Saint Petersburg: how to get there and around
Airports, stations, ports, where the hotels are and what the numbers say, from public data rather than a brochure.
Saint Petersburg is a city of 5.4 million people in Russia (St.-Petersburg), 11 m (36 ft) above sea level. The nearest large airport is Pulkovo Airport (LED), 16 km (10 mi) from the centre. It has 11 railway stations on record, including Saint Peterburg Glavnyi. It is a port city: Big port Saint Petersburg and 3 more.
Key facts
Open Saint Petersburg in Google Maps
Daylight in Saint Petersburg runs from about 6 h a day in late December to 18 h 58 min in late June (computed for 59.94° latitude), which matters more than the forecast when a day is built around one flight or one crossing.
Getting there
Saint Petersburg is served by one airport with scheduled flights. The closest large one is Pulkovo Airport (LED), 16 km (10 mi) from the centre, whose 12,402-ft runway is long enough for long-haul wide-body aircraft.
Flights to Saint Petersburg: every airport, routes and times
By rail: stations on record include Saint Peterburg Glavnyi, Ligovo railway station, Volkovskaya, Murino, Lanskaya, Leninsky Prospekt. Trains to Saint Petersburg
Buses to Saint Petersburg · Driving and car hire · Ferries
What people come for
| Sight | Visitors a year | Year |
|---|---|---|
| Hermitage Museum | 4,956,529 | 2019 |
| Russian Museum | 2,260,231 | 2021 |
The busiest is Hermitage Museum at 4,956,529 visitors in 2019. At that volume, anything with a gate is worth a timed ticket or an early start.
UNESCO World Heritage in the city: Historic Centre of Saint Petersburg and Related Groups of Monuments.
Tours, tickets and day trips from Saint Petersburg
Nearby cities, and how to get between them
- Helsinki, 300 km (Finland) — flights · trains · buses · car rental · ferries · tours
- Tallinn, 317 km (Estonia) — flights · buses · car rental
- Espoo, 315 km (Finland) — flights · buses · car rental
- Petrozavodsk, 300 km — flights · trains · buses · car rental · tours
- Tampere, 395 km (Finland) — flights · buses · car rental
- Vantaa, 295 km (Finland) — flights · trains · buses · car rental · tours
- Velikiy Novgorod, 167 km — trains · buses · car rental · tours
- Pskov, 262 km — flights · buses · car rental · tours
- Jyväskylä, 356 km (Finland) — flights · buses · car rental
- Kolpino, 26 km — car rental · tours
Twin towns and sister cities: Gdańsk, Aqaba, Alexandria, Almaty, Antwerp, Baku, Bangkok, Barcelona, Warsaw, Bethlehem, Havana, Hamburg, Graz, Daugavpils.
Common questions
Which airport serves Saint Petersburg?
Pulkovo Airport (LED), 16 km (10 mi) from the centre.
How big is Saint Petersburg?
About 5.4 million people live in Saint Petersburg, across 1,439 km² (GeoNames and Wikidata).
What time zone is Saint Petersburg in?
Europe/Moscow, currently UTC+3.
What currency is used in Saint Petersburg?
The Ruble (RUB). Traffic drives on the right.
Which cities are near Saint Petersburg?
Helsinki (300 km), Tallinn (317 km), Espoo (315 km), Petrozavodsk (300 km), Tampere (395 km).
Where these facts come from
- GeoNames (CC BY 4.0): population, elevation, time zone, postal codes
- Wikidata (CC0): area, sister cities, visitor numbers, heritage listings, stations and ports
- OurAirports (public domain): airports, runways
- Natural Earth (public domain): map outlines
Data compiled 13 September 2026. Hotel figures are from our booking partner’s catalogue on that date. Journey times on this page are estimates from distance, not timetables; check the operator before you rely on one.