St. Petersburg with its numerous museums, palaces, parks, cathedrals and historical buildings is a great place for a cultural vacation. With the new means of transportation, including sea ferries and high-speed trains, travelling to the city has become much easier and faster.
In April, 2010 a ferry connection between Helsinki in Finland and St. Petersburg was opened. The comfortable car ferry is making overnight cruises between the cities 2 – 3 times a week. Being the Ice Class boat it is operated all the year-round.
The ferry offers accommodation in cabins of different classes for 2 – 4 persons. All cabins have private WC and shower. A Class and Deluxe cabins are outside ones with the windows, economy E and B class cabins are inside ones. The ferry has several restaurants and bars, a duty-free shop, a casino, a sauna and a kids club.
Travel costs are about the same as the land transport but a huge advantage of travelling by ferry is that it allows a visa free stay in Russia for up to 72 hours. It means that one can hop-on the ferry in Helsinki on Thursday, participate in a weekend visa free Saint Petersburg tour from Friday till Sunday and get back to Helsinki on Monday morning. Accommodation is arranged at one of the hotels in the city centre.
In December, 2010 new-high speed “Allegro” trains were launched between Helsinki and St. Petersburg. With the speed up to 220 km per hour and the travel time of about 3.5 hours the train journey by “Allegro” is much faster than it was before. Custom and border checks are conducted on-board the train. The trains offer seating accommodation in two classes, first and second, a restaurant car, space for handicapped passengers and a playroom for kids. Currently there are 4 trains a day in each direction between Helsinki and St. Petersburg including early morning and late evening ones. It gives more day time for Saint Petersburg excursions.
For those who want to travel to Saint Petersburg from Moscow there are up to 7 high-speed “Sapsan” trains a day. Train journey between the Russian capital and Saint Petersburg by “Sapsan” takes about 3.5 – 4 hours. The trains have seating cars of the first and second classes, a café car and space for handicapped passengers.
A number of airlines serve Saint Petersburg international airport and connect the city with Germany, Finland, Italy, the United Kingdom, France, the United States of America and other countries.
