Travel How to get around Saint Petersburg: Guide Saint Petersburg, Russia - Nozio 0%

Saint Petersburg How To Get Around, Russia

Traveling around Saint Petersburg is rather simple. The historic center is on the left bank of the Neva, the large river of St. Petersburg, and its main street is Nevsky Prospekt. The streets and roads are distributed around three concentric canals (Mojka, Griboedova and Fontanka); the Admiralty is practically at the center with its unmistakeable spire. The golden cupola of the Cathedral of Saint Isaac and the characteristic bell towers of the Church of the Savior of the Spilled Blood are the key orientation points on the right bank.
On the right bank of the Neva is Vasilevsky Island, the largest island of St. Petersburg. It has some large museums, the university, and a splendid view of the left bank.
The subway and bus systems are efficient and connect well with all of St. Petersburg. We recommend the subway for long distances and the collective bus for short ones.
For visiting the historic center, there is nothing better than walking. For the pedestrian: ulica means street (ul. abbreviated), prospekt means boulevard, pereulok is for lane (per.), ploskad (pl.) is plaza and nabereznaja (nab.) is the riverbank.

Subway
Four lines: 1 red, 2 blue, 3 green, 4 yellow. Ideal for long distances (the stops are an average of 2.5 kilometers from each other). It goes to great depths (passing under the canals) and has beautiful stations, generally welcoming and clean. Take care with the names of the stops that are only in Cyrillic (in the center you also find the names in Latin alphabet, but not everywhere). The subway of St. Petersburg is open from 05:45 to 00:30. The trains pass every 2/3 minutes.

Marschrutkie (marschrutnie taxi)
These are collective taxis (minibuses with from 10 / 20 seats with the letter K or T followed by a number) that have a set route, often the same as that of the buses and trams. They also connect the subway stations. They stop on request: just wave to board and ask the driver to stop to exit (the driver stops as soon as the traffic and the streets allow). They are economical and practical. The only inconvenience is that in the peak hours (7:30 – 9:30 and 17:00 – 20:00) you may wait for some time before managing to board. The marschrutkie run from 6:00 to 24:00.

Eletrichki (local trains)
These are the suburban electric trains, convenient for moving about the city from one train station to another, and especially to reach the surrounding areas of St. Petersburg. Departing on the eletrichki from the Vitebsky station, you can arrive at the Palace of Pavlosk (30 km from St. Petersburg) and at Carskoe Selo (or Puskin), the Village of the Czars, where the famous Palace of Catherine is located (after the train, take a marschrutkie).

Tram, trolleys, bus
The trams in particular serve the periphery of St. Petersburg (the functioning lines are constantly interrupted) while the trolleys mostly cross the historic center of St. Petersburg. Trolleys 5 and 22, for example, travel all along the Nevsky prospect. Buses are located throughout the city; they are economical but not very practical in areas with chaotic traffic. The public transportation service is active from 6:00 to 24:00.

River buses and hydrofoils
The river buses of St. Petersburg are the tourist boats that cross the historic center. Both the boats and the piers are recognizable thanks to the yellow logo with blue Cyrillic writing. The service runs from 11:00 to 19:00, tickets are single and daily (you can get on and off the bus when you wish), and a guide on board describes the city and the monuments (at the moment only in Russian). To reach the Castle of Peterhof, a convenient line of hydrofoils is in service, leaving from in front of the Hermitage. After half an hour of sailing, they arrive at the destination. It runs from 9:00 to 17:00 on the Hermitage – Peterhof tract, from 10 to 18:00 round trip. The ticket is rather expensive.