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On 1/13/2019 at 3:11 PM, Kiwi_cruiser said:

We haven’t been to St. Petersburg,  Russia before.

 

We are going there with Cunard, but I think on the 2nd day we are only in port till 11:30am or around then ( waiting for Cunard to conform the port times), so we might not get 2 full days there.

 

I know St. Petersburg is quite a big and busy city.

 

So I was wondering what is their not to miss in St. Petersburg?? and what would you recommend doing here for the day or two??

 

Also is there any private tour company's you would recommend??

 

Any ideas / suggestions are welcome :)

PS: I also heard we might need a visa for Russia??

We visited St. Petersburg last year, and still our memories are fresh. That city is great and 2 days is not enough to see all treasures. We didn't want to book a regular tour with an average tour company just to cover everything. We wanted just to taste and may be understand that country and people who live there.  We went to ( and I would recommend)  visit Peterhof gardens - just terrific, Hermitage museum , Spilled Blood church - they are really highlights. If you take a city tour and have a subway ride, dine with a Russian family and go to a regular market like we did , you will see how they live and work.  it was an unusual tour, personal, sincere and very significant for us. it will be ever-lasting memory. We booked that tour with Red sun tours and i am very confident in recommendation of them. 

btw they provided us with blanket visas, so we could easily get off the ship

We were in Venice in October. It was not really cold, but rainy. Take your umbrellas.

last year we had a tour with Joy of Rome Tours. They are very flexible and informative. We really loved our guide.

3 months ago we took a taxi in Marseilles port,  it was the same - 20 euros 

We walked half a day in Cannes, then went to the sea and stopped at the beach close to our ship. We love to swim and we really did some swimming and then relaxed on the beach. The weather was fine, although it was early October

Oh, i remember those lifeboats in Cannes. It was not easy to get in and it was really bouncy as the sea on that day was not still

We had a tour of Marseilles with One Day in Provence last autumn; it was raining all day, but we still enjoyed our day very much!  

Sorry, I didn't find Red Sun Tours on Tripadvisor. Where can I find their reviews?

Please follow this link to see the reviews of Red Sun Tours:

https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attraction_Review-g298507-d12138686-Reviews-RedSun_Tours-St_Petersburg_Northwestern_District.html

Hi everybody.

We toured in St. Petersburg last year. So i have already had some experience.

That day when our ship arrived, the city was so busy! 7 cruise ships ! By the Hermitage museum there were crowds ( Spb Tours, Alla and TJ groups mostly). Majority of tourists select those 3 companies. Our guide told us they have 5 -7 hundred people a day. My God! I was just happy i didn't do that as i really wanted to have different experience. That had been a dream for years - to come to Russia.

So, magic, we entered the Hermitage museum without any waiting in the line! We felt as Royalty!

Fortunately we booked with the small family company what was recommended by our friends - Red Sun Tours ( www.redsun-tours.com)

We loved them!

I think if you need really a small group tour focused on your needs ( not mass production) it is better to book a tour with a smaller company.

Thanks for this note!

That's what I was looking for.

We are booking a tour with this company.

Hi! We finally decided to do the Baltic cruise this following summer. It will be our first time in Baltic and Russia, we are very exited.

We have recommendations from our travel comrades to use Red Sun Tours for the 2 day shore excursion. They have so good reviews and the prices look very reasonable.

We are people who love "personal" touch, and that company looks perfect for us.

We did that trip from the ship 2 years ago with my mum. I wouldn't do that again, and never with children. That was so exhausting, much driving along the coast roads and just a few stops.

I seem to remember from our previous visit that there is a hop on hop off bus touring Rome.

 

Can anyone confirm thIs, and how much is it, please?

 

Many thanks

When we were in Rome the hop on hop off bus cost was 28 euros for 24 hours. That was nice to see the major sites!

We'll only be in Cagliari from noon to 6pm on a Tuesday in April. From what I've seen so far, walking around and/or sitting in an outdoor cafe (weather permitting) sipping a coffee or a beer, absorbing the atmosphere, seems like a sensible plan for this port. Is there anything specific that we shouldn't miss? Are there preferred places to hang out (cafes or restaurants to favor) or specific streets to walk?

 

 

Regards,

Wayne

We were in Cagliari last year. I would recommend to visit the main cathedral when you will be up in Castello, just to walk there along the old streets, they are charming, to take pictures of the city from above. The beach Poetto is very nice too. You need a bus to go there. in the beginning of it there is a place called Marina Picolo ( small port). That is so nice! there is a fish restaurant there where we ate some seafood. Delicious!