Chatters

Planning the anniversary trip and a bit overwhelmed with options. What is in your opinion the best wat to get from St. Petersburg to Helsinki? Also, could you recommend a good, centrally located hotel in St. Petersburg, NTE $150/night double occupancy. While you are at it, any recs for Helsinki? Thanks in advance for all suggestions.

nytraveler

St Pete is one of the places I would not be comfotable with an inexpensive hotel. IMHO they are simply not up to the standards of western europe. Also, central is imperative - since local transport can be very slow/crowded. We stayed at the Astoria - which was eccentric - but had a great location. But it was more than that several years ago - can;t imagine how much it would be now.

We did train between the two - which was fine. Obviously much slower than flying - but avoiding Russian airports/delays/chaos when possible is good for the sanity.

Chatters

Great tips. Thank you so much. A quick questions with trains; how long is the trip/ Also, my husband may need to take a wheelchair for this trip (we rather not cancel). Thanks again.

Please keep them coming.

Firstmate

Can not help you with how to get from Helsinki to SP. Epending upon what time of the year you are going, hotels in St.Pete can be expensive.
I have stayed at most of the hotels in St.Pete at one time or another.
You might check the following: Radisson SAS and Nevsky Palace. Both are located on the Nevsky Prospekt. Also, Astoria or the newly opened Marriott Renaissance. Both are located near St. Issac's Cathedral and maybe 10min. walk to the Nevsky.
I have spent anywhere from $150-$400 per night at these hotels depending upon what time of the year I was there.
Also, the Oktobraskaya Hotel across the street from the main train station maybe more affordable. I have not stayed there. It is not a luxury hotel, but may also work for you.

Subway_Scoundrel

I just got back the first week of December. If you want to stay central, stay on Nevisky Propect around the Grand Hotel and work your way from there. Not a lot to choose from. I will say that St Pete may not be the most friendly for wheelchairs but I am sure you can get around, but there will be limitations. I don't remember seeing curb cuts. We take for granted the access we have in the US. I would take the train from StPb to Helsinki as that is how most people travel. I did not see elevators on the subways so if your travelling with a wheelchair, a private driver will work best, but expensive. The more the reason to stay in a central location

nytraveler

Would not bother with a private driver. St Pet is full of cabs - we found them easily everywhere - and all the driver speak a modicum of English.

Garfield

For a review of hotels in St Petersburg look at:

http://www.russianguidenetwork.com/new_page_33.htm

KT

Based on research for my own upcoming trip to St. Petersburg, I've found that new moderate-priced hotels have been cropping up faster than most guidebooks have been keeping up with them. In addition to the site posted by Garfield, I used www.inyourpocket.com and the latest edition (Sept. 2004) of the St. Petersburg Rough Guide for reviews. The wheelchair problem adds a bit of a twist, because the new "mini-hotels" often are reachable only by stairs.

Aleksei

There are three trains from St. Petersburg to Helsinki, two direct ones - "Repin" and "Sibelius", and "Lev Tolstoi", Moscow - Helsinki train stopping at St. Petersburg. It takes any of them about six hours.
Any of the five-star hotels mentioned in the above postings (Astoria, Grand Hotel Europe, Radisson SAS hotel, Nevsky Palace hotel) are more expensive than $150 per night even in low season. There are some new small hotels, which can offer rooms in your price category (Arbat-Nord, Arcadia, TOAZ-hotel, etc.)Another option can be a room at a B&B facility (below $120 per night).
Get in touch at [email protected] for more detailed offers.

Heather49

I took the train from Helsinki to St Pete's. Second class was comfortable. I booked it online and had no problems.

Viajero2

A follow-up: we have booked the Radisson SAS and will be flying from St. Pete to Helsinki. What was your experience with Helsinki?

jay

KT what is your experience with getting a visa for St. Petes.
We are going to Finland in june and would like to take a day trip but may need to stay overnight if we take the train. We are also looking to take a ferry. The visas puzzle me though. If anyone else could give me any info it would be appreciated.

Viajero2

I am in the midst of this process. I downloaded the application from the Russian Consulate website. There you will also find a listing of travel agencies that are certified with the consulate to process this paperwork. You will need to fill the form, a passport sized picture, a letter of invitation (could be an e-mail with a hotel reservation confirmation or a letter from a tour group). It is about $100/pp. It is a pain, but it doesn't need to be painful (if that makes sense...). Let me know if you need a rec for a travel agency that would process this for you. I am going through ECVO Travel Agency, they are located in NYC and they specialized in Russia tourism.

KT

I'm still in the midst of the visa thing, too -- I've just requested the visa support from my hotel, and plan on using a local visa agency to save me the trouble of dealing directly with the consulate.

A number of commmercial websites explain the process step-by-step. Here's one that I liked:
www.waytorussia.net

And here's a consulate page that gives visa info:
www.consulrussia.org

Basically you need to submit 1) "visa support," a/k/a invitation (a confirmation and voucher on official forms prepared by a Russian hotel or travel agency and recorded with the authorities -- NOT just an e-mail confirmation of your room reservation-- normally a fax is okay); 2) passport valid for 3 months past the date of your visit; 3) passport-sized photo; 4) visa application; 5) cover letter to consulate; 6) $100 (for single-entry tourist visa). But don't take my word for it!!

You can submit all of this directly to the consulate, or you can pay a visa agency around $50 to check over all of the papers and take care of it for you.

I agree, it's kind of a pain, but I'm just trying to take it step-by-step. If a travel agent is arranging your trip, s/he should be able to help or refer you to a visa agency.

BTW, are you sure you don't need a visa if you're not staying overnight? I thought you needed one to enter Russia, regardless of how long you'll be staying.

Viajero2

KT--- I JUST handed over an e-mail confirmation from the hotel along with the rest of the paperwork and have obtained my Visa, so FROM EXPERIENCE, I can state that an e-mail from the hotel confirming was enough. Whether the specific hotel or the content of the e-mail had anything to do with it, well that's another story....

KT

Now that's interesting, considering I'm having a bit of a delay in getting the hotel to fax me the visa support. Which consulate did you use? Was it just a text e-mail, or was it a graphic attachment of the official forms? Everything I've read, as well as the consulate, has told me I need the official forms, but if there's a way around that, I'd be happy.

goforfun

I have a question for Viajero2 and KT. Are you filling out your own visa application forms and submitting them directly? Or are you collecting the visa support documents and having another agency submit them for you?

I think I read elsewhere that people who go it on their own and apply directly to the consulate/embassy have a good chance of having problems with visa approval, while those who use an agency stand a much better chance. Having looked at the application forms, it does not look like rocket science to fill them out, if you are able to obtain the appropriate visa support/letters of invitation for your stay. In our case it will cost us about $100 ($50 each) for someone to transmit our paperwork, in addition to the $200 total for the visas. Is there a reason it is not wise to do it on your own? Does the fee to the visa service company "expedite" the process?

So far I have had conflicting advice about whether it's necessary to pay for the visa service. Am interested to hear what you know.

KT

Goforfun, not having done it either way (yet) I can't really give you an answer. I've decided to use an agency, but only because

1) I can easily get to the agency on my lunch hour and have them check over my papers, and then I can pick up my passport there once it has the visa. That way, I don't have to trek to the consulate and wait in line there, or either trust the mail or pay for FedEx. So that makes the agency fee a bit less onerous.
2) I hope (justifiably?) that the agency will monitor my visa application's progress, rather than my having to check with the consulate if there's a delay.
3) I've done all of the rest of the trip planning independently, and frankly I'm a little tired -- as well as busy with work and other things, so I'm hoping that this will give me one less thing to worry about (see item #2, above).

But, as someone who has never before paid anybody to do anything related to trip preparations, I view this agency thing as a bit of a luxury for me, rather than a necessity.

As they say, your mileage may vary.

KT

Just remembered one more tiny convenience -- the agency takes credit cards; if paying the consulate directly I'd need a cashier's check or money order. No big deal, but as I said, I'm feeling a bit hassled these days.

goforfun

Thanks, KT, for your response. While I'd like to take on the challenge of doing the visa application by myself, it might be prudent to bite the bullet and use a visa service. (Didn't know about the cashier's check/money order payment detail.) My husband travels on business, and we both will be out of the country the month before we travel to Russia. We need the assurance that our passports will be available. I am hassle-averse, too!