St Petersburg, Russia
Hostels
1. International Hostel - 3rd Sovetskaya street (5 min.walk from Moskovsky terminal) tel.3298018.
Price for accommodation - US$18+
This hostel has a visa support service. If you have got the letter of
invitation from a Russian International Hostel Association (who are the owner of this hostel - or vice versa), you can stay in an International Hostel for a less one night but they register for all time of your visa's validity. It's useful if you travel around Russia and stay in some cities with no international hostel.
Also they are really international - many contacts with organizations abroad, student-oriented travel agency, staff with fluent English.
2. Hostel Holiday - Mikhailova street (5 min.walk from Finlandsky terminal) tel.3271070.
Price for accommodation - US$15+, visa support
This place is more comfortable than the IH, above. They are situated just at the river Neva, which is in its favour. The management has recently changed.
3. Summer Hostel (the Training Hotel of Petrovsky College) - Baltiyskaya street, 26 (10 minutes from Baltiyskiy terminal)
Price for accommodation - US$6, no visa support
Double and triple rooms, shower and toilet for each four rooms. This place is much cheaper but not worse than other hostels. However, the manager of this hostel worked there when it was a dormitory during Soviet times. She has kept the style of a Communist commandant in her relations with people.
If you want to get receipts for payment, ask just after check-in because it takes a long time to get this from their accounting department. Be sure your visa and registration is OK - they don't
provide a visa support service but they are very careful about your legal status.
There are no English speaking staff there but there is a student travel agency at the ground floor and people there speak English. Also there are many students and teachers around and they
usually speak English too.
Living Costs
The exchange rate in mid-July - RUR 24,25 = USD 1,00
Price for basic food (approximately)
bread - 4 roubles
milk - 10 roulbes/1 liter
cheese - 70 roubles/1 kg
sausage - 60 roubles/1 kg
potato - 14 roubles/1 kg (this year)
tomato - 25 roubles/1 kg
apples - 25 roubles/1 kg
sugar - 10 roubles/1 kg
pasta - 10 roubles/1 kg
beer (Russian) - 8 roubles/0,5 liter
Be careful buying the food. Never buy it in the street!
Eating in the City
There are many cheap and nice cafes in St.Petersburg now. Of course, you may not be suprised at this, but few years ago it was hard to find a place to drink a cup of tea. You can get lunch for less than 100 roubles in the city, some tea for 5-10 roubles, some coffee for
10-25 roubles, some beer for 10-30 roubles.
It is not advisable to buy food at the street stalls. Sometimes it's dangerous. For example, the shaverma (Arabic dish) is very popular here. However, a short time ago the state health service checked some of the shaverma places and they informed people that some sellers used homeless dogs and cats instead of chicken cooking this food.
Transport
Metro
You can buy a coin for one trip (3 roubles) at the ticket office inside of any metro station. At the same place, you can buy a plastic card for a few trips or for a month.
Most popular kinds of plastic cards:
7 days/15 trips - 24 roubles
14 days/30 trips - 45 roubles
month/70 trips - 120 roubles (+5 roubles of deposit)
month/70 trips + pass card for buses, trams and trolleys for a month - 175 roubles (+5 roubles of deposit)
Bus, trolleys and trams cost 2 roubles per trip. There are minibuses, but they are more expensive (2-4 roubles).
Taxi
Prices fluctuate on a daily basis due to the problems with getting petroleum.
Boat
A one hour excursion around St.Petersburg by boat costs about 60 roubles.
Trains
To Leningrad region cities - 2 roubles per zone. Your trip to the most popular cities like Pushkin, Pavlovsk, Peterhoff will cost you less than 10 roubles (single ticket).
