A few questions about St Petersburg attractions

So I think we have narrowed our St Petersburg tour choice down to two, and would really appreciate some additional info from people who have been there.

A - Did anyone do TJ Travels night excursion called "Russian Experience". It sounds like it gives you a couple of hours walking around Nevsky prospect. We were thinking it would be a nice way to end the day and get to see a little more of the actual city and people?

B - Our second option is Best Guides. But it looks like we would miss seeing:

• St Isaacs,
  
• Yusupov, and
  
• Peter and Paul Fortress
  
• Subway visit (I've heard they are fascinating to see?)
  

In return, we would get

• the Faberge Museum,
  
• a brief walk in town (< 1hr),
  
• and "white night tour"
  

I'd be curious to hear people's thoughts on any of these experiences. Thanks!!!

Keep in mind that you can't just leave the ship on your own. You have to be with an organized ship or private tour. If your looking at a private tour operator check to make sure that they will supply the required visa to go ashore.

Keep in mind that you can't just leave the ship on your own. You have to be with an organized ship or private tour. If your looking at a private tour operator check to make sure that they will supply the required visa to go ashore.

Understood. That's why we are looking at TJ Travels, Best Guides (and Alla).

I actually found the Peter and Paul fortress kind of boring. But different strokes.. St. Isaac's was not open the day we were there so we could only see it from the outside. Yeah, architecture was pretty cool but if I hadn't seen it my life would still be ok.

We didn't see Yusupov on our tour.

In terms of the subway, well - yeah it was kind of cool riding on a Russian subway deep, deep underneath St. Petersburg. My four year old son really enjoyed it. I was amazed at how long the escalators were and the ornate decorations. So - yeah I guess it was kind of worth it. But, we had also been to the Varshavsky outdoor train museum that day so maybe I was a little trained out at that point...

I also been looking at all the places to see in St. Petersburg and trying to decide between Peterhof Gardens & Fountains or Cahtherines Place & Estate. Another choice is Pushkin & Hermitage. Any recommendation?

Wallingf--We were in St. Petersburg this summer and took an ALLA tour which included Yusupov Palace

St. Isaac's Cathedral

Peter and Paul Fortress and

Ride on the subway

None of these were on a scale with the Hermitage, Catherine's Palace or the Church on the Spilled Blood, BUT I am so glad that I got to see them all.

Yusupov Palace has the neat connection with Rasputin (and our guide there gave us an excellent description of the events and people involved in the death of Rasputin). Yusupov Palace also has some great over-the-top decorations.

St. Isaac's Cathedral has some beautiful decorations and one of my favorite sculptures that I saw on the entire trip, "Jesus with a Bowling Ball".

Having read a lot about the Romanov Dynasty, I would not have missed seeing the Peter and Paul Fortress. But, the Cathedral there is just a lot of tombs.

Finally, the subway is great! I am used to riding the subway in Washington, D.C., which is clean, but very sterile. The St. Petersburg subway system is so gorgeous--mosaics, paintings, etc. It's like walking through an art museum. (Plus, if you have never ridden a subway before, it's fun.)

BSR--What tour are you considering? Most of the 2-day tours include Peterhof Gardens, Catherine's Palace AND the Hermitage. All of those are attractions which should not be missed in St. Petersburg. If, for some reason, you have to choose amongst these, see them in this order: Hermitage, Catherine's Palace, Peterhof Gardens.

Hi! My order will be a bit different: Hermitage, Peterhof Gardens, Catherin Palace.

I also want to clarify that Catherin Palace and Pushkin is the same. I mean Pushkin is a town and Catherin Palace is the most famous attraction in the town.

Catherin palace is magnificent. I have only one thing against it, it was rather crowded inside. I just hate to be in a crowd. In the Hermitage you can avoid the crowd by booking early admission. Peterhof Gardens are huge and OK, it’s a lot of people in there but it’s not overcrowded. Otherwise the Catherin Palace is a fantastic choice.

Jess :)

Several more things. I’ve seen both cathedrals – St. Isaac’s and the Spilt Blood. If you have to choose I would suggest the Spilt Blood. It’s really Russian, just fantastic, something absolutely unique! But I know some other people would prefer St. Isaac’s. It depends on your taste.

We haven’t seen the Usupov Palace. I guess it’s rather interesting. May be it will be the reason to return again:D joke:):)

Faberge – from my point of view it’s a “must see place” We all really enjoyed it. Highly recommended.

White night tour – it was really nice. We all were a bit tiered at the very end of the day but we really enjoyed it. it’s actually more an entertainment than a real tour probably because we were too tired for a real informative tour. We walked along the Summer gardens which are very beautiful and tried Russian ice cream. We saw the smallest monument in St. Petersburg, walked a little bit a long Nevsky and so on.

Jess :)

I also been looking at all the places to see in St. Petersburg and trying to decide between Peterhof Gardens & Fountains or Cahtherines Place & Estate. Another choice is Pushkin & Hermitage. Any recommendation?

Some considerations:

Visiting Peterhof's Fountains is fun/inventive/creative. Visiting Catherine's Palace is over the top ornate -- impressive -- but more serious.

How much do you enjoy visiting art museums? I want to point out that the Hermitage is technically a palace and is so ornate that it would be an impressive destination even if there were nothing hanging on the walls or in display cases! However, if you don't have love paintings to enjoy visiting the Hermitage.

The collection is so huge and varied that you could have a great time investigating the coin collections or the Japanese netsuke or the European armor/firearms or dozens more collections and never see a single one of the galleries with the world famous collection of paintings.

Here's a link to the description of the many collections at the Hermitage:

https://www.hermitagemuseum.org/wps/portal/hermitage/explore/collections/!ut/p/a1/hZLLboMwEEV_JVmwBA9gwO7Oog15KCJRoyawQQ4xDwlDZGip-vWFqKqaqklnNaM5d3SvZRSjA4pr_lbmvCubmlfjHLtJyJhr2j4sCZ3PgOGn2Zat7c3KcgcgGgC4UQz-0-9RfI0Es-ARWEC3PsGhFRDzNxAuVh6wcOfMw_DFt3z8BdzxsERxeZRGn0oDDEIJxdg1HdexwQE8RmD10SY5ipXIhBLKeFVD9KLrzu2DBhr0fW_kTZNXwkgbqcFfkqJpO3S4JlE0vI53M75joufR_N5fJ5sFii5RqzpHkajHtm6Tu-rkIuS5ME52duKp6-ie5WU6ptTR6ZFi3cpcnlJqggWAIns86u8G8xoUQsmyG7QTUf-YNBDv56pRQ-M3VSXS8R9o0Aqu0iKRvO2E0iD9Xk24_oHO8gDlRu5JR8CWxJZsOv0ERjyAeg!!/dl5/d5/L2dBISEvZ0FBIS9nQSEh/pw/Z7_OAA613C0J89HF0A4EFQAM3PK51/ren/p=WCM_PI=1/p=ns_Z7_OAA613C0J89HF0A4EFQFBAM3PK51_WCM_Page.d3fdac65-727f-4995-9b94-2f6ac9910200=1/p=CTX=QCPhermitageQCAenQCPhermitageQCPexploreQCPCollectionQCPsearch_masterQCPcollectionQCAa-z/p=lng=en/=/#Z7_OAA613C0J89HF0A4EFQAM3PK51

PS. The full URL -- not visible here -- is the longest URL I've ever seen. If it doesn't work for you, Google using the words "Hermitage" "St Petersburg" and "collections" and this very useful web page should show up in the results.

So I think we have narrowed our St Petersburg tour choice down to two, and would really appreciate some additional info from people who have been there.

 

A - Did anyone do TJ Travels night excursion called "Russian Experience". It sounds like it gives you a couple of hours walking around Nevsky prospect. We were thinking it would be a nice way to end the day and get to see a little more of the actual city and people?

 

 

 

B - Our second option is Best Guides. But it looks like we would miss seeing:

• St Isaacs,
  
• Yusupov, and
  
• Peter and Paul Fortress
  
• Subway visit (I've heard they are fascinating to see?)
  

In return, we would get

• the Faberge Museum,
  
• a brief walk in town (< 1hr),
  
• and "white night tour"
  

I'd be curious to hear people's thoughts on any of these experiences. Thanks!!!

It really depend on you, your interests and what might appeal to you more?

Are you interested more in history, especially Russian history, then Yusupov's' and Peter and Paul would be higher on your list. If you are more interested in showy type of things, then the Faberge might be more your style. We loved Yusupov's and the way they showed the plotting and death of Rasputin. In Peter and Paul, yes, there are tombs there, but being a history person, I enjoyed seeing the final resting place of Peter the Great and the Romanovs.

If you've never ridden on a subway, then I would not pass that up. We, being from the NY area, found the crowds and all the pushing something we left in NY. They are magnificent though, especially for a subway.

We toured with SPB Tours, a few years ago, and we were able to have all of your above sights included in our tour. If anything has changed, then that might limit you.

When we went, we wanted to see whatever we could see in St Petersburg, and that included all the main sights. Walking around wasn't high on our list. But again, it's really to your tastes and interests. It is very hard for some one who doesn't know you top really suggest what you should do.

Cheers

Len

We were there this summer. I would put Peterhof at the top of my list. Catherine's Palace was also very nice. After having seen the other places Yusupov's didn't seem to be as big a deal. But that's just my opinion.

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