Hi all,

I am travelling to St Petersburg in early May. Flight and hotel is prepaid, but need finance to pay for shopping, restaurants, entrance tickets etc. Is it possible to pay by or get cash advances with credit cards (Mastercard) or is it better to bring foreign currency and exchange to roubles in St Petersburg. Could somebody with relevant experience advice me on this?

OR

Just marking the thread, as I would like to know what experienced Fodorites do. On the times we went, we got by with prepaid hotel and the ubiquitous backroom currency exchange people. Anywhere expensive took Visa, and for everything else we used cash.
The backroom guys give you a much better exchange rate.

FrankS, no offense, but in light of some of your other posts, you might want to refrain from using the term "backroom guys".

Neo,
Whats wrong with you? What motivated you to deface a thread of someone else with this petty innuendo?

OR,

There are many ATMs in St. Petersburg, but you will be taking a hit against the Euro or Dollar because the official exchange rate is far less favorable than you would get by paying for goods and services with Euros. (When last I was there, 18 months ago, no one wanted Dollars. Perhaps that has changed by now.) There is an ATM in the Europa Hotel that will provide Euros when it is working. When you are leaving Russia, I think you should exchange any leftover Rubles before departure. There seems to be a very limited market for them outside of the Federation.

Euro might be accepted in some places but I don't ever bother with other currencies, I just withdraw roubles when I am there from an ATM. Maybe have some cash to exchange in case the ATM at the airport is not working.

Try to use a Western-owned ATM attached to a bank (rather than a kiosk) unless it is inside a very nice hotel. Banking system in this part of the world is a little unstable. Not sure what they have in Russia but in Ukraine ProCredit, Credit Suisse, and Reifenheise (spelling?) are good choices. I don't know why you would do a cash advance on a credit card due to the fees unless it was some sort of emergency.

I've been living in St.Petersburg for over a year now and I can tell you that the best exchange rates I found were at MDM bank. They were rated the best bank for forex exchange in recent years by a European banking association. Most other places have an exchange rate at least a few roubles in their favor to make extra money from you.