Visa-free travel to St Petersburg by ferry or cruise

Do visa regulations hold you back from visiting Russia? 

There is an official way around it! From 2009 onwards travellers who arrive to Russia via its water gates are allowed to stay without visa for 72 hours giving that they sleep on board.

In this case passenger’s ticket stands for an entry visa and serves as one of his main documents. It makes cruises from neighboring Baltic countries one of the least painful and most efficient ways to explore Saint Petersburg and other accessible by water Russian cities.

However, having only 3 days on the shore might be tough if you want to see a lot. Just getting around and figuring out how public transport work might take up quite some time, not to mention wonderful and enchanting puzzles of cyrillic names. That’s why it’s important to organize your time properly, or rather, have somebody to organize it for you.

Our partners MaxiBaltTours will be happy to help you out to get off the ship with blanket visa that could be easily issued for any traveler who needs visa to cross Russian border. They are specialised in cruise travellers, so you don’t have to worry about your entrance.

You can customize your day and pick one of sputnik day tours and even accompany it with others according to your taste, interest, curiosity and walking abilities. Stay on the relaxed schedule if you want to take it easy, pick to moderate pace if you feel like seeing a little more, or get the strenuous itinerary if you’re a real explorer.

Popular excursions in Saint Petersburg
Walking tour in St. Petersburg
Walking tour in St. Petersburg
For a traveler, St Petersburg is “a window on Russia”, a city to feel and understand this strange, but alluring country. My tour will help you to look at Russian history of different epochs and not to get lost.
5000 ₽
per group
1 review
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¡Viva la revolución!
¡Viva la revolución!
Is it possible to make the world a better place? If it seems to you that nothing can be done by ordinary people, consider how Lenin and his party managed to change their country and, in-deed, the world...
5500 ₽
per group
1 review
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Church of the Savior on Blood Ticket
Church of the Savior on Blood Ticket
Explore the state museum of the Church of the Savior on Blood at your own pace See finely detailed mosaics that cover the walls and ceilings Stand on the site where Tsar Alexander II was assassinated
676 ₽
per person
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St. Petersburg Metro Stations 1.5-Hour Tour
St. Petersburg Metro Stations 1.5-Hour Tour
Ride the St. Petersburg subway to see the opulent décor of stations that could be mistaken for magnificent palace halls or the lobbies of 5-star hotels. It was not an accident, as In Soviet times the subway stations were built as palaces for the people...
2364 ₽
per person
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Walking tour Like a Local: The Legends of a City
Walking tour Like a Local: The Legends of a City
Discover the unknown stories and legends of Russia's capital city of St. Petersburg. See the city like a local as you travel to locations such as a typical city fountain and the St. Micheal Castle, once owned by the Romanov family and now home to a ghost.
2364 ₽
per person
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Saint Isaac's Cathedral Ticket
Saint Isaac's Cathedral Ticket
Explore the world's largest Russian Orthodox church and 4th largest cathedral in the world with an entrance ticket to St. Petersburg's magnificent Saint Isaac's Cathedral. Upgrade to climb the spiral staircase of the colonnade.
407 ₽
per person
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Individual boat trip
Individual boat trip
Right in the center of the city, from the pier next to Nevsky Prospekt, we will start a boat trip, ride along the main canals of the city, see many palaces, sculptural ensembles and squares...
You can bring your own food • You can bring your own drinks • Music
from 6000 ₽
per hour
55 reviews
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Individual walking tour in the city center
Individual walking tour in the city center
Walking tour along the embankments, squares and streets of the center of St. Petersburg with an experienced guide and a local resident (2 in 1)))...
4000 ₽
per group
47 reviews
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