Saint Petersburg tour options

[Tommart]

I'd appreciate any advice on the best tour options for St Petersburg, without personal visas.

 

I'm assuming that P&O will be the most expensive option by some margin, but what I'm looking for is something that includes the Hermitage (ideally at a time when it's not too crowded - evening perhaps?), the onion domes, and maybe some free time just wandering.

 

What else is a 'must'?  And which are the best third party tour operators?

 

Many thanks!

[tartanexile81]

Although many P&Oers use ALla by way of recommendation on these boards, we were so glad we chose SPB  which at the time were rated #1 on TA. We only had 6 in the group and started at The Hermitage on Day 2. We went to Peterhof, a hydrofoil trip, St Peter and St Paul Fortress, Church of the Spilled Blood, Catherine's Palace and Nevsky Prospect which is the main shopping Street. We stopped outside main buildings for photos etc. We also did a trip on the underground, went to a farmer's market, had time for shopping and when we asked we were taken to a supermarket. Our guide was fabulous and very flexible - within Russian constraints! We also booked a driver for the evening with SPB and we were left to our own devices for 3 hours which was unbelievable. 

[tring]

We have booked a day tour with P&O this August were we are given free time in 3 different places (couls also easily get to a river boat tour or Faberge from one of those stops when we have 3 hours (two other stops of 1.5 hours).  That only cost us about £40pp with loyalty discount.  We found the private tour operators incredibly expensive unless you do a group tour.  There are early doors tours etc. of the Hermitage, but at a price.

 

We were there at the very beginning of May last year (river cruise form SPB to Moscow and two nights in a hotel each end, and  a day from the river boat in each of SPB and Moscow, when we just went about on our own using local metro + bus).  Tourist places were very quiet then, so I recommend panning carefully when you are due to be there another time if you plan to return.  Viking had us first in to The Hermitage and St Catherine's and we were the first Viking group into St Catherines so rooms empty as we entered - cannot imagine how it is mid summer, but soon to find out.

[yorkshirephil]

It really depends, private tours can work out very expensive and can be tiring as they cover a lot more ground and your driver/guide are only dealing with small parties, it depends what you want to get from your tour. A private tour can be more flexible as the driver will detour or change the tour around to suit. If you book then check out the roll call on this site as you may be able to join another party, we have done this very successfully in the past. Take a look at the ships tours then google the private Russian companies, some of which have been mentioned by others above. We also had a good tour with a company called Red October once. As you mention free time we have always found the US dollar the best currency to use in St Petersburg, they will usually take Euro too. Whatever you choose St Petersburg is a pretty amazing place.

https://redoctober.tours/

[Solent Richard]

4 hours ago, Tommart said:

I'd appreciate any advice on the best tour options for St Petersburg, without personal visas.

 

I'm assuming that P&O will be the most expensive option by some margin, but what I'm looking for is something that includes the Hermitage (ideally at a time when it's not too crowded - evening perhaps?), the onion domes, and maybe some free time just wandering.

 

What else is a 'must'?  And which are the best third party tour operators?

 

Many thanks!

 

Good afternoon Tom.

 

Do read the link to my cruise blog...

 

https://solentrichardscruiseblog.com/2013/05/14/one-way-to-do-st-petersburg/

 

 

...where you will get a good idea of how we did St Petersburg while sailing on Arcadia.

 

Needless to say i cannot speak highly enough of All Tours who will do everything for you including arrange a 'no charge' visa.

 

[BrianI]

The tour companies all seem to indicate that they will organise a visa for you. The fact is that any tours escorted by a licensed tour guide are visa free. This applies to tours organised by the ship or any land based tour companies. 

http://www.saint-petersburg.com/russian-visa/for-cruise-ship-passengers/

 

Brian

[jh1809]

I'd say that a tour that includes seeing the inside of the Church on the Spilled Blood is a must. It's absolutely amazing.

[tring]

1 hour ago, jh1809 said:

I'd say that a tour that includes seeing the inside of the Church on the Spilled Blood is a must. It's absolutely amazing.

 

You can go into the Church on Spilled Blood by paying an entrance fee (not that much from what I remember) on one of the 1.5 hour stops on the P&O tour with free time which I mentioned above.  It was very crowded in there though, even in early May last year.  Some "churches" like that and St Isaacs are actually not consecrated and are designated as museums where tour groups can be taken into and 'talked at' by their guides whilst in there.  I may sound very cynical, but we really enjoyed just being able to do our own thing and find real churches, which had a much better atmosphere. 

[gazwag]

We used Alla Tours in June, absolutely brilliant two days seeing everything - its early morning start and tiring but completely worth it. We went straight into everywhere and really early into the Hermitage and Catherine's Palace so they were practically empty. I don't think I have ever seen a such an long queue like the one outside of the Catherine's Palace when we came out of tour groups trying to get in. We just got back to the minibus and the poured hard for 5 minutes, I wouldn't have wanted to be in that queue. Another good thing was everybody had personal radio mikes with an earphone so you could hear the guide talking without having to stand right in front of him all the time.

 

One thing to remember at St Petersburg - pickpocketing is rife, at least 3 people had wallets stolen on our cruise and a friend of mine had his stolen a couple of weeks ago on a different cruise. I would advise everybody to only take the essentials in a spare wallet when off board ship and keep passports and cruise card separate from your wallet.

Edited July 19, 2019 by gazwag

[Flycat]

We used TJ Travel for a 2-day tour last year. They were fabulous. Groups were no more than 12 per minibus. We visited all the main sites as others have described and the guide ensured that we went at a pace suitable for the less mobile in the group. We had the advantage of TJ having exclusive access to the Hermitage on a day when it is usually closed, so no queues and only other people were with the same tour company.  My advice would be to see which tour operator runs an itinerary that appeals to you as they are all very similar in price.

[Tommart]

Much appreciate the suggestions so far.  Several possibilities.

 

Does anyone happen to have details of the P&O tours and prices please, for comparison?  Can't get at these yet on the Cruise Personaliser.

 

Also, has anyone tried (or have views on) this one please?

 

https://st-petersburg-tours.ru/two-day-standard-group-st-petersburg-shore-excursion

[P-L-B]

When we visited St Petersburg for two days some years ago we booked a full day P&O tour for each day and found them very enjoyable.

I will try and post name of tour and price if I can find the information.

 

Out of interest is it normal for privately organised tours to expect extra payments for the driver and guide. + ($31.50 pp) If I recall that was not expected regarding our P&O organised tours in St Petersburg.

 

Extract from link above.

 

Price doesn’t include:

• Lunches
• Tips (recommended tips for guide: 10% of the tour cost, for driver: 5% of the tour cost)

Edited July 21, 2019 by P-L-B

[tring]

1 hour ago, Tommart said:

Does anyone happen to have details of the P&O tours and prices please, for comparison?  Can't get at these yet on the Cruise Personaliser.

 

 

Far too many tours to list and we have not been looking at the ones which do lots of places, though the free time one is called St Petersburg Explorer, will be extremely cost effective at £44 full price, without any loyalty discount.  It is for 7.75 hours with 1.5 hours free time in each of St Isaacs and Field of Mars (which is near Church on Spilled Blood) and Nevsky Prospect for 3 hours.  Can just stroll around those areas or look into what is nearby.  The other one we are doing is an afternoon one of 3.5 hours to Peter and Paul Fortress and a river cruise which is £56 full price.  We have done the river cruise, but happy to repeat that.  If you want to do loads of things and are young enough to take the intensity of it, (both mentally and physically), may be better going for the intensive tours - P&O do some packages of tours with 10% discount or day tours with a number of places visited, and full days to a number of places but I cannot make it out and have no time to study it.

 

We wanted to do a relaxing private day tour for just the two of us and prices were through the roof, stupid prices quoted in hundreds of dollars and prices much the same for a half day.  They just wanted to reduce the time, rather than leave us at leisure to take things easily as we had asked, so we stopped looking at private tours and are very much happier with the P&O offerings.  The way forward with private tours seems to be to get a group together on a roll call if others are interested, but many people have been before, so may not get a good sized group on a P&O, unless you can book a shared tour direct with a tour company - I do not know how it works as never been interested.  The UK based ships have much lower prices for their excursions than the US based lines, so be aware of that if getting advice from people who are on US ships.  Their roll calls are much busier as well, so easier to arrange a group tour from their ship.  Some P&O tours, are unavailable or limited now that we are two weeks before the cruise, including the one with free time.  Other people are much better to advise re group tours, but my hunch would be to wait until the P&O ones are out, then you can compare - will still have a fair bit of time.  Our tours were out more than 3.5 months before the cruise.

 

 SPB will be much quieter if in May or the autumn.

Edited July 21, 2019 by tring

[Tommart]

Interesting comments suggesting P&O might actually be cheaper than the independent providers!

 

All I'm looking for really is a Hermitage visit (at a time when it's not too crowded), a visit inside the Church on the Spilt Blood, and some free time for shopping.

 

TJ Travel do a very comprehensive 2 day tour for $210 which includes all that, plus a lot more, but if I can do it for less with P&O that's great news.

 

[tring]

1 hour ago, Tommart said:

Interesting comments suggesting P&O might actually be cheaper than the independent providers!

 

All I'm looking for really is a Hermitage visit (at a time when it's not too crowded), a visit inside the Church on the Spilt Blood, and some free time for shopping.

 

TJ Travel do a very comprehensive 2 day tour for $210 which includes all that, plus a lot more, but if I can do it for less with P&O that's great news.

 

 

That sounds a good price.  Two days intensive will likely be more than that with P&O, especially when you consider a $ is only 80p and that they will have entrance costs to cover, but it depends how much the tour actually covers.  Depends what you want and if you are likely to return though IMO.  People from the US want to do all sorts and I can possibly understand that having travelled so far, but most Brits are happy to just wander about and perhaps one big or two smaller museums/churches in other ports, but somehow the US hype seems to spread to other people in SPB, even if they will likely return (but that is just my opinion).  SPB guides all have to be trained as SPB guides, so they tend to follow the same  sort of thing and they also tend to talk very quickly and move about fairly swiftly

, so can be exhausting to the mind as well as physically.

 

The out of hours Hermitage works out very expensive - but depend what time of year you are going as you may not need it. e.g. P&O's tour :-  An Evening at the Hermitage, 3.5 hours, to include a short classical concert and a glass of Russian "champagne" is £134 pp, but that is a premium one.

 

Is that TJ tour bookable by just two people, or would they need a group of people for that price.  I do not know if you can book on a group tour with other people you do not know on the private tours - I assume that price would not be for two people as they were quoting more than that for us on a very simple itinerary for one day. 

Edited July 21, 2019 by tring

[purplesea]

We visited St Petersburg last year and did a two day tour with Red Sun Tours. The tour was conducted by the owner, Elena, herself who was very interesting and informative. As well as offering day tours she is also able to arrange evening actives.  I have no  hesitation in recommending her and will certainly use again, should the opportunity arise.

 

https://redsun-tours.com/

[gazwag]

21 hours ago, Tommart said:

Interesting comments suggesting P&O might actually be cheaper than the independent providers!

 

 

 

Yes P&O trips may appear to be cheaper but there are so many on offer its difficult to compare like for like. What you should also consider is a independent tour is by minibus with a maximum of 16-18 people. A minibus can park almost anywhere, drop everybody off in a short time and come back after a quick phone call from the guide. P&O tours are usually on a 50 people+ coach and can only park in designated places which if busy can be a walk from the "attractions". You then have the time taken to off load 50+ passengers and then get everybody back on board again, while sitting waiting for the guaranteed stragglers.