Could anyone help with some information on crossing the water between Helsinki and St Petersburg - Is it possible? How much? Any other advice on either country much appreciated!!

I don't know if you particularly want to travel by boat between these two places, but it's easy to drive from Helsinki to St Petersburg along a major highway. Depending on your nationality, you'll almost certainly need a Russian visa. Expect long queues at the Russian border, and when I did the trip there was at least one further checkpoint on the Russian side.

Some more general advice: Beware of taking travellers cheques to Russia - they are difficult to cash. (Even those places that claim that they accept travellers cheques will often, in practice, simply refuse to do so.) Take US dollar cash in new bills to change into roubles as required. ATMs were rare when I was there a few years ago, but may be more widely available now.

Have a good trip!

Pete

The train from Helsinki to St P. is very comfortable and takes about 4 hours. You can buy tickets on the web. Both Russians and Finns told me that the Russian trains are nicer than the Finnish trains. I have nothing to compare it to since I did take the Russian train; it was very good, and people came around in the dining car with a money-changing service. The rate was good and it was very convenient. ATMs ("bankomat") are more available than they used to be, but you can often only take out relatively small amounts at a time. They are sometimes out of cash following busy summer weekends.

A caveat: be sure your travel plans are carefully done, especially if you don't speak Russian. The border can be imtimidating (our train was delayed an hour by a passenger with problematic papers, while Russian soldiers roamed the train) and you mustn't expect anyone to speak anything other than Russian. Practice with tapes and phrasebook until you are comfortable with the basics.

Yes, you will need a visa. www.GoToRussia.com was very good - probably more expensive than some other means of getting the visa, but they were prompt, helpful and accurate. Don't delay starting this process. Above all, be sure to bring copies of everything with you: confirmations of deposits, receipts for tickets, emailed reservation confirmation numbers, etc.

St. P is an extraordinary place, a must-visit, but you do need to be significantly more linguistically and culturally prepared than if you are visiting a major western European city to really appreciate it. Helsinki, by comparison, is much more approachable: most people speak English, it's much smaller, and quite simple to navigate, either on foot or using the trams.

I know that ferry costs about $100 roundtrip, train about the same year round, coach - about $20. Also you can join the Russian coaches with tourists started from the main square - about $10 a person.

Also for the accommodation I would suggest to rent an apartment downtown. Prices can be from $50 to $80 a night - it depends... I tried St Petersburg apartments