Tipping St. Petersburg Tour

[pdx13]

I'm sure this has been asked previously, but I couldn't find it by using the search too, so please pardon. What is the tipping standard for an independent organized tour in SPB? We are doing three days in a small group with guide and driver.

[hockeyken]

:) We gave 10% of the cost, each, for the guide, and 5% for the driver ( private 2 day tour, group of 8). In cash, at the end of the tour. It was well earned and deserved by our guide and driver. An amazing, but tiring 2 days.

 

K

[threetowner16]

:) We gave 10% of the cost, each, for the guide, and 5% for the driver ( private 2 day tour, group of 8). In cash, at the end of the tour. It was well earned and deserved by our guide and driver. An amazing, but tiring 2 days.

 

K

 

SPB Tours cover tipping in the FAQ section of their website

[KirkNC]

:) We gave 10% of the cost, each, for the guide, and 5% for the driver ( private 2 day tour, group of 8). In cash, at the end of the tour. It was well earned and deserved by our guide and driver. An amazing, but tiring 2 days.

 

K

 

We did about the same.

[cam200]

Did you tip in USD, EUR or RUB?

[John Bull]

As elsewhere outside the USA, despite figures suggested by tour operators, there's no expectation of tips as a right. Tips are earned by providing excellent service, so it's down to you to decide what you feel the guide is worth. That includes zilch if the guide isn't good (though I've never heard anything but good about guides in SPB). But 10% is plenty in most circumstances, and mebbe something for the driver.

 

Any mainline currency will be gratefully accepted. but probably roubles followed by USD or euros.

 

We took with us enough roubles to tip the guide, mainly because we always like to have some local jingle in our pockets. And sure enough, at lunch (meal included in tour ticket) the restaurant accepted only roubles - no plastic, no foreign currency. So we used our roubles for a couple of beers and at the end of the tour made up the shortfall with euros.

 

We also took cash USD to pay for the tour itself, even though we had to use our own currency (GBP) to get the dollars. Our thinking was that the tour was priced in USD, so paying in USD avoided any potential argument over exchange rates. Other folk may suggest other ways to pay which might be more economical - each to their own.

 

JB :)

[Giantfan13]

There have been many threads here about tipping on a private tour. I join the rest in saying we also tipped 10% and the driver 5%. But to some that is a lot of money. Say you have 2 people 2X$300 as most tours are in that ball park = about an $80-90 tip. People have said that that is way over the line, but in reality, it isn't. $300 for an all day all inclusive, almost private tour for 2 people for 2 days is a bargain.

As John has said, tipping is NEVER required, most do, some don't, Americans look at tipping as a given opposed to Europeans. So just do what you feel is right. Regardless how your tour, or with whom, if the service is good, do the right thing.

 

Cheers

 

Len

[hockeyken]

:) USD for us too. Although half of the group was Canadian.

 

K

[nybumpkin]

We used USD for our tips as well. Our lunches were included in the tour price, so we didn't need to get rubles at all. (The teens who entertained us on our canal tour by running ahead and waving from the bridges also were very happy to take USD when they were waiting for us at the end of the cruise.:p)

[LondonTowner]

We never bothered with any local currency at all in SPB. We payed for our trip by CC which doesn't charge for foreign transactions and were told it would show as roubles. Our lunch included water and I think, a coffee so didn't need cash there.

 

We did leave our tip in USD only because we had some left over from a previous holiday, but Euros or GBP would have been just as acceptable.