Ferry Trip from Stockholm to Tallin Just as Scenic as The One to Helsinki?

Why don't you just take a Baltic cruise that takes you to all the large Scandinavian cities and St. Petersburg? Prices are very reasonable versus the extremely high cost of food and drink on shore in the region. We spend just over $1K for 9 day cruise in August.

To keep from having to get an "invite" visa for Russia, you've got to spend the night on a ship/ferry and go directly to an authorized tour operation in St. Petersburg. We were there 2 days, and our tour guide and scenery was fabulous.

Why don't you just take a Baltic cruise that takes you to all the large Scandinavian cities and St. Petersburg? Prices are very reasonable versus the extremely high cost of food and drink on shore in the region. We spend just over $1K for 9 day cruise in August.

To keep from having to get an "invite" visa for Russia, you've got to spend the night on a ship/ferry and go directly to an authorized tour operation in St. Petersburg. We were there 2 days, and our tour guide and scenery was fabulous.

Thank you, David, but I'm not really interested in a longer cruise at this time. We want to spend time visiting relatives in Stockholm and Helsinki.

We are looking at one that specifically includes St. Petersburg and Helsinki from Sweden. (Tallin is a bonus.) I'm thinking that might work better for us than travelling from Stockholm to Helsinki on the ferry and then taking the ferry from Helsinki to St. Petersburg and back to Helsinki.

The ferry from Stockholm to Tallinn goes through exactly the same scenery as the ferry to Helsinki. Only in the final hour or two do the routes diverge.

I'm sure you've done your homework regarding the visa requirements to enter Russia, but I was not aware you could visit Russia without a visa, except by cruise ship under certain conditions. So be sure to double-check. As a Canadian, your requirement may be different from those of us in the USA.

Thank you, Lane. That is the information I was looking for. I thought that would be the case, but wanted to confirm.

The tour we were looking at does qualify for the 72-hour visa free status. However, we are now rethinking going to St. Petersburg at all :(, although we will still go to Tallin and Helsinki, so this information is very helpful. Thank you.

(The issue with St. Petersburg is that our daughter is going to school in England and will have 4 exams that will take place sometime within a 6-week period, from the end of April to June 10. She likely won't know the exact dates of her exams are until April. She will try to join us in our travels, or part of them, working around her exams, and we've decided it's just too complicated to try to fit St. Petersburg in there without knowing her schedule in advance.)