St Petersburg visit: bewildered. Advice from those who have been there, please.

I am suffering from "too much information". The more I research St Petersburg, the more bewildered I have become. 2 days is nowhere near enough, is it?

But 2 days (+ 1 night) is all we have, on Friday May 19 and Saturday May 20, 2017. I doubt we shall have a second visit there in the future.

 

Please share your own experience there to help us with:

 

1. What to see - and what not to see.

The city is about culture and the arts, isn't? And we are quite comfortable with that; more into art and palaces than museums and churches (but would rule out nothing). And at night (Friday) - what? We also like to 'act like a local', if possible. We'd rather walk and take transit than hurry-up-and-wait for the tour bus. Getting to The Hermitage, only to be put in a line-up is not our idea of a good time.

Don't want much do I?

 

2. How's this for a add-on (again, your views, please). The ship sails for Tallinn at 6 pm on the Saturday, arriving there next morning. We, however, take the late afternoon train from Peter to Helsinki (the ship makes no stop in Finland). With sunset at 9:45 pm, we see something of Russia outside Peter, and of Finland; spend the evening and next morning in Helsinki. Then hop the ferry to Tallinn, to catch up with the cruise ship. We know we will need a Russian transit visa to do this.

 

Recommendations based on your own experiences there would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

Greetings from Ottawa. :)

 

I cannot comment on #2, but do have experience with #1. Frankly, I would go with a "major tourist points" kind of tour (i.e. Deluxe Tour with SPB Tours, or a similar one with another company). You may not get to walk the streets of St. Petersburg, but you will get a taste of everything else. Oh, and as for churches or museums: the frescoes and architecture are absolutely stunning. I'm not religious or into Rembrandts, but the interiors of these places are beautiful.

 

The other advantage of an organized, guided tour is that you will have transportation to/from these locations (and the main palaces - Peterhof and Catherine's) are too far out for you to go on your own (unless you rent a car and can read directions/street names in cyrillic). Further to that, you can get priority entry to the museums because you're with a group. Still some waiting, but not as much as if you were on your own.

 

Of course, you'll be missing the "local" vibe that you mentioned. If that's really important to you, then I suggest either hiring a guide to accompany you or getting a visa. However, I suggest you ask yourself how much time you want for that kind of experience to make it worthwhile: if for the majority of the two days, you may need to sacrifice seeing some of the major sights.

 

A happy medium might be to have a tour customized to what you want, but this could be pricey. If you're absolutely sure you'll never go back to St. Petersburg, ask yourself how much you're willing to spend to make this one-time visit worthwhile.

 

I know this seems like a vague answer in that I'm not giving specific recommendations on what (not) to see. However, even between the likes and dislikes you mentioned, I can see how so many of the places I saw may be appealing to you. Here's what might be helpful: in your research, is there something you read, a picture you saw, etc. that you would like to know more about? If so, please mention it and, if someone here has seen/visited it, you might get the information you need to whittle your choices down.

 

I hope this is at least moderately helpful. If you have other questions, feel free to ask.

 

Ellie.

I am suffering from "too much information". The more I research St Petersburg, the more bewildered I have become. 2 days is nowhere near enough, is it?

But 2 days (+ 1 night) is all we have, on Friday May 19 and Saturday May 20, 2017. I doubt we shall have a second visit there in the future.

 

Please share your own experience there to help us with:

 

1. What to see - and what not to see.

The city is about culture and the arts, isn't? And we are quite comfortable with that; more into art and palaces than museums and churches (but would rule out nothing). And at night (Friday) - what? We also like to 'act like a local', if possible. We'd rather walk and take transit than hurry-up-and-wait for the tour bus. Getting to The Hermitage, only to be put in a line-up is not our idea of a good time.

Don't want much do I?

 

2. How's this for a add-on (again, your views, please). The ship sails for Tallinn at 6 pm on the Saturday, arriving there next morning. We, however, take the late afternoon train from Peter to Helsinki (the ship makes no stop in Finland). With sunset at 9:45 pm, we see something of Russia outside Peter, and of Finland; spend the evening and next morning in Helsinki. Then hop the ferry to Tallinn, to catch up with the cruise ship. We know we will need a Russian transit visa to do this.

 

Recommendations based on your own experiences there would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

 

If you check out the following post (http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=52251356&postcount=4), I have included some recommended sights. Not included on my other post is the Faberge Museum (which is also worth a visit).

If you opt for a transit visa, why not go "full on" and get a regular Russian visa (this would allow you to see what you want, when you want, without the necessity to hire a local guide).

I am suffering from "too much information". The more I research St Petersburg, the more bewildered I have become. 2 days is nowhere near enough, is it?

But 2 days (+ 1 night) is all we have, on Friday May 19 and Saturday May 20, 2017. I doubt we shall have a second visit there in the future.

 

Since you have a sense of your preferences (e.g. art in preference to churches and local flavor) you actually appear to be ready to move beyond this very general post. I think you're ready to compare your likes/dislikes to the tours offered from several well-regarded licensed tour providers. If you don't find a good fit with any of the pre-set tours, you may need to consider paying for a wholly private tour. Alternatively, you could also write to several tour providers telling them your preferences and your in-port time. See how each of them shapes an itinerary to meet your interests. (Don't be surprised if some of the most used names don't respond or seem reluctant to offer a largely customized itinerary. Come back and we can offer some ideas for companies that will customize.)

First, take a deep breath :). Second, we suggest forgetting the overpriced overcrowded cruise line excursions. Third. Because of the cost and hassles of obtaining an individual Visa....we strongly recommend booking a tour (or tours) with one of the reputable local companies that will cover you under their Group Visa (this means you do not have to spend extra money to obtain your own Visa). As to tour companies, try looking at the web site offerings of Alla Tours, SPB, and TJ (there are others). Compare their various tours and prices. In the interests of saving money, consider the tour that best fits your own wants. If you want to design your own tour, and of these companies will handle all the arrangements...but you will pay a premium...unless you can put together your own small group (10 persons is a good number) on the Cruise Critic Roll Call.

 

All the tour providers I mentioned do offer 2 day tours...which are optimized for cruise ship schedules. They also give you some extra options for the evening. If you are a fan of Ballet....we recommend having your selected tour company provide you with tickets/transportation to the local ballet (assuming there is a performance that you want to view). Another evening option is a special visit to the Faberge Musuem. Doing 2 full days of touring plus 1 evening will wear you out...but you can rest the following day :).

 

When we were most recently in St Petersburg (this past August) we used tours provided by TJ.....all of which were excellent. The other two companies I mentioned (Alla and SPB) both have received many positive reviews (over a long period of time) here on CC. When you book with any of these (or other) reputable tour companies, they will e-mail you all the detailed itinerary info and the proper Visa document (which you print out and present to the Russian Authorities (along with your Passport) each and every time you leave the ship.

 

Hank

I think you have a false impression of what a guided tour is like in St. Petersburg. While the ship's excursion could likely be as you imagine (lots of people, lots of waiting), the tours with the private companies such as Alla, TJ and SPB are not. We did the 2-day Grand Tour with Alla and not once were we stuck in a line waiting. In fact, when we went to the Peter and Paul Fortress, there was a HUGE line waiting to get in. Our tour guide managed to get us to the head of the line and our wait was minimal. (If you were sightseeing on your own, you'd be stuck at the back of that long line with nobody to advocate for you.) And, with only 15 people on our tour (16 is the max), we were never waiting for someone to show up at the bus.

 

I doubt that I will ever get back to St. Petersburg again, but Alla did such a good job of showing me the best of St. Petersburg that I feel that I have "done" it.

I'd recommend that you consider a private tour in St. Petersburg for just your family if you can afford it given the very little time you have in St. Petersburg. That way, you can skip anything you aren't interested in (in your case that might be churches) or spend very little time at those attractions. With our private tour, we skipped through the repetitive parts of museums (Catherine's palace was really interesting in the first few rooms, and then gets a little bit less interesting in a few rooms before the Amber room) so we skipped quickly through the middle rooms. With a private tour you can do that, plus not have to worry about waiting for everyone or visiting tourist shops if you don't want to. We had the same experience as GradUT of being able to skip all the long lines outside of museums (they were trying to stagger the tour bus entrance timings so everything didn't clog up).

I would strongly recommend going online to view pictures of all the major attractions listed by the tours, and see which ones you think you will be most interested in. Feel free to skip whatever you don't think your family will enjoy - there is a ton to see and it is very personal as to what you will like most. My 3 year old son loved the subways but I would have been fine skipping them (they are beautiful train stations, and it is interesting to see how much value the Soviets put on the subway system for the workers, but I still would have been fine just looking at pictures of the subways and not taking the time to visit them. Other people really loved the subway system so it is a really personal decision your group needs to make). You mentioned that you like art so I would recommend researching which paintings you'd like to see in the Hermitage, as someone could spend weeks in there. Please note that they have an early opening option. We were very lucky in that the Hermitage was dead empty at the start of the early opening, but other people on these forums have noted that it was crowded even during the early opening time. Not all of the galleries open immediately at the early opening, but there is a chance it will be less crowded. You can research the number of ships in port that day to get a sense of how crowded it may be (and please note that it is closed on Mondays, so Tuesdays are tough when a lot of ships dock Monday -Tuesday).

 

With all of this, we did genuinely feel that we had gotten to see everything we wanted to in St. Petersburg, which was better than we hoped for since we had our 3 year old in tow and I was worried we wouldn't see anything.

 

So please don't worry - if you can afford it, you can book a completely private tour and you will have a lot of flexibility when you are in St. Petersburg to change plans depending on your interests (we did a driving tour of the city early on, and maybe that will help you choose what to visit). Plus if you write to the major tour companies and explain your priorities, they will be able to customize a tour for you based upon those interests.

 

Also, you probably know this already but if you are planning on leaving the ship and joining up again you will need permission from the cruise line to do that.

Also, you probably know this already but if you are planning on leaving the ship and joining up again you will need permission from the cruise line to do that.

 

This advice needs a bit of clarification; it doesn't apply equally to all the countries you'll visit on a Baltic cruise. If you leave your ship in St Petersburg overnight to sleep in a Russian hotel, you will no longer be eligible for visa free status.

 

Here are the conditions for the kind of visa free visit most posters recommend:

o arrive and depart on an ocean-going cruise ship

o visit St Petersburg fewer than 72 hours

o sleep overnight on you ship

o remain in the company of your licensed tour guide essentially full time. (There are a few exceptions if you attend a concert/ballet or eat dinner out. Then, you might be dropped off at your destination by a driver and picked up again to go back to the ship. Ditto for a bit of independent shopping time or browsing time within a museum.)

 

Here's a link to a clear and accurate explanation of the ways to visit St. Petersburg. The first paragraph deals with the "sleeping on the ship" requirement:

 

http://www.saint-petersburg.com/russian-visa/for-cruise-ship-passengers/

 

KitKat, did you actually leave the ship overnight during a Baltic cruise? We've done this on an Asian itinerary when the ship overnighted in Kobe, Japan, but I'm struggling to think of any place a cruiser might choose to do so on a Baltic itinerary.

Edited February 11, 2017 by Pet Nit Noy

Canuker-

 

We have been to St Pete three times on cruises. We used both Alla and SPB for their "standard" 2 day tour the first two times. Last June we used Best Guides http://www.bestguides-spb.com/ because we wanted something different. Did two days with them, the first day to Novgorod (not the thing to do if you haven't already seen St Pete) and the second day was a walking tour around the city center with some extra sites added on. Of the major companies they were the only one willing to do what we wanted and their price was VERY reasonable. Check out their "Off the Beaten Path" tours and I think you might see some that interest you. You could do one tour the first day and another the second day. They were great to work with :D.

 

<<<Karen>>>

Petnitnoy.

 

No I didn't leave a Baltic cruise, and i was a little confused by the original posters plan. First he said helsinki was an add on (which is often how one would describe an additional trip after a cruise ends). Then the op mentioned catching up with the cruise ship in Tallinn, so I thought it might be possible he was planning on leaving the ship and re boarding later in another city, and I agree with you that I don't understand how that would be logistically possible on a baltic cruise since normally there is no sea day right after St. Petersburg. He mentioned knowing he'd need a Russian visa for his plan, so it seemed as though he was planning on leaving St. Petersburg independently and reboarding in another city although I don't entirely understand his plan. He seemed to be aware of the visa situation, but I wasn't sure if he knew he'd need the ships permission. Maybe he was planning on skipping the second day in St. Petersburg (not recommended but some people do only leave the ship one of 2 days). Or maybe he was planning on flying halfway through the second day from st Pete to Helsinki and spending the next day in Helsinki instead of Tallinn and then just taking the ferry to Tallinn to catch up with the ship effectively swapping Tallinn for Helsinki?

Edited February 11, 2017 by kitkat343

I am suffering from "too much information". The more I research St Petersburg, the more bewildered I have become. 2 days is nowhere near enough, is it?

But 2 days (+ 1 night) is all we have, on Friday May 19 and Saturday May 20, 2017. I doubt we shall have a second visit there in the future.

 

Please share your own experience there to help us with:

 

1. What to see - and what not to see.

The city is about culture and the arts, isn't? And we are quite comfortable with that; more into art and palaces than museums and churches (but would rule out nothing). And at night (Friday) - what? We also like to 'act like a local', if possible. We'd rather walk and take transit than hurry-up-and-wait for the tour bus. Getting to The Hermitage, only to be put in a line-up is not our idea of a good time.

Don't want much do I?

 

2. How's this for a add-on (again, your views, please). The ship sails for Tallinn at 6 pm on the Saturday, arriving there next morning. We, however, take the late afternoon train from Peter to Helsinki (the ship makes no stop in Finland). With sunset at 9:45 pm, we see something of Russia outside Peter, and of Finland; spend the evening and next morning in Helsinki. Then hop the ferry to Tallinn, to catch up with the cruise ship. We know we will need a Russian transit visa to do this.

 

Recommendations based on your own experiences there would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

 

 

In terms of option 2- you will need a visa, but this would,then allow you to explore the city on your own. This is not for everybody but it is possible. You are giving up time in both Tallinn and St. Petersburg for Helsinki and the train. Personally I would consider this a bad trade. Another option would be a train the next morning from St. P To Tallinn. This would show you some of Russia and gives you an extra evening to go to the theatre and enjoy the white(ish) nights.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

I'm grateful to everyone who has replied to this thread question.

Thank you.

 

There is a diverse spectrum of views expressed. I an going to re-read your recommendations and use them to come to a plan

 

And thanks to Cruise Critic for allowing these kinds of interchange to take place.

This is the internet at its best.

Petnitnoy.

 

No I didn't leave a Baltic cruise, and i was a little confused by the original posters plan. First he said helsinki was an add on (which is often how one would describe an additional trip after a cruise ends). Then the op mentioned catching up with the cruise ship in Tallinn, so I thought it might be possible he was planning on leaving the ship and re boarding later in another city, and I agree with you that I don't understand how that would be logistically possible on a baltic cruise since normally there is no sea day right after St. Petersburg. He mentioned knowing he'd need a Russian visa for his plan, so it seemed as though he was planning on leaving St. Petersburg independently and reboarding in another city although I don't entirely understand his plan. He seemed to be aware of the visa situation, but I wasn't sure if he knew he'd need the ships permission. Maybe he was planning on skipping the second day in St. Petersburg (not recommended but some people do only leave the ship one of 2 days). Or maybe he was planning on flying halfway through the second day from st Pete to Helsinki and spending the next day in Helsinki instead of Tallinn and then just taking the ferry to Tallinn to catch up with the ship effectively swapping Tallinn for Helsinki?

 

I responded without having read the specific plan the OP proposed. After reading it, I was happy to see he/she understood about the visa situation. However, I'm less impressed with the plan. There is no way I'd want to trade the sights I could see out of a window traveling across Russia for another day visiting the distinctive and memorable sights in St. Petersburg.

 

Still, I have to remind myself there have been plenty of people who post to this newsgroup who make choices that would not be mine but are still wildly pleased with their choices.

Lovetotrrravel: your spreadsheet is terrific.

Thank you for posting that link to it.

Invaluable.

 

As the OP, I can say that some of the assumptions that have been mused in this thread about our itinerary were not on the mark. Our ship leaves SP at 6 pm on its 2nd day there, arriving Tallinn next morning. We would skip that sailing, taking the 3:30 pm train to Helsinki (arriving there at 6 pm). Since the "all aboard" is 5:30 pm, we would only miss about 90 minutes of time in downtown SP by doing this. Against that is the fact that dusk isn't until 9:45 pm, so we enjoy a land-based daylight 'tour' of Russia & Finland that evening, while those on the ship merely see the sea.

After a late evening and the following morning taking in Helsinki, we hop the ferry over to Tallinn (with, yes, limited time in that relatively 'compact' city). We then rejoin the ship for it's 5 pm onward journey from Tallinn.

 

So we would not be materially swapping SP for Helsinki, as some have suggested. On the contrary, we would be making better use of the time available to us, by remaining on land long after the ship has sailed.

 

Anyway, it's still just an option at the moment. If, with Lovetotrrravel's spreadsheet we can cover what we want to see in SP, we will likely add this 'side trip' to our vacation. As travelers who will likely not pass that way again, it solves the key issue for us: that our cruise ship does not call into Finland.

As someone mentioned, we do need to advise the cruise line ahead of time, and get the visa. Not a problem. Plus the visa means we can remain in SP, independently, the evening of day 1 there, giving us yet more time in that marvelous city.

 

Yes, things are starting to fall into place now. Thank you to everyone who has contributed.

Against that is the fact that dusk isn't until 9:45 pm, so we enjoy a land-based daylight 'tour' of Russia & Finland that evening, while those on the ship merely see the sea.

 

The biggest unknown in your analysis is your statement that you would enjoy a land-based daylight tour of Russia and Finland. The are scenic rail routes all over the world. Do you have any confidence that the rail route you're contemplating is one of them? (The train ride connecting the villages of the Cinque Terre in Italy is a world-famous experience, but a trip up and down the East Coast corridor of the US is, generally, an eyesore.)

Canuker-

I may be sorry that I am saying this but, in IMHO, having been to Helsinki 3 times on cruises I don't find it all that exciting a city. It doesn't have the charm of Tallinn or other Scandinavian cities. People like the Rock Church but we haven't been there. For us the the 3 best things are the open air market, Suomenlinna Island and Uspenski Cathedral. I won't give up a full day in Tallinn for Helsinki. Do some more research before you make you choices.

<<<Karen>>>

Canuker-

I may be sorry that I am saying this but, in IMHO, having been to Helsinki 3 times on cruises I don't find it all that exciting a city. It doesn't have the charm of Tallinn or other Scandinavian cities. People like the Rock Church but we haven't been there. For us the the 3 best things are the open air market, Suomenlinna Island and Uspenski Cathedral. I won't give up a full day in Tallinn for Helsinki. Do some more research before you make you choices.

<<<Karen>>>

 

I totally agree with you, Karen. Helsinki does not have the charm of other Baltic ports. I visited the places you went and also the Rock Church (which was interesting for about 10 minutes.) I'm always telling people that the best thing I saw or did in Helsinki was eat one of the traditional cinnamon buns, and I find that kind of sad.

I totally agree with you, Karen. Helsinki does not have the charm of other Baltic ports. I visited the places you went and also the Rock Church (which was interesting for about 10 minutes.) I'm always telling people that the best thing I saw or did in Helsinki was eat one of the traditional cinnamon buns, and I find that kind of sad.

Have to agree, Helsinki just seems to be too sterile without the charm found in most other cities on the itinerary. We have spent 3 days exploring Helsinki....and now consider it somewhat of a wasted three days :). When we were in Helsinki in August, the weather was delightful...so we took the shuttle into the center and then walked all the way to the Rock Church. This is an interesting place to visit....but is worthy of no more then 5 minutes (once you have seen it...you have seen it).

 

Hank

I did the 2 day tour with SPB and while not a huge church/museum fan it is something I think everyone should see at least once in their life. I found the Amber room stunning. Tallinn was actually one of my favorite port stops, great to wander around the old town portion. I would have been very disappointed to miss that stop

Thanks Hank and GradUT for backing me up. We, too, enjoyed walking around the central area. On one trip we walked over to a small inlet where some wooden ships were moored. DH enjoyed that :). Last June we had a nice walk around Suomenlinna Island including a visit to the submarine. But that only works if the weather is good. Tallinn is one of our most favorite places anywhere :D.

 

<<<Karen>>>

Helsinki was my least favorite city on the Baltic cruise, and Tallinn was probably my second or third favorite (st Petersburg was my favorite, and I also loved Stockholm). I'm glad we stopped in Helsinki, as it was a nice day, and the rock church and suomolinna were very nice but I wouldn't give up Tallinn for that The other issue is most people find Tallinn/st Petersburg to be exhausting since there is a lot of walking and touring in both locations. How much time would your plan leave you in Tallinn? It sounds like you won't miss much time in St. Petersburg, which is good. If you have enough time in Tallinn you should be fine as long as you are in good health and have a lot of energy.

We enjoyed the market and the church square in Helsinki, but certainly wouldn't trade it for Tallinn. Tallinn was our favorite stop. I am looking forward to going back next year. There is so much to see there.

I will also chime in here. Though being aHelsinki resident, my views may not be entirely unbiased. In comparing Tallinnand Helsinki: I would say that if you have a weekend go to Tallinn but if youhave a week go to Helsinki (and make a daytrip to Tallinn). For a one daycruise visit Tallinn’s old town is hard to beat. Seeing that your cruise alsoomits Stockholm, I would recommend leaving both Helsinki and Stockholm for alater trip. You could easily spend a week between the two.

 

 

If you are really determined to checkHelsinki off your list, your plan seems doable but very rushed. The scenery onthe train ride from St. Petersburg to Helsinki is mainly just forests with occasionallakes and fields. With the train, you would have the evening from 7pm onward inHelsinki, but if you wanted to see Tallinn also you would have to hop on anearly ferry from Helsinki. In effect, you would be swapping the morning inTallinn for the evening in Helsinki.

The more I research St Petersburg, the more bewildered I have become.

 

Canuker,

I had the same feeling one month ago when I started choosing a way to go for St.Petersburg.

I made a spreadsheet to compare some of the City Highlights kind of tours offered by well-regarded local companies - what sights are on the itinerary, the prices, meals etc. Here is the link:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7qPbaGB1wZ9LWFhektxV0w5UFVzaEdnU3dJd0tnSFh5S3hB/view?usp=sharing

 

 

That was amazingly helpful! Thank you for sharing and the time and effort you put in!

As the OP, I can tell you that we have now made our decision.

All the posts on this thread were taken into account - thank you all for your input, it has all been helpful.

 

We have decided:

1. Not to do our 'side trip' to Helsinki. We have put that city on the back burner. The main reason is that the airfare from the UK to Helsinki, plus a hotel for a couple of night is going to be less than the costs of our diversion, plus that would give us more time there. We are in the UK at least once a year, so we will tag it onto our next trip across The Pond. We avoid the the hassle of getting visas that way, too.

 

 

2. We have done our homework re tours of Peter and, with the help of Lovetottravel's spreadsheet (that must have taken a while to put together!) have chosen one that best fits our needs and gives us an evening in the city, too.

 

Thanks again everyone.

 

Canuker.