St. Petersburg - Moscow by train

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sjef_fredrik
sjef_fredrik

Let me ask you all for some advice:

We're planning to travel from St. Petersburg to Moscow by night train on Fri 14 March, and return to St. Petersburg on Fri 21 March.

I've read many postings about train travel in Russia (and I did the Trans-Siberian myself in 2004), but I'm still a bit confused.

Should we buy our tickets at the station on the day of travel - or should I get them in advance from an agent?

I live in Norway and will fly into St. Petersburg on the morning of 14 March. We'll have at least 10 hours to spend in St. Petersburg before the night trains depart for St. Petersburg. My wife speaks some Russian, and we don't mind queing for a while to buy tickets. Neither are we too price sensitive; we plan to travel 1st class anyway.

However, we have a hotel booking in Moscow from the following day, so we really need to travel on that exact day. Perhaps better to buy in advance from an agent? What agents have centrally located offices in St. Petersburg where we can pick up our tickets on the day of travel? What agents are the most reliable?

Any advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks :)

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spoerle
spoerle

Study ...www.bahn.de... and you will find out that there are many many night trains to Moskva.
Go to the Moskva station. When coming in, on the right hand side is a window selling tickets to foreigners.
You should easily get a ticket, 1st class or 2nd class

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sjef_fredrik
sjef_fredrik

Thanks for that - but can you be sure there will be tickets available for same day travel? We'll arrive in St. Petersubrg in the early afternoon, and have to travel to Moscow the same night. An agent wants USD 188 pr. person in 1st class on train # 27.

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everbrite
everbrite

No, you cannot be sure that tickets will be available. You can book on the rzd.ru website for a nominal fee and pick up the tickets at any train station window with the @ symbol with your credit card, receipt and passport.

Ruth

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palladium
palladium

You should certainly book tickets in advance - Friday nights are always very busy for travel between the two cities.

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