Helskinki to Tallinn to St. Petersburg

Hi... Following a family reunion in Helsinki next year, in August I hope, I plan to spend a few days in St. Petersburg and am also thinking about a day or two in Tallinn.

I would appreciate any and tips/advice/information about the ferry from Helsinki to Tallinn and train from either Helsinki or Tallinn to St. Petersburg, as well as advice about hotels in Tallin and St. Petersburg. (And for the matter, Helsinki.)

Any other tips for traveling in this area and favorite to see and do also appreciated.

Thanks!

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Hi!

There are plenty of ferry connections between Helsinki and Tallinn, just browse through the earlier postings in this forum or see the web pages of the ferry companies, e.g. Tallink, Viking Line and Eckerö Line.

I would recommend to make the Tallinn and St Petersburg trips separately. As said, the ferry connections between Helsinki and Tallinn and perfect and as the journey takes only 2-3 hours you can make that as a day trip or maybe stay one night in Tallinn if you want to explore more. Sokos Hotel Viru and the new Tallink hotels are good hotel choices in Tallinn.

There are also good train connections betweem Helsinki and St. Petersburg, see www.vr.fi. Whereas, the connections between Tallinn and St Petersburg are not so good so that would be a harder part of the trip.

For Helsinki hotels, see the hotel reviews in this forum.

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The cheapest (usually: subject to special offers) ferry between Helsinki and Tallinn is Linda Line. http://www.lindaline.fi/en/

The Viking Line Express service is almost as fast (2 hours). http://www.vikingline.fi/index.asp?lang=en

Tallink is also a 2-hour service. http://www.tallinksilja.com/en/

Eckerö Line (http://www.eckeroline.fi/en/default.aspx) has some dirt-cheap ferry + hotel packages but it takes 3 - 3½ hours each way and is packed with drunks.

About your general enquiries, look back in this forum (and the forums for Tallinn and St. Petersburg and you will find they have been thoroughly covered.

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As said earlier, the easiest option is to go from Helsinki to Tallinn and back and then take a train from Helsinki to St. Petersburg (and back).

For Russia you will also have to acquire a visa. The current freedom of visas applies only to cruise passengers arriving in and leaving from St. Petersburg by a ship. Visa is rather easy to get but requires some effort (filling in applications, sending passport to the Russian consulates etc.) and it is also an extra cost to the trip.

You%26#39;d better arrange the visa in the US (Embassy of Russia in Washington DC) before leaving for Finland as here the Russian Embassy might refuse issuing a visa to a tourist (i.e. a non-resident of Finland) and for you it will cost more here than back at home due to the extra fee the Russian Embassy charges from non-Finnish citizens).

The new high speed Allegro trains are due come into service between Helsinki and St. Petersburg in 2010: vrgroup.fi/vakiolinkit/…news_127.html A picture is available at vr-konserni.fi/fi/…kuva_allegro_junasta.html .