Fab Two day tour of St Petersburg

[rosiebee]

We've just come back from a Baltic cruise which was amazing and the highlight was our time in St P. Before the cruise I read some excellent reviews of Alla Tours and booked the Grand Tour. They did not disappoint. Their website is very easy to navigate and the whole thing was so simple to book. They then email with full details and tickets. One of the things we liked was that we were in a group of 14 in a very comfortable mini bus. Our guide, Alexandra, was brilliant. So full of knowledge and enthusiasm. We had quite a few photo stops to start with before getting into the nitty gritty of the tour. One highlight was going into the Hermitage an hour before the public were let in. You could really marvel at everything without lots of others around.

Lunch on the first day was at grand old restaurant. Every time we left the bus, it went off but was always there as we got back. Other highlights were the subway ride, canal trip and visit to Peterhof. Alla exceeded my expectations. We talked to other cruisers who had also done one of the Alla tours and they were all enthusiastic about their trips. Look up their website and see that they do lots of different itineries, including private tours, but this one suited us down to the ground. It was a tiring two days but we saw so much, I shall never forget it.

[flowslow]

Thank you for sharing your experience! St. Petersburg is truly a wonderful city and should be in everyone's bucket list. We also visited the same sights you visited and we loved everything about the tour! We used Anastasia Travel though but just the same, we had an amazing time too. Just goes to show that the tours arranged by these local tour companies are a hundred times better than the excursions arranged by the cruise line, and not to mention a whole lot cheaper too. 

Edited August 31, 2019 by flowslow

[dogs4fun]

So nice to hear that you had a wonderful tour with Alla Tours - that was our experience as well.

[AngelDisney]

23 hours ago, rosiebee said:

We've just come back from a Baltic cruise which was amazing and the highlight was our time in St P. Before the cruise I read some excellent reviews of Alla Tours and booked the Grand Tour. They did not disappoint. Their website is very easy to navigate and the whole thing was so simple to book. They then email with full details and tickets. One of the things we liked was that we were in a group of 14 in a very comfortable mini bus. Our guide, Alexandra, was brilliant. So full of knowledge and enthusiasm. We had quite a few photo stops to start with before getting into the nitty gritty of the tour. One highlight was going into the Hermitage an hour before the public were let in. You could really marvel at everything without lots of others around.

Lunch on the first day was at grand old restaurant. Every time we left the bus, it went off but was always there as we got back. Other highlights were the subway ride, canal trip and visit to Peterhof. Alla exceeded my expectations. We talked to other cruisers who had also done one of the Alla tours and they were all enthusiastic about their trips. Look up their website and see that they do lots of different itineries, including private tours, but this one suited us down to the ground. It was a tiring two days but we saw so much, I shall never forget it.

Is the tour you attended a small group tour or a private tour? We have only two people in our group and private tour is out of budget for two people. Would be interested in small group tours. Do they offer early bird discounts? If so, how early should we book? Thanks for sharing your experience and answering our inquiry!

[dogs4fun]

2 hours ago, AngelDisney said:

Is the tour you attended a small group tour or a private tour? We have only two people in our group and private tour is out of budget for two people. Would be interested in small group tours. Do they offer early bird discounts? If so, how early should we book? Thanks for sharing your experience and answering our inquiry!

 

Edited August 31, 2019 by dogs4fun

[dogs4fun]

2 hours ago, AngelDisney said:

Is the tour you attended a small group tour or a private tour? We have only two people in our group and private tour is out of budget for two people. Would be interested in small group tours. Do they offer early bird discounts? If so, how early should we book? Thanks for sharing your experience and answering our inquiry!

Alla does offer small group tours. DIscounts are also offered for cruise critic members and possibly early bird discounts (not sure about this). You can contact her to get more information. 

Edited August 31, 2019 by dogs4fun

[AngelDisney]

1 hour ago, dogs4fun said:

Alla does offer small group tours. DIscounts are also offered for cruise critic members and possibly early bird discounts (not sure about this). You can contact her to get more information. 

Thank you! I will. 

[trosebery]

I'm glad you had a great time, and as someone who just disembarked from her 2nd Baltic cruise, I have one piece of advice: go back!

 

I saw the same sights last time on a similar small group tour and thought that I'd seen the best of St. Petersburg, but we had an even better time this time around. Elena from Red Sun Tours worked with us to customize a private tour (although they also run the standard-itinerary small group tours) that visited some of the sights we had to see again (like Peterhof!), some of the sights we'd missed (we couldn't visit the Faberge Museum last time because we were travelling with kids), and some sights that we hadn't even heard of the first time around but absolutely loved. . . .

 

For example, I was more than happy to swap out the impressive but hot and crowded Catherine Palace for a visit to the Grand Maket (I have a fascination with miniatures and these were so engaging and so detailed when you took the time to study them), and to swap the Peter and Paul Fortress for the Soviet Arcade Museum (where they give you not only a historical overview of the games but also vintage 15 kopek coins so that you can play them!). We also skipped the box lunch for a sit-down meal at a Georgian restaurant because I'd never tried Georgian food before, and it was excellent. (Many thanks to Elena for setting up our tour!)

[Kate P.C]

On 8/31/2019 at 10:50 AM, flowslow said:

Thank you for sharing your experience! St. Petersburg is truly a wonderful city and should be in everyone's bucket list. We also visited the same sights you visited and we loved everything about the tour! We used Anastasia Travel though but just the same, we had an amazing time too. Just goes to show that the tours arranged by these local tour companies are a hundred times better than the excursions arranged by the cruise line, and not to mention a whole lot cheaper too. 

We also booked the 2 full day excursion with Anastasia Travel http://anastasia.travel .

And being in a group of 8 was the best, because not only Anastasia's team was able to pay attention to each one of one, we managed to get in front of lines for the museums. The transport was nice and cozy too. We heard that the cruise line tours can be a real nighmtare when it comes to lines and waiting, so we are glad we chose a small group.

[catz0026]

We are also looking at Alla Grand tour for St. Petersburg.  Could you describe how labor intensive the tour was?  Did you feel you had enough breaks for all of the walking and standing?  Were there also alot of stairs? Did you feel rushed or was keeping up with the group fairly easy?  It difficult to get a feel for how active it is, so any help would be appreciated. 

[dogs4fun]

1 hour ago, catz0026 said:

We are also looking at Alla Grand tour for St. Petersburg.  Could you describe how labor intensive the tour was?  Did you feel you had enough breaks for all of the walking and standing?  Were there also alot of stairs? Did you feel rushed or was keeping up with the group fairly easy?  It difficult to get a feel for how active it is, so any help would be appreciated. 

Check your other posts.