Helsinki - St Petersburg
Ferry to Russia
Helsinki - St Petersburg
Ferry to Russia
See ferry fares and operators from all over the world in one spot, and find the sailing that fits your trip. Booking early is usually the surest way to get a good price and plenty of choice.
Discounts are available with Direct Ferries all year round. If a senior discount applies to your crossing, it's applied for you automatically once the right age bracket is selected in the passenger options.
Students and recent graduates can claim a 5% saving. Register with our partner Student Beans to verify eligibility, then apply your discount code at checkout.
Resident discounts also apply to a number of Spanish and Italian routes — pick the "Residents" option during search and the fare adjusts automatically. Be ready to show proof of address, such as an ID card or residency certificate, at check-in.
Requirements for travel documents change from route to route, so check what's needed ahead of time. A valid passport is usually required for Helsinki to St Petersburg travel, plus any visa or national ID relevant to your nationality. Since the rules depend on your citizenship and destination, our Check-in, Travel Documents & Tickets guide is the place to check for the latest guidance and avoid delays at check-in.
To book, just add your departure port, arrival port and preferred date, and you'll see every fare and sailing on offer. You can also compare alternative routes and times to find your best match.
Look out for early-bird pricing and flexible ticket options, such as upgrades or flexi-fares that let you make changes down the line. Entering accurate details — passenger count, vehicle specs and so on — keeps the process running smoothly.
As soon as your booking is confirmed, a confirmation email will land in your inbox. What happens next with your boarding pass depends on the operator you've booked.
Some operators issue boarding passes right away, while others need you to check in at the port itself. Where it's supported, the Direct Ferries app lets you check in online in advance.
You'll usually find ticket desks close to the ferry terminal. Giving yourself a little extra time before departure means you can collect tickets and check in without any stress.
Bring your confirmation email and valid photo ID, such as a passport or identity card, to check in. Pet owners should have vaccination and insurance documents on hand, and anyone with a resident discount should carry proof of address.
There are a few reasons departures from Helsinki to St Petersburg might not show for your chosen date — a schedule change, sold-out sailings, or a seasonal lull are the most likely. Try another date or check alternative routes through our Route & Port finder.
Booking your Helsinki to St Petersburg ferry well ahead of time generally works in your favour — you'll usually find better fares and a wider choice of departures and cabins.
A few weeks ahead is usually enough notice to catch the best offers, though fares can still fluctuate with the season and remaining space.
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Located in the Uusimaa region of southern Finland, on the shores of the Gulf of Finland, is the city of Helsinki. The capital of Finland is roughly 80 km to the north of Tallinn in Estonia, 400 km to the north of Stockholm in Sweden and 300 km to the west of St Petersburg in Russia. Helsinki is widely regarded as one of the major cities in northern Europe and is the country's main hub for politics, finance, commerce and culture.
Popular visitor attractions in the city include Helsinki's largest museum, the National Museum of Finland. It contains a large collection of historical artefacts that date back to prehistoric times through to the present day. The museum's home, a neomedieval castle, is also a popular tourist attraction in its own right. The Helsinki City Museum, the Finnish National Gallery and the Design Museum are three other museums in the city that are worth visiting.
Helsinki's port, the largest in Finland and the second largest in the Nordic countries, has three harbours and 6 passenger terminals. Ferry services using the port depart to Stockholm in Sweden, Travemunde in Germany and Tallinn in Estonia.
The Russian city of St Petersburg is often referred to by its residents as simply 'Piter' and was formerly named Leningrad. The city has definitely had an interesting past with over 300 years of history, with more than 200 of it as the capital city of the entire Russian Empire. Today, St Petersburg is an amazing city to visit and more than lives up to the vision of Tsar Peter the Great which founded the city in the 1700's. Winding their way through the city is the Neva River and a number of canals, along which you can see grand palaces and a number of other important buildings that date back to the 18th century. St. Petersburg is where Russian ballet was founded and has also been the home of many acclaimed composers, such as Sergei Rachmaninoff.
Many of the best sights in St. Petersburg are to be found around the actual city centre and its main road, the Nevsky Prospekt. If you take a stroll around Palace Square, known locally as the Dvortsovaya Ploshchad, you will see the lovely architecture of the Winter Palace, or alternatively take a cruise on one of the city's canals on a water bus, stopping of at the Mikhaylovsky Gardens en route.
Note: Ferry passengers are allowed stay in Russia for 72 hours without visa as long as they booked their excursion through officially licensed ferry companies.
