moscow guide

[jotabecu]

Can anyone suggest a guide or tour company for Moscow?

 

I am looking for an alternative for the free day with Viking.

 

Thanks for any information

[franski]

Hi there - just started looking for the same thing. Lots of options in St. Petersburg, but it seems to be a challenge in Moscow. I did find 2 businesses on line - and have attached the links.

 

No idea if they are any good - but it at least gives you someplace to start.

 

http://bridgetomoscow.com/

 

http://www.moscow-driver.com/

 

I will be interested to find out how your tour turned out - if you go with an independent guide.

[jotabecu]

I have also found capitaltours.ru thanks to google.

 

They offer several options and might be the one I will use in Moscow.

[franski]

Thanks for posting that link --> I have bookmarked it. If you do use them, please post on the experience after.

[cormike1]

We were in Moscow last July and went through Red October. They sent us a wonderful driver Victor and a sweet young girl named Anna Kolesnichkova. From the time I contacted Red October, I had nothing but help from them to set up our 2-day private tour. They made suggestions, we made requests and from there we had a wonderful, wonderful experience. Anna is very knowlegeable about her Russian religion and the churhes, etc. She was just a delight to have as a tour guide. Victor knew the ins and outs of getting in and out of Moscow and was a great driver. I would highly recommend using them for your free time in Moscow. Once you have decided your itinerary, then Red October will tell you the price. You pay by credit card ahead of time. Everything was legitimate and worked very well. If you do use them though, your won't get your tickets for your tour until about 3 weeks before your go...for some reason they can't give you anything before then. I was starting to panic and e-mailed my contact at Red October and they said 3 weeks before they would e-mail me and they did. No matter whom you choose, a private tour is a wise move and one that is well worth the money!!!

[shoshona2]

Hi Cormike1,

 

We used Red October in 2003 in St. Petersburg for two days and they were terrific. Nice to know that they are also running tours in Moscow.

 

Sheila

[franski]

cormike 1- what did you see on your tour??

[cormike1]

We had 2 1/2 days and 1 full day with our private guide AnnaKolesnichkova and driver Victor Fedorov. Ask for them if you do book as they were excellent. As I said in my earlier write-up, I believe, we e-mailed back and forth to set up our tour to what we wanted to see. Red October made suggestions for the time frame we had as they know how long it takes to get to places. We also met our guide in Moscow for the 2 afternoon tours rather than take the time to go back to the boat and be picked up there....way too long to get in and out of Moscow. Our cruise director on our boat spoke with the driver and said where to pick us up each day and waited until we were picked up. Very attentive and careful when it came to looking after us Canadians lol. So some of the places are included on your Viking tour but you don't go into most of them. Also we did not want to do the art museum tour that AMA had so we had 1 afternoon free. Here is what we went back to see and went into. Novodevitchy Monastery (beautiful), St. Basils (there are 9 chapels inside) Kolomenskoye, Christ the Savior church. We also walked down Arbat street for about a mile and then hopped on the subway for about 4 stops. Anna was very knowledgeable about all the places we went to and we were not rushed through like we were with the tours from the boat. We also took Anna and Victor to lunch at a local restaurant and loved having them order for us and had a wonderful "typical Russian" lunch. Do not scrimp on your trip...you might never be back, and the money you pay for a private tour is well worth every penny. We would do it again in a flash!!! If you have any other questions, e-mail me at m.c.bissonnette@sympatico.ca and I will be glad to answer any other questions.