Day 16: Hydrofoil!

A hydrofoil passing Peter and Paul’s Fortress on its way out to the Gulf of Finland.

After seeing the cathedrals, we linked up at Palace Square.  Our destination for the afternoon?  Peterhof – a palace built by Peter the Great intended to be the Russian equivalent of Versailles.  There are a number of different ways to get there – minibus, train… and hydrofoil.

The “Meteor” hydrofoils run from the Hermitage directly to the lower park of Peterhof every half hour.  It’s somewhat more expensive than a minbus or train, about 700 rubles for a round trip, but it’s definitely the most scenic and classiest way to travel.  Furthermore, for the tourist it’s the easiest way to get there since the dock on the Neva is extremely easy to find and you don’t have to worry about catching transfers, asking for directions, etc.  From what I’ve read, the minibus is the cheapest option (my guidebook says 50 rubles) though the least comfortable and, if our driver at Lake Baikal is any standard to judge by, the most dangerous.  The train is almost as cheap but the train station is a good 15 minute walk from Peterhof.

The company that runs the hydrofoils, “Водоходь” (Vodohod) also runs boats that take the rivers and canals from St. Petersburg to Moscow (I’ve heard two people talk about that before – definitely a more relaxed way of travel with stops at towns and villages along the way though it takes eleven days and is rather expensive).  Judging from their advertisement, it looks like it’s possible to travel from the Gulf of Finland to the Black Sea entirely by inland waterways… something to consider for my next trip whenever that will be.

Anyways, once we got out of the city and into the main waterway, the boat picked up to its top speed of 40mph and it took about 35 minutes to get there.

All of us (less the photographer) waiting in the cabin for the hydrofoil to depart.	Passing another “Meteor” on our way out to Peterhof.

On the way out, we saw some of the shipyards and more industrial areas of St. Petersburg (from afar), as well as the large cruise ships that apparently run from St. Petersburg out to Scandanavia and the rest of Europe.