Is St. Petersburg safe to visit?

[ljandgb]

I'm not sure that using a Pacsafe purse marks you as a worthy target. I have a bright orange version of this one:

http://www.pacsafe.com/slingsafe-250-gii-handbag.html

 

It's not fancy. I love it though, because despite it's small size it holds a ton of stuff and it's comfortable to wear either cross body or over the shoulder. And the zippers lock for those times that I really feel it's necessary. And it is slash proof, for those few cities/crowds where that can't hurt, like Rome and Naples. It also has a way to lock the strap around something, like a cafe chair, which is nice if I don't want to eat with my purse in my lap the whole time.

 

I could absolutely travel with a "regular" purse, but I've gotten years of use out of this one and it suits it's purpose quite well.

 

I'm pretty sure a scooter thief is not going to grab a cross body bag preferentially. There are plenty of easier targets out there. That's like saying you don't want to wear a seatbelt incase you're in a car accident and need to get out more quickly. Reality doesn't really match either possible scenario.

 

Back to the original topic...

[Donna_In_India]

I appreciate the common theme here is to "do an organised tour" and that is probably what most people do, but there is absolutely no reason not to do St Petersburg on your own.

 

You MUST of course sort out a Russian visa beforehand, but that is relatively straightforward, if slightly expensive (we paid around £125 each, so around $190) but the freedom to be able to do what we wanted, when we wanted and enjoy wandering around freely was easily worth it.

 

As people have said it's as safe/unsafe as any other big city. We were slightly paranoid before we went and took extra precautions (money belts etc) but really needn't have worried.

 

It's a beautiful city and is very easy to do by yourself. You can also get a better feel for the place as you can use the underground etc.

 

We got a taxi into the centre (they have a taxi dispatcher at the port, who helpfully wrote the port address down in Russian to give to the taxi driver for our return).

 

We went to Hermitage in the morning and Peterhoff in the afternoon and had lunch and evening meals in the City before getting a taxi back to the ship.

 

On the second day we just wandered around the City and saw the wonderful sights and did a boat trip visited churches etc.

 

We probably saw as much if not more than the organised tours and of course did everything at our own pace so we got to see everything for the length of time WE wanted and also got a good feel for the City.

 

They don't smile much but the taxi driver was amusing when we tried to negotiate the price for our return trip after I said the taxi into the city was cheaper he said: "Yes, but that was sh*t car, this is Mercedes" :)

 

Thanks for THIS!! I am leaning towards doing it on our own. I'm pretty sure my husband has to get a visa anyway so we might as well all get then. We'll be in St. Petersburg for 3 days and I know we can cover a lot of ground. I've checked with the most recommended tours (Alla, etc.) and they are all VERY clear that they do NOT deviate from their itineraries. I want to see what I want...in the time I want. Private tours with Alla, etc. are CRAZY expensive (although I'm waiting to hear back from a few guides with Tours by Locals). It would be great if you can post some tips for do-it-yourselfers! Just curious.... were you able to buy tickets for Hermitage, etc. on the day of? How long was the taxi ride to city center and how much? I'm really want to do a subway tour - did you get off at a few of the more interesting stops? Did you do any night time shows/activities? And the biggest thing that would sway me away from doing it on our own...did you feel that by not having a guide you missed hearing about the history, etc.? I don't want to just look at a bunch of "stuff" if you know what I mean. :) Thanks for any info!

[Donna_In_India]

One additional question minsterman....did you get single or multiple entry visas? A couple of us are unsure about which is needed.