Choosing a tour company in St. Pete

Five years ago we took our two teenagers to St. Petersburg. We chose not to use the ship's excursion. We found Anastasia Travel and booked a two day tour with them. Our guide, Elena, was spectacular! We had a total of six in our group and over the two days we saw SO much more than those who took the ship's excursion! Because we were in a van and a small group, we were able to get in places like the Hermitage, Catherine's Palace, and Peterhof more quickly and move around easily which allowed us to see so much more. We got to visit off the beaten track places like a traditional Soviet supermarket (she called it the Russian version of Walmart! :D), learn the secrets of the water fountains in the park at Peterhof, and go to traditional shops and restaurants rather than the typical tourist places. They worked with us from the first email to make sure we got to see the places we wanted to see most and then augmented the visit with so much more! I would definitely use them again!!!!

We've just returned from a Baltic cruise on Serenade of the seas. We only had 1 day in St Petersburg. We booked a tour with TJ Travel who were great. We had 2 teenagers with us as well. It was a very hectic tour, 11 hours in total but we saw so much, we even went down into the metro station. Nina, our guide was excellent and I can highly recommend them.

We cruised into St Petersburg in August and had a fantastic two days with TJ Travel. All of the positive messages you read about them are true.

Before we left home we booked for my wife, myself and our son to have a two day excursion with an evening boat trip at the end of the first day. The main point I want to give TJ Travel credit for is that, due an accident on a Segway at the previous port my wife could not join us on the excursions, when I came to pay they did not charge us for her booking. Not only that but they arranged for a special taxi to collect her from the ship for the evening boat trip and again no charge:)

How often do you come across that level of service?

Big well done and thank you T J Travel

Hi! I’ve read this thread and found only positive reviews. It looks like all the companies which were mentioned in the thread are really great. I’ve also check Tripadvisor and the reviews (at least majority of them) are excellent. But still each company has its strong sides. It could be great evening itineraries, smaller size of groups, lunch boxes provided to save time or children friendly tours. To find a company which suites you better you are to send mails to a few companies. Describe all your wishes and ideas and wait for the replays. Just chose company which you feel comfortable with. It’s very easy and it works. We chose Best Guides and it was a great choice for us. But still you need to do your homework to find YOUR company. Good luck!

Jess :)

Hi Kxolear

Svetlana Starkova was our guide on our first visit to St. Petersburg. She is excellent! I’m so glad to see her name on this forum. I asked for her this year but she was out of the city. We had a different guide Inna and she also was excellent. Her English is better than mine, she was extremely flexible and very nice to communicate with. At the end of two days spent with Inna my little daughter declared she didn’t want to leave Russia mostly because she wanted to stay with Inna:):). Nic is 5 at the moment:). It looks like Best Guides really have only excellent guides....

Jess :)

Hi Kxolear

Svetlana Starkova was our guide on our first visit to St. Petersburg. She is excellent! I’m so glad to see her name on this forum. I asked for her this year but she was out of the city. We had a different guide Inna and she also was excellent. Her English is better than mine, she was extremely flexible and very nice to communicate with. At the end of two days spent with Inna my little daughter declared she didn’t want to leave Russia mostly because she wanted to stay with Inna:):). Nic is 5 at the moment:). It looks like Best Guides really have only excellent guides....

Jess:)

We used Guide Guru for my family of 4 in July, 2015. We have nothing but good things to say. Our guide Ada was very knowledgeable and our driver was very good at getting us around.

I initially emailed Guide Guru to inquire about price and options. We were able to stay longer in some places, shorter in other, because it was just the 4 of us.

We saw The Peterhoff Palace, Church of Spilt Blood, Catherine's Palace, the Hermitage, went on a boat tour, did the hydrofoil, ate at a really good Pie place for lunch. Shopped at stores that met our needs. We even too the subway too!

The price was great, I booked in advance and they even gave my kids the student rate. It was about $1250 for the 4 of us for the 2 days with all the entrance fees etc. I cannot say enough about how easy they made it for us. And because it was just the 4 of us, we didn't have to worry about another family holding us up in the morning or having to do things we didn't want to do.

We used SPB tours with Elena for our guide. She was wonderful and bent over backwards to make sure everyone's needs were accommodated. I can only eat certain foods and she made sure I was happy. Price was reasonable for what was given.

TJ lists two different sob tours...Standard and Highlights. They appear to be similar except that one includes 2 lunches. Does anyone know anything more about the differences?

We used SPB tours with Elena for our guide. She was wonderful and bent over backwards to make sure everyone's needs were accommodated. I can only eat certain foods and she made sure I was happy. Price was reasonable for what was given.

Our guide was Inna (and she was superb!), but for the evening program I joined another group of 10 and we had Elena. We were with the Best Guides and I’m not sure it was the same Elena as you had but who knows. I forgot to ask for her mail. I would like to write her and to say hello from US and thank for the great tour once again.

Jess :)

My wife and I used TJ Travel this past August. We used their services in St. Petersburg,. They provided a tour that went beyond our expectations. If you are ever traveling in this region, you will not be disappointed. They knew their area of responsibility well. Whether it was geography, history, politics, whatever; they were a wealth of information. Our guide was Irina and the driver Sasha. They were extremely professionals and very pleasant. We do not think we would be able to have such a great experience of this beautiful city if it were not for them. A

Visited August 2015

We used TJ Travel for shore excursions at most of our ports on our August, 2015 Holland America Baltic Cruise. After many months of emails planning our private excursions, everything was perfect! I must thank everyone at TJ, especially Kirill and Julia who always responded promptly to our many email questions and last minute changes. We were truly blessed to have the amazing guidance of Alla in St. Petersburg, Charlotte in Copenhagen, Eva in Stockholm and our singing guide Tanja in Finland! Each of these guides were a wealth of information and are all now considered part of our extended family!

My wife and I used TJ Travel for two days in St Petersburg as well as in Berlin on our Holland America August Baltics cruise. I've worked with tour guides for 35 years as a tour leader and the guides for these tours were appropriately professional, especially for tours that were priced quite reasonably. The tour of the Hermitage was particularly informative which I appreciated since I took extensive notes for an internet blog which I was writing. Well done TJ Travel.