Travel to Russia

[sasky]

My boyfriend and I are heading to Scandinavia for 2 weeks at the end of June. We want to go to St. Petersburg for 3-4 days. I know you need a visa and also a letter from a sponsering tourist agency in Russia in order to get accomodation there. Has anyone done this recently?...it seems so complicated. Can anyone recommend any travel agents in Toronto?...I live the High Park area with a high Russian population so I'm hoping someone there can help us out...but we're open to anyone in the city.

Any suggestions or help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[rulz]

St Petersburg is awesome was there back in 98. Sorry dunno about travel details though or any travel agents for that matter.

 

[PRIMAL]

If it's bleak, it's bleak.

 

[Krzysiu]

hey, I did this. when I was in finland, I just went to the canadian embassy, applied for a visa, came back three days later, got a big shiny sticker in my passport and then went over. its pretty simple. I was only there for two nights.

 

[SlipperyPete]

I applied/received my russian visa in Warsaw, but I needed to contact a hotel/someone pretending to be a hotel and pay them $20 to fax a letter saying I was staying with them. I wasn't actually staying with them, but that was a document I needed to support my visa application.
I would imagine someone at the Russian embassy here would be able to direct you...

 

[Boo]

I'd just ask any Portugese person, they seem to be good at getting into countries without documentation

 

[OTIS]

You need 2 documents to enter Russia, 1. an 'invitation' and 2. a visa.

edit: The 'invitation' is not really a genuine one. I'm not sure how our agency got ours, but I'm sure there's a beurocratic method by which to acquire one.

You'll have to contact the Russian Embassy or consulate in Toronto to get them, be prepared to spend a bit of money. If you don't feel comfy with that, then you can go through an agency who gets them for you; but they'll be more expensive and should only really be used when you’re strapped for time.

Visa connection is the one I used to get 3 Visas turned around in 25 days. They’re located in Yorkville.
http://www.visaconnection.com/contact.htm#Tor

St. Petersburg is gorgeous that time of year, you'll have fun. Good luck.

 

[jus me]

hey,

i got back from russia about a week ago (st. pete's and moscow). got my visa processed through a finnish travel agency.
although i didn't do it myself, to get a russian visa. as the others said, you need a invitation from a hotel (if you don't know anybody that lives in russia). they will do it for a fee, of course.
i think the visa also requires that you have travel insurance.

make sure to always keep a photocopy of your passport on you, the police check even russian.
learn some russian before you go, few people we spoke to knew english. we had better luck speaking french and italian.
be careful for pickpockets, especially in the metro.one guy got his wallet stolen and a girl,her camera.

we stayed here in st.petes: hotel sovetskaya