St. Petersburg Tours

[Stella1250]

Has anyone done a private tour in St. Petersburg? Was it worth the cost, and how did you like it? We are thinking of doing it because we are there on the QV in July, and the city may be quite crowded. We think that perhaps we can get through more things if there are only three of us. Thanks.

[Sauer-kraut]

On the PORTS OF CALL board for Europe there is a wealth of information on booking private/semi-private tours for St. Pete

also there are some companies that will offer  a discount if you book Berlin and Copenhagen along with the SPB tour.

Have a look at what people are saying, you can't go wrong booking on your own.

[Polina Ivanova]

9 hours ago, Stella1250 said:

Has anyone done a private tour in St. Petersburg? Was it worth the cost, and how did you like it? We are thinking of doing it because we are there on the QV in July, and the city may be quite crowded. We think that perhaps we can get through more things if there are only three of us. Thanks.

Starting from May St Petersburg is one big crowd

And QV is coming for Monday-Tuesday, if you are about museums - there'll be hell, on Monday everybody will go to Pushkin (look at pic below)), on Tuesday to Hermitage.

💎The good idea is to go to Hermitage before crowds)

💎And to Pushkin to go in small group, so guide will manage to get you in ahead the lines.

💎The small tour groups(up to 4) have better mobility, as according to the rules of museums they can sneak😂

💎And best idea is to enjoy park of Peterhof, the streets and local life of the city)

💎Night tour also can be very cool (in both sense) with bridges and lights

[spirit rev]

I did a SPB tour a few years ago. We enjoyed every minute of it. They arranged an early entrance time at the Hermitage. There was one particular painting I was very keen to see there. He offered me extra time to study it. Because we were small group, when there were some weather issues, they were able to reroute us easily. Our guide spoke very good english and looked after us very well. After a lunch one day, we had a bit of extra time. He allowed us to wonder through a grocery store so we received a bit more of what it was like. Yes, it was well worth the money for two full days of tours. 

Edited January 14, 2019 by spirit rev

[Stella1250]

I am talking about a private tour. That is me, my husband and a guide. That is three times as much as the small group tour. I do think we are going to do it, though. It is really the only tour that matters as we probably won't see St. Petersburg again.

[Solent Richard]

On 1/12/2019 at 7:16 PM, Stella1250 said:

Has anyone done a private tour in St. Petersburg? Was it worth the cost, and how did you like it? We are thinking of doing it because we are there on the QV in July, and the city may be quite crowded. We think that perhaps we can get through more things if there are only three of us. Thanks.

 

Good afternoon Stella.

 

That is exactly what we did for our visit to St Petersburg.

 

I wrote a review of our two days there and of the success of our 'private' tour. 

 

Here is the link...

 

https://solentrichardscruiseblog.com/2013/05/14/one-way-to-do-st-petersburg/

 

[Solent Richard]

4 hours ago, Stella1250 said:

I am talking about a private tour. That is me, my husband and a guide. That is three times as much as the small group tour. I do think we are going to do it, though. It is really the only tour that matters as we probably won't see St. Petersburg again.

 

Again, that sounds great. 

 

I found with Alla Tours that one could even tailor your visit if you have something special you wanted to see.

 

In my case I wanted to visit the famous 'Stolle Pie Shop' and that's exactly what they organised...

 

 

The other joy with Alla Tours is that they are there at the terminal first and you are away on tour before most others board their coaches.

[Stella1250]

Now that looks good! I am looking at Alla Tours also. I see quite a lot of things that I like. I would love to get to the Faberge Museum.

[Pugwash123]

Hello Stella, we have cruised to St Petersburg 3 times, on the first time we took the ship's tour, on the second time we took a private tour for eight and on the third time we took a private tour for the two of us. The private tour for two was by far the best experience as SPB  tailored the tour around the things we wanted to see, we also had time to include an impromtu visit to the war memorial as I had expressed an interest in seeing it. My wife particularly enjoyed the Faberge Museum. 

[Neuhoftraveler]

Stella --Based on our experience a few years ago, we strongly endorse Alla Tours and their handling of private tours with made-to-order itineraries.  Our guide knew how to schedule the various venues so as to miss the long lines.  She also was fully familiar with the layouts in the museums so as to take us directly to the rooms of greatest interest to us, and even to second-guess the crowd movements within the Hermitage (it's huge) so as to get us to those rooms during slack moments.

 

Don't hesitate because of the extra cost of a private tour.  It will be the best investment of your trip.

[newcruise]

We also booked Alla Tours and had two excellent days of touring. 

[PORT ROYAL]

On 1/12/2019 at 7:16 PM, Stella1250 said:

Has anyone done a private tour in St. Petersburg? Was it worth the cost, and how did you like it? We are thinking of doing it because we are there on the QV in July, and the city may be quite crowded. We think that perhaps we can get through more things if there are only three of us. Thanks.

The one experience you must not miss is the private tour of The Treasure Gallery - Gold Room - when visiting the Hermitage.  It's wonderful.  Then purchase the "Treasure Book" after to gain more knowledge.  Plus it's a beautiful keepsake.

[Liberal_Baggie]

I would recommend the Vintage Volga car tour  arranged  by Cunard it was expensive but you can book it for Two people on line and add a third no problem on board through the tours office as the whole backseat is a large bench easily seating Three large adults. You get a driver/ car owner who is very proud of his car and a guide who sit in the front and will take you all around the city and stop for many photo opportunities and ours was much fun. Its rounded off by high tea in a Five star hotel and we invited our guide to share with us and took cakes back to the driver too. One of our holiday highlights and would also say the hidden tour of St Petersburg, going down the underground, The pie shop and the Market was really great too. The Rusky folk evening on the other hand is a waste of time, recorded music and daft dancing avoid at all costs.It's really a terrible evening go to the ballet.. we should have!

[TV Dad]

I booked a private tour for July, 2019 with my wife. I ended up going with TJ Travel because they were he most responsive and were willing to customize our tour.

 

Alla Tours told me they had no private tours available on the dates of our visit (July 22-23). They suggested we join one of their small group tours.

 

SPB Tours did not offer to customize our private tour. They could give us a private tour, but wanted to stick to their standard tours. 

 

Hope this helps!

[jac1976]

I used TJ Travels for a 2 day private tour last August and it was wonderful.  I chose a private tour because it was just my 10 year old daughter and I and I wanted the flexibility to change things if she became tired or bored.  I was nervous about getting off the ship as I had read those with private tours can’t disembark until after those with ship’s tours, but that wasn’t the case for me.  We disembarked when I wanted and we had no issues going through immigration and finding our guide and driver.  

 

A private tour definitely was beneficial at both the Hermitage and Catherine’s Palace as our guide was able to talk to the guards and have us walk right in rather than wait in the line with the larger groups.

[resistk]

On 1/12/2019 at 2:16 PM, Stella1250 said:

Has anyone done a private tour in St. Petersburg? Was it worth the cost, and how did you like it? We are thinking of doing it because we are there on the QV in July, and the city may be quite crowded. We think that perhaps we can get through more things if there are only three of us. Thanks.

 

My wife is Russian and we still did the private tour.  It is hard to get around Petersburgh so having the driver and a guide is a must if you have limited time.  We were able to cram in a huge amount stuff in 2 days including extras like Cruiser Aurora and a private speed boat on the Neva.

[angie7911922]

On 1/12/2019 at 1:16 PM, Stella1250 said:

Has anyone done a private tour in St. Petersburg? Was it worth the cost, and how did you like it? We are thinking of doing it because we are there on the QV in July, and the city may be quite crowded. We think that perhaps we can get through more things if there are only three of us. Thanks.

Yes, and yes it was. We went with Anastasia's travel just recently, and it was fantastic. St. Petersburg is such a fantastic city and it was wonderful to be there. We had a great experience with Anastasia, from the time we started asking questions. They were very forthcoming and helpful. Being that we did a private tour, we were able to customize to what we wanted to see. Our tour guide was so knowledgeable, and I loved all the little extra tidbits she knew about the city. It was fun to learn all the things that were not in the brochures and guidebooks. 

Also, using a tour guide, they will know when to go where to avoid lines, and how to get you through the lines quickly (or miss them completely).  I would definitely do it again!!

[Windsurfboy]

Thank you,  this reminded me to pull my finger out and book our tour given that Alla tours full. We've  booked SPB private  for two , they were the first to respond, booked basically the deluxe itinerary but with a walking tour at beginning and Faberge museum  instead af yusupov palace

[SS Warringtonia]

This will be our first visit to SPB, Cunard’s VP says that no visa is required if booked on an organised ship’s tour or a private tour booked on board. We are hoping to book a private excursion very shortly ( for our early May 19 visit) and note that a few have been mentioned on this thread. My question is, is a visa required for those companies mentioned (we are U.K. citizens)?

[PORT ROYAL]

2 hours ago, SS Warringtonia said:

This will be our first visit to SPB, Cunard’s VP says that no visa is required if booked on an organised ship’s tour or a private tour booked on board. We are hoping to book a private excursion very shortly ( for our early May 19 visit) and note that a few have been mentioned on this thread. My question is, is a visa required for those companies mentioned (we are U.K. citizens)?

 

Copy/Paste from U.K. Government site. 

https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/russia/entry-requirements

 

 

Cruise ships

Cruise or ferry passengers can stay in Russia for 72 hours without a visa if they have booked tours through officially licensed companies. You are free to use any authorised travel agency, not just cruise ship tour companies.

Cities where this applies are:

• St Petersburg
• Kaliningrad
• Vladivostok
• Sochi
• Vyborg
• Korsakov (Sakhalin Island)
• Novorossiysk

If your passport is lost/stolen while ashore and you get a replacement Emergency Travel Document, or if you plan to continue your journey by air or land, you must get an exit visa to leave Russia.

Passport validity

Your passport should be valid for a minimum period of 6 months after the expiry date of your visa.nhhh

It’s not possible to enter Russia using a visa in an expired passport, even if carried with a new, valid passport. You will need to either apply for a visa transfer or for a new visa. Further details are available from the Russian Embassy.

If you’re travelling on a British passport issued since January 2017, you should make sure you’ve signed your passport before you travel. Some British nationals who haven’t signed their new passports have been denied entry into Russia.

Immigration cards

[Stella1250]

Ok, I just booked a private tour with SPB Tours. I tried Alla, but got a pretty nasty phone call from them telling me that all the tour guides will be booked already, and why do I want a private tour anyway. Won't consider them again. Thank everyone for their input. Anita.

[Windsurfboy]

Glad SPB had space for your private tour as it was your questions that made me book our private tour for the two of us whilst guides were available was leaving it till later. One amendment to my previous post. SPB will do Faberge museum as well as full deluxe itinary including yusupov palace for standard cost. Saint Petersburg is primary focus for our cruise rest of ports we'll walk or use hop on hop off buses. 

[Stella1250]

Yes, we included Faberge. I can't wait to see those jeweled eggs!

[SS Warringtonia]

Thank you Port Royal that was very helpful and all sorted now.

[PORT ROYAL]

52 minutes ago, SS Warringtonia said:

Thank you Port Royal that was very helpful and all sorted now.

 

Insider tip (noted on last visit):

St Petersburg Duty Free on the quayside before immigration; two outlet options, one on the left is mostly souvenirs, on the right mostly alcohol.  Prices very, very reasonable, but be warned.  Because of very low prices, Cruisers and crew will strip shelves almost bare by mid afternoon on the second day.  Buy take home supplies on day one.