{"id":6824,"date":"2014-01-21T08:34:11","date_gmt":"2014-01-21T07:34:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev.mindfultravelbysara.com\/2014\/01\/a-day-in-saint-petersburg.html"},"modified":"2024-04-22T11:54:31","modified_gmt":"2024-04-22T09:54:31","slug":"saint-petersburg-in-a-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mindfultravelbysara.com\/en\/saint-petersburg-in-a-day\/","title":{"rendered":"A day in Saint Petersburg"},"content":{"rendered":"

A great idea came to mind during a business trip in Helsinki, is it possible to visit Saint Petersburg in a day<\/strong>?<\/p>

As we had already stayed for some weeks in Helsinki<\/a><\/strong>, we wondered if we could optimize our stay and visit other nearby cities. Taking a look at google maps we realized that Saint Petersburg was not far so we started the planning.<\/p>

\"Saint<\/p>

The main problem we came up with was the visa card, we did not have enough time to manage it, luckily there is a way to avoid this requirement, the “VISA FREE RULE”.<\/p>

“In accordance to the legislation of Russian Federation (RF Government Resolution №397), foreign tourists and persons without citizenship travelling on ferries may arrive to the port of St. Petersburg without Russian visa and stay in Russia not more than 72 h. VISA-Free journey can last up to 3 days.”<\/em><\/p>

If you’re traveling from the US, you can get here all the info about the Russian visa for US citizens<\/a>.<\/p>

Based on this, we got in touch with Stpeterline, which offers this kind of cruises<\/a>, to confirm the visa free rule and make the bookings. Tickets are not very expensive,  <\/span>especially if you buy them in advance. <\/span><\/p>

Due to the fact that our time availability was very limited, we bought the tickets just 2 days before and we chose a ferry departing from Helsinki on Saturday 19.00 and departing back from Saint Petersburg on Sunday same time (please take into account the time zone). <\/span><\/p>

The final price for three people in a 12m2 outside cabin amounted  <\/span>468 euros including deluxe breakfast. We boarded in Helsinki but there are also departures from Stockholm and Tallinn.<\/span><\/p>

\"San<\/p>

Although you spend much time in the ferry, there are pubs, restaurants and a casino so it is not boring at all, and there is also a tax free store, so you will see people purchasing tons of alcohol and tobacco.<\/span><\/p>

As the effective time to visit the city was around 9 hours and the schedule was really tight, we booked a driver to take us from one place to the other to waste no time in transportation. <\/span><\/p>

As I had no time to plan this trip, the city that I came up with was completely unexpected, no trace of big colorless granite communist buildings, amazing squares and cathedrals instead. <\/span><\/p>

\"Iglesia<\/p>

The main spots we visited in Saint Petersburg are the following:<\/span><\/p>