Evening cruise in St. Petersburg

We were wanting to do the evening cruise. Does anyone know if there is a tour for this or are you able to get tour at the port? I know you need a tour if you do not have a visa. Any help would be appreciated and thank you!

ok any of the well recommended tour companies on these boards can sort it out for yoy

We were wanting to do the evening cruise. Does anyone know if there is a tour for this or are you able to get tour at the port? I know you need a tour if you do not have a visa. Any help would be appreciated and thank you!

What ever private company you'll be using (and I'm hoping you are instead of using the ship booked excursion) for your day tour will make the additional arrangements for this also.

That is free evening extension for a few companies, just the cost of the boat tickets. Viator has several listed small group tours that at the end of the day give you the option of staying in the city after the tour for no extra cost and exploring(with the aid of an English speaking guide trainee university student. Anything you want to do; shop, dining, going to night musuems, concerts, jass clubs, river cruises on restaurant boats, a blues boat, or one of the most popular is just hanging out meeting locals in the popular socially active pubs. It is all free unless there are tickets involved like the restaurant cruise or a ballet. Here is the one that has been doing it the longest:

https://www.viator.com/tours/St-Petersburg/St-Petersburg-Shore-Excursion-2-Day-Small-Group-Introduction-to-the-City-and-Local-Culture/d908-7692P1

We had our 2-day tour booked thru Best Guides, which was great. We contacted them later and said we also wanted a river/canal tour, and they easily added that on for $40 each. On the first evening after our day tour, they dropped us at the boat, we took a 1 hour cruise, and then they picked us up and took us back to ship. There was not time to go back to ship between day and evening cruise. You can't book a tour spontaneously while there, as the tour groups have to take your passport info and preprint the tour tickets, which are required for you to pass thru immigration.

It is too bad they did not give you time in the evening to explore, I guess the guide was tired. A few companies have pretty much free time until 10-11pm to do as you please. The city is safe and fun at night so exploring and engaging with the very friendly locals is the highlight of the trip for many.

It is too bad they did not give you time in the evening to explore, I guess the guide was tired. A few companies have pretty much free time until 10-11pm to do as you please. The city is safe and fun at night so exploring and engaging with the very friendly locals is the highlight of the trip for many.

Actually they did allow more time to explore, based on whatever you had prearranged with them. We were a family of six, and they put us together with a family of four (10 total). Only 3 in my family had preplanned to do the evening cruise, so after the day tour they took 3 back to ship, and the other 3 (including myself) to the cruise with the other family of four. The last 3 of us didn't plan anything after the cruise, so they took us to ship and the other family of four continued on even longer. They must have had more stamina! :)

The tour tickets are printed with the start and return times for each day. Those tickets (aka visa waivers) are only checked on departure Day 1, and not on return or on Day 2. So I'm not sure if it would matter how closely the times are followed. They might have let us continue on later if we had asked, but it had already been a long day and rest was main goal at that point.

For those planning in evening activities, have your tour operator set a return time of 10 or 11pm when booking originally so you have the option of staying out or returning to the ship. The itinerary is filed with immigration 4-5 days in advance to technically you are limited to the time listed in the documents submitted to the port. One tour operator just files for a late night return which gives the visitor a lot of flexibility. For people who have the energy after a long day of touring there are late night bridge tours starting at 01:30 to watch the craw bridges and nightlife. A lot is going on until about 06:00, with lots of people out on the streets. Many restaurants are open until 06:00 You ticket is not your visa, it is just used to help find your name on the documents filed earlier in the week. The company printing new tickets did not change the fact that the visa-free end of the day was set before you arrived. That document is your visa.

We can highly recommend seeing St Petersburg at night, it takes on a different perspective. We had a private tour that started at midnight until 3am. Our driver took us around all the usual daytime sites to see them at night, St Petersburg seems to come alive at night with so many people out and about having fun. We saw the opening of the bridges and there is an incredible atmosphere. Felt very odd going back through immigration at 3am.

We can highly recommend seeing St Petersburg at night, it takes on a different perspective. We had a private tour that started at midnight until 3am. Our driver took us around all the usual daytime sites to see them at night, St Petersburg seems to come alive at night with so many people out and about having fun. We saw the opening of the bridges and there is an incredible atmosphere. Felt very odd going back through immigration at 3am.

And then did you not do the 2nd day? Or were you back out again 7?:)

We were there for 3 days so it was our 2nd overnight, we stayed on board day 3.

Has anyone else been told that they could not watch the bridges open? I sent emails to a few companies and one replied that we could not add that on to our day (private tour) since we did not have a visa. Found that odd because another group gave us the prices to add it on to our day. Same email to each company, so expected a similar reply.