orangedluv

17 hours ago, Giantfan13 said:

You could rent a car and try to do it yourself.

You could take the train and find a tour when you get to Berlin?

Or you could sign on with one of the popular tour groups that usually do St Petersburg but also do Berlin. They are pretty reasonable, will get you to Berlin but, I believe you are then on a tour with them. If you want to go off on your own, then you would probably need your own transportation, but I am not positive about that. If you are also looking for a tour company for St Petersburg, it could save you some money by combining Berlin with St Petersburg with the same company. 

 

Cheers

Len

Thanks for this! I think I will do as what you have advised 🙂

Just now, Grant2000 said:

If you take a tour provided by your cruise company, you won't need to obtain your own visitor's visa.  Although this might be a little more expensive than entering Russia on your own, it'll be more convenient and less stressful.

 

https://cruiseports.ca/baltic/st-petersburg-russia.html

 

Tours for me are too restricted and really limits one's exploration so I wouldprefer not to which is why Im looking for advice on traveling around on own! Thanks for your advice tho

23 minutes ago, kitkat343 said:

Have you priced out a private tour for just your family?   That worked very well for us.  You’d completely control the itinerary and minimize time lost in transit or other delays.  Ironically since our 3 year old was free on our tour, the private tour cost less for us than 3 visas would have cost.  

 

There are are people on these boards who have greatly enjoyed traveling independently to St. Petersburg.  The risk is that it isn’t one of the easier cities to navigate, and I’d hate to lose time there since there’s so much to see.  

 

The only advice id have is that some museum lines are only for large tour groups.  Our tour guide was able to take our group of 3 right past all of the lines. We didn’t expect this and lined up at the first museum.  Hopefully they’d let your party through Also without waiting.  Best of luck to you.  

Do you remember what tour company you hired? Thanks for all your help! :)

1 minute ago, Cali girl said:

It can be done, but I personally wouldn't feel comfortable with it.  You also need to mail your passport to Russia many months in advance to get your Visa I believe and it might cost as much as a tour anyways.  

I am from asia and we have a Russian embassy in my city so getting a visa wont be a problem. Thanks for sharing your thoughts

I am from asia and we have a Russian embassy in my city so getting a visa wont be a problem. Thanks for sharing your thoughts! 

We are planning to get a visa and explore St Petersburg on own within the 2 days we are docked in Russia. We think doing so will take more advantage of our time compared to being in a time-limited tour. Has anyone tried doing that and how was the difficulty in commuting on your own considering the language barrier? If you could send some tips please, thank you so much!

We are cruising with NCL but we dont wanna avail their tours because they seem to be overpriced. Can anyone suggest a Berlin tour excursion that would allow me to have enough time to go through and walk around the Berlin wall? Was hoping to get a relaxed tour even if we only have a day docked in Warnemunde. It would be great if you could describe your experience! Thanks!