How much does a 6day, 5night trip to St. Petersburg cost?

The local headlines got me wondering about how much money a person would need for a trip to Russia.

Let's say you are leaving Manila on Oct. 27, a Monday and coming back on Nov. 1, a Saturday.

If you fly Singapore Airlines, business class, you would be paying a round-trip ticket fare of USD 3,935.11 or using the airline's current conversion rate of 0.77, EUR 3,030.03. If you decide to take your spouse with you, that would be USD 7,870.22 or EUR 6,060.07.

Say you decide not to take chances and get a 5-star hotel at the St. Petersburg area. How about booking a room at the Hotel Astoria for five nights? With the spouse in tow, you get a Deluxe double room for USD 2,250 or EUR 1,750. Free daily breakfast is included in the package you got.

This far, the trip already cost you and your spouse USD 10,120.22 or EUR 7,810.07.

But you wouldn't pay all that amount in Russia. You would be paying for the plane fare in Manila, and if you haven't paid for the hotel via an agency, then you would be bringing at least USD 2,250 or EUR 1,750 for your hotel room.

For the sake of erring on the safe side, let's assume that transfers, seminar registration fee, shopping, tours and meals other than breakfast would be worth thrice the 5-star hotel room rate for 5 nights = USD 6,750 or EUR 5,250.

This means that a budget of USD 9,000 or EUR 7,000 would probably be enough for two people to travel to and stay comfortably in Moscow.

And if you did spend it there, you wouldn't be bringing it all back. Assuming your company paid for your stay, you would still be paying for the spouse. So roughly, you would be bringing back only half the said amount.