3 days in St Pete - what to see?

[CTKath]

I've booked a private 2 person tour with SPB tours. Now I have to work on the itinerary. We have 3 days in port and I want to see as much as I can without becoming jaded about constantly moving on to the next thing. Now that being said, I know I want to see the Hermitage, Catherine's Palace and the Nevsky Prospekt. What else should we add in? Please, NO CHURCHES! Not interested. We did a Rhine river cruise a few years ago that had all the excursions included and guess what, every town we stopped in had a cathedral! And they all looked the same! Been there done that. (the one in Strasbourg, France did have a really cool clock!)

 

So please, tell me what you would include, if you were me. We are definitely making time to shop, not just the hour they give you at some point.

 

Thank you!!!! :D

[dolfans0704]

I've booked a private 2 person tour with SPB tours. Now I have to work on the itinerary. We have 3 days in port and I want to see as much as I can without becoming jaded about constantly moving on to the next thing. Now that being said, I know I want to see the Hermitage, Catherine's Palace and the Nevsky Prospekt. What else should we add in? Please, NO CHURCHES! Not interested. We did a Rhine river cruise a few years ago that had all the excursions included and guess what, every town we stopped in had a cathedral! And they all looked the same! Been there done that. (the one in Strasbourg, France did have a really cool clock!)

 

So please, tell me what you would include, if you were me. We are definitely making time to shop, not just the hour they give you at some point.

 

Thank you!!!! :D

 

Hi CTKath

I am sure you will get some wonderful feedback from those who have visited SPB. We will be there in June of this year and have booked a 2 day Grand Tour with Alla. I know she also offers 3 day tours as well as private tours so you may want to check out her website to get some ideas. I understand that others who have the great opportunity to visit this port for 3 days opt to visit Moscow as well. Also, below is a thread that offers very nice pictures and info on SPB which might be helpful to you :). Best of luck in your planning and enjoy your cruise!

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=37331431#post37331431

 

 

 

 

Dolfans from Miami

[dolfans0704]

Some other suggestions that could be included in a 3 day private tour might be: Russian museum, Erarta gallery of contemporary Russian art, Museum of political history, call to Aurora battle ship, Museum of the Siege of Leningrad, Alexander Nevsky Laura with the cemetery of the 19th century Russian art dealers: Tchaikovsky, Dostoevsky, Mussorgsky and others. You can dedicate part of the day for "informal sightseeing" like walk in the pedestrian areas of the downtown, call to a side-walk cafe on Nevsky prospect :cool:.... suggestions via Alla http://www.alla-tour.com/tours/

All sounds great to me! ;)

[CTKath]

Any other thoughts? Please. :D

[Giantfan13]

Kath

 

Doesn't SPB tours have a planned itinerary for you for the 3 days?

 

I know they have wonderful 2 day packages that include most of the major sites. So are they asking you to plan the details or just make suggestions as to what you would like to do. After all, it is their city and they would know better as to what to do.

 

Anyway, I understand you said no churches. We are of the Jewish faith and even we enjoyed some of the churches there. We didn't long for the history of them, just the churches themselves. Most tours take you to The church of the Spilled Blood. You should try and at least spend a few minutes here. it is a magnificent structure, and worth visiting just for the photo ops.

Also you should try and get to the Church of Peter and Paul. Again, not so much for the church itself, but here you will be able to view the final resting places of Peter the Great and several of the Romanovs.

 

Ok off the Church path, you definitely need to get to Peterhoff. If you are doing Catherine's Palace, this should be done in the same day.

Also Yusupov's Palace where Rasputin was murdered. Besides that, some very interesting things here.

We also made a side trip to the Grand Choral Synagogue (see, not a church:D). It was the only religious building that remained open during the entire Soviet regime.

And with 3 days, you will be able to spend more time than the average cruiser, in the Hermitage.

Also try to include a Subway ride and the Canal Boat tour. This is a great way to view St Petersburg from a completely different perspective and it very popular with most guests to this city.

 

If you don't mind, I've included a few pixs for you to see some of these amazing places.

 

When visiting Catherine's Palace, try and spend some time in the gardens. They are magnificent

http://i834.photobucket.com/albums/zz267/Giantfan13/baltics/europemaster712.jpg

 

At Peterhoff, looking out towards the Sea of Finland

http://i834.photobucket.com/albums/zz267/Giantfan13/baltics/europe721.jpg

 

Peterhoff, with all those amazing fountains

http://i834.photobucket.com/albums/zz267/Giantfan13/baltics/europe730.jpg

 

On that Canal Boat tour, you will enjoy a relaxing ride down the canals of St Petersburg

http://i834.photobucket.com/albums/zz267/Giantfan13/baltics/europemaster771.jpg

 

At the Fortress of Peter and Paul, in the church, there is the final resting places of Peter the Great

http://i834.photobucket.com/albums/zz267/Giantfan13/baltics/europe878.jpg

 

At Yusupo0v's Palace you can view a special theater that was made just for the Tsar

http://i834.photobucket.com/albums/zz267/Giantfan13/baltics/europe897.jpg

 

Hope this helps some.

 

Cheers

 

Len

[blonde1981]

Our tour this summer includes the following (1 day only)

 

Peterghof - Gardens

Hermitage

Church of Spilled Blood - beginning of the revolution

St Issac's

Peter & Paul Fortress - see the Romanov's

City Tour

Light shopping

 

Catherine's Palace is unfortunately closed on Tuesdays so we can't go there. :(

[movc]

I have been to hundreds of churches and both the Church of the Spilled Blood (onion domes) and St Isaacs cathedral are definitely worth visiting with their elaborate mosaics inside. You can also climb up the outside dome of St Isaacs for a view of the city.

 

If you check the 2-day itineraries of the cruise ship tours, they are pretty comprehensive and cover almost all of the major sights. Make sure you visit Peterhof when the fountains are on and see if you can visit the Hermitage before the official opening time which they allow for ship tours (not sure if private tours can do this).

[cruzky]

Below are just of the few things we did a little differently with a private tour with Alla:

 

1. Subway ride

2. Souvenir market across the street from the Church on the Spilled Blood. Vendors will take American Dollars in good shape and you can dicker prices.

3. Egyptian Bridge

4. Hydrofoil ride back from Peterhoff

5. Cruise on the Neva River

6. Artillery Museum

7. Outside visit to Chelsma Church

8. Aurora

9. Russian lunch

 

We also did inside/outside visits to Catherine's Palace and Peterhoff.

 

Have a wonderful time.

 

 

Roseanna