Imagine visiting St Petersburg, one of the most majestic cities in the world, and avoiding the headache of the visa process. Alannah Eames found a loophole: combine it with a Baltic Sea cruise and you can stay up to three days visa-free.
St Petersburg was founded by Tsar Peter the Great in 1703 as Russia’s ‘window to the west’ and the city today still bears a distinctive ‘East meets West’ vibe.
St Petersburg is a beautiful city and this cruise was the perfect way to see the Hermitage in a short space of time
One of the world’s most intriguing cities and steeped in history, its stunning buildings and monuments bear witness to the bygone Tsarist and Stalin eras, earning its historic centre a place on the Unesco World Heritage site list.
A metropolis of around five million people, it is one of the largest cities in the Baltic Sea region and a mecca for culture, history, food and nightlife. It’s also home to the Hermitage – one of the largest art museums in the world.
Yet, until recently, the sheer hassle of trying to arrange a visa to Russia put many visitors off. However, under Russian law, foreigners are allowed to arrive in the country by ferries and stay for up to 72 hours without a visa as long as they have booked the trip with a tour operator and have a pre-arranged programme.
That’s why St Peter Line started a direct cruise between the Swedish capital, Stockholm, and St Petersburg. “We wanted to give tourists the chance to take a short hassle-free trip to St Petersburg and also to bring wealthy Russians to Stockholm for shopping and so on. We can arrange the entire programme for our passengers,” says Tapani Kauhanen, St Peter Line’s marketing director for Scandinavia.
It takes just 24 hours from Stockholm to St Petersburg on board the comfortablE Princess Anastasia which can carry 2,500 passengers and 580 cars. Surprisingly, the Anastasia also flies the Maltese flag as she is registered in Malta.
“Malta is a very good flag as many cruise lines including Celebrity Cruises and others use this for their fleet,” says Igor Glukhov, president of St Peter Line.
“We have no specific Maltese connections, but we are quite satisfied with this solution and will continue to register our ships under the Malta flag in the future.”
The beauty of the trip is that you can make it as long or as short as you like as you can hop on or off at the medieval Estonian capital of Tallinn, spend some time in Mariehamn, the capital of the Åland Islands, or pick up some Nordic design in Finland’s achingly cool capital Helsinki along the way.
If, like American Susan Volsky who took the cruise in September, your heart is set on the Hermitage and you are stuck for time, you can take the three-day cruise which includes a full day in St Petersburg and a few hours in Helsinki.
Others make a week-long trip out of it, spending three days in St Petersburg, two days in Helsinki or Tallinn and two on board the ship.
“As we arrived in St Petersburg, I thought ‘wow, I can’t believe I am finally here’ as I’ve always wanted to go to the Hermitage,” she says. “We were just sorry that we didn’t stay overnight. There’s so much to see and do in St Petersburg, even if the weather is not perfect.”
The cruise is proving a hit with Swedes, tourists and Russians alike.
“We cover everything from the upper to the lower budgets so it is up to you if you want to hang out in the Champagne Bar in the evenings at €350 a pop, lounge by the pool with your kids, have sushi with friends or enjoy the nightclub,” says Kauhanen.
The cruise effortlessly mixes what you’d expect from a Scandinavian Baltic Sea cruise with a touch of Russian charm thrown in. For example, there is an XXXX Club, a popular Russian nightclub chain, which has some modest topless dancing after the vodka starts flowing.
Passengers are also treated to live theatre and ballet performances by a St Petersburg-based fine arts academy. “The show was a highlight,” says Volsky. “I loved the Russian dancers.”
“St Petersburg is a beautiful city and this cruise was the perfect way to see the Hermitage in a short space of time,” concludes Volsky.
Must-sees in St Petersburg
You will never run out of things to see or do in St Petersburg but here are a few of the highlights that should not be missed:
• The Hermitage Museum: one of the world’s largest and most spectacular art museums.
• Peter and Paul Fortress: one of Russia’s most historical prisons.
• Catherine Palace (also known as the Summer Palace a glimpse into how Russia’s royalty once lived.
• Peterhof: the playground of the tsars with ornate fountains.
• Kizhi Island: an open-air museum of wooden architecture – made without nails – from the Karelia region of Russia.
• The Russian Museum: home to one of the largest collections of Russian art in the world.
• The Bronze Horseman statue: a symbol of St Petersburg showing Peter the Great on his horse.
• Lazarus and Tikhvin Cemeteries: the burial site of some of Russia’s most famous artists, composers and writers.
• Boat tour: by day or night, a picturesque tour on the Neva river and through smaller canals. Best done in summer.
• Hop on the metro to see the Soviet-style suburbs to see how ‘normal’ residents of St Petersburg live.
About the St Peter Line cruise
Air Malta, SAS and Ryanair fly from Malta to Stockholm. St Peter Line ships depart from Stockholm in Sweden and Helsinki in Finland. City tours, hotel packages and meal packages during the voyage should be booked online when you book your cruise to get the best deals. Prices range from around €220 per person. Check out www.stpeterline.com for more information.