Hermitage at night or morning

[Bella O]

Has anyone done the Hermitage at night? I noticed my cruiseline offers this excursion and wondering if it is worth it. Is there enough time, and more importantly, not crowded?

 

I also read some reviews where folks on tours got into the Hermitage before opening? What private tour groups offer this?

[kitkat343]

I think that many of the tour companies offer early admission to the Hermitage. SPB did, but you should email your tour operator to check. Please note that not all of the rooms are open at the start of early admission. We used early admission, and the Hermitage was completely empty at the start and packed by the time we finished. However, others have reported on these boards that early admission was packed the whole time they were there. This may be due to the number of ships in port on any given day, plus whether or not one of the days those ships are in port in St. Petersburg is a Monday, since everyone will be at the Hermitage the other day.

 

Please note that there is also a thread on this board about difficulties over entry to Catherine's Palace due to crowding that you might want to consider ( http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2380327 ), and the size of your tour group may determine whether or not you can jump the lines. We were in a private tour for just our family (2 adults, 1 three year old) and were able to jump the entry lines at all the museums, including Catherine's Palace and the Hermitage.

Edited August 27, 2016 by kitkat343

[Hlitner]

We are just back (2 weeks ago) from the Baltic and enjoyed our 2nd visit to this part of the world. Like many cruisers, we elected to take a private tour (TJ) for our two days and were totally pleased with our tour and guide. Like many tours, we had early entrance to the Hermitage (on our 2nd day) and there were plenty of other tour groups...although it was not overly crowded for the first hour....when the masses started to enter. Not sure anyone did an evening Hermitage tour...since for those who wanted evening tours there were two other excellent options. One was an evening visit to the private Faberge Museum...which we heard was a good tour. The other option (which we did) was to simply go to the ballet (in our case it was a full production of Swan Lake).

 

Although some ships do offer an evening Heritage tour...we figure its just doing the same thing at night that you can do in the day (with less crowds). And walking through a huge museum, and being on your feet, that late in the day is a stretch for many folks. Personally, we prefer to do musuems earlier in the day when we are still rested and have somewhat fresh legs.

 

Hank

[Bella O]

Thanks for those insights. Did notice that both TJ and Best Guides offer the early morning entrance. I was impressed with TJ tour's website, and am leaning on going with them.

[kitkat343]

All the major tour companies in St. Petersburg seemed very responsive; you might want to post this question to them to get a sense of what they'd advise you. A Baltic cruise is truly spectacular, and I'm sure you will have a wonderful time.