Russia – Moscow to St Petersburg by train

Sapsan train from Moscow to St Petersburg

I took the Hi-speed train between Moscow Click here for link to Moscow post, and St Petersburg, click here for St Petersburg post, as part of my 7 day trip to Russia.

So, how did I make up my mind to take the train between Moscow and St Petersburg?

After weighing up the different types of travel between the two cities (see my St Petersburg post for the other forms of transport) I decided on train. I specifically chose the Sapsan Hi-speed train for a number of reasons.

I looked up the various train services on the excellent Russian Trains website and there are various regular service daily between the two cities

Times vary from 3.5 to 10 hours and £45 to £75 for standard economy tickets.

There are several overnight trains that vary in price and comfort from £45 to £65 and run from Leningradsky or Kursky stations in Moscow. They take between 7 and 10 hours.

I can never sleep on trains and also the thought of sharing a bunk area with other possibly noisy or snoring passengers just was not what I wanted, so these were a miss. I would also miss out on seeing the countryside en-route. Doubled with arriving in the city at 9am-ish and not being able to check into the hotel until 2pm was also a non starter.

During the daytime there are a majority of Sapsan “bullet trains” leaving frequently and making the journey in between 3.5 and 4 hours depending on the time of service and costing between £60 and £80 for a regular economy seat.

If you want business class or first class (that usually include a meal and drink) you can double and then treble those prices. First class gets you a big, leather, reclining single or twin seats with masses of room between seats. You also get a massive luggage allowance with this class.

See the pic below for the different classes

There are a couple of “Express” train that take 7 hours (hardly express) but cost only £40.

There are roughly in total, 22 departures every 24  hours, for all types of train, so there should be a time and cost to suit everyone.

It worked it out that for a little less than the price of a flight for 5 hours total, I could get a hi-speed train for 1 hour less. The train takes me city-centre to city-centre and involved a lot less commotion and moving around. My hotels were near Metro stations in both cities and it would be easy to get to and from them.

There was also the novelty of riding on a modern, new, ultra-fast train and seeing the countryside between the cities. Onboard was a trolley service for food and drinks along with a café carriage if needed. I could even go 1st Class with leather seats etc but that’s not usually my style or budget.

So train it was. I easily booked my tickets online in the UK on the super efficient Russian Train website, (click here for link). I printed off my tickets and I was set. They even sent a reminder email of my near future journey with a set of words and phrases in Russian and English pronunciation for eg train, platform, where is the station? etc. A great gesture for when you need certain words to communicate over there.

They even enclosed a separate “letter of invitation” which would be needed for the Visa application. I didn’t know what this letter was as it was in Russian but printed it anyhow and ignored it. The Visa section saw it when they asked for my letter of invitation from a Russian sponsor. My response was “what?”, I never knew I needed it and I know no-one in Russia but this letter from the train Co amazingly was what was needed.

No doubt Russian Trains have foreseen this problem with foreign travellers booking train tickets and so issue it as a matter of course to be helpful …. I could not thank them enough for being so pro-active when unknown to me it was required in my Russian Visa application and smoothed my acceptance.

Don’t forget your passport!

The day of my trip arrived and I was excited to get on board this state-of-the-art train.

I arrived at Leningradsky station and walked in via the main entrance. Ahead were several metal detector scanners and an x-ray scanning system for luggage similar to those at airports. WOW, security is tight here.

I passed through both and when the two female checkers looked at my ticket they immediately realised I had come in the wrong way. They managed the explain to me in broken English that the Sapsan trains depart from a separate entrance in the station.

They explained I would have to go back out the main entrance and follow the building round to the right where a separate Sapsan entrance is. It took a while to understand but they were patient and polite with a smile – no doubt they get this a lot from foreigners as either we can’t read the possible signs in Russian warning us of this in the station or like me , nothing was on the ticket email saying there was a separate entrance for Sapsan “bullet trains”

I followed the trail round the building through what at first seemed more like a freight entrance for trucks. It led to a side entrance and once through the scanners and x-ray machines again I could see the large waiting area full of modern bench seats and lots of people milling about.

The departures board had the list of Sapsan trains departing and all were leaving on time.

With about 20 mins before my trains departure I took a seat and watched the goings on in the small terminal.

Ten minutes or so before departures an announcement come over the speakers in Russian and people moved to the 3 or 4 airport like gates to go onto the platform. At this point I realised that the area is quite small for the volume of people using the trains so several queues formed orderly. We had our tickets checked and passports inspected … yes, you need your passport to travel on one of these trains so don’t forget it!. We were then let onto the platform.

The train was waiting already and we all boarded according to our seat and carriage number on our tickets. There are train assistants who stand at every train door, greet you and check your ticket again to ensure you are getting on the correct carriage.

The whole process was fairly well organised albeit a little slow due to the sheer number of travellers. I warn you now to book in advance as mine was a weekday journey and the train was full. I also noticed that the earlier you book the cheaper the tickets on the website.

I found my seat and relaxed down at the window ready to take in the views.

So, how was the journey?

I was pleasantly surprised at my seat.

It was airline style but much taller and wider with a comfy headrest. The leg room was enormous and I could easily stretch my legs out without really touching the seat in front. This was economy – the most basic class and it was impressive.

The huge panoramic windows gave me an excellent view of the landscape whizzing by as we headed to St Petersburg.

Through the window I got the feel of the Russian countryside in this part of the country. Modern towns were mixed in with some more rustic villages as we passed by them. I certainly saw quite a lot of very old semi tumble-down wooden houses that clearly had seen better days. Often these were huddled together  in groups of around twenty houses with dirt tracks between them. Often more ostentatious houses appeared with a few black SUV cars parked up in front – clearly some local had made it big and wanted to show that too.

The countryside was generally flat and fairly samey the whole journey. Much of it was forests of birch and beech trees and grasslands, somewhat boggy in places. After about an hour of gawping relentlessly through the window I rested back and used my tablet to write up a bit of info.

The embarrassing moment came when I decided I wanted a drink and took out my bottle of water that I had bought earlier. With the writing being in Russian, I had not realised that I had bought fizzy water. When I opened it quickly, the water fizzed out and splashed mainly over me but also the poor lady who was seated next to me.

She let out a small scream in surprise and seemed annoyed at first. I don’t speak Russian so apologised in English and showed her the bottle to ensure she understood it was water and not sticky or strong smelling lemonade or other fizzy dink. Thankfully she understood my inability to apologise in Russian and gave a hand signal that meant “ok, no damage done”.

I offered my napkin as way of apology again so she could wipe off some of the water but she indicated all was fine …. I kept very still and never touched the water bottle again for the rest of the journey!!! I actually nodded off afterwards for 30 mins as the ride was so smooth.

The hosts come around with a trolley cart of drinks and goodies and spoke some English so I was able to buy a sandwich and chocolate. There is a bar/café carriage if needed. If your seat price includes a meal then you get a seat allocated in a better carriage and this is served at your table. I did notice a menu in the seat pocket also that explains what they offer in the café carriage.

My impression in general? A great comfortable and eco-friendly way to travel between these two cities, saving time and money with frequent daily timing to suit any schedule. Just remember to book in advance  …. and check if your water bottle is still or sparkling !

June 2017

Below are some related posts on nearby places to visit. Click on the pic to view.