in !
also you should be careful - all is in russian language - and even a russian speaker might have trouble because they speak quite fast and it can sound garbled to the inexperienced ear when they announce stops

be also aware that even though youre on the same platform the names can be different - depends where youre going - this can be confusing and sometimes theyre not that helful round the station- better to ask a young fellow traveller than an official
my g/f was berated loudly for misunderstanding directions after she asked at the ticket booth lol

you have to have a sense of humour
russians arent a bad lot - just most of them have a bit of a grim time over there
imagine that cold and low pay and just stuff not going right!!!

so you gotta laugh and forgive and come back with the stories of how you survived russia


dont know about restaurants
have heard from expats that moo moo chain is pretty good
various reports about yelki palki chain ( theres a nice one in arbat i was told- kinda cheesy but atmospheric)

Hi maryimelda! Wow, you are planning a great trip! I'm excited for you...I did stay in a nice small inn in St. Petersburg which was a safe area and I was able to walk along Nevsky Prospect easily --- called Nevsky INN and it is in my tips: http://members.virtualtourist.com/m/11001b/89c63/3/ The only thing with this inn is you have to climb 3 or 4 (?) flight of stairs, but the room is of adequate size. Hope this helps...Norman :)

Hi...any Russian train information that you want you should find on here..the site is ..www.seat61.com..have a good journey..

The train service between SP and Moscow is excellent - 4 1/2 hours the fastest, their timekeeping is brilliant. Booking ahead is most advisable.

Comfort Hotel (http://www.comfort-hotel.ru/en/) and Herzen House Hotel (http://www.herzen-hotel.com/) in SP are in the same building, Comfort is a bit cheaper, both are good value (these are expensive cities!) and in an excellent location, 2 mins walk max from Nevsky Prospect (SP's main street) and less than 10 mins from the Winter Palace with several good restaurants nearby.

*bookmark* I'm hoping to travel back to Moscow and St. Pete later this year, the last time we went with an organized group although we spent a good portion of the trip on our own.

You might look into getting a guide for one of the days you are there, the lines at certain places if you did not have a guide were painfully long, the one I really remember was the one at the Hermitage, can't remember how bad the lines were at Peterhof or Catherine's Palace but as a group or with a guide you just float right in. Same thing at the Kremlin in Moscow.

I liked the Moo Moo chain, it was cafeteria style so you could have a look at all the different offerings, there was a similar one in St. Pete, I think I put it on my St. Pete page. Casual and inexpensive. I don't think we were out as late as midnight though but I suspect those places are open late as they are very popular with young people.

I was advised to prebook a taxi at the airport as there are a lot of rip off taxis. I didn't find that we needed to take them anywhere else, there is good public transport in both cities, Moscow's metro is more extensive but I believe we found that the one in St. Pete was adequate for where we needed to go.

Sorry, if I repeat some info above, but:

1) I visited StP 3 times last time. I could say the reasonable-priced hotel, situated in the central part of the city, starts with RUR 1800 per night (DBL), EUR 50. In Moscow - I don;t know, long time I didn't stay in hotels here. besides i can say that many hotels do discounts now cause of financial crisis it seems. so search for the good price as long as possible :-)

2) Internal flights between Moscow and StP do several aircrafts. Aeroflot, S7, SkyExpress (discount airlines), Pulkovo Airlines, UTair and Transaero. In my opinion good mix of quality with low prices are bound up with Aeroflot and S7. but i agree that Domodedovo airport is better for Moscow and it is the home for S7 Airlines. Tickets are from RUR 1700, EUR 45, per person one way.

3) for trains, usually I or my friends bought tickets some days in advance but we never had problems with tickets. there are a lot of trains, at least 15, that go between cities. if you want to book in advance, in Russia it is possible only 40 days in advance of the travel but not earier.

4) Resaturants usually are open till midnight and at weekends works "till the last guest" :-) If you come to StP in white nights some places work till 2-3am.

5)Taxi. in the central part of the cities I don't see the necessary to get taxi. for airports, in Moscow it is around RUR 1200, EUR 32, till the central places. in StP it is RUR 700, EUR 19. of course, the drivers always have a try to increase price for the foreigners. in theis case use the official airport taxi. it is more expensive, around RUR 1600 in Moscow, EUR 43, but better to get the place.

Hi,
It is incredible!
You got a complete answer to your questions!
Great!
Anyway, if you need smth else...write...

Welcome to St.Petersburg!
Maria

Do get a central hotel. Both cities have large tourist hotels situated well away from the city, not too bad when it comes to transport as both cities are well served by public transport, but I know from a friend's experience in Moscow that they found it extremely difficult to find places to eat when they stayed in one such hotel. The hotel restaurants were totally inadequate for the number of hotel guests and there was nothing in the immediate locality. Staying in the centre will naturally cost you more but you must balance that with convenience in other aspects.

The hopon/hopoff bus is an excellent way to get around SP. It's a very spread out place, with long walks between some of the places you will want to see.

As has been said, you really shouldn't need to resort to a a taxi as the metro is very good, especially in Moscow. When it comes time to leave, ask your hotel to book you a taxi.

I think that a mini-hotel will be a good choice. See at http://sevpalmira.spb.ru/peterburg/mini/list/2/index.html
It's in Russian but you can see prices. Click the name of the hotel and you will see thair email.

Hello.
As I see, you‘ve got most of the answers, but I think I can add something. I live in Saint-Petersburg, so my comments are more about this city.
1. If your requirements are quite modest, you should choose one of many mini-hotels, which are often located in the city center. The question is, what price do you find reasonable per 1 day.
2. Of course there are regular flights between St Petersburg and Moscow. I would recommend you Aeroflot, as it is the biggest airline company in Russia and the most reliable one. Check their English https://www.aeroflot.ru/eng/main.aspx?language=en&rem1=main
3. When it goes about Saint-Petersburg and Moscow, you should always buy a ticket at least a couple days in advance. You can simply do this at the Moskovsky Voksal (the main railway station)

4. Most of such places work till midnight or later, and you can find all of the popular styles of cuisine, as well as traditional Russian restaurants.

5. Always order a taxi in a company. When in Saint-Petersburg, call +7-812-068, or +7-812-7000000 and you will get a taxi in 15 minutes they are usually not more expensive than the individual taxi drivers and in terms of safety they are much preferable.

It seems like it’s your first visit to Russia, so I guess that you would need further advice. If you do, you can write me. Just in case, my ICQ number is 496491715 (I am online there more often than on virtualtourist.com). When are you planning to take your trip, by the way?)