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3-Day St. Petersburg Cruise Without a Visa
1 day
Multi-Day
About this activity
Pickup from your hotel in Helsinki is at approximately 4.30pm (remember to bring all required documents, see Additional Information). Head to the West Ferry Terminal in Helsinki. Board your ferry and depart at 6pm. Enjoy a variety of dining choices and bars, go shopping, have fun, or simply relax as you cross the Gulf of Finland in comfort.
Arrive in the cultural capital of Russia, St. Petersburg. Disembark from your ferry as you get ready to explore Russia's second largest city and one of its most captivating. Climb on board the shuttle-bus that will be waiting to take you to the city center. See Peter and Paul Fortress, St. Isaac's Cathedral, Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood, and more at your own pace and expense. Stroll down Nevsky Prospect. Visit the Hermitage (own expense), one of the largest museums in the world.
Depart the city center at 4:45pm from Saint Isaac’s Square to head back to the ferry. Board no later than 5pm as the ferry departs at 6pm. Sail back to Helsinki in comfort. Arrive at the ferry terminal by 7am and disembark. Drive back to your hotel with complimentary transfer service.
Day 1:
4:30pm on Fri and Sat (or 5:30pm on Wed and Thu) - Transfer to West Terminal
6pm on Fri and Sat (or 7pm on Wed and Thu) - Ferry departure from Helsinki
Day 2:
9am - Ferry arrival to St. Petersburg
9:30am - City Bus shuttle
6pm (Except at 5pm on Sat) - Boarding time ends
7pm (Except at 6pm on Sat) - Ferry departure from St. Petersburg
Day 3:
8am (Except at 7am on Sat) - Ferry arrival to Helsinki
8:30am (Except at 7:30am on Mon) - Transfer to the hotel
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Arrive in the cultural capital of Russia, St. Petersburg. Disembark from your ferry as you get ready to explore Russia's second largest city and one of its most captivating. Climb on board the shuttle-bus that will be waiting to take you to the city center. See Peter and Paul Fortress, St. Isaac's Cathedral, Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood, and more at your own pace and expense. Stroll down Nevsky Prospect. Visit the Hermitage (own expense), one of the largest museums in the world.
Depart the city center at 4:45pm from Saint Isaac’s Square to head back to the ferry. Board no later than 5pm as the ferry departs at 6pm. Sail back to Helsinki in comfort. Arrive at the ferry terminal by 7am and disembark. Drive back to your hotel with complimentary transfer service.
Day 1:
4:30pm on Fri and Sat (or 5:30pm on Wed and Thu) - Transfer to West Terminal
6pm on Fri and Sat (or 7pm on Wed and Thu) - Ferry departure from Helsinki
Day 2:
9am - Ferry arrival to St. Petersburg
9:30am - City Bus shuttle
6pm (Except at 5pm on Sat) - Boarding time ends
7pm (Except at 6pm on Sat) - Ferry departure from St. Petersburg
Day 3:
8am (Except at 7am on Sat) - Ferry arrival to Helsinki
8:30am (Except at 7:30am on Mon) - Transfer to the hotel
Included
- Return transfer in Helsinki
- Hotel/port pickup and drop-off
Not included
- Guide
- Food and drinks
Additional
- Confirmation will be received within 48 hours of booking, subject to availability
- IMPORTANT Required info to proceed the booking: ALL customer names, Date of Birth, Passport number, Place of birth and pickup Hotel details in Helsinki
- For visa-free entrance you need to provide following passport details when you book your cruise: first name(s) and surname, date and place of birth, passport number with expiry date, and citizenship
- After confirmation you will receive all necessary tickets
- Visa Free Rule: In accordance to the legislation of Russian Federation (RF Government Resolution №397), foreign tourists and persons without citizenship or relevant visa and/or proper permission traveling on ferries may arrive to the Russian Federation without Russian visa for the period of 72 hours being part of organized excursion group. VISA-Free journey can lasts up to 3 days.
- According to the law a passenger must arrive at the port of St. Petersburg aboard a ferry сompany and leave in the same manner, be part of organized excursion group (City Bus Tour in this case) and comply with the rule of no longer than 72-hour stay. 72 hours period begins for the moment of crossing border control.
- All passengers traveling from Helsinki to St. Petersburg are required to present a passport before entering the ship
- If a passenger arrives from outside the Schengen area, the passenger must have a multiple entry Schengen visa to enter back to Finland after the cruise.
- In case for breaking the rule of 72-hour visa free staying in the Russian Federation all fees, penalties and other related expenses have to be covered by the passenger
- According to the law the passport need to be valid for at least 6 months prior to the date of entry
- According to the law a passenger must have shuttle-bus city tour ticket
- Documents required are the Arrival Card - ferry boarding ticket, Migration Card, Passport with at least 6 months validity, and shuttle-bus ticket
Features
Tourism
85%
Cultural
45%
Aquatic
35%
Reviews
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You should know that this trip is mostly about taking a cruise ship. The pickup and return transportation in Helsinki was spot on and the cruise ship ride was actually pretty nice. Note that you leave Helsinki at 6pm and arrive in St Petersberg at 8am. The return leaves at 6pm and arrives Helsinki at 8am. With the massive lines at Russian customs, figure to be in the city center no earlier than 11am with the return leaving in about 5 hours. Note: the bus tour is not a bus tour. They drop you off at St Isaac Square and you are on you're own. Given the distance between notable places in St Petersburg, you will need to book another tour to take you around the city in the limited time you have.
I loved that I got to go to St. Petersburg so easily. The pick-up/drop-off service was excellent, he even came in with me to the terminal to make sure all my tickets and paperwork was in order and then saw me right to the boat. I chose to do a three hour guided tour of St. Petersburg provided by the cruise, and that was a good use of time - the guide was friendly and knowledgeable, and it gave a great overview of the city. The only downside to the trip was the cruise itself, but probably only because I couldn't help but compare it to other cruises I've been on. The boat was clean and the service was fine, it was just outdated and a bit limited. I'm glad I did this cruise, and would recommend it to others as long as they kept in mind the boat is decent but not great.
There were 3 couples in our group and we all had this same impression. Let me say first that the actual arrangements for transport on the ship were well coordinated and as expected. We had a nice little room on the ship and the cruise was nice. HOWEVER, there are some things you must know before you book this tour... 1 your total amount of time actually in the city is only 6 hours or so - not even an entire day. It is a lot of time to spend to dedicate for such a short amount of time in the city. A more accurate description would be 2.5 day cruise with .5 day in St. Petersburg. 2 Russian Customs is absolutely awful. It took us almost TWO hours to get through. Don't plan any other tours or schedule activities before 1130am or you risk missing them. Depending on your time through customs, you will have significantly less time in the city. 3 Once you get through customs, you are on your own and must figure out what to see and how to see it Peterhoff and St. Catherine's are too far away to walk. Walking from one of the drop-off points, you are still not likely to see everything in central downtown. 4 The cruise ship offers their own tours that you can book when on board. One of our group did that tour after learning that no other tours were available and said things went pretty well. When you do this, the cruise ship helps coordinate - so I'd recommend that you consider those tours. 5 Without a visa, you are SUPPOSED to be supervised while in Russia. The bus from the port to the town is considered your supervised tour, but in reality, you are on your own once the bus drops you off. Fortunately, none of us ran into an issue like pick-pockets, accidents or other things that might cause you to deal with the authorities. Deep in the fine print, it says this, but none of us appreciated what it meant. In the end, it was a fine cruise, but not really much quality time in St. Petersburg. I rated this 3 stars because the transport piece was just fine, but the title makes you think it is more about the city than the boat. As far as rating this tour for it's city emphasis, I'd rate it one star.