|
Important Advice:
On this site you find a constantly updated collection of useful advice.
Dear Guests!
Unfortunately, pick-pocketing in St. Petersburg has widely increased,
and a few of my own guests have been subject to thievery as well. For
this reason I have decided to provide a very nicely done and informative article from the St. Petersburg newspaper here.
A list of the most frequently asked questions:
SHOULD I BRING DOLLARS?
No, not necessary any more. Euros in cash are even better.
WHEN AND WHERE DO I CHANGE RUBLES?
Preferably you bring your EC-card and a VISA- or Mastercard. For many years now, you find ATMs almost every where.
Usually with these you receive Rubles at a reasonable exchange rate,
and deduction fees for processing are moderate. Also VISA- and master
cards are accepted in most restaurants, bars and clubs as well as in many supermarkets.
HOW ABOUT MY MOBILE PHONE?
Inquire with your home provider whether they have a service agreement
with Russia. Usually this will be the case. As soon as you have landed
and switched on your mobile, your phone will automatically search for a
local provider. MTS or MEGAPHONE
are our recommendations. You will be charged their rates for
calls inside Russia. The rates are higher than in Germany, for example,
but still acceptable. Rates are also reasonable for receiving calls
from outside Russia, but do refrain away from outgoing calls to
anywhere outside of Russia – you might be charged 3 Euros per minute
and more…
Something else: for fellow mobiles, dial +7 instead of 007 before the actual number for Russia!
IS THERE SECURE PARKING FOR CAR, MOTORCICLE AND BIKE?
YES! Just around the corner at the polish embassy, there is a
supervised car park for an additional charge. Otherwise, we can offer
our own courtyard as an alternative, which is almost as secure, and for
bicycles we even provide a lockable basement storage.
Why to come to Sankt Petersburg not only in summertime?!
During summer, St.
Petersburg is a dream – unquestionable! With nice weather, it is
wonderful to stroll down these lively streets, full of people, in an
almost southern or Mediterranean atmosphere.
But exactly that is also a problem – already upon arrival at the
airport, which is newly renovated but still too small, or by ferry many
of our guests experienced the dispatching times as quite a nightmare. 3
hours are possible, 2 are normal, and 1 hour is good.
In front of Museums the Tour busses pile up,
after being caught up in heavy traffic and an endless journey to reach
their destination. At the entrances and token stalls, guests are met by
enormous lines of people. This way, it was completely normal this
summer to be waiting in line for 3 hours to visit the Amber Room.
And you may very well end up spending more time in front of the
Hermitage than actually inside…just to shovel and push through these
hallways in stifling heat and stuffy air.
Naturally, not only Museums and Palaces are overcrowded –
don’t even dream about getting tickets to the famous Russian ballet or
theater in case you haven't booked six months in advance or are willing
to spend a small fortune; even though the best and most famous dancers
are not even performing in the city during summer but are on tour.
Generally in the summer months, almost all entrance fees are considerably higher than during the rest of the year, not to mention the rates for accommodation.
In spite of the expensive and complicated visa procedures, tourism to
St. Petersburg is increasing by double-digit percentage, and everybody
forgets that this country lacks nothing but ORGANISATION.
With these words we want to inform you about possible obstacles during
the short Russian summer and also to promote the definitely beautiful
Russian winter. Due to the appraisal of presenting the “White
nights” as the “ultimate” thing, the authors tend to ignore reporting on St. Petersburg’s winter romance.
During December, January and February, it is beautifully chilly and usually all white.
The snow is glistening in the sun and on roofs and church tips of the
now quieted pretty town. The many canals and also the mighty Neva river
are frozen over and covered in giant ice floes, a unique spectacle of
nature.
Even though temperatures of 10 to 20 degrees Celsius below are no
exception, who will mind the chill if you are dressed warmly
(preferably long coats, warm underwear, winter boots and hats) and can
keep making warm-up stops for hot coffee or tea in the numerous nice
cafes?
In addition, Museums
are well heated, and without standing in line you can enjoy all the
artwork and the uniquely wide cultural programme of Ballet, classical
music etc. St. Petersburg in winter is beautiful as well, but a
lot less stressful and on top of that a lot less expensive. Lisa Marie Kohrs
A very useful collection of information on safety, import regulations
and marriage procedures and much else can be found on the site of the German Consulate in St. Petersburg. A
very useful collection of information on safety, import regulations and
marriage procedures and much else can be found on the site of the .
If the „umlauts“ – the special German letters such
as two dots over an a – are not shown on your computer you should
switch the MS explorer encoding to “Central European”.
If the „umlauts“ – the special German letters such as two
dots over an a – are not shown on your computer you should switch the
MS explorer encoding to “”.
Before I re-invent the wheel I’d rather point out the following link: http://www.toksovo.de/praktisches.htm. Here you find an exceptional collection of really good hints, so far only in German! Thanks a lot to Klaus! before
I re-invent the wheel I’d rather point out the following link: . Here
you find an exceptional collection of really good hints, so far only in
German! Thanks a lot to Klaus!
But other good sites for English speaking people are: waytorussia.com and inyourpocket.com
|
|
