North Europe and North Russia

I did a similar trip last summer (without Moscow, however). The Nordic countries certainly are expensive, but you picnic frequently and take advantage of lunch specials, it's doable. What kinds of things are you interested in? Museums? Outdoors? Food?

~C

Hi There,
Yes, I normally walk the entire day, go for the principal sightseen, drink a beer in between of museums, free walking tours, and grab food on the streets or quick restaurants, later I go to my hostel, take a shower and ready for action, whenver are music, I will be there :)
I am traveling from Vancouver-Canada, should I go directly to Moscow and make the round all the way north and returning on Copenhagen? I was planning before start in Copenhagen and 4 days later take the plane to Moscow and finishing in Stockholm... What do you suggest?

You know how to get your Russian visa, right?

Maybe go to Tallinn from St. Petersburg? I'd spend 2 days there, 2 in Helsinki. Tallinn is beautiful. Leave enough time to enjoy it.

Yes, I am Peruvian and we don't need visa to Russia:)

I'm Israeli and don't need one either. Aren't we lucky !!!

Do you speak any Russian? Read it? We found that most Russians spoke no English, even those working at tourist sights and most taxi drivers. We learned the cyrillic alphabet so we could sound out the signs.

Often the older Russians looked quite dour, but when we smiled and said hi, they lit up in huge grins and lots of warmth.

Hi there,
No, I don't speak any Russian :(
I know it will be a difficult trip but I can't wait :)
Good advise in learning a bit of the cyrillic alphabet, Thanks!!
T.

Take the Sapsan high speed train to St Petersburg, and maybe the overnight ferry to Stockholm from Tallinn.

Arrive in Copenhagen (3 nights)
Fly to Moscow (4 nights)
Sapsan high speed train to St Petersburg (5 nights)
Train to Helsinski (3 nights)
Ferry to Tallinn (1 night)
Overnight ferry to Stockholm (3 nights)

The Kremlin churches in Moscow are stunning. Make sure you secure tickets in the morning for that day as the ticketing system makes little sense (like many things in Russia).
Buy a 2 day ticket for the Hermitage in advance - avoid the queues, and break it up (as it's huge).
Peterhof is easy by yourself using one of the 2 hydrafoil companies that depart from the river by the Hermitage.
The Catherine Palace is a little more difficult to manage by yourself. I took a minibus, not the train.

Hi David!
I changed a little bit my trip. I finally bought my tickets starting in Moscow and moving Copenhagen to the end.
A couple of questions:
the Sapsan high speed train to St Petersburg is better than the overnight train from Moscow?
Also, I was planing to take the overnight cruise from Helsinsky to Stickholm since it seems to be fun a overnight party cruise! It is the same from Taillin instead?
I will take the train from Stocholm to Copenhagen and end of my 23 days trip :)

Fly Moscow (4 days)
Sapsan high speed train to St Petersburg (5 nights)
Train to Helsinski (3 nights)
Ferry to Tallinn (1 night)
Overnight ferry to Stockholm (3 nights)
Train to Copenhagen (3 nights)
Back to Vancouver... Poor!

Thanks
Tatianq

I love your adventurous spirit! Some tips we used for our short time in Russia:

• Always have the name and address of your hotel with you in Russian (Cyrillic)
• get your hotel to write down in Russian the names and addresses of all the places you want to see that day (and in English so you know which is which ☺
• be careful with taxis - if you don't know how much the ride should cost, you may get ripped off
• In St. P, visit the Peterhof early. They turn the fountains on in the morning and it's a show. Spend lots of time wandering the gardens enjoying the fountains - Peter had a sense of humor and some of the little fountains are fun.
• it may well have changed (wow, it's been 7 years), but we paid in cash dollars for some things (prices were quoted in dollars), mostly taxis and souvenirs. Know the exchange rate!! For some entrance fees we had to pay cash in rubles. At the Hermitage, we were in line for a long time to buy tickets, only to find out we couldn't use a US credit card and had to go to another agent with another line.

People were friendly and helpful, just didn't speak English.

The Sapsan train is very comfortable, being based on the German ICE trains. They take about 4 hours from Moscow to St Petersburg, with 12 services per day in summer. I took one the opposite direction in 2012, and it was a great ride.

The ferry to Stockholm would be a cool way to mix up your trip I think. I don't have experience with either of them, so hopefully others may shed light.

I wondered why you were starting in Copenhagen as Moscow definitely makes more sense.

Oh thanks so much guys for the tips!
Since I just became unemployed this trip will be even more challenging!!!!... traveling solo definitely rise up your spirit even if you are not passing for the best time of your life...
Cheers
Tatiana

Echoing Chani's suggestion to spend 2 days in Tallin and 2 in Helsinki. Tallinn is a beautiful city and hotel accommodations are much more reasonable.

St Petersburg was an amazingly beautiful city. If you have a chance to attend the Kirov Ballet at the Mariinsky, do it!!! Or maybe ballet is not your thing. It fulfilled a lifelong dream for me but one I would love to repeat.

And only drink bottled water in Russia.

If you are going to Russia on your own, you MUST learn Cyrillic - not optional, or you'll be miserable. A great way is the book Read and Write Russian Script. It breaks down the letters into those that are the same as English, those that look the same but are pronounced differently, etc - much easier than just looking at a chart.

http://www.amazon.com/Read-Write-Russian-Script-Reference/dp/0071747451/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1464186236&sr=1-3&keywords=cyrillic+alphabet

Many restaurants in central St. Petersburg and Moscow have English menus; even if your server doesn't speak English, you can point to what you want in English, they read the Russian next to it, and you're set. I got particularly fond of the chain Il Patio Planet Sushi. It was two separate restaurants - Italian and Japanese - that merged; now they serve both cuisines at all locations! When you enter, you say "sushi" or "pizza" and they seat you in the appropriate section (they have many more items than just these - pastas, tempura, etc). Again, they have bilingual menus, so no problems ordering.

For getting between Moscow and St. Petersburg, I took the overnight train in 2001 and the Sapsan in 2010. Both work well - choose whichever one works better for your itinerary. Just don't fly - takes much longer and is much more hassle than the Sapsan.

For budget tips in Scandinavia, Rick Steves Scandinavia has lots of suggestions.

Thanks again for all the tips. I will definitely start learning a bit about Russian cyrillic. I decided to take the overnite red line train instead to save and mostly for the experience, but I will take a high speed train from SP to Helsinky.

Do you have an iPad or tablet? We just got back from Moscow and found our tablet's Google maps was invaluable for helping get around. We marked the places we wanted to go before we left the hotel each morning. The satalite (sp) location feature then helped us figure out where we were and where we were going many times. Knowing the Cyrilic alphabet also helped with sounding out names.

Hi Becky,
a cell phone will work? I mean you are talking about the google map or about an app that works in Moscow?
Thanks

Got the book on the library :)