Way to Russia Talk Lounge

phet7178 · Frequent Guest Joined: 20 Mar 2007 Posts: 18

My partner and I are coming to St Petersburg for six months from mid July this year. We are looking for accomodation for that period - either a largish room in an apartment with flatmates or a homestay with a family -Russian speaking because we want to lern better Russian.

Does anyone know of such accomodation? We are looking to pay $300-$500 american per month for the two of us (a bit more if it a homestay with food included). We are looking for a safe area in central St Petersburg.

If not, any tips for finding long-ish term homestays in St Petersburg (ie longer than your average holiday)? Ive been to flatmates.ru but the info seems mostly outdated. Any info much appreciated - thanks!

DianaR · Just Starting Joined: 31 Mar 2007 Posts: 5 Location: USA

hi phet7178,
if you need help finding an apartment for rent or just have any questions about Saint Petersburg i guess these people might be of help to you as they were to me and my husband. www.saintpetersburgtour.com we booked a hotel thorough them and diffrent tours but they also offered an apartment. Diana

Generation P

A105 · Just Starting Joined: 23 Apr 2007 Posts: 8

There are good companies offering accommodation in both hotels and apartments of the city (e.g. www.hotels-of-saint-petersburg.com ). They can provide you with inexpensive accommodation but they can seem expensive if you are going to stay in SP for a long time. There is a great deal of agencies which offer a lot of flats to your choice: you can specify size, quantity of rooms, district, nearby metro station, etc, etc. The companies search for a flat complying with your demands and invite you to come there and see it. It is a convenient method. There are some “buts” however: 1) you have to pay to such a company the same amount of money which you will pay for one month’s accommodation in the flat chosen by you (+ they rarely mention it but you have to pay for telephone and electricity monthly, but luckily it is very cheap); 2) you should live in SP for at least several days so that to have time to chose a right flat (maybe a couple of days in a hotel??); 3) finally: it is better if you have a Russian helper because I doubt that personnel in such an agency can understand you (e.g. you can find an interpreter, maybe even a student who’s service is cheap, for two-three days). So, these some days can seem troublesome, but at the end you’ll find a perfect and inexpensive accommodation. Why I advise to find a “helper”: there are ads of such agencies in English-written newspapers, e.g. in the St. Petersburg Times, but they offer expensive accommodation because they think that foreigners can pay more; and a helper can find such ads in Russian papers and communicate with an agency’s personnel in Russian, so they won’t have a chance to elevate price just because you are foreigners.