Pulkovo ranks fourth in passenger traffic among Russian airports. Apart from the two base companies - TransAero and Russia, Pulkovo serves many lines of other carriers. But with the delivery of the new terminal and the arrangement of the territory around it, the question of how to get from Pulkovo to the city sounds more and more often. So, how to get to the city, the center of which is located only 15 km from Pulkovo?
Rent
If you have rights and plan to move around the city by car, you can use the car rental point. The cost and conditions depend on the particular company, it is advisable to order a car in advance. There are 5 rental points at the airport. These are AVIS, Hertz, Europcar, SIXT and Thrifty. You can familiarize yourself with the terms of the order, cost and class of cars on the websites of the respective companies. Having completed all the procedures on arrival, having received your luggage, having confirmed the order of the car from the agent, you are leaving Pulkovo to the center in a rented car.
You can use the rental later, taking a car already in the city. In this case, the city must be reached by public transport. The stop is located directly opposite the exit from the arrival hall on the ground floor.
Public transport
From the moment the reconstructed complex was opened, the bus from Pulkovo resumed its route. On route No. 39 - the only one coming from the airport, two types of bus and minibus are offered. You are offered a regular bus or express, the fare in them is the same. Express, like a regular bus, goes to the Moskovskaya metro station, only on the route it does not make any stops. The total journey time for the express train will be approximately 20 minutes, for a regular bus - twice as much. The interval of movement is 30 and 20 minutes, respectively. Both options start moving from the metro station at half past five in the morning. From late flights you can leave at 0 o’clock or at 1 o’clock in the morning, respectively.
In addition to the bus, shuttle bus runs. The interval of movement is 5 minutes, runs from 7 am to 11 pm. The journey time by minibus and express is almost the same - 20 minutes, but the minibus costs more. This is the second solution to the question of how to get from Pulkovo to the city.
Taxi "Pulkovo"
Unlike other major airports, the Pulkovo administration licensed one of the city’s taxi fleets, and the official transportation service is called Pulkovo taxi.
The parking lot is located at the arrivals area, and the front desk is located on the ground floor. The service can give you a receipt for accounting (you need to ask the driver before starting the trip). On the receipt there will be an order number, trip cost, destination and even a car number with an indication of the taxi fleet. You can pay for a taxi by credit card (the appropriate equipment is available at the front desk) or in cash to the driver at the end of the trip.
Transfer
We examined some of the simplest solutions. If you flew to the city on the Neva, for example, on a tour package, then the question posed in the title of this article is, in principle, not worth it. Completed part of the trip - you arrived in Pulkovo. How to get to the city: the transfer to the place of residence, as well as the flight, is included in the price of the ticket, and this is decided by the travel agency.
Please note that in the parking lot near the terminal, in addition to the minibuses, buses and taxis described above, there may be another minibus - the Shuttle. This is a gesture of the airport administration for drivers whose cars remained in the parking lot P4 (long-term parking). Parking is paid, but a minibus plying between a parking stop and a stop at the entrance to the terminal is free. Also note that parking is long-term. That is, the problem of how to get from Pulkovo to the city can be solved in this way. Parking is round the clock and is designed for a long time. If you fly away from St. Petersburg for a while, you come to the parking lot, leave the car under guard, then go by the Shuttle to the terminal, etc. After returning to the city, go in the opposite direction and leave Pulkovo with your car.
Conclusion
Already at the services of residents and visitors of the city there are three options for resolving the issue of how to get from Pulkovo to the city. For the 2018 FIFA World Cup, which will be held for the first time on the territory of the former Soviet Union, it is planned to launch the fourth option - a tram, the initial draft of which was developed to the Moscow station, but in the final version it will run from Pulkovo to the Kupchino metro station.