St. Petersburg with mobility issues

I've wanted to see St. Petersburg for years. Now, I'm a solo senior with mobility problems. How "do-able" is St.P?

Does the Hermitage & other museums allow scooters or motorized wheelchairs? If so, do the private tour companies accommodate such devices?

Anyone with experience here?

I've also posted this on the N. Europe ports board.

Thanks!

Here is a thread from the Europe Disabled board, right above.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2503678

Here is a thread from the Europe Disabled board, right above.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2503678

The link you attached appears to have nothing to do with St. Petersburg.

I've wanted to see St. Petersburg for years. Now, I'm a solo senior with mobility problems. How "do-able" is St.P?

 

Does the Hermitage & other museums allow scooters or motorized wheelchairs? If so, do the private tour companies accommodate such devices?

 

Anyone with experience here?

 

I've also posted this on the N. Europe ports board.

 

Thanks!

Though most churches and museums in St. Petersburg have no wheelchair access, the Hermitage and the Russian Museum have limited accessibility.

Check out this link http://www.sagetraveling.com/st-petersburg-accessible-guided-tours

Also check with the cruiseline if you can book any accessible tours. Most of the tours buses are motor coaches with a luggage storage area below the seat area. . If you can walk onto the bus and if the tour driver will allow it the scooter can stored in the luggage.

It's also important that for you do not go on private tour by yourself. Try to find other on the roll call to join in.Additionally if you do book a private make certain the tour company can acquire a visa for you. The ships excursions will provide a visa. Getting a visa for St. Petersburg on your own is a complicated and costly process.

Also check out this thread http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2293341

It's probably the one essiesmom tried to post.

I am going back to St. Petersburg next month for the second time. At both the Hermitage and Catherine's palace it is requested that you cover the wheels on your scooter/chair with paper "slippers" to protect their floors - which are beautiful parquet - but there are work arounds for that. They will wash your wheels if you do not have covers. Covers are available for standard wheelchair wheels but NOT for scooters nor most electric wheelchairs. I greatly enjoyed seeing St. Petersburg and am looking forward to going back. Having said that I had my DH with me last time and will have him, our daughter and our grandchildren this time. I did not see a single accessible vehicle when we were there 5 years ago. My scooter is a travelscoot that collapses and only weighs 35 lbs so my family can easily manage it. I can transfer to a van seat. I would not attempt this by myself as I would have trouble lifting the scooter. Also, we used SPB tours then and have them scheduled again this time. SPB secures the visa you need to travel with them. They use standard vans which do have room for my scooter in the rear. At a few sites, the subway for one, I stayed in the van.

The link you attached appears to have nothing to do with St. Petersburg.

Oops! Here is the correct link:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2293341

I uses a Pride go go travel scooter and four years ago I spent two wonderful days is St Petersburg. Before I even booked the cruise I emailed Alla tours and Alla replied back straight away to say no problem they would customize a tour for me. My friend and I had a car. driver and guide for the two days and saw much more than anyone who did the ships trips, and it was not much more expensive. I can not praise them enough, they made my dream of visiting St Petersburg come true. I used my scooter every where except Catherine palace where I had to use one of their wheelchairs. If you have any questions I will be pleased to answer them.

Here's the link to Alla Tours St. Petersburg that Scooter Girl 58 advised in her post https://alla-tour.com/tours/

I took a manual wheelchair to SPB and had no problem. We booked the 2 day Comfort Tour with Alla Tours. The guide and driver were very helpful and I managed to do everything except the subway ride.

At each stop the driver put my wheelchair in the boot of the minibus. I can manage to walk short distances and go up and down stairs.

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Just come back, We arranged private 2 day tour,which included a guide,driver and wheel chair pusher.

Only real problem encountered was steps down to the river cruise, we could not go.

Also transport was a problem, a mini bus, whilst being comfortable,the steps into and out off, meant that I had to manhandle my partner both in and out.

However the tour was excellent,we arranged our own itinerary with the tour company before we left home.

We used TJ Travel, the guide, driver and student looked after us in every way,even allowing us to walk around the city instead of going on the river cruise,which was brilliant.

Very grateful to the TJ staff.

The tour was excellent,

My husband is paraplegic and confined in a wheelchair. ( manuel) we have been in St. Petersburg and had a wonderful agency www.tourbegleitung.com. Elena speaks perfect english and can arrange nearly everything for a reasonable price. We had a regular car with guide and driver. The wheelchair was in the trunk. We have been in Peterhof ( only outside in the wonderful garden) In all the important churches ( they all have ramps - sometimes not at the main entrance so you cannot see them easy ). We have been in Ermitage ( they have elevators ) The guide knew were they are. We have been in Catherines Palace. No waiting because there is a separate entrance also with elevator. Nobody asked my husband to cover his wheels. Also Peter and Paul Fortress was accessible. If you want to contact Elena tell her greetings from Gaby from Germany and tell her that we have been the guests with the wheelchair . We had 3 days in St. petersburg and no problem with the wheelchair.