Moscow & St Petersburg

VG31

I'm planning on going to Moscow & St Petersburg for two weeks or perhaps a little less next summer. The plan is to fly into Moscow and out of St Petersburg and take the Sapsan train between them.

Has anyone been? How many nights should I allow for the two cities? The general advice seems to be that St Petersburg deserves more time. I also plan to do a day trip to a Golden Ring city, Sergiev Posad perhaps.

Any other general advice would be great as well. Thank you.

cdeb

Both great cities.

Would agree with more time for St Petersburg. The Hermitage is worth a full day alone, if not two. The Vodka Museum is a must given how important vodka is in Russia. The Peter and Paul area is good, as is the Siege Museum. But it's great just to wander down the streets and look at the palatial buildings; it's a beautiful city.

In Moscow, St Basil's and, particularly, Red Square need less time than you think. The Moscow cat theatre is interesting, as is Park Pobedy (Victory Park), a monument/museum to World War II. Lenin is closed on Sundays I think.

Check what's on in the various theatres before you go. There's plenty of famous historical graves in both cities with elaborate tombs.

In Moscow in particular, don't underestimate distances across town. Also, take time to appreciate the underground stations; some are fantastic.

Train between the two is nice. I liked the huge network map on the station wall. Take the time to learn the Cyrillic alphabet; you'll start to spot some familiar words.

All the above is dependent on what you like.

Tipperary animal lover

Aeroflot are starting a daily flight service from Dublin soon prices seem decent enough.

VG31

Tipperary animal lover wrote: »

Aeroflot are starting a daily flight service from Dublin soon prices seem decent enough.

Unfortunately the flight arrives in Moscow at 4 am so unless they change the times for the summer schedule I'll have to go via FRA/AMS/CDG/HEL.

finbarrk

That's an excellent train service. There is a really good shopping catalogue on it. Handy for buying a few presents. I was on it in June.

Vologda69

The summer palaces at Peterhof and Tsarskoye Selo (Pushkin) in the suburbs outside Petersburg are well worth a visit. Be careful on the roads because the standard of driving is shocking. Do not jay walk or risk being ripped off by local corrupt cops. That aside it was one of the best holidays ive ever had. Art collections are as good as you will see in the Louvre or anywhere for that matter. Arrange your visas well in advance. Standard of hotels etc is excellent.