Excursions for Berlin and St Petersburg

[egaowl1]

Has anyone researched private tour companies for these two cities?

[no fuss travel]

Try under Ports of Call. I believe I have seen several names recommended there. If not under CC, try Trip Advisor.

[Ronniewales]

Has anyone researched private tour companies for these two cities?

 

Go to the cruise you are booked on roll call, as I am doing the Baltic this August and you will find loads of suggestions from fellow passengers and maybe like I did join a small party for one of those destinations.

[dundeene]

I will be writing reviews of our June 11th cruise on Marina (comparing to Marina in April 2012 as well as Riviera Oct 2012)

I also plan to review Anne of Rostock Travel whom we are using out of Warnemunde and art historian Natalya German Tsarkova the guide we are using in St Pete's for 3 days. I also plan to post reviews on tripadvisor.

[cindilouwho]

Tons of info on the roll calls.....check there --- just look for the baltic cruises.

[Lola911]

We used DenRus for 3-full days in St. Pete's and also did their Berlin tour. All went off like clock work...very memorable.

[paulfromontario]

We has excellent tours with SPB tours last November. Very professional.

[Tansy Mews]

Very happy with SPB tours last July. A young political science graduate. The SPB website has a tool for finding others already booked.

http://www.spb-tours.com/st-petersburg/en/node

Or as others suggested, join your roll call on CC.

BTW, for St. Petersburg, tour companies organize your special visa so you don't have to do it yourself. Included in the price of the tour.

[cruisecountess]

We used Insider Tours, less well known than the others but very professional. They responded to emails very quickly and worked with us to fine tune the itinerary to exactly what we wanted. Our driver was skilled at maneuvering

St. P. traffic and was always prompt for pick up times. Our guide was knowledgeable and we felt like we were visiting the city with a friend.

Harriet

[computerworks]

Another strong positive endorsement for SPB Tours.

 

Viktoria is an astounding host and was a cornerstone of our last Baltic cruise.

[KirkNC]

We used SPB for both and they did a very good job.

[Fam_Cruise]

For St Petersburg we used Anastasia. Their contact info can be foudn on their web site: http://www.anastasiaworld.com Below is our itinerary from back in 2008:

 

Date Time Event

Sun Aug 10

10.30 - 11.00 am City tour

11.00 - 12.00 pm Peter and Paul Fortress visit

12.00 - 12.45 pm Visit of the Saiour on the Spilt Blood

1.00 - 3.00 pm The Hermitage tour

3.30 - 5.00 pm Visit of the Yusupoff's Palace

5.15 - 5.45 Visit of the St.Isaac'c Cathedral

5.45 - 6.30 pm Walk along the Nevsky prospect, exploring the everyday life

7.00 pm Back to the ship

 

Mon Aug 11

8.00 - 8.30 am Transfer to the boat trip

8.30 - 9.30 Exclusive boat trip

9.30 - 10.30 am Transfer to the Catherine's Palace

10.30 - 12.00 pm Tour around the Catherine's Palace and Park

12.00 - 1.00 pm Transfer to the Peterhoff

1.00 -3.00 pm Tour around the Peterhoff Park (You can have lunch in one of the park caffes)

3.00 - 4.00 pm Back to the city

5.00 pm Back to the ship

 

For Berlin we rented a car from Hertz and drove to Am Borsigturm (shopping center/mall with large parking garage) and then took the U-Bahn into the city and did a self tour. Driving in Germany is fun as long as you know the rules and follow the rules. Drive fast (100-140 mph/160-225 kph), use your blinker, left lane is for passing (not for going the same speed as the car in the right lane) - that means accelerate, pass and then get back into the right lane, passing on the right is illegal, zipper rule (means when lanes merge, wait until the merge point and then alternate letting 1 car in from each lane, like a zipper) keeps traffic moving at good speed. BTW, rent a nice car! You will realize why you need to follow the rules and stay out of the left lane except to pass the first time that Mercedes S series or BMW 7 series passes you like you're standing still (and you're going 100-110 mph/160-177 kph).

 

Distance is about 230 km and we drove a leisurely 160 kph (100 mph) on the Autobahn (sometimes faster, sometimes slower with traffic/closer to Berlin, and made it in about an hour and a half. Above was our schedule which allowed 2 hours. This does require a bit of walking, but we relish that.

 

Directions from Warnemünde to Am Borsigturm

Head south on Am Passagierkai/B103 toward Am Passagierkai

Continue to follow B103 1.0 km

Turn left at B103/Rostocker Straße

Continue to follow B103 4.6 km

Take the B105 ramp to A19/Groß Klein 0.3 km

Turn right at B105 Partial toll road (2 €) 3.9 km

Continue on A19 123 km

Continue on A24 63.6 km

Continue on A10 11.5 km

Take exit 31-Kreuz Oranienburg to merge onto A111

toward Berlin-Zentrum (Zoo)/Berlin-Reinickendorf 15.1 km

Take exit 4-Waidmannsluster Damm/Hermsdorfer Damm

toward Waidmannsluster Damm 0.3 km

Turn right at Waidmannsluster Damm

(signs for Berliner Straße/Konradshöhe) 0.3 km

Turn left at Karolinenstraße 0.4 km

Continue on Berliner Straße 0.9 km

Turn right at Am Borsigturm 0.2 km

 

Directions back

Head east on Am Borsigturm toward Berliner Straße 0.2 km

Turn right at Berliner Straße 0.4 km

Turn left at Wittestraße 0.6 km

Turn right at Holzhauser Straße 0.2 km

Turn right onto the ramp to Hamburg 0.2 km

Merge onto A111 17.4 km

Take exit 1-Kreuz Oranienburg on the left to merge onto A10

toward Hamburg/Rostock 14.1 km

Continue on A24 (signs for Hamburg/Rostock/Kremmen/A24) 62.1 km

Continue on A19 (signs for Rostock/Wittstock/A19) 124 km

Continue on B105 (signs for Warnemünde/B105)

Partial toll road (2 €) 3.9 km

Exit onto An der Stadtautobahn/B103 toward Lichtenhagen

Continue to follow B103 4.9 km

Turn left at Am Passagierkai/B103 0.6 km

 

Tour

6:30 AM Ship arrives Warnemünde

7:30 AM Arrive at Hertz for Rental Car, do paperwork.

8:00 AM Depart Hertz and drive to Berlin (see directions above)

10:00 AM Arrive Am Borsigturm and park car

Walk to Borsigturm U-Bahn station (walk to Berliner Straße and take right)

Purchase

U-Bahn group ticket

for 16 € for 5 people.

10:15 AM Take

U6

18 stops and get off at the Kochstraße U-Bahn station

Departure 10:13 Arrival 10:36

Departure 10:18 Arrival 10:41

Departure 10:23 Arrival 10:46

10:41 AM Head north on Friederichstraße to address 43-45 – Museum Haus am Checkpoint Charlie admission 12,50 € per person.

11:45 AM Walk north 10 blocks on Friederichstraße and take a left on Unter den Linden and have lunch at one of the cafes along the edges off this boulevard.

1:00 PM After lunch continue east on Unter den Linden (4 blocks) to Pariser Platz (adjacent to Bradenburg Gate); visit Brandenburg Gate

1:30 PM From Bradenburg Gate head north on Ebertstraße, to first left on Scheidemannstraße and into the Tiergarten. Take in the view of the Reichstag (Parliament) to your right. Continue on Scheidemannstraße which changes to John-Foster-Dulles-Allee, Kongresshall will be on your right. After crossing Paulsstraße we will arrive at Schloß Bellevue. Schloß Bellevue was the residence of the President of the Federal Republic up until 1994. Continue along the river to the Bellevue S-Bahn station and get on the

S9

or

S75

toward Spandau,

S5

toward Westkreuz, or

S7

toward Potsdam Hbf. Proceed 5 stops to the Westkreuz S-Bahn station. Change to the northbound

S41

,

S42

or

S46

S-Bahn 2 stops to the Westend S-Bahn station. Get off train and go east on Spandauer Damm to Charlottenburg Palace.

3:00 PM Visit Charlottenburg Palace and gardens. Old Palace admission 10 € per person.

4:45 PM Walk east on Spandauer Damm to Otto-Suhr-Allee. Walk 4 blocks and take a right on Richard-Wagner-Platz. At the second intersection is Richard-Wagner-Platz U-Bahn station, take

U7

toward Rudow and get off at the 3rd stop, Adenauer U-Bahn station.

5:15 PM Wienerwald for dinner. Kurfürstendamm 90 – 3 blocks from Adenauer U-Bahn station.

6:20 PM Depart for Adenauer U-Bahn station

6:31 PM From Adenauer U-Bahn station take

U7

toward Rudow and get off at the 3rd stop, Berliner Straße U-Bahn station. Take the

U9

toward Osloer Str and get off at 9th stop, Leopoldplatz. Change to

U6

toward Alt-Tegel and go 8 stops to Borsigturm U-Bahn station.

Departure 18:23 Arrival 18:57

Departure 18:31 Arrival 19:02

Departure 18:35 Arrival 19:07

Departure 18:39 Arrival 19:12

7:20 PM Depart Parking garage for Warnemünde.

9:20 PM Return to Warnemünde and return rental car

11:00 PM Ship departs Warnemünde

 

Note prices were from 2008 but I checked and the U-Bahn group ticket went up from 15,90 € to 16 € and Museum Haus am Checkpoint Charlie is still 12,50 €. I did not check the U-Bahn train info but if you decide to do this links are provided below to do so; although knowing the Germans I doubt trains/schedules have changed much. The Wienerwald stop for dinner prior to our return was reliving my childhood as I lived in Germany from 11-13, and loved Wienerwald (Rotisserie Chicken is their specialty) which is nothing fancy and very economical. A treat for me, but you may want to skip it.

 

Links that may help

BVG U-Bahn and S-Bahn Journey planner

Museum Haus am Checkpoint Charlie

West Berlin Map

Charlottenburg Palace

 

I hope someone finds this useful. Enjoy!

[Paulchili]

..and here I thought I was a detailed planner :D

Great work - do you hire out?

PS I love your analysis of driving in Europe (and completely agree with you) :)

[caviargal]

We have been to Berlin a half dozen times over the past 30+ years and it is one of our favorite cities in Europe. We fly there and spend time and have about 4 weeks total so far with another trip in the works.

 

We very much enjoyed our private tours with Jeremy Minsburg - http://www.theberlinexpert.com. We do not do group tours unless we are with our own group of friends. Once it was just DH and I with Jeremy (DH's first visit to Berlin) and then the following year there were 4 of us. Both experiences were excellent and I highly recommend him.

 

He is an expat from MN and we enjoyed his perspective on the daily life in Berlin as much as the history.

[wripro]

10:41 Head north on Friedrichstrasse.....

 

What happens if you don't get to leave till 10:43? Is there such a thing as too much planning? Actually, I admire such preparation. Where were you when we invaded Iraq?

 

Another vote here for Denrus for both St. Petersburg and Berlin. If you do tours in both cities they give you a discount.

[Fam_Cruise]

10:41 Head north on Friedrichstrasse.....

 

What happens if you don't get to leave till 10:43?

Oh well. But more likely it would be 10:36 or 10:46, depending on what U-Bahn you catch. (Yeah, I know you were kidding)

 

Is there such a thing as too much planning?

Maybe, but it works for me.

 

Actually, I admire such preparation. Where were you when we invaded Iraq?

Thanks. The second time we invaded Iraq, March 2003, I was actually in Germany, more specifically Garmisch-Partenkirchen spending most of my time apologizing.

[Fam_Cruise]

..and here I thought I was a detailed planner :D

Great work - do you hire out?

PS I love your analysis of driving in Europe (and completely agree with you) :)

Yeah, very detailed here. Another person in our group did most of the planning for our St Petersburg tour and did a great job at that finding Anastasia - who was great BTW. Highly recommend them for a small group. We had 10 people in our group, formed through the CC roll call for our cruise.

 

The Berlin tour and trip I planned and did so down to the smallest detail. We deviated a bit and I didn't meet any of our times except for the first couple. One reason was it took us much less than 2 hours to drive into Berlin. But it provided us a guideline for our day. We deviated from our schedule spending additional time walking more of Unter den Linden and stopping in shops.

 

It was fun and we got lots of exercise. Not a good tour for the mobility challenged. FWIW, I do a lot of solo travels and tend to walk a lot when visiting new cities. Today, unlike 2008, there are iPhone travel apps and reasonable data roaming plans that allow one to use them as your tour guide. I stumbled across this two years ago. I had gotten a new iPhone the summer before my last Oceania cruise in Sept 2011. I did 4 nights in Rome before the cruise. The first day I went to walk about and after about a half hour I remembered I had downloaded a Visit Rome app which I brought up on my iPhone. As I was trying to figure out how to get it to work I heard a narration from a tour/pocket guide that I thought was being used nearby. I looked around and no one was listening to a pocket guide. I then realized that it was my iPhone App telling me about the fountain I was standing in front of. Off on my tour I went. So cool.

[Ronniewales]

What was your travel app called and do they cover the Baltic capitals and cities.

[Giantfan13]

WE can also cast another vote for SPB Tours. They are very professional, and they have been the #1 tour company on Trip Advisor for the past year. They will bend over backwards to make sure your time in whatever cities you use them for is fabulous.

 

Cheers

 

Len

[Fam_Cruise]

What was your travel app called and do they cover the Baltic capitals and cities.

PocketGuide: Travel

Yes, Helsinki, Oslo, Warsaw, Stockholm, Berlin, and St. Petersburg. A lot more than a couple years ago.

[Quilting_Cruiser]

We'll be touring with Alla Tours in St P and Berlin. They get great reviews and you get a discount for booking more than one city with them. I'm sure the other highly-recommended guides do as well. There's a ton of info here on this forum--lots of comparisons and reviews. It sounds like if you go with one of the recommended guides, you'll have a great experience. :D

[dolittle]

We used DenRus for 3-full days in St. Pete's and also did their Berlin tour. All went off like clock work...very memorable.

 

We second this it was the best tours we have ever done.

[travelnnana]

We are doing the Baltic in August - despite what others did on our CC roll call - I researched both SPB and ALLA - I chose SPB tours - also to Berlin, Tallinn & Helsinki - looking forward to this trip!

[JeffCMH]

We did the Baltics last summer and used SPB in both Berlin and St. Petersburg. I would use them again and definitely recommend them to others.

[Ronniewales]

We are doing the Baltic this August with Dancing Bear Tours of St Petersburg and are a party of 6 from CC and after reading their reviews on Tripadvisor I think we have made a great choice.