Moving to Saint-Petersburg, Russia 2023

September 28, 2023

I lived in suburbs of Atlanta, Georgia in the USA. There are a total of 131 Museums in Atlanta as of 2023.

If you are moving from any city in the USA to Saint-Petersburg, Russia get ready for 3500 museums. That is right. This city alone has that amount of museums. Saint-Petersburg was the first city after USA for us. We lived in Saint-Petersburg for 9 months, I visited new museum every day. It was a lot of fun.

So, first of all, you should visit the Hermitage.

Сherry  Strudel

If you are moving to Saint-Petersburg you are to treat yourself with Cherry strudel  from “Sever- Metropol”.  This is one of the oldest pastry-shop in Saint Petersburg. Some of the recipes are 120 years old and they taste great. This is the best cherry strudel I had. You can find “Sever Metropol”  location closest to you here. It tastes great with cappuccino. You will absolutely love it if you like cherries.

So, if you are moving to Russia, start learning Russian early, so you prepared to dive into the culture. Many people in Saint-Petersburg speak English, menus are in English also, but it is better to know Russian, would not you agree with me?

So, how much is the rent in the city?

We lived close to subway “Moskovskaya” station and It was around 32 000 rubles ($330) for a fully furnished one studio apartment in new complex “Salut”. It was freshly built so we were the first tenants. The view outside of the window was beautiful overlooking 3 churches in the park. There was a small lake in the park too. That $330 a month included utilities so we did not have to worry about paying separate bills. There was a swimming pool right in the park, so I walked about 5 minutes to it and did my laps. Please look at the pictures below to get an idea what you are getting for $330.
So, if you are willing to go to live in something older, you will get a 2 bedroom apartment for $350 if you look hard. We just wanted to live in the new complex, so that is why we decided to choose "Salut". You can find apartments on Avito - this is Russian popular platform for searching apartments.

So, what about Ghetto in Saint-Petersburg?

I will disappoint you, this is not like in the USA. I would say that for the most part Saint-Petersburg is safe city, safer than Atlanta. There are nicer areas and a little less nice areas. What I mean by that is the lack of architecture. But the safety is good. I walked so many times at night and never had a problem in the city.

Look at the pictures below, these would be considered a less desirable areas. I would suggest for the purpose enjoying your stay in Russia to avoid such places due to the lack of nice architecture. First one is Shushari ( Pushkinskiy district), Murino ( Devjatkino), Rzhevka ( Krasnogvardeyskiy district), Ribatskoe ( Nevskiy district) and Parnas ( Viborgskiy district).

Public Transportation

Subway ( Underground)
Saint-Petersburg Subway is the deepest in the world. You will be surprised with very little advertisements if any in the underground, so you get to enjoy the architecture. There is Free WiFi in underground, so you can use it. Here is instructions on how to connect to it.

The price of the ride is 70 rubles ( 70 US сents) . If you hold already Russian passport, you can apply for Petersburg card and you will pay only 47 rubles. That is only for Russian citizens, you don't have to have Saint-Petersburg registration for that. Also, you can buy monthly pass - 2700 rubles ( $27) and you get 70 rides per month, so it is much cheaper. It only makes sense if you travel a lot by subway. Here is the price breakdown in English. Below are some pictures how Saint Petersburg underground looks.

Trams and Trolleybuses
Trams/Trolleybuses cost 65 rubles or you can buy monthly pass with unlimited rides 3665 rubles ($37) . It only makes sense if you use trams a lot. You can look at their respective routes on the map here ( only in Russian). It is interactive map.
Don't get scared if you don't see the driver in the Tram, because Saint-Petersburg is switching to Cognitive Tram Pilot system based on Artificial Intelligence. I want to add that for the past 9 months (2023) in St. Petersburg, unmanned trams have been running on routes No. 24 and No. 60 in trial operation mode. They are made on the basis of the serial two-section models 71-923M “Bogatyr M” and three-section 71-931M “Vityaz M” and are equipped with the Cognitive Tram Pilot system. So, if you don't like unmanned means of transportation you should avoid experimental tram routes, but they are safe.

Taxi

There are many taxi companies in Saint-Petersburg, however I used Taxovichkof for my taxi needs. Here is their website ( in English). You can download their app in Google Play. You input destination A and B and it will tell you how much it is. The cars are always clean and new. At least it was true for me. You can pay with your Russian debit card. Since we travelled with daughter, they always had a child seat which worked great for us. But , for all means there are other Taxi companies in Saint-Petersburg. With their economy class ( the cheapest) you get Volkswagen Polo, Hyundai Solaris, Kia Rio or Skoda Rapid. It worked for us every time. There were very quick and delivered us on time where we needed to go. You can use Yandex too, however in our experience they were slightly more expensive. Their website does not have English menu.

Buses

Bus fare is 65 rubles or if you have Russian passport - 44 rubles if you make the transportation card for yourself. But you have to pay with the phone. It's emulating the card of Peterburzhtsa. Here is the website with all buses routes in english. You can see buses on the map real time and at what time they will be at your destination.

Medicine

When we arrived to Saint-Petersburg we did not have insurance, so if I needed to see the doctor, I use Scandinavia clinic. This is private clinic. They have 14 locations in Saint Petersburg. Here is their web site ( English). There are other private clinics too, but no web sites in English. They have all kinds of screenings: Magnetic resonance imaging, Computed tomography, X-ray examination, roentgenoscopy, Ultrasound screening using expert-class units, Endoscopy, ultrasound video endoscopy, Ophthalmological diagnostic line and other things. For Example, I did tomography and it was around 4000 rubles ( $41). However, if you get Permanent Residency in Russia, you get to own one of those OMS ( mandatory medical insurance). There are no copays when you go to the doctor and you don't have to pay any monthly premiums. It is absolutely free. You go to any doctor after that in the public hospital, do surgery or whatever you need to do, there is no cost for you. So, that is pretty nice, especially after USA, very refreshing to speak with doctor and don't have to pay a dime. Moreover, if you not feeling right, dial emergency and they will send the doctor to your house absolutely free, no pay, nothing. We called several times when my daughter was sick, it was nice and convenient service.

Dental services.

I had a crown installed in the USA right before I left to Russia. I started feeling pain in that area and I went to a local Russian dentist. There was an infection there. They asked me who did my tooth? They said it was really bad job done. I told them it was in the USA. They did not believe me at first. Russian dentists think highly of USA dentistry, but I think it is overrated. So, dental services are way cheaper than in the USA. For example local anesthesia was 800 rubles ($8) compared with $400 in the USA. So, it is way cheaper. You can look prices yourself. (in Russian though, choose "Стоматология" - dentistry in Russian). To clean your teeth it will cost anywhere between 900 - 1400 rubles ( $9-14) depending which materials for cleaning you use. Dental caries (cavity) will cost you anywhere between 3000-5000 rubles ($30-50) depending how deep it is.