St. Petersburg evening activities

[Chai Cruise Enthusiast#18]

My adult daughter and I are joining 8 other passengers, who we met on Cruise Critic, on a 3 day tour of St. Petersburg with SPB Tours in July, 2013. Some of them are opting not to take any evening activities but my daughter and I would like to do something special for 1 night.

 

What recommendations can you share with me of can't miss evening activities?

 

Bonnie

[LHT28]

Folk dancing show, The Ballet

Dinner at a local restaurant (Viktoria can arrange that)

We did not do that but it would have been a nice evening out

[Aruba]

See a ballet in Catherine the Great's private theater inside the Hermitage. Viktoria can arrange tickets. We saw Giselle one evening when we were in St Petersburg and it was a highlight.

[Maria.Lemish]

July night is perfect for a stroll along the embankment of the Neva. You will have a chance to see how the famous bridges are raised, and then relax in one of the all-day restaurant or nightclub.

[pacheco18]

We took SPB's evening fun cruise -- lots of vodka shots (we are not big drinkers!) and folk dancers and folks songs and a cruise on the river -- it was a hoot.

 

Viktoria will arrange anything you want to do. She is amazing!

[computerworks]

We took SPB's evening fun cruise -- lots of vodka shots (we are not big drinkers!) and folk dancers and folks songs and a cruise on the river -- it was a hoot.

 

Viktoria will arrange anything you want to do. She is amazing!

 

I agree... she runs a great tour operation.

 

We also did the Vodka Cruise in the evening...very relaxing and a lot of fun (plus a lot of vodka and chocolate!)

 

When we returned to the river dock, it was such a nice night that our host Andrew took us all for a walking tour along the Nevsky Prospekt... for at least another hour or more. ...shops, people-watching, etc.

 

11 pm and still light out. ;)

[Emperor Norton]

After dealing with two different tours in the Hermitage in the same day, a night small group only tour of Catherines Palace was quite a reprieve. No large crowds, only our group and photography is allowed in the Amber room.

[wripro]

Personally, I would stay away from the ballet. Summer is out of season and they only have students performing for the tourists.

[JimandStan]

Bonnie does not say how old she is, which is always a ladies prerogative, but I'd urge caution when planning any activities over and above the "normal" three day sightseeing schedule in St. Petersburg.

 

Those are going to be three very long, very full days.

 

On our last Baltic cruise I could not even make it into Martini's after dinner, and if you know me, you will appreciate how tired I must have been...

[CintiPam]

Personally, I would stay away from the ballet. Summer is out of season and they only have students performing for the tourists.

 

Wripro, you have echoed my thoughts. The major ballet companies tour out of Russia at that time. Also, most of the venues are lousy as well, like a high school auditorium, and many without a/c. You can see better ballet at your home city. I attended what I call "the tourist ballet" while on a land trip to St. Petersburg, and as much as I like Swan Lake, it was not a very good production, especially once beyond the major two roles.

 

In addition, as mentioned by Jim, the days in St. Petersburg while on private tour are themselves so full of activity, that I was extremely tired in the evening and chose to rest up for the next full day of touring.

[susietb]

We were also there in the summer and our guide arranged for us to have tickets to the opera at the Marijnsky Theater. It was a wonderful performance. Not crowded and really wonderful to visit that venue.

[CruisinSinceAge5]

We bought tickets on our own to the Mariinsky online on the day they went on sale - saw a beautiful production of Le Corsaire in fabulous seats. Arranged for Alla to drive us there and back. All three of us enjoyed it tremendously - our 22 year old daughter loved it - she loves going to the ballet and theatre. We scheduled it for the first evening in St. P - we were on a 3 day visit on Oceania (used Alla for all three days and were beyond pleased!) - and though it was a long day i'm glad we did it because it was a fantastic experience.