Travel Agencies in St. Petersburg

Even though the various forms of travel and assorted companies have their own official outlets—airline offices, or the Central Railway Agency Office, for example—perhaps your best bet to avoid lines and bureaucratic hassle is to head to the Central Airline Ticket Agency. This is mainly for air travel, but its international department, on the right as you go in, can also book domestic and international sea and bus tickets as well. Additionally, in the main hall there are two desks (Nos. 9 and 10) that offer domestic and international train tickets for a negligible additional fee. In fact, you could say that this is a haven for the troubled traveler because it can deal with most major travel questions under one roof.

For international travel help, American Express operates an office in the Grand Hotel Europe. Besides ticketing, the office replaces lost traveler's checks and credit cards. For international bookings, try Infinity Travel, in the Angleterre hotel (connected to the Astoria). In addition to providing tickets on all major domestic and international airlines, Infinity also offers last-minute reservations and a free ticket-delivery service. Sindbad Travel, at the Russian International Hostel, is friendly and helpful. There are many more agencies, and it would be impossible to list them all. For other options, you could always ask at your hotel, or flip through a copy of the St. Petersburg Yellow Pages, which has all of its listings in both Russian and English. Yellow pages are also available online at www.yell.ru.

Agencies

American Express (1/7 ul. Mikhailovskaya, off Nevsky pr., City Center. 812/329-6060. Weekdays 9-5. www.americanexpress.com. Metro: Nevsky prospect). Avista Tours (7 Millionnaya ul., City Center. 812/275-6635. 812/275-3488. Metro: Nevsky prospect). Central Airline Ticket Agency (7/9 Nevsky pr., City Center. 812/717-8093 for flights in Russia and former Soviet Union; 812/315-0072 for international flights. Weekdays 9-9, weekends 9-6. Metro: Nevsky Prospect). Infinity Travel (39 Bolshaya Morskaya ul., City Center. 812/313-5085. 812/313-5084. www.infinity.ru. Metro: Sennaya Ploshchad). Sindbad Travel (28 3rd Sovietskaya ul., Vladimirskaya. 812/327-8384. 812/329-8019. www.sindbad.ru. Metro: Ploshchad Vosstaniya).