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Peter and Paul Fortress and Cathedral

Travel St. Petersburg - Trondheim

via Oslo, Stockholm and Helsinki

by Vadim Makarov

Nidaros Cathedral
Dawn from plane

Fly by SAS: fast and convenient

You can fly on any day (or almost any day) by SAS. They have flights St. Petersburg - Copenhagen and St. Petersburg - Stockholm. There is no direct flight, but connections through these airports are convenient: you buy a single ticket and don't wait too long in the airport. My only complain is that the plane to Copenhagen departs from Trondheim too early in the morning: in winter, you will see dawn in midair (photo at right). SAS service is excellent. SAS EuroBonus card

If you want, you can fly to Oslo instead of Trondheim, spend the evening wandering around the nice historical center of the city and take a night train to Trondheim (NSB railroad; ask for student discount).

A round-trip ticket always cost me a little more than NOK 4,000 (one-way would cost exactly half of that; Oanda currency converter). Don't forget to ask for student discount and also sign up to the EuroBonus frequent flyer program before you board the plane. In St. Petersburg, Sindbad Travel used to be the cheapest place to get SAS tickets.

Although the baggage allowance is 20 kg per passenger, it seems SAS employees in the St. Petersburg airport are allowed to check in up to 40 kg for free. You might have to ask nicely, beg, remind them you are a student, say you don't have money and finally promise them to fly Aeroflot for the rest of your life - it works! Just don't abuse it.

Always book tickets to your preferred flight as early as possible.
St. Petersburg from plane

Fly by Aeroflot: cheaper

Aeroflot no longer flies from Oslo to St. Petersburg, only from Oslo to Moscow. You can fly or take a train between Trondheim and Oslo.
Silja Serenade ferry

Tickets can be purchased through Aeroflot office in Oslo or booked through some travel agencies (e.g. Flyspesialisten at NTNU).

Ground travel: see some of Sweden and Finland in two days

This is somewhat cheaper (a student can travel for less than 1000 kroner one-way). I would recommend anyone to take this route at least once when you have time. The views are beautiful and the trip is interesting in itself.

You don't need any additional visas, because Scandinavia now belongs to the Schengen zone. A Norwegian visa (Schengen visa, in fact) or Norwegian residence permit will be sufficient.

The holders of Norwegian residence permit do not need any kind of travel insurance in Scandinavian countries, because the gratis Norwegian health insurance (E111) covers them in these countries as well.

Feel free to combine the above

A travel agency will always try to put you on the plane all the way to the final destination, regardless of how inconvenient and expensive that might be. Don't overlook better routes that you can arrange yourself.

Example: take the night train to Stockholm (have a good sleep). It stops right at the Arlanda airport just before arriving to the city. Get off and board the morning flight to St. Petrsburg. Note: it may be a bit hard to buy a discount fare ticket Stockholm - St. Petrsburg in Trondheim. I'd try to talk Kilroy Travels Sweden into mailing me one.

Visas

Russians: contact the nearest Norwegian consulate.
  • Norwegian Embassy in Moscow - visa information and contact info of the Norwegian consulate in St. Petersburg.
  • Norwegians and foreigners staying in Norway: contact the Russian embassy in Oslo, and also see the links section below for info on visa support and obligatory invitation/registration.
  • Russian Embassy in Oslo - visa information.
  • Additional info

    Russian version of this page contains some additional details, mostly to answer questions of those who travel from St. Petersburg to Norway for the first time: how to better book tickets, etc.

    Last updated in January 2004


    Vadim Makarov

    Reader's Comments

     1) One of our friends flew by SAS, but purchased the ticket directly from SAS instead of Kilroy Travels. It was about 1000 krones cheaper.

     2) There are express buses Nor-Way Bussekspress Trondheim - Oslo and Oslo - Stockholm.

    -- Albert Lysko (lysko@stud.ntnu.no), May 25, 2000

    I was threatened by gun to have me post this comment. To travel from St.Petersburg to Trondheim, you can also buy tickets directly from SAS (their office is in the Nevsky Palace Hotel, metro station Mayakovskaya). This turns out to be cheaper than from Sindbad Travel (by 20 or 30 bucks).

    -- Artem Vakhitov (tiomcat@mail.ru), August 1, 2000
    I travelled from Trondheim to St. Petersburg in December 2000 and I think I spent about NOK 1,000: NOK 330 for train to Stockholm (with student discount), 300 Swedish kronor for cheapest ticket on Viking ferry to Helsinki, around $10 for overnight express bus to St. Petersburg. A little bit tiring, but I saw a lot of great things along the way. Make sure to bring some water and food with you on the bus.

    BTW, I came back through the Baltic states on the way back and spent just around $10 for each bus fare between St. Petersburg-Tallinn-Riga-Vilnius. There is a ferry from Riga to Stockholm but only during certain times of the year, unfortunately not while I was there.

    -- Matt Carper (macarper@yahoo.com), February 12, 2001

    Trondheim to St. Petersburg by car

    There is a program called Microsoft AutoRoute Europe 2002 that allows to plan a journey within Europe (and in the rest of the world, but with less precision).

    I've played with it and found that Microsoft thinks the most convenient route to St. Petersburg is this one:

    Route via Umeaa-Vaasa
    (large map and detailed timeline)

    however, you can also trace it via Stockholm:

    Route via Ñòîêãîëüì
    (large map and detailed timeline)

    Amazingly, it generates a down-to-the-minute timeline of the journey.

    There are ferries Umeå - Vaasa (for the first route), and they are not very expensive:

    An inexpensive ferry Stockholm - Turku: If somebody's interested in other routes by Microsoft (to Ukraine, to China, etc.), write me and I'll check it out.

    -- Vitali Milekhine (Vitali.Milekhine@material.ntnu.no), July 3, 2002; comment translated from Russian
    I actually drove via Umeaa-Vaasa and then on the country roads in Finland to Vyborg. It was quite OK.

    -- Alexei Rudakov; comment translated from Russian
    I travelled from St. Petersburg to Trondheim in January 2004, and it cost me NOK 1000 in total. Sovavto bus to Helsinki cost €21 (with student discount). Viking line ferry cost €42 (not the cheapest cabin). Train to Trondheim cost NOK 480. A dining car is not always available on this train; take at least some drinking water with you.

    -- Mikhail Chizhov (mihail_chizhov@mail.ru), February 3, 2004; comment translated from Russian
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