We are looking for the best way to travel from moscow to St. Petersberg? How long a train ride is it and are there interesting views of the countryside? Is the train comfortable? Is it better to fly?

I just read on another forum that Aeroflot is not safe. Any thoughts on that? It's only about $100 to fly from Moscow to St. Petersburg and I would imagine it's faster, since the flight is only an hour and 20 minutes.

To fly aeroflot is safe, but not comfortable due to old airports and service facilities. It is true that even with only one hour to fly you will end up spending more time then taking a train. You have to get registered at least one hour before the flight and the commuting to the airport in Moscow in a rush hour may take more then 2 hours. The same traffic problem with St. Petersburg. So, Irecommend to take a train instead of taking a flight and the day train is speedy, so it is less time then on overnight one.

Hello:

I recommend to take a day train. It'll take you around 5 hours to commute.

The night train is fine, depends on the class you are willing to train. There is a luxirious night express with high class features as satelite TV, spacious compartments with bathrooms, nice design.

Depends on your ambition there are lots of good options to travel.

The train is great, and very convenient, taking you from city center to city center. We took a night train, and slept most of the time; the night trains take most of the night so its morning when you arrive. There are lots of trains, day and night, some a lot faster than others; and many posts about train travel on this site; so search "russian train" or something similar on the Russia forum, see what comes up. Then if you still have questions, ask again.



The views we saw (when we were awake) were interesting-- not spectacular scenery though as it is flat-- forest and farmland.

Well, I don't know about the safety of Aeroflot-- but many people (including friends who live in Russia) say that the flights are not as pleasant, more of a hassle, and end up being almost as long since the airports are far from the center of town, and you need to check in so early.

The train was really kind of fun... the overnight ones are comfy, with berths (like bunk beds) in compartments of 2 (lst class) or 4 (second class); you get clean sheets and blankets, and the compartments are cozy and kind of cute.