lthomas6

We have 1 week and wanted to see what are options are in regards to below

Visit St Petersberg/Moscow/Minz

or could we do St Petersberg and Prague

Which do you think is doable? Its just the 2 of us and we don't want to spend the whole time traveling but really enjoy 2 cities.

Andrew

If you have a US passport, you need a visa to go to Russia - something like $300 USD give or take plus some paperwork and bureaucracy - unless you arrive by cruise ship or ferry and can do the "visa free" 72 hour visit to St. Petersburg. The visa makes sense if you do St. Petersburg + Moscow, less sense if you do just one city in Russia. (I just did the ferry options via Helsinki - worked really well for me but gave me only 2.5 days in St. Petersburg.)

Prague is wonderful, but it's not obvious to me why it goes well with St. Petersburg, other than being some random city in Europe you may have wanted to visit. Many people would pair Prague with other nearby cities like Vienna, Budapest, Krakow, Dresden, or Berlin due to relatively easy proximity by train between cities. I just did a visit to the Baltic countries (Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia) to pair with my visit to St. Petersburg.

thursdaysd

With only a week you will find more than enough to do in St. Petersburg and Moscow. If you insist on a third city it makes more sense to visit Novgorod on the way from one to the other.

For visa info see: http://waytorussia.net/RussianVisa/

kja

IMO, 1 week would be great for Moscow. Or St. Petersburg. Or Prague.

IMO, 1 week is not enough for any pair of these cities.

Your call, depending on what YOU want to see and experience.

Good luck!

Odin

Moscow and St Petersburg are ideal for 1 week's vacation. 3 nights Moscow, 4 nights St Petersburg is the right amount of time.

tonfromleiden

I agree with the above: Saint Petersburg and Moscow is already bordering on too much for one week, let alone with a third destination. Get a guidebook and see what's to do in and around these cities.

kja

To each his/her own! I gave St. Petersburg and Moscow 6 full days each and seriously regret that I didn't give them more.

danon

I spent 3 nights in Moscow last year and found it a very short time for such a huge city with numerous museums, churches, galleries, parks.
Five nights in SP was o.k., but not too long.
Going back to Moscow in a few weeks .

Odin

I spent 1 year in Moscow and have been to both St Petersburg and Moscow over 25 times and still don't feel I had enough time. I've been to places way beyond the tourist trail and done things tourists do not get to experience.

But it's not about what I want. The OP has 1 week and has asked for a recommendation for 2 cities and I stand by my recommendation.

I've been to Russia with friends who only had limited time and have done this itinerary and similar several times (e.g. 3 nights Moscow/1 night overnight train/3 nights St Pet.) It's a pretty classic & successful combination for an overview of the city's main highlights for a reason.

It is not compulsory for the OP or anyone else to agree with me and presumably they will exercise their right to do as they please.

minamax10

agree with everyone that one week is barely enough to get a feel for two cities. I would stick with Moscow + St. Petersburg. 3 nights in Moscow + 4 nights in St. Peter. You will just scratch the surface. It's very easy to travel between these two as well. There is a high speed train that would get you from Moscow to Peter in just about 4 hours. You could even do an overnight sleeper car (there is a really fancy train with luxury compartments called the Red Arrow) if you are in any way a train fan. http://www.russiantrains.com/en/page/red-arrow As for Prague, I would leave that for next trip where you could easily combine it with Vienna or Budapest.