Helsinki, St Petersburg and Moscow

"The Big Easter Trip!"

Date: Tuesday, 3 April to Wednesday, 11 April

Destination: Helsinki, Finland, St Petersburg and Moscow, Russia

Available places: 120 total for all participating groups

Required: valid INTERNATIONAL PASSPORT (allowing travel outside the EU)

Participating Groups: ESN Stockholm (KTH and SU), ESN Linköping, ESN Jönköping, ESN Örebro, ESN Växjö, ESN Göteborg (Chalmers/GU), ESN Skövde, ESN Lund (LU/LTH), ESN Kalmar, ESN Malmö (INTERACT), ESN Luleå (LURC), ESN Copenhagen (Denmark), UFO Halmstad, and ESN Kristianstad (Swedish students, students from other universities and non-students are also welcome to join!)

Price: 560 EUR + individual Russian Tourist Visa cost

Included:

round trip ferry transportation from Stockholm to Finland (Tallink Silja Line)
4-person cabin on both of the ferry journeys
round trip transportation from Stockholm, Sweden, to Russia
double occupancy HOTEL accommodations in all destination cities
Russian tourist visa paper work, support + processing
personal travel insurance from SAMPO insurance company
buffet breakfast on five mornings in the hotels
guided sightseeing tours (in English) of Helsinki, St Petersburg+Moscow
transportation to the State Hermitage Art Museum in St Petersburg
the hotel's mandatory passport and visa registration fees

* Preliminary Trip Schedule *

All times listed are in LOCAL TIMES:

CET = Central European Time (Swedish time)

EET = Eastern European Time, (Finnish time) +1 hour to CET

MSD = Moscow Standard Time (Western Russia), +2 hour to EET, +3 hours to CET

Day One: Tuesday, 3 April

18:00 — ALL GROUPS to Tallink Silja Line ferry terminal (Värtahamnen) in Stockholm

18:30 — Ferry ticket distribution inside the terminal building

20:10 — Tallink Silja Line MS Galaxy departure to Turku, Finland

Day Two: Wednesday, 4 April

07:00 — Arrival in Turku, all groups to buses, depart for Helsinki

11:30 — Arrival in Helsinki, followed by departure for sightseeing tour of Helsinki

13:30 — Arrival in Helsinki at Hotel Scandic Grand Marina; group check-in

14:00 — FREE TIME

Day Three: Day Three: Thursday, 5 April

07:00 — Buffet breakfast open in the hotel

08:30 — Hotel check-out, luggage to the buses, departure from the hotel, to St Petersburg

11:00 — Arrival at Finnish border/frontier

12:30 — Arrival at Russian border, drive to St Petersburg

18:00 — (ESTIMATED) Arrival at Ladoga Hotel; group check-in

FREE TIME

Closest METRO STATION: Novocherkasskaya

Day Four: Day Four: Friday, 6 April (Good Friday)

07:00 — Buffet breakfast open

08:30 — ALL LUGGAGE to the buses!

Departure time To Be Announced — OPTIONAL PROGRAM #1: guided tour of Pushkin & Catherine’s Palace (45min outside of St Petersburg)

15:00 — (ESTIMATED) Return to St Petersburg, group drop off in citycenter

FREE TIME until

20:00 — Departure from St Petersburg to MOSCOW (overnight drive)

Departure location: Ladoga Hotel parking area (hotel WC facilities available)

There will be stops during the drive for food, drinks and WC breaks!

Day Five: Saturday, 7 April

07:00 — (ESTIMATED) Group breakfast stop at Zelenograd McDonald’s!

10:00 — Arrival in Moscow, guided sightseeing tour of the city

13:00 — (ESTIMATED) arrival at Vega Izmailovo Hotel; group check-in

FREE TIME

Closest METRO STATION: Partizanskaya

Day Six: Sunday, 8 April (Easter Sunday)

07:00 — Buffet breakfast open, entrance through the lobby on main floor

09:00 — ALL LUGGAGE to the buses!

Departure time To Be Announced — OPTIONAL PROGRAM #2: Kremlin Tour, meeting location to be announced

FREE TIME

21:00 — Departure from Moscow to ST PETERSBURG (overnight drive)

Departure location: Vega Izmailovo Hotel parking area (hotel WC facilities available)

There will be stops during the drive for food, drinks and WC breaks!

Day Seven: Monday, 9 April (Easter Monday)

10:00 — (ESTIMATED) Arrival in St Petersburg

14:00 — (ESTIMATED) Arrival at Ladoga Hotel; group check-in when the hotel rooms are available!

FREE TIME — State Hermitage Museum (Winter Palace) is OPEN, FREE entrance with any student card that has your photograph on it!

Please note: No evening program is currently planned, but a Russian Folk Dance Performance may be possible – information about this EVENING program will given out to everyone on the bus, during the drive from Moscow to St Petersburg