Trip to St. Petersburg. Travel and visa information 

Current ways to travel to St. Petersburg

St. Petersburg is located in the Western part of Russia close to the border with Baltic countries, that is why even in today’s circumstances, with no direct European flights available, the journey here still doesn’t take long. Moreover, our patients were safely traveling to St. Petersburg throughout the whole pandemic using the ways we have checked and established in the summer of 2020. We know that these travel routes work well, are comfortable and the fastest possible. Only after having checked them ourselves we now recommend them to our patients.

You can choose among the following options:

Option 1 — Travel through Tallinn

Step 1. You take a regular daily flight from your city to Tallinn (it costs on average 50-100 EUR per person).

Step 2. Here you can choose from three alternatives:

1. You may take a direct bus from Tallinn to St. Petersburg by the company LUXexpress or Ecoline (same as in the Helsinki option).
   The trip takes around 7 hours (depending on the time on the border).
   The fee is 45-70 EUR.
   Please note that the distance between Tallinn airport and Tallinn Coach station is about 2.5 km. You may take a taxi at the airport to get to the station.
2. You may take a train from Tallinn to the nearest town with the Russian border called Narva.
   The one-way ticket is around 13 euros.
   When you are in Narva, from the Narva train station to the border checkpoint is about 1.5km, so you may take a local taxi at the station or go on foot.
   When you cross the border (on foot), you will be met by our driver who will take you to your hotel in St Petersburg.
   The trip takes around 2,5 hours and costs 100 EUR per car (you can split the cost it if you travel with someone else).
3. If you are not a fan of bus or train, we are happy to arrange the car transfer for you right from the Tallinn airport to your hotel in St. Petersburg.
   The whole journey will take around 6 hours (depending on the time on the border).
   — First, you take an Estonian taxi (we will arrange it for you) from Tallinn airport to the Russian-Estonian border (it takes about 2.5h and costs 150 EUR per one car, the cost might be split with another passenger).
   — Then you cross the border (on foot) and our driver meets you and takes you to your hotel in St. Petersburg (this trip also takes around 2,5 hours and costs 100 EUR per car, you can split it if you travel with someone else)

Option 2 — Travel through Istanbul

There are flights from European cities to Istanbul going daily, and then from Istanbul to St Petersburg, also daily. So you may find options with a quick or long stopover in Istanbul.

Here you can see the information about the options for your city — www.turkishairlines.com/en-gb/index.html

Our driver will meet you in St. Petersburg airport and drive you to your hotel.

While in treatment with us, you will be assisted by your personal administrator who will consult you about the ways of travel that can be best for your region and will help you with all the practical questions.

Option 3 — Travel through Helsinki

Due to temporarily border closure please check relevant situation before choosing this route. You may contact your administrator.

Step 1. You take a regular daily flight from your city to Helsinki (it costs on average 50-100 EUR per person).

Step 2. In Helsinki you take a direct bus from Helsinki to St Petersburg by the company LUXexpress or Ecoline. The bus arrives at St Petersburg coach station where our driver meets you and takes you to your hotel.

You may find the schedules and purchase tickets online on their websites: luxexpress.eu/en/ or ecolines.net/international/en

The trip takes around 6,5 hours (depending on the time on the border).
The fee is 75-90 EUR.

Visa information

Apart from being reliable and smooth, the visa process for O.L.G.A. patients is unique in a number of ways:

• Your business visa for medical treatment will be valid for one year and will allow you to enter as many times as required as long as your stay doesn’t exceed 90 days in the first half of the year and 90 days in the second half of the year.
• The Russian Consulates in many European cities (Stockholm, Gothenburg, Copenhagen, Oslo and others) already know well about our Clinic and our invitations and, therefore, the process of issuing the visa takes the minimum number of days.
• That’s how your future visa will look like. It has the name of our clinic on it.
  
• At the passport control the border guards recognize our visas and treat with respect European citizens who travel to Russia for fertility treatment purposes.

All in all, we have put a lot of efforts and time to establish a well-organized and predictable process so that when it comes to the visa, it doesn’t take much of your time and energy and you can focus on your treatment preparation.

The step-by-step process for getting your visa is the following:

1. The O.L.G.A. Clinic prepares all the documents and requests an invitation for a business visa for medical treatment from the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA).
2. You receive a notification when the MIA accepts the documents for processing.
3. We expect to receive your visa invitation within 20 working days from the date when it was accepted for processing.
4. When we receive your visa invitation, we send it to you so that you can apply for your visa in your local Russian Consulate. For this you will need to book an appointment online and prepare the following documents: filled questionnaire for the visa, visa invitation, invitation from O.L.G.A. Clinic (except for Sweden), passport that is valid for at least 1,5 year from now, photos, travel insurance.
5. You collect your passport with a visa in it within around 10 days.
   
   

Your personal administrator will prepare and apply your documents for the visa invitation and will help you with all the visa information and questions.

E-Visa

E-Visa is an alternative option for Business Medical Visa from O.L.G.A. Fertility clinic. Available for 55 foreign states. Please check availability for your nationality on the website https://electronic-visa.kdmid.ru/index_en.html 

• E-visa is a single-entry visa. The validity period of a unified electronic visa is 60 days from the date of issue. The permitted period of stay should not exceed 16 days from the date of entry.
• You apply for it online and get the visa by e-mail, so there is no need to visit the Consulate or the Visa Center
• The application can be submitted no earlier than 40 days and no later than 4 days before the expected date of entry into the Russian Federation.
• The price is around 50 EUR (depending on the currency rate)

FAQ