SEA TERMINAL
The terminal on Basil Island is in an area of heavy industry 5.5 km (3.5 miles) from the centre.

LIEUTENANT SCHMIDT & ENGLISH EMBANKMENTS
These river berths offer limited facilities but great views.

NEW PORT
The new passenger port, already partly in operation, will be far superior to the old Sea Terminal.

CARGO PORT
When other berths are not available, cruise ships have to use the busy cargo port

port of st petersburg

St Petersburg is splendour incarnate. There is nothing else like it in the Baltic or indeed the world. A tour of its baroque centre is a journey through Russian history.

But first you must get there. The city centre is on the broad but shallow River Neva rather than the Gulf of Finland. It seemed like a good location for a shipping centre when St Petersburg was founded three hundred years ago, but no one then imagined the size of modern vessels.

The main navigation channel to St Petersburg is narrow and passes close to islands and the shore. It does not even reach the old Sea Terminal on Basil Island. Larger cruise ships have had to tie up by Cannoneers' Island, amid the city's ultra-busy Cargo Port.

Smaller ships can actually sail into the mouth of the River Neva, although not past the first bridge. A shallow draft is not enough to ensure a river berth, though. Much depends on how many other ships are arriving in port at the same time.

The lucky few berth on the Lieutenant Schmidt Embankment on the north bank, or the English Embankment on the south, and their passengers have a great view from the ship itself.

This situation is changing as a new port on Basil Island approaches completion. A fairway has already been dredged and the first two berths were opened in September 2008. Another three berths are scheduled to be ready in 2009 and the final two in 2010.

All main berths are rather far from the nearest metro underground railway station. Most cruise ship passengers will have a bus waiting anyway, as part of a pre-arranged tour, because of Russia's regulations regarding visas.

Because of these regulations, the easiest way to see Russia's finest city is to take a cruise there and use the services of an authorised tour operator, who can also help get around fearsome queues at the main sights.

OLD PASSENGER TERMINAL
The old sea passenger terminal on Basil Island, or Vasilevskiy Ostrov, was built at the end of the 1970s, in Soviet times. It is more convenient than a berth in the Cargo Port although passport, shopping and other services are not always customer friendly.

The terminal is about 5.5 kilometres (3.5 miles) from the city centre, along a rather ugly route. It passes through an area that is historic for Russia's early years as a Baltic power but the old shipyards and workshops are now covered by heavy industry.

The residential part of Basil Island, with its squares of parallel streets, is an interesting example of city architecture in the 18th and 19th centuries but you need to cross an industrial labyrinth to reach this.

NEW PORT
Russia's first modern sea passenger port is now under construction on Basil Island, just along the coast from the old passenger terminal. The first two berths are already available.

This is part of a development programme that will change St Petersburg's sea facade forever, creating a new business city on its Baltic coast while protecting the historic centre.

So far there's little to see at the site of the new port, apart from a lot of reclaimed land, but it promises a much better experience for cruise ships that call. For one thing, it has its own approach channel.

The new port is slightly farther from the centre than the old passenger terminal but the route is more direct and the roads are better. One day, passengers may be able to transfer onto river boats that can take the scenic route into town, but not perhaps for a couple of years.

The nearest metro station, Primorskaya, is just over a mile (2 km) from the new port, a straight and tedious walk down the canalised River Smolenka. From there it's just two stops on the underground train to Nevskiy Prospekt in the centre of town.

The new port will eventually have its own metro station. In the meantime, the conditions for visa-free visits often make access to public transport irrelevant anyway.

ST PETERSBURG CARGO PORT
Cruise ships that can't be accommodated at the New Port, and are too large to use the old passenger terminal, have to make do with primitive facilities in the city's cargo port. This is located behind Cannoneers' Island or Kanonerskiy Ostrov.

It is not an area to stretch your legs in. The narrow streets are filled with trailers that make walking almost impossible. The idea of having a cargo port so close to a heavily populated area and so far from wide roads has not made sense since the 19th century.

In the past decade, Russia has been quickly developing new ports to the west, on the northern and southern shores of the Baltic, but trade has been increasing so fast that St Petersburg's own port remains extremely busy.