Saint Petersburg - Russian Babushka Nested Dolls

Hi

We are visiting St Petersburg next month with Princess and I am looking to purchase Russian Doll sets for my 3 young granddaughters. Does anyone have any idea of the local price for the 10 nest sets? Obviously it will depend on the quality, but I'm thinking street vendor merchandise rather than high end.

Similarly, does the Princess shopping emporium stock the dolls for their themed local sales?

Another thought is to cheat and pre-buy them on eBay, but they all seem to originate from China, perhaps that's the situation in St Petersburg too!

Grateful for any advice please.

Best wishes

John

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Hi John: I just saw this post and thought it would help you.

"We bought a set of Russian Dolls in the port building in St Petersburg and it is the best quality we have seen anywhere. She was very reasonably priced too." (Just posted this morning)

Forget ebay or amazon. They may even sell them in the shops, on the ship.

We were on the Regal on a Baltic cruise.

There are places you can buy Matryoshka dolls. They are in different sizes, quality on how elaborate the paint was applied, and price.

Regal have those dolls in the boutique.

The SPB Tour guide brought us also to a souvenir shop where there are more choices.

At the port terminal building before entering immigration, there is a long row of booth shops where there are the most choices. Not wise to shop before the tour as it will take time to visit all.

Prices range from less than $10 to more than $100.

We bought from the 3 places for giveaways to family ranging from $20-$40 each.

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Hi

 

Similarly, does the Princess shopping emporium stock the dolls for their themed local sales?

 

Check when you get onboard if they stock them or have a sale later in the cruise. On Celebrity they did not have them out but had a blow out sale of the dolls the last two days and the quality and prices were better than in St. Petersburg. If I had know I would not have bought any in Russia. They also had them in Estonia at better prices than in Russia.

They also had them in Estonia at better prices than in Russia.

Yes, there are many shops selling them in Tallinn.

I bought eggs and dolls from a woman on the street. Her husband painted them, and they were all exquisite. Very inexpensive. I also bought beautiful dolls from women who were waiting when we came off a tour near the buses. St. Catharine Palace, I think.

Grandma & Cansas: How did you pay for the dolls and stuff? Can we use euros or dollars? Thanks for the info.

I'd try to avoid very popular places which usually target foreign tourists. Ask your guide.

We have such stands in Boston with Russian speaking vendors. Price goes up with a quality a lot.

I'd just ask my private guide to show me less touristy places. I'm sure they will accommodate this request.

We bought our dolls at the terminal in St. Petersburg. There are a bunch of souvenir stands apparently operated by the same company in the terminal. They were much less than at the shop at which we were dropped off with our tour. The dolls for sale on the Celebrity ship were far more expensive but of a higher quality. From memory, the 7 doll sets ran us about $35 US. A 10 doll set will be quite a bit more expensive. We paid credit card with no problems.

Thanks for all your helpfull replies. I feel well equipped to find what we need now.

We set sail in the morning!

Best wishes

John

Thanks for all the advice. In the end we bought our dolls in Tallin at 12 euros each for the 7 sets. These were the basic versions but just the job for our 8, 6 and 3 year old grandaughters(y)(y)

I don't believe that Matroska is a part of Estonian culture.

Happy for you:D Are the Estonian dolls the same as Russian ones? I don't remember seeing them there..

They are the same. They sold them all over.

I don't believe that Matroska is a part of Estonian culture.

The dolls are of Japanese origin.

There are a lot of Russians living in Estonia. About 25% of the population and about 200,000 Russians live in Tallinn, which has a population of 440,000.

I know that there are many ethnic Russians live there, just not sure about them keeping traditions.

I was on a tour with Alla & they only stopped at one place for souvenir shopping. Price gouging at it's finest as they were cheaper at the shops located on the pier. Seems everyone brings passengers to this shop as even MSC excursions were there.

We just returned from our Baltic trip, and we all learned that when you see something you like, buy it. Finding time to shop was sometimes a challenge!

We bought in Estonia. $10 for sets of 5. The same ones were $12 on the ship. (These aren't top quality--they were gifts for kids.)

In Russia, finding time to shop on the streets was very difficult, and the tour operators take their groups to certain stores, which weren't any cheaper. The shops that are on the pier by the ship are as good as anyplace.

A word of caution: They vary wildly in cost, from $10 up to hundreds, and often more expensive ones will sit right next to the cheaper ones on the same shelf. Watch carefully!