To Russia with, erm...

briano

Has anyone been to Russia? St. Petersburg?

I'm probably going to be in Tallinn for a week later this month and I saw there are ferries that go up to St. Petersburg. I'm just wondering what the story is with visas and what not.

I know you can get a cruise visa for E25, but you also need to go on a tour of the city with the travel company, which costs a further E30. And a condition of your visa is that you stay with the tour operator all the time.

I'm just trying to work out if I should blast off on my own and have a look around st. petersburg for a day or two myself, or would it be better to stick with the one day tour.

Anyone have any experience with this sort of thing?

giveth

I went into Russia through Norway on a 1 day bus tour.

Yes, you do need a visa and it takes a while for it to be processed. Organise it a few weeks it advance. Best bet is to contact the Russian embassy in Dublin.
Our bus tour company organised the visa for us, but i think it took over a week to do so.

Was also in Tallin. Nice city. Can also go to Helsinki for a day on a ferry from Tallin.

briano

Yeah, I'm going to helsinki as well. I'll probably get into to tallinn on the 26th and leave on the 3rd, so if it takes a week to get the cruise visa, I'd want to sort it out sharpish.

EvilDoctorK

If you want a visa you can arrange it yourself - you need to book accomodation in Russia and then get them to fax you an invite to stay in Russia (most hotels/hostels will do this for low/no fee if you're staying with them)

Armed with this invitation and passport photos go the the Russian Embassy on Orwell Road in Rathgar (mornings only) and apply for your visa... pretty straightforwards .. you just have to arrange the accom in advance and have them "invite you" to Russia.

Do it asap .. the visas aren't too expensive if you have a bit of time... they can be issued on the spot for quite a lot of € .. but if you leave your passport and stuff with them for a few days it's a good bit cheaper.

twooms

Was also thinking og going to russia for a few days but was thinking by train,,,,,,I always look at this site,,,,,,www.seat61.com,,,,,,its really helpful and lists how to get to loads of places by train....

Brian,,,,did you say you can get a ferry to st.petersburg from tallinn,,,,if so,,,whats the website/name of the ferry company as thats also something I would like to check out....

briano

www.tallink.ee I think. The link for english is down the bottom

drrnwbb

i just got back from st. petersburg this morning.

i got a normal tourist visa here in helsinki, we got it last minute (last wednesday 4th, it was ready the 11th), so it was 52euros per person, but allowed us access for a few days (would have been cheaper if we applied earlier).

we took the ferry from helsinki on wednesday evening, arrived there thursday morning, the ferry was the hotel for the thursday night and it left there last night and got back here into helsinki this morning at 10am.

we got a visa from a travel agency here beside the olympic terminal where the ferry goes from. most people on the boat got a standard visa that they got with the ferry package that allows them to go on supervised tours (cos in total 20e i think). our visa was 52e which basically meant we were on our own there, including getting too and from the centre (although the ferry staff were very helpful).

two days isnt really enough for the city, we spent all thursday and all yesterday walking and didnt get time to go into a single museum. the city is so huge its crazy. also its very run down, not really intimidating though thankfully, despite the poverty and the delapadation.

to get the visa organised aswell, they will probably have to take your passport (they did mine for a week for paperwork/to get the visa on to it) so make sure you're able to go without your passport for a weekish.

here are some of the pics i took: linky

all the latest dvds in stores for 3euros aswell!

dw