Booking trains in Russia

flyer31

Hi all,

we would like to travel via night train from St. Petersburg to Moscow. I am just wondering whether it is cheaper to book these tickets online or whether it is cheaper to buy them in St. Peterburg directly at the train station a few days before departure?

I just checked online, and it looks rather expensive, the standard overnight trains in 2nd class at least £70 and for the better trains you even pay more than that, £110 ...

http://trains.waytorussia.net

I read that you should be able to get 2nd class tickets for 50$ but even the 3rd class costs more than that...

Thanks for your help!

ciderboy2009

How good is your Russian? Alternatively, do you know anyone over there?

Whilst my experience of this route was about 15 years ago I can remember that we paid around £150 each way.

That was with the friend we were visiting getting them for us through their company but was first class (slightly worse than 2nd class by UK standards).

Back in those days you had no choice but to buy them in advance. I'm not sure if it'll be the same or not nowadays.

It was an amazing experience though - although we could have done without the music blaring out in the carriage to wake everyone up at 5:30 am.

mcfisco

There's plenty of good info on seat61

http://www.seat61.com/Russia.htm#Buy Russian train tickets online

grubby23

Thanks mcfisco, checked this stuff out before, but as I am saying I think those tickets are really expensive, even for russian standards. In some way I was hoping I can get them cheaper when buying them at the station, not sure with all this online sites, whether there are huge third party fees to pay....

kingklade

hi we went the opposite way moscow to st petes 2 years ago we bought tickets at station day before & they were under £30 1st class i wouldnt recomend 2nd class looked at crowded got our own cabin in 1st with 4 beds in it

flyer31

Right, that sounds more the price I am looking for. In this case I will wait until we are in St. Petersburg, we are there 5 days before departure to Moscow, that should give us enough time to get the ticket at the station.

Natts_2

Let me know if you need any help or give me the date & I'll check for you on Russian websites