Tallinn to St. Petersburg Trains
Take a train journey from Estonia to Russia
Tallinn to St. Petersburg Train Route
Tallinn to St. Petersburg train makes 4 stops on the route from Estonia to Russia - in Tapa, Johvi, Narva, and Kingisepp. The trip takes 7 hours.
There is only one train running on the Tallinn to St. Petersburg route - the Baltic Express train, which operates daily. The same train runs on the St. Petersburg to Tallinn route.
Tallinn to St. Petersburg Trains
based on 92 customer reviews
Frequently Asked Questions From Our Travelers
The train trip from Tallinn to St Petersburg takes 7 hours.
The distance between Tallinn and St. Petersburg is 370 km.
The Tallinn – St. Petersburg train runs once a day. It departs from Tallinn at 16.00 and arrives in St. Petersburg at 23.58.
No, it is impossible to enter Russia by train with an electronic visa. You should apply for a visa through the Russian Consulate in your county in advance to travel to Russia by train.
Tallinn to St. Petersburg train departs from The Tallinn Baltic Station, the address is Toompuiestee 37, 10149 Tallinn, Estonia. The train arrives at the Moscovsky train station, the address is Nevsky Prospect, 85, metro Ploshad Vosstania.
Your passport will be checked in Narva by Estonian officers and in Ivangorod by Russian customs officers. There’s no need for you to leave the train, all the procedures will be carried out on board. The train stops at each of these stations for approximately one hour.
No, the Tallinn to St Petersburg train does not run through Belarus.
No, the Tallinn to St. Petersburg train does not have a restaurant car. You can buy snacks, tea and coffee from the conductor or bring your own food on board.
Testimonials
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Easy way to purchase train tickets
Easy way to purchase train tickets from St Petersburg to Tallin. It was convenient to use their website, especially as train tickets in Russia are sold quite close to trip date. It’s convenient to buy it thru this service co and then they send you the tickets by email upon availability. We needed to be ensured of our train seats as we had a visa to process, and this was a document we needed, and we were very happy to find that with 6 people buying tickets in the same day, but not thru one transaction, Russian rail was able to put us into 3 adjacent compartments in the same coach. This made our travel even more fun and we felt safe being together.
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Reliable and amazing
As always, ordered tickets to Russia and received them on time and as requested. Asked to change some details originally and they did it within a day.
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Excellent Service, you can trust in the company!
I bought the tickets in Chile, preparing my trip to Russia. Everything worked perfect with the trains. They were punctual, comfortable, everything was fine. An advice, from St. Pertersburg to Tallinn, the Russian police checked me, asking if I had alcohol, cigarettes and medicines, I recommend not carry on any of that in order to avoid problems. the train service was excellent!
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Awesome experience!
It was my first experience in a train and it was a better experience than I expected. It wasn't a 1st class train, maybe it looked old and all, but it was incredible.
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A great experience
While the bureaucracy at the boarders was a little intimidating, this is obviously unavoidable. Other than this, we had a great trip from Riga to Saint Petersburg, then Saint Petersburg to Tallinn. The cabins were comfortable and clean, the toilets were fine, the samovar was useful and overall we had a lovely time. It would be handy if one could open one's own window as it took us until our second journey to realise we could just ask the attendant to open it.
History of Tallinn to St Petersburg Train Route
By far the quickest and easiest way to travel between Tallinn and St Petersburg is by train. The first railway between the two capitals was established in 1870, and was known as the Baltic Railway. It was privately funded by the Estonian nobility to connect the Moscow - St Petersburg Nikolaev Railway with Imperial Russia’s Estland Province (modern-day Estonia).
The Baltic Railway began at the Baltic Port (today the Estonian city of Paldiski), passed through Reval (now known as Tallinn), and the border city of Narva, before joining the Nikolaev Railway. In 1872, the Baltic Railway was connected to the Imperial capital via the Gatchina Baltiysky Station in suburban St Petersburg, and terminated at Baltiysky Station in St Petersburg (which was renamed to mark the occasion!) Passengers could make the journey between Reval and St Petersburg in 12 hours.
The Tallinn to St. Petersburg Line Today
The railway from Tallinn to St Petersburg still functions today and has been served by the modern Baltiysky Express train since 2015. Pre-covid, the service ran from Moscow to Tallinn via St Petersburg with one departure each day in each direction. From Moscow to Tallinn the Baltiysky Express stops at St Petersburg Ladozhsky Station, and from Tallinn to Moscow it goes via St Petersburg Moskovsky Station. The whole journey takes on average 16 hours, with 8 hours for each stretch.
There are a number of advantages to taking the Tallinn to St. Petersburg train: convenient journey times which arrive in St Petersburg just before midnight and in Tallinn shortly after midday; central points of departure and arrival, eliminating all the hassle of the airport; and passport control carried out en-route, so there’s no need to disembark and queue at a border checkpoint.
There are several different coach classes and cabin classes that passengers can choose from. This includes:
- Seated carriages: these are preferred by passengers on shorter journeys, as a 16 hour trip in a seated position is not the most comfortable experience.
- Third class cabins: beds arranged in an open-plan carriage.
- Second class cabins: four beds in a closed compartment.
- First class cabins: two beds in a closed compartment.
Most Western travellers prefer the second or first class cabins. These provide ample privacy especially when travelling overnight, space for large suitcases, comfortable beds and fresh linen for overnight journeys, and seating for a daytime journey. Solo female passengers can also choose to travel in a women-only cabin.
Once you have your tickets, look forward to a wonderful, smooth
and enjoyable journey through the Russian countryside.
Buy your ticket safely and securely and then sit back
and enjoy the ride!
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