1-day private tour in St. Petersburg

[cosmo1027]

We are thinking about booking a 1-day tour in St. Petersburg and I was wondering if anyone has any experience with this. Although our ship will be there 2 days, as it is a port intensive cruise, we like the idea of seeing the highlights of St. Petersburg on the first day and relaxing on the ship the second. On the top of our list are:

• The Hermitage

• Church on Spilled Blood

• Peterhof

 

If time would permit, perhaps Catherine's Palace as well, but not sure if that is too much for one day.

 

I wanted to see if anyone else has done something like this and if you have any feedback or suggestions. It seems we would have to do it as a private tour since the group tours are only offered as 2-day tours.

 

Thank you!

[KeithJenner]

We did a one day tour with TJ Tours a couple of years ago. The thinking was similar to yours, as we had our son with us and thought that two days would potentially be too much.

 

We sent them an email explaining what we wanted and they came back with a suggested itinerary very quickly.

 

It was fairly pricey, as it was just the three of us, but still cost a little less than we would have paid for a two day tour with a larger group.

 

If we did St Petersburg again we would probably do the same thing, even without our son.

 

One difference though between what we did and your plans are that we didn’t do the Hermitage. As a result, we were able to fit in just about everything else that the two day tours take in. Adding the Hermitage would potentially make things a bit harder. We have also been inside Peterhof before, and therefor just did a garden tour there, but spent a couple of hours there plus lunch.

 

From memory, this is what we did:

 

City tour to start

Boat to Peterhof

Gardens and fountains

Lunch

Drove back to St Petersburg and travelled a couple of stops on the Subway

St Nicholas (Naval Cathedral)

Church on Spilled Blood

Walked along Nevski Prospect

Drive round the city a bit more

Peter and Paul fortress

 

It was fairly relaxed and as there was only us we were able to change plans as necessary and didn’t have to hang around places if we didn’t want. In the end we finished a little early.

 

Certainly the way I would do it, as the rest day was great and we were much more rested than most on the ship afterwards. As I say though, adding the Hermitage could be a complication.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[John Bull]

I don't normally recommend ships' tours, but certainly SOME ships offer a multitude of one day & half-day tours in SPB.

As well as not being a fan of ships' excursions I reckon a first-time visitor would get totally confused about what combination of tours to take :confused:

But since you know your priorities it's got to be worth checking out ship's offerings to see if there's a combo which suits.

 

And in fairness to ships' tours the satisfaction level in SPB is way higher than the average - possibly because they're operated by the same local tour operators as the independents' tours

 

JB :)

[Thejuggler]

For the second day see if the ship does a half day trip which drops you off and leaves you to yourselves for a few hours.

 

Its an amazing city to just wander around, unfortunately in 2-3 hours you won’t see much, but you will have a chance to get off the tourist trail briefly.

[CrazyJess]

Hi Kim. Check with Best Guides. They tailored a perfect private tour for us when we cruised in 2013.

Jess

[midwestchick]

Hi Kim. Check with Best Guides. They tailored a perfect private tour for us when we cruised in 2013.

Jess

 

 

Do you have a website or contact information?

[CrazyJess]

Do you have a website or contact information?

I have both :D The website is https://www.bestguides-spb.com.

I sent my emails to info@bestguides-spb.com.

 

[midwestchick]

I have both :D The website is https://www.bestguides-spb.com.

I sent my emails to info@bestguides-spb.com.

 

 

Thank you. I will check them out.

[lynneh]

TJ tours are brilliant. We had a tour with them last year and intend to book them again next year.

[lynneh]

https://st-petersburg-tours.ru/

Website of TJ Tours

[midwestchick]

https://st-petersburg-tours.ru/

Website of TJ Tours

 

 

I will check them out as well.

When you said brilliant, I had to guess where you are from. ;);););):D

[lynncarol]

For the second day see if the ship does a half day trip which drops you off and leaves you to yourselves for a few hours.

 

Its an amazing city to just wander around, unfortunately in 2-3 hours you won’t see much, but you will have a chance to get off the tourist trail briefly.

 

Don't you need a Russian visa to 'wander around by yourself''?

[John Bull]

Don't you need a Russian visa to 'wander around by yourself''?

 

It's a very grey area.

 

For sure you need to book an excursion, with an accredited local agent or thro' the ship.

You need that tour ticket to get thro immigration visa-free, you need to go thro' immigration at approx. the appropriate time & be met at the cruise terminal by the tour guide. And you need to be brought back to the ship by that agency.

 

Beyond that it seems to depend on the tour agency's interpretation of the rules and how far the agency wants to push those rules.

Most agencies allow freedom to wander at the various stops, you're not tied to the guide's apron-strings. Most give time to browse alone in the main shopping street, Nevsky Prospekt. And evenings you're taken to & collected from the ballet, the folk show, a restaurant for dinner, or pretty-well anything else - but not accompanied throughout those evenings.

 

I have heard of cruise lines which take you into SPB & allow you several hours on your own before taking you back to the ship.

How do they get away with it? :confused:

Go back to my first sentence.:rolleyes:

 

JB :)

[midwestchick]

I was not aware we would need a visa to walk around on our own.

[lynncarol]

Reason I asked. Approx. 8 years ago we did this cruise and used Alla for a St. Pete visit. However, at our dinner table was another couple who had signed up for the ship's tour of SPB. Unfortunately, she developed severe stomach pain and was sent to a local hospital in SPB for an evaluation. Because she did not have her own visa, she had a terrible time with the authorities getting back to the ship since she was not with her 'approved tour company' and was still shaken by the experience days later.

[WeRockChalkKU]

We used Urban Adventures in St P and loved it. It’s an international organization but each city is owned/privately run. We went on the “ St P Like a Local” tour and we very lucky to be taken around by Anastasia (local owner). She was very flexible and amazing. I would think she would work with you on setting up a custom tour versus one that is routinely offered. The only negative (for some) is that at the time we went, she wasn’t allowed to bring a vehicle into the port area and we needed to walk from the terminal to port security gate, take our tour and then walk back to,the terminal from the port security gate.

After we got back to the ship and compared Tour stories, we had some jealous fellow passengers.

[Mtngirl]

My friend and myself booked with "ULKO Tours" for one day private tour in St. Petersburg last year. Our tour guide "Julia" and driver "Dmitry" took us to where we wanted to go. The Hermitage was closed on Monday that we were there so we chose Catherine's Palace, Fabrege Museum and Church of Spilled Blood. Wonderful tours. Would highly recommend them. Their website is http://www.ulkotours.com. They met us at the cruise port on time.

[kcdcac13]

We are also looking at doing a similar 1 day tour in SPB, sort of a whistle stop tour as we don't want to drag the kids around all the museums and palaces for 2 days. There is soo much to consider its baffling!!

[cosmo1027]

Thank you for all the replies. We ended up booking with Best Guides. They offered a one day tour with our desired sites. It wasn't on their website as such, but apparently there are others from our ship on this tour. I was please to find an operator doing this itinerary for a much lower price than the others that said it would need to be a private tour.

[CrazyJess]

Hi Kim! I'm sure you made a good choice. Best Guides truly live up to their name.