St Petersburg tour company recommendations

So far for a 2 day tour , my research has brought up these companies-

SPB

Alla

Ulko

Tailored Tours

TJ Tours

Viator

Best Guides

Any suggestions?

So far for a 2 day tour , my research has brought up these companies-

SPB

Alla

Ulko

Tailored Tours

TJ Tours

Viator

Best Guides

 

Any suggestions?

We booked through Abercrombie & Kent as we've used them in the past for other tours and turns out in St Petersburg they outsource to TJ for regulatory reasons. Needless to say we paid dearly for a few letters back and forth on A&K letterhead as booking with TJ direct would have been much less expensive. Lesson learned there.

But- TJ was fantastic and when we questioned Abercrombie about their practice there they said that after auditing nearly all the major ones that TJ were the only ones that met their standards. It was truly a great tour- just wish we had booked direct with them instead of through A&K. Guide spoke perfect English, was incredibly knowledgeable and everything worked like clockwork with her having tickets ready for the boats, museums, and even a hydrofoil ride. The driver was great and the van was a brand new Mercedes sprinter. Never needed a taxi the whole time there as you can customize everything. We were on a small Seabourn ship so we docked right near the Hermitage on the river but I can see having the driver available if you were docking in the main port on a large ship even more valuable because of the added distance to the city.

The really nice part was that the guide and driver were available in the evening to go check out nightlife or walk around (you'll need them with you as a chaperone if you don't purchase a visa which I recommend you don't.) Very accommodating.

I wouldn't book through Viator for the same reason the poster above wouldn't book through A&K again -- they outsource all their tours and you'd be better off booking directly with the company.

Otherwise, I'd just scan through the many threads on this board -- some of which directly compare the itineraries and pricing from the various companies, others that review them -- contact the companies, and select the one that works best for you.

We ended up going with SPB and had a wonderful time -- loved our guide and driver, saw so much -- but I'm sure we also would have been happy with Alla or TJ or etc. There's no one company that's unarguably the best.

All the major tour companies, that you mentioned do an outstanding job. We used SPB Tours and loved them, as well as many other s. Then the ones that used ALLA, or TJ or best Guides loved them also.

It is really impossible for anyone here to recommend a tour company to you. YOU have to do some of the leg work, like email those that interest you and select the one that you feel most comfortable with. Each company offers about the same thing, with some 'quirks' different for each. See them all, and again, select the one YOU feel most comfortable with, not the one some one you don't know recommends.

Cheers

Len

Anyone else having trouble with the search function? I AM logged in and when i click on it, nothing. No search line is brought up.

So far for a 2 day tour , my research has brought up these companies-

SPB

Alla

Ulko

Tailored Tours

TJ Tours

Viator

Best Guides

 

Any suggestions?

If you are travelling with a kid, check the thread Children friendly tours with Best Guides http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1565752 . My little daughter enjoyed the tours a lot!

Have a nice cruise.

Jess

You have good advice here already.:)

Yes, Viator are a consolidator & not a tour operator.

A reputable consolidator, but you have no need to use one - by booking direct with one of the tour operators you know who the operator will be, you will get much more detailed advance information & you can tailor-make if you wish. With Viator you pay with booking, whereas in most cases local operators trust you - although you do have to pre-book in order to use their visa-waver, you don't pay or even quote credit card details until you're there.

Abercrombie telling Princeton that "TJ were the only ones that met their standards" is pure bull**** and an unworthy slight on the other operators.. More likely TJ offered them a better commission.:rolleyes:

But TJ themselves are as well-received as the others.

I've seen comments similar to CrazyJess that Best Guides is great for kids.

Elsewhere in the world, it's worth knowing which tour operators to avoid.

But for St Petersburg I've seen almost 100% positive reviews about all of them. Everyone seems to recommend the operator they used, but virtually nobody has used more than one so it's pretty impossible to compare.

Fact is, I think you'll be very happy with whichever one you choose.

BTW, ship-sponsored tours in St Petersburg also get overwhelmingly good reviews. That's hardly surprising, since the ships use the same tour operators. But they don't know what they're missing - their tour are mainly on large buses with the inevitable cattle-herding, & they miss out on the personal service, the flexibility, the efficiency of a maximum of 16 in a group, and some of the little extras that are only possible with small groups.

Do ignore the misleading (and sometimes simply untruthful) information from cruise lines that you have to join their tours to avoid the need for a Russian visa. That visa-waiver applies equally with independently-booked tours.

I don't know Ulko or Tailored Tours.

Add DenRus, Red Oktober and Anastasia to your list. And there are others.

JB :)

You have good advice here already.:)

 

Abercrombie telling Princeton that "TJ were the only ones that met their standards" is pure bull**** and an unworthy slight on the other operators.. More likely TJ offered them a better commission.:rolleyes:

JB :)

My thoughts exactly!

Hi, Lovetotrrravel.

Yes, we booked a private tour. My daughter was 3 when we cruised the Baltics, and we needed flexibility - extra stops, slower pace, etc. We saw a lot, and Nicole - my daughter - enjoyed the fountains. But for our next cruise, I plan to contact others on the ship to see if they would like to form a small group.

Jess

A vote for Ulko. We were 6 for 2 full days in June. 100%. satisfied. Truly excellent guide , good value, tours can be customized. Rest assured visa waiver is icluded with all the tour operators mentioned.

DennStann- do you happen to remember the cost for the two day tour with 11 people with Best Guides?

DennStann- do you happen to remember the cost for the two day tour with 11 people with Best Guides?

Hi Sue,

No doubt you'll get the figure from the horse's mouth, but all the tour operators use 16-seat vans and if you book a van for a private tour - as opposed to just booking seats on a standard tour - the cost is about the same once the numbers reach 6 (or is it 8?). Understandably the price is higher if there are fewer than 6 (8?)

JB :)

Hi Sue,

No doubt you'll get the figure from the horse's mouth, but all the tour operators use 16-seat vans and if you book a van for a private tour - as opposed to just booking seats on a standard tour - the cost is about the same once the numbers reach 6 (or is it 8?). Understandably the price is higher if there are fewer than 6 (8?)

 

JB :)

I hate to disagree with the expert that is John Bull but there are smaller van options than 16 seat vans[although the person you are responding to would need larger van]

several years ago we had a 7 seater minivan for our party of 3 with driver and guide with Anastasia

This year we are using TJ for party of 5

if we add 1 more person price is optimal

if we added another couple would need to upgrade to larger van and cost per person more so would have to get more people to reduce cost

It depends what size party you are happy with

Even the largest-16 person van-is going to be a lot smaller than the ship's tours, so I'm ok with that.

I couldn't find prices on Best Guide's site.

It looks like TJ Tours include your lunch?

And the cost is the same per person no matter how many you have up to max of 16?

I hate to disagree with the expert that is John Bull but there are smaller van options than 16 seat vans[although the person you are responding to would need larger van]

several years ago we had a 7 seater minivan for our party of 3 with driver and guide with Anastasia

This year we are using TJ for party of 5

if we add 1 more person price is optimal

if we added another couple would need to upgrade to larger van and cost per person more so would have to get more people to reduce cost

It depends what size party you are happy with

Hi Fabn40+

No disagreement, wanted to make the point that local operators generally don't do full-size buses (tho' that might still be an option with DenRus), & that 16 is the max in their vans.

Did know that some also have sedans.

Didn't know about the smaller vans. But now I do :)

JB :)

Check Lentina. We used them last year and they were excellent in every way.

We used Alla & they were okay. There were some small things that make me say I wouldn't book them again.

We used Alla & they were okay. There were some small things that make me say I wouldn't book them again.

Please let me know what some of those things were. We are planning a three day tour for next year and they are one of the companies we were looking at.

We were in SPB for one day only. When we all boarded & were off to start the tour, we were told we would be skipping some of the items on our agenda due to a festival taking place in town.

We were never informed beforehand of the change & had to vehemently argue in favor of visiting the Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood, the main reason we booked our tour.

The guide had to call the main office & were able to arrange a tour of the church as our second stop in order to accomodate. Why did we have to argue for this? Why wasn't it arranged this way from the get go?

Additionally, at our first stop she kept rushing us stating "If you want to see the church, you must hurry" We were not a big group & her demeanor wasn't very pleasant.

Also, our only stop for shopping was a very crowded shop that is used by all tour companies. During this stop, we paid for our tour & due to some technical difficulties on their end, ate up most of our shopping time. I had no idea we could pay ahead of time, I would have gladly done so.

Those are some of the main issues .... I would book through another company if I were to return.

We were very happy with Denrus. Told them what we wanted to see and do and had a terrific two days.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Thank you.

We booked Tj travel for 3 days in July for a private tour. Fantastic, negotiated itinerary and then changed it on the road on 2nd day as they realised our interest and they really tailored some quirky things in ...nothing was an issue! But little really seperates the top 3-4 companies. Use tripadvisor reviews! But you do need a guide, we didnt get in one line at the places we visited! But the lines are huge!

I think I contacted all of the St. Petersburg companies frequently mentioned on cruisecritic. So far the prices are the main difference. For a three day tour with three adults the price has been from $490pp to $780pp.

We used SPB tours for several ports on our June 2016 Baltic cruise on Oceania. We really liked SPB tours. One example: we signed up for a group tour in Talinn but no one else signed up so we were given a private your. No cancellation nor extra charges.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums