Have just started planning my September 2019 trip to Scandanavia and was trying to figure out how I could visit St. Petersburg Russia since
I am so close.It looks like I could take the St Peter Line ferry from Helsinki which would avoid my having to get a visa as
the ferry line provides a 72 hr. visa. Now my questions are:
1. Do I have to use a hotel listed on the Ferry Line website reservation page or can I book my own? Will the boat still provide the 72 hr. visa if I do my own??
2. Must I book a tour group in order to go around to the sites or can I do that on my own??
Any advice on my pending visit to St. Petersburg would be appreciated....

bornintheusa, no help, but I am interested in the responses you get. Have you searched for St. Petersburg private guides on Fodor's? Someone did a self-tour in the past.

Haven't had any responses but in my own research it looks like if you do the Ferry you have to get a hotel through the ferry line and there are only 2 choices. Then if you do the ferry you can't do a tour group like ALLA,SPB travel or TJ Travel unless you book a private tour with them as the Ferry doesn't get in early enough (according to an email I received from one of these tour groups). It looks like the only way to do Petersburg is to do a cruise.

We plan a similar trip next May and are considering St. Peter line, although we haven't ruled out getting a visa and going to St. Petersburg on our own. It is our understanding that all you need is a booking confirmation from a hotel. Make sure it is a hotel that accepts visa-free visitors. The list that St. Peter Line provides might be a good guide.We have heard from past visitors that they have found that the rates shown via St. Peter Line are similar to those you will find on booking.com, which some say is their booking engine. Some airbnb guests have reported some potential problems, and the St. Peter Line policy seems to prohibit that as a source when you try to board their ferry/ship. One work-around would be to book a hotel that allows last minute cancellations, use that booking confirmation to get on the ship and then cancel. If we decide to try this route, we will advise of our results. The ferry does not appeal, and we think we want more time in St. Petersburg. There is a cost to the visa but some airbnb's will guide you on the process.

I have a couple of friends who visited St Petersburg by ferry. It is actually a great idea and very convenient, since you have 3 days in the city and don't have to get a visa for this. My friends booked a hotel that they chose themselves, so you don't have to be at a specific hotel. The visa-free regulation gives you 3 days and 2 nights, which allow to have a general overview of St Petersburg, but obviously, it is not enough.
You don't have to be booked with a tour group, however, I would probably suggest hiring a guide for some places. There are palaces that are located outside the city and are not easy to get in. For Peterhoff and Catherine's Palace (or just one of them) I would book a day trip with a local guide/operator. You can arrange a private tour just for you, or join a small group, if you find one. Also, it would probably be a good idea to hire a guide for the Hermitage. Although there is a "guide app" for the museum, it takes too much time to navigate and figure out where you are. The Hermitage is enormous, and it is a real labyrinth, so having someone telling you where to go and what to look at is handy. Anyhow, it is all up to you and your preferences.

Good to know about the possible airbnb issue. We were in St Petersburg two years ago and are considering to come back in 2019 or 2020 by ferry.
I agree that you need more than 3 days in St Petersburg. So much to see! Good luck with your visa process.

In contrast, I'm very glad I visited on my own!

hi, also in USA and do not speak Russian. I personally would recommend not trying to do on own, but then I am older and perhaps more cautious. St Pet is great, but I would be much more comfortable with a guided tour than on ones own. Definitley go out to Peterhof and Catherines Palace, which is a bit out of town, lovely grounds/palace. Allow much time for Hermitage, just scratched the surface on my time there unfortunately. Lots of alcohol use in areas which I found discouraging for the country, hopefully better now, was a few years back, esp in the villages in the mornings. Also many older women begging on the street, but more in Moscow, hope that is better too now.

Please don't call it St Pet or St. Pete! I was there just after the city was renamed St. Petersburg, after years during which it had been called Leningrad. So many residents with whom I spoke noted have very glad they were to finally have the chance to call their beloved city by what they considered it's rightful name. St. Pete is in Florida; the magnificent city in Russia is St. Petersburg. JMO.

We took the ferry from Helsinki to St. Petersburg and stayed for 72 hrs visa free. It was all very very easy. We booked our own B&B, near the Hermitage. We had the B&B provide us with proof of booking. We also paid something like $20 per person for a 'tour', through the ferry. Once the ferry docked in St. Petersburg we took a bus for our 'tour'. The buses were located right as we disembarked the ferry. There were ferry workers helping us find the correct bus to take...again, very easy. The tour was basically a drive through the city with a few drop off locations. I assume this is to get around the rule of having to take a tour. The ferry company knows that not everyone wants to take a tour, like us, so they have devised this way to get around the rule. We got off at the stop closest to our B&B. That was the end of our 'tour'. We then toured the city on our own (very easy), visited the Hermitage, The Church on the Spilled Blood and Peterhof. All very easy. We returned to the tour stop 72 hrs later to catch the bus back to the ferry which then took us back to Helsinki.

No, you don't. You can book any hotel you'd like. I recommend anything along the Nevsky Prospekt.

Again, book your own for better and deeper experience. Saint Petersburg is an amazing place and nothing can spoil it like a boring group tour.

We booked our own B&B. I had the B&B send us a paid receipt that I showed to someone along the way (sorry I can't remember if it was at embarkation or once we disembarked in St. Petersburg) to prove we had somewhere to stay during our 72hr stay.

To better know the city, it is advisable to find your own guide. A walk with a large group means that everything will be long and slow. The guide will be able to orient you and show all the most interesting things in the city, adjust to your interests, take you to a restaurant where you can have a tasty and cheap meal and, as a result, spent money on a guide, return back to you with the very savings on food and other unnecessary expenses This is of course only my opinion.

One whole day is better to spend on - Tsarskoye Selo and Pavlovsk which are close by, and Peterhof is located west on the shore of the Gulf of Finland (although it is not enough for 1 day but believe it needs to be seen)

I can advise the site with the sights of St. Petersburg https://tour-planet.com/articles/6/
and there is a guide page on it and his contact information (write to the e-mail guide, he will answer all your questions) https://tour-planet.com/guides/rubric/6/

I respectfully disagree! If someone wants to work with a guide, by all means, they should do so! But it is perfectly easy to visit St. Petersburg on one's own.

Of course, St. Petersburg can be easily visited independently, in the center of the city all the signs are duplicated in English, and many speak fluently in it, but in my message I wanted to convey that the guide helps to learn more about the sights and show you them such angles that you can hardly find yourself. When I visit new places I personally always take a guide, I often remember his stories later.

And if you decided to come to St. Petersburg all by yourself, then my advice to you is to make a list of sights that you want to see and score them on the Google map, also download the metro map, here’s a map and link to the official interactive metro map compile routes and see how many stops to go.

And when you have a plan of action you will be easier to navigate in the city. The biggest attractions are located in the city center in the Nevsky Prospect area. And if you walk along Nevsky Prospekt from Metro Ploshad Vosstaniya, you will see the Kazan Cathedral


Kazan Cathedral

, the Church of the Savior on Blood, next to it is the Russian Museum,

and at the end of the avenue you will get to the Palace Square where you will see the Hermitage



The State Hermitage Museum


and you will admire the view on Vasilyevsky Island with its Rostral Columns and the Peter and Paul Fortress.



Peter-Pavel's Fortress

Tsarskoye Selo, Pavlovsk, Peterhof are outside the city for about 30 minutes. There go electric train, bus, taxi will cost much more expensive.


Plan your time, and you will definitely succeed.

@ stern73: Some people read guidebooks. The better ones provide extensive information about sites.

I do not call for the fact that you need to go only with a guide.
If, for example, the budget is very limited, then yes, you have to become a guide yourself and study a lot of information, and the main thing is that it be obtained from reliable sources and is relevant at the moment.
A paper guide can never replace live communication with a person. Well, how can you compare a booklet with someone who, for example, grew up in this place and knows all the secluded places, local customs, and he himself lives in the rhythm of this place?