Where to go from St. Petersburg?
Replies: 7 - Last Post: Jun 7, 2012 5:52 PM Last Post By: Travelling_Libr...
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Where to go from St. Petersburg?
I will be flying in and out of St. Petersburg this coming July, and I'm trying to decide where to go from there. I have just over a week to work with. I was considering heading up to either Oslo or Stockholm. I hear it's expensive up there, but many people say it's very nice. I'm not on a super tight budget so I was thinking I'd check out Scandinavia where I've never been before.The other choice is I could rent a car or take a train and check out some of the former Soviet Union countries around there.
I'll be traveling with Mum but she's adventurous. We both like doing active things, I'm a photographer and so nature/wildlife scenery is interesting to me. We both like nightlife and fun/nice people.
Anyone have any experience or advice they can share on what would be fun to do from St. Petersburg in July?
Edited by: funkyspelunker
3
I'm going to apply for a double entry visa. It was some work to get all the stuff together but now I have it ready. The only thing I don't know is about "registering" as a visitor to Russia if you plan to stay more than 5 days consecutively, so that's why I'll split my time in St Petersburg between two visits, which is fine because I fly back out of there anyway.4
Your hotel will take care of the registration. You can of course do what you like, but I don't think that you need to leave just to avoid registration. Given how much of a hassle the visa is, it seems a shame to not maximize what you see in Russia.5
The only thing I don't know is about "registering" as a visitor to Russia if you plan to stay more than 5 days consecutively, so that's why I'll split my time in St Petersburg between two visits, which is fine because I fly back out of there anywayUnfortunately there's a lot of information about registration that seems designed to put the fear of god into people. Registration isn't your responsibility, it is something that people who you are staying with must do for you. If you're staying in a hotel this will be done as part of your check in procedure, but it's not uncommon for hotels in St Petersburg to charge for this.
You need not fear being stopped by the police and being asked about registration in St Petersburg.
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I would definitely stay in Russia, especially if you have just over a week. You could spend half of the time in SPB and the other half in Moscow. St. Petersburg has some nice parks and suburbs to go to, I'm sure Moscow does as well. You can take a sleeper train to/from Moscow, but buy your tickets in advance, as the summer season is also very popular among Russian tourist and tickets can be hard to come by.7
If you like nature/wildlife, how about checking out the national parks in the Baltic States. There are plenty of them in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. From St Petersburg you could spend a few days in Veliky Novgorod, head east to Pskov and then across to Estonia. You can take the train, bus or drive if you end up hiring a car.
