St Petersburg Transport

Coming and Going

St Petersburg is Russia's second largest air hub, although it lags far behind Moscow in terms of the number of long-haul connections. It's well-connected throughout Europe and the former Soviet Union, but from Asia, Australasia and the Americas you'll usually have to change planes in either Moscow or another European hub to fly into St Petersburg.

St Petersburg has one bus station serving Tampere, Vyborg, Pskov, Novgorod, Moscow, Novaya Ladoga, Petrozavodsk and many smaller destinations. Many short and long-distance buses also leave from outside the Baltic station.

The main international rail gateways to St Petersburg are Helsinki, Warsaw and Berlin. The city has five stations, all south of the Neva River and central to the city. The newest station Ladozhsky services Finland and trains on the Helsinki railway line.

Foreigners can legally drive on almost all of Russia's highways and can even ride motorcycles. You'll need to be 18 years old and have a drivers' licence, along with an International Driving Permit.

Ferries link St Petersburg with Helsinki and, sporadically, other Baltic ports.

Getting About

Though less majestic than Moscow's, the St Petersburg metro leaves most of the world's other undergrounds for dead.

The best way of getting around the city by road is by bus, trolleybus (an electric bus) or tram. Each requires payment of an inexpensive talony (ticket), which are sold in kiosks at major interchanges, by hawkers at the train stations, and often in strips of 10 by drivers. Or, if you invest in a transport map or get to know which of the 200 or so routes you need, the marshrutka system is the local favourite.