Everyone planning a trip to St. Petersburg and Moscow will agree: obtaining regular tourist visas to Russia is a challenging procedure. A traveler must obtain visa invitation (also known as “visa support”) for a local accepting tour company or hotels. But even having visa invitations from hotels in several cities of visit, the traveler risks to find that the Russian embassy/consulate issued a visa for just one of the cities. It’s lucky if the mistake is found and corrected before it’s too late.
The simplified e-visa procedure has already been successfully tested in two Russian ports: Vladivostok and Kaliningrad. Citizens of certain countries have the possibility to enter these two cities with electronic visas to Russia. Starting from October 1, 2019 e-visas are introduced for St. Petersburg too.
Electronic visas (e-visas) will be issued free of charge based on an on-line application of no later than 4 days before the expected arrival date in St. Petersburg. The transport of arrival doesn’t matter, but it’s essential that such e-visas will be valid only for entering and leaving Russia through the check points located on the territory of St. Petersburg and Leningrad region. Electronic visas to Russia will be valid within 30 days starting from the date of issue and allow 8 days’ residence in the Russian Federation starting from the arrival date.
The list of countries, citizens of which will be able to obtain electronic visas to Russia is still to be finalized by October 1, 2019. If it includes West European countries, Great Britain and the USA, that will lead to a major breakthrough in tourist industry.
8 days, as a rule, are quite enough for a first-time visit to St. Petersburg, and even a short trip to Moscow too. Besides, taking a voyage through Europe, once can plan a short St. Petersburg tour for a weekend or so. On a return visit to Russia, one can explore the city without a guide, taking it in slowly – even in this case 8 days look ideal.
Such famous museums as the Hermitage and Peterhof offer on-line tickets at their websites: Hermitage e-tickets, Peterhof e-tickets. Note, that Catherine Palace in Pushkin (Tsarskoye Selo) artificially limits on-line booking due to huge popularity and much too big crowds of visitors seeking to visit the Amber Room, therefore a pre-arranged guided tour is recommended.
For those, who prefer the peace of mind of a well-structured and well-planned tour without the bother of lining up for museum entrance tickets, then check out these 2 ready-made tour programs for 2 days and 3 days.Day trips to Moscow and Novgorod are easy to arrange. Contact us at почта for more information and arrangements for St. Petersburg tours.
