Tour operators

Does anybody have recommendations for independent tour operators in the following cities:

Talllin

St. Petersburg

Helsinki

I'm going in a Baltic cruise in May (first time). My husband and I usually do our own thing but as I was reading, for St. Petersburg booking a tour is one the best ideas. I already looked into the Best Guides tours but I would like to see others too and compare.

Thanks

Hi, Elizabeth,

Sorry, can't help with Helsinki or Tallinn, both (especially Tallinn) were very easy to explore without any sort of tour - just a short shuttle from port to town, & even that's not necessary in Tallinn if you don't mind a 15 - 20- minute walk.

For St Petersburg I have little doubt that you'll get contributors extolling the virtues of the tour operator that they used. You can see that by just browsing threads on this forum. I'm happy to extol the virtues of Alla, but like virtually everyone else I've only used the one operator.

What's more significant is that you'll be hard-pressed to find any negative comments - all the operators in St Petersburg are very good. Wish I could say the same about other places in the world :rolleyes: :D

And they all offer much the same tours, you'll need a pencil and a large piece of paper to check out the minor differences.

For exceptional circumstances - young kids, major mobility issues, particular interest in specific sights, some are better than others.

But for a general tour you might as well blindfold yourself & stick a pin in. Whichever name that pin hits, you'll have a great tour :)

JB :)

Tallin and Helsinki: We found both of these ports to be uber-easy to tour on our own. If you enjoy D-I-Y touring, then I recommend you pick up a copy of Rick Steves "Northern European Cruise Ports". He'll tell you exactly how to get around on your own and even provide you with one or more self-guided walking tours, with places worth stopping in to visit.

St. Petersburg--John Bull's advice about finding a tour there is spot on. And I did just what he suggests--I chose 3 tour companies based on recommendation here and on Trip Advisor and using a paper and pencil, I compared their tours. (You'll find they are pretty similar). Anyway, we ended up going with Alla Tours and it was excellent.

Thank you! This is great info!!!!

We DIY'd both Tallinn and Helsinki, so I'll only touch on SPB. We had a fantastic 2 day private tour with Anastasia Travel and I highly recommend them. Our cost was $300 each for the two full days, including entrances to all the sites. It was just my husband and myself with our very informative guide and driver. Being on a private tour gave us the opportunity to tailor it any way we wanted on the fly. It even included a private canal boat tour!

We DIY'd both Tallinn and Helsinki, so I'll only touch on SPB. We had a fantastic 2 day private tour with Anastasia Travel and I highly recommend them. Our cost was $300 each for the two full days, including entrances to all the sites. It was just my husband and myself with our very informative guide and driver. Being on a private tour gave us the opportunity to tailor it any way we wanted on the fly. It even included a private canal boat tour!

That's a steal, Pompeii! How did you manage to swing that? Their website advertises a 2-day tour for two people at $641 pp.

That's a steal, Pompeii! How did you manage to swing that? Their website advertises a 2-day tour for two people at $641 pp.

They have a "50% off" promo if you book in the winter months. You can take the tour anytime, just need to book in the winter. I have to admit I was a little nervous at first since it seemed too good to be true, but they were everything they advertised and more. Plus I had corresponded with someone on CC who had also "bucked the trend" and booked with Anastasia and not one of the big three. She emailed me after her tour that she loved every minute of it, so we felt secure in our choice.

We were the envy of everyone on the ship when they heard about our tour with just us, the guide and the driver in his new black Mercedes, lol! Here is a link, and they will happily customize your tour if you don't want the exact itinerary they have listed. We worked with Katherine in planning everything and Anna was our guide, both were fantastic from start to finish. It worked out especially well for us since dh is a photo buff and we could dally anywhere we wanted and not frustrate anyone like we might have with a group.

http://anastasia.travel/winter-tours

....................................... We had a fantastic 2 day private tour with Anastasia Travel and I highly recommend them. Our cost was $300 each for the two full days, including entrances to all the sites. It was just my husband and myself with our very informative guide and driver................................

I recall a recent very complimentary thread about Anastasia, I think Elizabeth would enjoy touring with them. :)

As for the cost, I suspect that the dramatic fall of the rouble is part of the background.

Against the US dollar it's worth less than half its value just two years ago, which in theory means that tours priced in USD should have halved.

Instead the fall has allowed Alla, SPB etc to widen their profit margins by passing on a comparatively small proportion of the saving. If I were a major player, that's what I'd have done.:)

But Anastasia has instead passed on to customers a big chunk of that saving, making them significantly cheaper than the competition, in order to get more market-share. And if I were a minor player, that's what I'd have done. :)

What Pompeii paid Anastasia for a 2-day customised private tour ($300 each) was about what we each paid Alla three years ago for a 2-day standard seat-in-bus tour, Alla's current price for that seat-in-bus tour is $240.

Ships' tours were significantly more expensive than local operators' tours, but cruise lines do seem to have passed on a big chunk of the saving and now might even be the cheapest option - though IMHO that doesn't outweigh the many other advantages of using a local operator.

Currently excellent value, whoever you use. :)

JB :)

As has been said many times, all the major tour companies in St Petersburg do a fantastic job. When we went, we used SRB Tours and they were just fantastic. Again, all the companies offer the basic tours but there are some individual differences. We went with SPB because they offered two lunches at real Russian restautants and we wanted that. But what really sold us was the wonderful personal attention Victoria gave us. She was a pleasure to deal with. So that is what I tell everyone who asks the same question you ask. NO ONE here can tell you which company to choose. You have to do some homework, make a few calls, send out some emails and choose the one YOU feel most comfortable with. No choice is bad, but it has to be your choice.

Cheers

Lens