Tours St Petersburg

[Major007]

Do P&O do a full two days tour including evening or are they split into half or full days?

[bee-ess]

I think you will find that either Alla or SPB tours are superior to P&O for probably less money. They use small mini buses rather than coaches, our 3 day tour we did with Alla only had 14 people on it and the smaller vehicles makes getting outside of the sites easier. We found the Alla tour superb, but SPB get equally good reviews. Just google them, they have very comprehensive websites and if you book St Petersburg you can get discounts on the other ports if you want to use them for other tours. They will also sort out the St Petersburg Visa so the cost is included in price of the Tour. You cannot go ashore in St P without a Visa unless you use an authorised tour operator. Alternatively uou can use P&O if you wish without needing a Visa.

[jh1809]

17 hours ago, Major007 said:

Do P&O do a full two days tour including evening or are they split into half or full days?

From what I can recall, all the PO excursions are full-day or half-day ones. I think one of the options is an evening visit to the ballet, if that's your thing.

[CaptainZander]

There are usually several small group option tours from P&O with group sizes of around 14 but they will be priced higher than the local tours available e.g. Alla. 

 

We are waiting on the tours for July to be announced and to see how the pound reacts after March 29 as the Alla tours are priced in Dollars whereas the P&O tours will still be in pounds before we make a final discussion of what to book. 

 

This will be our first Baltic cruise and we are really looking forward to it. 

[Scriv]

We went on a fabulous 2 day small group tour with P&O - 13 of us in a minibus with a wonderful guide,  You don't have to go in the big coaches.

Price wise, it was much the same as the Alla etc prices especially if you have a loyalty discount to factor in as well. We covered so much - in fact so much that it has been hard to find something new to do when we return this year!

 

I think it's the policy now in the port of St Petersburg that the P&O tours disembark first. The local independent tour companies are all good and very reliable though and well organised - so you will be fine whichever you choose.

 

Not sure if there's a 2 day small group tour with P&O that also does the ballet? You may have to do a separate evening ballet tour for that - or one of the independent companies

Edited February 9, 2019 by Scriv

[angie7911922]

We found Anastasia's Travel to be much better than any ship tours. They area a bit more affordable than the ships, take you to the same places (unless there is someplace else you want to go - that can also be arranged), have very knowledgeable tour guides, and let you set up the tours so you can do it how when you want. You can decide if you want full days, half days, or something in between. They also take care of all the visa paperwork, so you don't have to worry about any of that. 

It seems crazy that we all recommend private tours, but this is what they do - and they are good at it!!!

[Harry Peterson]

Interesting thread.  I've heard it suggested that evening tours have the considerable advantage of much smaller numbers of visitors to the key locations - anything in this?

 

And, with these tours, do you get the chance at all to wander around on your own - or is it all follow-my leader with the tour guide?

[jh1809]

4 hours ago, docco said:

Interesting thread.  I've heard it suggested that evening tours have the considerable advantage of much smaller numbers of visitors to the key locations - anything in this?

 

And, with these tours, do you get the chance at all to wander around on your own - or is it all follow-my leader with the tour guide?

I suspect you have to stick with the group, as otherwise I think you'd need to have arranged your own visa.

[Harry Peterson]

25 minutes ago, jh1809 said:

I suspect you have to stick with the group, as otherwise I think you'd need to have arranged your own visa.

That's the way I imagined it to be - but I've heard the odd comment suggesting you're let loose for a while.  I'd much prefer that, but it doesn't seem to be an option without a personal visa.