Page 110 - (DK Eyewitness) Top 10 Travel Guide - St. Petersburg

108 ❯❯ Streetsmart

Getting To and Around
St Petersburg

Arriving by Air Line. Large cruise ships 12:30am. More than just a
dock at Marine Facade mode of public transport,
Located 23 km south of Port on the western tip of St Petersburg’s metro is
the city, Pulkovo Airport’s Vasilevskiy Island, while an attraction in its own
Terminal 1, opened in smaller ships dock at right (see pp48–9).
2014, is a splendid new either Naberezhnaya
facility that serves as Leytenenta Shmidta on Travelling by Car
St Petersburg’s domestic the eastern side of
and international airport. Vasilevskiy Island or Driving is not advised in
Buses and minibuses opposite at the English St Petersburg, but if you
(marshrutka) depart every Embankment. do choose to travel by car,
10 to 15 minutes from note that Hertz, Avis, Sixt
outside the arrivals hall Arriving by Train and Europcar all offer car
to Moskovsyaka metro hire from Pulkovo Airport.
station (20 minutes), from There are many trains In Russia, traffic drives on
where it’s a 20-minute from Moscow to Moscow the right. Vehicles should
journey into the city centre. station (Moskovskiy not make any left turns
Avoid using the unofficial vokzal) in St Petersburg, on main roads unless a
taxis that lurk near the including an express train road sign indicates that
arrivals hall – licensed (Sapsan) that takes just this is permitted.
Pulkovo Taxis can be pre- under 4 hours. However, In winter, driving
booked from counters the most popular trains requires studded tyres as
within the airport; the fare are the sleepers, which chains can be damaged
is around 900 roubles. take over 8 hours. You on tram lines.
Airport facilities can travel by platzkarte, Tourists are required by
include free Wi-Fi, baby- coupe or SV, which are, law to have a notarized
changing rooms, and lifts respectively, a seat in a translation of their driving
and toilets for passengers carriage, a berth in a licence; producing an
with disabilities. There four-person cabin, and a international driving
are also cafés, duty-free bed in a two-person cabin. licence will not suffice.
shops, ATMs and Timetables can be
bureaux du change. found on the Russian Travelling by Bus
Turkish Airlines and Railways website. Several
Air Baltic, the Latvian daily express trains link Bus stops are identifiable
budget carrier, currently Helsinki with Finland by their white-and-yellow
offer the cheapest flights Station (Finlyandskiy signs with a red “A” (for
between St Petersburg vokzal) in St Petersburg avtobus). These buses can
and a number of (3 hours and 30 minutes); be very crowded during
European capitals. tickets can be booked on rush hour. The expensive,
the VR website. privately run buses add
Arriving by Boat a “K” before their bus
Travelling by Metro numbers, which are the
The journey by boat same as those of the
from Moscow takes The city’s metro is state-operated buses.
around two weeks and incredibly good value and
can be arranged through trains come at regular Travelling by Tram
Just Go Russia. intervals, ranging from
Regular ferries running every 3 minutes during Trams (tramvai) are
between St Petersburg rush hour, to every 4 or popular all over the
and Helsinki (10 hours), 5 minutes late at night. former Soviet Union,
Tallinn (14 hours) and The metro is open until and St Petersburg is no
Stockholm (24 hours) can midnight, although trains exception. The stops are
be booked via St Peter continue to run until identifiable by the

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