Bus Travel in St. Petersburg

Several firms operate bus routes between St. Petersburg and central Europe. A bus trip can be a reasonably comfortable way to connect with the Baltic states, Scandinavia, and Germany, although as with train travel in and out of the country, it entails a two- to three-hour wait at the border for everyone to clear customs. The Gorodskoi Avtobusny Vokzal (City Bus Station), open from 6:30 AM until 11:30 PM sells tickets for international and domestic routes. It takes about 15 minutes to walk to the station from Ligovsky Prospect metro station.

Among the most reliable of the bus companies is Eurolines, which runs coaches to Tallinn, Riga, Stuttgart, and Tbilisi. The Finnish bus company Finnord runs coaches between Helsinki and St. Petersburg via the border town of Vyborg. The service runs twice daily, leaving from the Pulkovskaya hotel, stopping at the Astoria hotel and at Finnord's offices at 37 Italyanskaya ulitsa, and then at half a dozen Finnish towns before reaching Helsinki. The Russian firm Sovavto St. Petersburg offers daily departures to Helsinki from the following hotels: Astoria, Grand Hotel Europe, Pulkovskaya, and St. Petersburg.

Bus Information

The City Bus Station (36, Obvodnovo kanala nab. 812/766-5777. Metro: Ligovsky Prospect). Eurolines (812/380-5245. www.eurolines.ru). Finnord (37 Italyanskaya ul. 812/314-8951. Metro: Nevsky prospect). Sovavto St. Petersburg (812/702-2550. www.sovavto.com).