I have been wanting to visit beautiful Russia for quite sometime… we’re talking years. But the visa process for Americans can be a bit intimidating. So naturally I jumped at the chance to visit the Motherland when I found out that we can visit Saint Petersburg visa free for up to 72 hours as long as we get there via boat! Pretty sweet right?! And that’s exactly what I did for my birthday holiday this year.
This post contains affiliate links. If you happen to make a purchase through these links I will earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Thank you!
The Hermitage
How To Get Here:
It’s a bit tough finding a ton of information on hot to visit Saint Petersburg visa free. I found a couple great blogs and the TripAdvisor forums offered some help but that was about it. When you go to the official website, which is at: St. Peter Line, there is a little information, but not a whole lot. So hopefully this post will help any of you with further questions.
My cabin
Booking and Getting to the Ferry Terminal:
After booking my room from Helsinki to Saint Petersburg (I opted for a two bed – with both beds on the floor – even though I was by myself. And I highly recommend this as the beds are not the softest. I ended up using the comforter from the other bed as an extra layering on my bed.), I was sent a basic email with my confirmation and that was about it. I did some research and mapped out the ferry terminal (It’s the West Terminal 1 at Tyynenmerenkatu 8).
The ship leaves at 19:00 but you can board as early as 15:00. Since I was already in Helsinki, I decided to make the most of it, leave my luggage at the very nice hotel I was staying at and explore Helsinki before making my way to the ship at around 16:30. I decided to walk over as I love walking and was easily at the dock by 17:30. You can also spot the statue of the Bad Bad Boy just across the street from the terminal (which of course I did) ;).
Bad Bad Boy Statue in Helsinki
Picking Up Your Tickets from the Terminal:
Picking up my tickets was quick and painless. Though they will ask you for confirmation of your hotel in Saint Petersburg so I do highly recommend printing your confirmation out. (Also at customs in Russia they may ask for it. And that is definitely an intense experience so have everything ready just in case.) I was given four cards – one was my ticket which also doubles as your room key. You’re also given an arrival card and departure card for Russia and a card for a savings at their Duty Free on board.
Boarding the Ship:
Now I’d never been on a cruise ship before (and granted I’m sure they are quite different to this one), but I was quite amazed at the sheer size of this ship! It was huge! I’m not sure why I was thinking it would be a little 3 level boat, but that was the vision in my head ;). There are restaurants, a casino (that wasn’t crowded at all), and a nightclub on board. There weren’t very many other passengers though – possibly because it was the start of off season (I went in October). And definitely when I boarded I felt like I was the only passenger. I was quickly greeted by a nice staff before being ushered down the hall to my room (which was on level 4 – the same level you will board and disembark from).
My Cabin:
My room for this adventure traveling to St. Petersburg visa free, was very tiny. But comfortable. But also quite dated. It felt like it really hit it’s prime in the 1980s.
The Restaurants on the Ship:
I ended up figuring out the restaurants were on the 6th floor and settled on their Italian restaurant for a pizza. It was pretty decent actually. Honestly, I was just so excited to be going to Russia finally that anything would have been good ;). The service was excellent and there was a fun piano player to entertain us.
After dinner I discovered there is a sheet of paper at the information desk with much more info on the cruise. There is a children’s show oddly at 22:00 and stripping show later on after that… just in case you’re interested ;).
Selfie in my cabin before dinner 🙂
Back in my Cabin:
I retired back to my room, decided to watch Enemy at the Gates (It was the only Russian themed movie I’d downloaded prior. Since there is no wifi readily available – at least not when I was on it – maybe download a couple things beforehand.), and tried to settle my excitement long enough to fall asleep. But boy was the journey over there rough! For sure we must have been in a storm or something. It was like riding a roller coaster! (Thankfully the ride back was smooth sailing – no pun intended :)).
First views of Russia!! 🙂
Arrival into Saint Petersburg Visa Free!
I set my alarm for 8am so I could grab a quick breakfast at the cute little coffee shop before disembarking. We arrived at 9am but they let people with small children off first, or if you booked one of the tours with them. For everyone else, it’s 9:30am. I will say that is where I found most of the people. It was a mad rush to exit the ship. I thought my getting to the main doors around 9:15 was a good idea, but you do kind of just get pushed around a lot. The people are all very nice, but we’re all just so anxious to start exploring I think it gets the better of a few of them ;).
Clearing Customs in Saint Petersburg:
At 9:30, we were allowed to disembark. We all funneled into the various lines at customs and then waited. I actually met some really nice people while waiting. It’s quite a process, just as a heads up. And the guards all look so official, and just so very Russian. I definitely loved every minute of it. I did see them take some people in line away and then some of them came back… this is when I started to wonder if I actually would be allowed to enter or if I might have to stay on board the ship. The poor girl in front of this nice group of English travelers and myself was yelled at pretty brutally. She didn’t have her confirmation for her hotel. Poor thing. She did finally get a copy from her phone and was allowed to enter. I got through pretty easily. I had all of my papers ready and I didn’t fidget about. They did question me if I was in the military or not but that was about it. I kind of got the hint it was better that I wasn’t.
Now You Can Visit Saint Petersburg visa free!
So after that, I was on my way to explore Russia!!! Seriously so surreal! Oh, and I should mention, as part of being able to go visa free, you have to join one of their city “tours”, however, this means the shuttle bus from the ferry terminal to St. Isaac’s Square in Saint Petersburg. They make you buy it regardless but you don’t have to take it into the city if you don’t want to. I did, since I already paid for it. It’s just a little van though, FYI. I luckily just had my backpack with me but not sure what one would do if they had a lot of luggage. But the other passengers seemed to manage just fine :). And so, I was on my way!
View from my hotel room 🙂
Hotel in St. Petersburg:
I recommend grabbing a hotel near St. Isaac’s Square. I splurged, since it was my birthday trip, and stayed at a lovely 5 star hotel, Angleterre Hotel. I got a room with a view of St. Isaac’s! So fancy! And the room was lovely as was the staff. Highly recommend it. I also could leave my bag the day of departure and just pick it up before heading across the street to catch the shuttle back. You’ll be given a shuttle timetable on the ship and I took the second to last shuttle back to the ship on my final day and was fine. Probably could have taken the last one, but I wanted to give myself a little time, just in case anything went wrong.
Angleterre Hotel
Honestly, St. Petersburg is such a magical place! I instantly fell in love with it, and if you’re like me and have always wanted to visit, I highly recommend going! I’d like to get an actual visa and stay longer, but this little taste was still perfect. Never stop exploring this beautiful world, and get out there and see the things you long to see. And I hope you too will visit Saint Petersburg visa free sometime!
Happy travels everyone! 🙂
And if you’d like to read more about my adventures in Europe, check out my guide to Barcelona, Spain and my Day Trip From Rome to Tivoli.
