4 ms·

I have been to SPb (or Peter as locals call it) 4 times in the past year. It's become one of my favorite cities. Peter, has its own vibe, it's still relatively

I have been to SPb (or Peter as locals call it) 4 times in the past year. It's become one of my favorite cities. Peter, has its own vibe, it's still relatively under-appreciated, it has an interesting street music flavor, the hermitage museum is excellent and once you become friends with locals, Russian hospitality is wonderful. You really want to visit Peter between May till September. End of June to early July during the White Nights is quiet fun. My favorite thing is to roam the city on bikes. Peter is a large city and having a bike gives you a great freedom to take it all in. Peter has many restaurants. Armenian (Erevan or Yerevan named after the capital of Armenia is very good but a bit on the pricey side), Georgian, canteen (soviet style buffet). Many places on or around the Nevsky Street open late or never close. SIM card is cheap, Megaphone and MTC is your best choice, but you can't buy Megahpone at the airport, but there are many locations in the center of the city. I think I paid like $8-9 for 10-12 Gigs of internet. Russian language knowledge is very helpful. Though a lot more people speak English in Peter than rest of Russia, but if you plan to wonder off, Google Translate (download the Russian language to your phone to be safe) is your friend. If you want to learn Russian, learn the polite way of saying hello (Здравствуйте) it's hard to pronounce at first, but I find it very disarming and helpful. Uber has now become Yandex taxi. But you can still use your Uber app which is what I recommend once you arrive into the airport and want to get to city upon arrival. IMPORTANT - If you stay at AirBNB, the host may not register you. So either ask them to register you or ask them where you can register. Registration is free, but people doing it will charge you some money. There were agencies that would do it last year, but with the world cup rules changed a bit. If you like street music and you want to fit in, be sure to listen to the music of KINO (with the front man Victor Tsoi) they're a legend in Peter and you'll hear their music always played in the street.

felixge 8y ago
About registration: Do you really think it's important? I had two recent trips to Moscow where I was staying at Airbnbs and the hosts refused to register me. I was unable to find another way to register and decided to risk it. Nobody asked about it during departure. One trip was before the world cup, the other was during the final. I'd definitely like to follow the rules, but it seems like a huge hassle when staying at Airbnbs ... (note: both trips were ~5 days, but world cup rules of ~1 day deadline for registration were in place for both trips)
- gk1 8y ago
  (Author of the story but not the person you're asking.) I never got asked to prove my registration, but why risk it? If your host is unable or unwilling to register you, you can self-register at the nearest police station.[0] [0] Please verify this, don't take my word for it.
  - doombolt 8y ago
    They need some address to register you at, and I guess they need consent from the owner of place where you are staying.
    - concerned_user 8y ago
      Not really, they hold you at your word, in case you lie or owner of the place claims he doesn't know you and you never been there it goes in your file next interaction with police / border control might not be pleasant. EDIT: Depends on length of stay of course, under few weeks they generally don't care, over a month they will definitely contact the owner and check everything. Owner might not want his address being mentioned too many times, registering 10 random people within 2 months would definitely attract tax office attention and since renting is income tax needs to be paid on that.
- salimmadjd 8y ago
  I just assumed to follow the rules. Especially, because I can see myself needing a Russian visa in the future and do not want to have any red flags in my file. So it's my understanding that the registration goes into your computer file. Before the World Cup registration was required if you stayed more than 5 days in a given city. During the World Cup it was reduced to 3 days [0]. I did meet an Australian group who did not have the time to register and I'm guessing there were probably a lot of visitors like them. It's possible (speculation at my part) the border controllers were instructed to go easy on people from Western Countries. Perhaps given the large bureaucratic process of registration, it's possible the orders were to be flexible. It's also possible that when they scanned the visitor's fanID when entering a stadium (again speculation) that it became a form of registration, and these people were flagged as real football fans and not some threat. It's clear this world cup was used to boost tourism (seeing how the FanID visa free visit is extended till the end of the year [1]) and the last thing the country wants is some Kafkaesque experience by some western blogger. So there is probably flexibly built into this rule. I just wouldn't take the chance. That being said, I just assume to follow the rules. Particularly, if you think one day you may want to visit Russia again. [0] https://www.accountor.ru/en/fifa-registration-rules-for-foreigners-in-russia https://www.accountor.ru/en/fifa-registration-rules-for-fore... [1] https://www.dw.com/en/russia-to-let-world-cup-fans-come-back-with-fan-id-no-visa/a-44717246 https://www.dw.com/en/russia-to-let-world-cup-fans-come-back...

felixge 8y ago

About registration: Do you really think it's important? I had two recent trips to Moscow where I was staying at Airbnbs and the hosts refused to register me. I was unable to find another way to register and decided to risk it. Nobody asked about it during departure. One trip was before the world cup, the other was during the final. I'd definitely like to follow the rules, but it seems like a huge hassle when staying at Airbnbs ... (note: both trips were ~5 days, but world cup rules of ~1 day deadline for registration were in place for both trips)

gk1 8y ago
(Author of the story but not the person you're asking.) I never got asked to prove my registration, but why risk it? If your host is unable or unwilling to register you, you can self-register at the nearest police station.[0] [0] Please verify this, don't take my word for it.
- doombolt 8y ago
  They need some address to register you at, and I guess they need consent from the owner of place where you are staying.
  - concerned_user 8y ago
    Not really, they hold you at your word, in case you lie or owner of the place claims he doesn't know you and you never been there it goes in your file next interaction with police / border control might not be pleasant. EDIT: Depends on length of stay of course, under few weeks they generally don't care, over a month they will definitely contact the owner and check everything. Owner might not want his address being mentioned too many times, registering 10 random people within 2 months would definitely attract tax office attention and since renting is income tax needs to be paid on that.
salimmadjd 8y ago
I just assumed to follow the rules. Especially, because I can see myself needing a Russian visa in the future and do not want to have any red flags in my file. So it's my understanding that the registration goes into your computer file. Before the World Cup registration was required if you stayed more than 5 days in a given city. During the World Cup it was reduced to 3 days [0]. I did meet an Australian group who did not have the time to register and I'm guessing there were probably a lot of visitors like them. It's possible (speculation at my part) the border controllers were instructed to go easy on people from Western Countries. Perhaps given the large bureaucratic process of registration, it's possible the orders were to be flexible. It's also possible that when they scanned the visitor's fanID when entering a stadium (again speculation) that it became a form of registration, and these people were flagged as real football fans and not some threat. It's clear this world cup was used to boost tourism (seeing how the FanID visa free visit is extended till the end of the year [1]) and the last thing the country wants is some Kafkaesque experience by some western blogger. So there is probably flexibly built into this rule. I just wouldn't take the chance. That being said, I just assume to follow the rules. Particularly, if you think one day you may want to visit Russia again. [0] https://www.accountor.ru/en/fifa-registration-rules-for-foreigners-in-russia https://www.accountor.ru/en/fifa-registration-rules-for-fore... [1] https://www.dw.com/en/russia-to-let-world-cup-fans-come-back-with-fan-id-no-visa/a-44717246 https://www.dw.com/en/russia-to-let-world-cup-fans-come-back...