Information on St. Petersburg, NEVSKY INN

This page is designed as a rough guide. We do our best to try and ensure that the information given is accurate and up to date. We expect prices to museums and palaces to rise sharply for the 300 year anniversary celebrations this summer. All the prices will be reviewed at the beginning of May. We are constantly seeking to add more information to this page, that would be useful to people visiting the city. Your suggestions and recommendations are very much appreciated. You can contact us at info@nevskyinn.ru

TRAVELLING TO ST PETERSBURG.

The following airlines have direct flights to St.Petersburg: BA, Lufthansa, SAS, Finnair, CSA, KLM, LOT, Aeroflot, Pulkovo, Air France, Swiss Air.

The website www.airticket.spb.ru has a detailed timetable on all international flights arriving and departing St.Petersburg. A useful website for cheap air tickets is www.expedia.com.

Should you have difficulty in purchasing cheap air tickets direct to Petersburg this summer due to the 300th anniversary celebrations, then consider flying to Moscow and taking a train to Petersburg. We can help you organise the trip from Moscow.

There are a number of overland routes to St. Petersburg; coaches depart regularly from Tallinn, Estonia. A good contact in Tallinn is Tanya Lvova from Zodiac Tours. She can help you organise travel in Estonia, and can help you to travel onwards to St.Petersburg. Her email address is zti@hot.ee and her office phone number is +372 64 84 038.

Coaches and trains depart from Helsinki, Finland, to St.Petersburg on a regular basis. There is also a direct train service connecting Berlin, Germany, with St.Petersburg (www.deutschebahn.de).

MONEY EXCHANGE.

Money exchange bureaux are located all over the city. The russian word for money exchange is обмен валюты. The most convertible currencies are USD and the EURO. British Pound Stirling is also widely accepted, but there are still some places that will refuse to exchange Pound Stirling. You will always need to show your passport when you are changing money, even if it is cash.

Cash is by far the most convenient form of money to have with you; every exchange will accept cash!! This is unfortunately not the case with traveller's cheques, and it can be time consuming and frustrating to change them . If you insist on bringing traveller's cheques, then the best place to change them into cash is at the bank in the Grand Europe Hotel, located on Nevsky prospect.

ATMs are now in abundance and accept the following cards: Visa, Visa electron, Mastercard, Maestro, Plus. You can normally only withdraw roubles from the ATMs. Credit cards are becoming more widely accepted in shops and restaurants.

We recommend the IMPEX bank ( импзкс банк) on Nevsky prospect, located opposite the Anichkov Palace, as the best place to change cash. They offer the best rates, take no commission and do not require you to show your passport in order to change your money! When you enter the building, go up the stairs to the 2nd floor and enter the large trading hall. The traders will buy USD, Euros, Pound Stirling from you at preferential rates. The trading hall is open from 10.00 - 20.00, closed on Sunday. At present (03/02/03) they are offering the following rates: 1 USD = 31.70 roubles; 1 Euro = 34.20; 1 GBP = 50. These rates change from day to day.

Museums:

* All prices are in Russian roubles.

Welcome to St. Petersburg!