St Petersburg Travel Guide

Airport

After Moscow’s two main airports, Domodedovo and Sheremetyevo, Pulkovo is the busiest in the country with 47 aircraft slots and more than five million passengers a year. Expansion of the airport is ambitious. By 2025, plans have been made to add capacity to handle 17 million passengers per year and a new international terminal scheduled for completion by 2011.

The main carrier going in and out of Pulkovo is Rossiya, a Russian airline with origins in St Petersburg following a merger with the Russia State Transport Company of Moscow in 2006. Its destinations include numerous cities in Russia including Moscow, Irkutsk and Murmansk, CIS countries, major cities in Europe and even Asian destinations such as Dubai and Beijing. Major airlines such as British Airways, Air France, Aeroflot and KLM also fly into Pulkovo.

Airport information: +7 812 7043611

Transportation: normal city buses and shuttle buses run to and from departures and arrivals, connecting to various points in the city centre. Follow the signs coming out of arrivals to find the bus stands. Most stop at the main metro stations in town including Moskovskaya and Pushkinskaya. Scheduled city buses start at a reasonable 50 rubles one-way while the shuttle buses are even cheaper, starting at just 17 rubles to Moskovskaya station.

Private metered taxis are also available outside of arrivals but can be very expensive for the 11-mile journey into the city. Make sure you know what you are letting yourself in for before setting off. Car hire firms Hertz, Avis and Europcar are all available at arrivals at Terminal 2 while the former also runs a kiosk at the domestic arrivals terminal.