"Russian Currency" Personal Observations Tip by starship

Favorite thing: The main unit of Russian currency is the ruble which is made up of 100 kopecs. We could have changed money on our ship, but didn't because we thought we'd have a chance to do so on shore. This didn't happen, but we were happy to find that everywhere we went in St. Petersburg, either American dollars or major credit cards were accepted. It seemed as though we actually had more bargaining power and got better deals when paying in American cash with people trying to sell you souvenirs on the street.

We were advised not to "change" money with anyone on the street even though we would probably have gotten a much better exchange rate than with your average cambio. This most likely would have been viewed in an extremely poor light by Russian authorities to say the least. Use your own judgement but because dollars are accepted I see no need to be cavalier.