Family of 4 in Helsinki for World Gymnaestrada event, then we have 12 days to travel. Will visit Tallinn while in Finland. Sweden is the other place we want to visit. Any comments on St. Petersburg? Best way to travel between these countries, boat or plane? Need to book flights in next few days. Thank you.
Posted by
Colorado Mountains, USA
7897 posts
St. Petersburg is great, especially for the Hermitage museum, but I haven't been there in some time. A recent post in this forum indicated that a visa for Russia for each person must be obtained, unless you are traveling with a guided group and staying for 3 days or less, in which case your guide will make those arrangements.
I know Stockholm and St. Petesrburg are reachable by boat from Helsinki - how are you getting to Estonia?
Posted by
Dallas, United States
707 posts
One way to visit St. Petersburg is by overnight ferry. (www.stpeterline.com ) Unless things have changed, you can do this without a visa for stays in St. Pete of 72 hours or less. We did this in June 2012 and the trip went like this: overnight to St. Petersburg from Helsinki, two nights in a hotel and the next night returned to Helsinki by ferry. The first day we took a tour offered by the ferry company, the second day we took Alla Tours for the day, and the third day we were essentially on our own. You can make it a day trip and stay two consecutive nights on the ferry, or stay one or two nights (but no more) in St. Petersburg hotels. Let me know if you'd like more info. Have a great trip.
Posted by
Dallas, United States
707 posts
Pierina, you wrote "then we have 12 days to travel." St. Petersburg will take only three of those 12. You might consider the other Baltic countries, Latvia and Lithuania. You can use Air Baltic to get to Riga.
Or you can get to Stockholm by overnight ferry and then visit Sweden, Norway, and/or Denmark.
Posted by
Tampere, Finland
26 posts
In my opinion, the best way from Helsinki to Tallin is by ferry. There are many companies that ply that route and trips take between 2.5-4hrs. Different schedules and boats to suit your needs. We've used Viking Line and Linda Line (faster than Viking but their boats are small so schedule is prone to cancellations if the sea is rough) but they're all good so go with one that works with your schedule.
We've taken the Viking ferry overnight from Helsinki to Stockholm. We left Helsinki around 6pm and arrived there around 10am the next day. Not too expensive if you book EARLY and you get lovely views esp at that time of the year! But, we prefer flying only because we try to squeeze our visits there on a weekend. You can get great deals on SAS or Finnair if you book early enough. Fares run about 48 euros one way, 69 return, if you book early and/or during a sale.
We've also done the VISA FREE ferry between Helsinki and St Petersburg. Its also an overnight trip, leave around 5pm and arrive there by 8am ish. We used St Peters Line (I believe its the only company allowed to do this but I may be wrong). Lots of rules to follow, can only stay for a max 72hrs and have to book their city tour etc (i'll attach the link) but we enjoyed our trip immensely.
http://www.stpeterline.com/en/Goodtoknow/Visafreerule.aspx
Posted by
Honolulu/Seattle, HI/WA, USA
2787 posts
On one of our yearly trips to Europe, we went to Finland and Estonia and then to other places. When we returned home, frequent travelers asked us how we liked St. Petersburg. We replied that we did not go there.
Unanimous responses were "You got that close to St. Petersburg and you did not go there?" It is now on our bucket list.