1

I think it depends on the date you will arrive. But if you are sure about your schedule, it never hurts to prebook ticket.
You may book in RZD.ru which is the official site, there are plenty of instructions here, shouldnt be difficult.

2

We were there mid-summer.
We stayed a few nights in St. P'sbg and found the station one morning.
Got the train times, had a bite to eat and drink, bought our tickets - and got on board.
There were no real 'Schedule' plans, so didn't book anything in advance - and it was just fine.
Up to you - though.

3

Depends some on when you are traveling - which day of the week and what time. You can check the ticket availability and the prices online beginning 45 days prior to travel and see for yourself whether it makes sense to buy the tickets in advance. Instructions to check ticket prices on the rzd.ru website

OTOH I don't understand why you would want to take the daytime fast train. It is more expensive than an overnight train and the view from the window is nothing special - miles and miles of trees. Plus the overnight train provides accommodations.

Ruth

4

How To Buy Tickets Using RZD.RU detailed instructions:
http://guyssquared.com/2011/how-to-buy-tickets-using-rzd-ru/

5

I was in St.Petersburg this December where I booked ticket to Nizhny Novgorod by this company www.trainsrussia.com.
at first I tried to use rzd.ru but (ticket) booking service was available only in russian version

6

Philip,

I would recommend you to book train tickets from St. Petersburg to Moscow beforehand, no matter which train (day or night) you are going to take. This direction is very popular among us locals, who live in St. Petersburg and Moscow, throughout the year, especially by weekends and national holidays. So there are chances to discover that all day fast trains sold out. The same is true for night trains - the later you book, the lesser choice you have. Although in case of night trains you always have a chance to buy first or business class tickets at the day of departure, but usually it is unreasonably expensive.

Tickets can be booked and paid via Internet. In most (but not in all!) cases for the trains between St. Petersburg and Moscow you can purchase electronic tickets that means you just can print a purchase confirmation and use it for boarding the train (no printed ticket is required in this case). But make sure the system you use for purchasing a ticket offers an “electronic registration” option for the selected train. If this option is not offered for the specific train, you have to print the ticket confirmation, which then should be used for printing a real ticket in a special electronic booth at the railway station.

Purchasing railway tickets via Internet is quite easy and safe. I did it many times. Visa and MasterCard are typically accepted, not sure about American Express cards. I use the http://ticket.rzd.ru Web site for booking. Unfortunately it looks like the booking system interface is available only in the Russian language. The English part of their Web site is almost unhelpful and does not provide any booking facilities. I didn’t know that and I ashamed for the Russian Railways ☹.

An alternative is to use http://www.russianrail.com/ Web site – they provide a booking interface in English language. It looks like an independent agency, not affiliated with Russian Railways, but still. Although I personally never used their service they look quite respectable. They claim at their front page they have a recommendation from Lonely Planet and they have an SSL certificate from Comodo that may guarantee safe money transactions.

There is a completely different alternative to traveling between St. Petersburg and Moscow by train – travel by air. Flight from Pulkovo (St. Petersburg’s airport) to Sheremetievo (Moscow) takes about 40 minutes + the time, which is typically necessary to get to/from airport and pre-flight formalities. Flights from St. Petersburg to Moscow departure each 30 min. in the morning and in the evening, day flights have longer time interval. When booked earlier the economy class tickets could be even cheaper than train tickets to “Sapsan” (this is an official name of a day fast train between cities). But I would also recommend to book flight tickets beforehand since they are popular enough too. My favorite company is Aeroflot (http://www.aeroflot.ru)

Edited by: ocellaris

Edited by: ocellaris

Edited by: ocellaris

7

Wow, lots of important and usefull info. Many thanks to everyone: arsenal4mylife, battybilly, everbrite, mscgreet, crazytravellerjohn, ocellaris.

Your help and assistance is very much appreciated.

Thanks again.

Philip.