St. Petersburg - Peterhof Question

[jstducky]

From what I've read, there are 2 ways to get to Peterhof, either drive or take the hydrofoil.

 

What are the pros and cons of either.

 

How much does the hydrofoil cost? Was the cost worth the reduction in driving time? How long does it take to drive to Peterhof?

 

Thanks in advance.

[SF]

Good questions, I'd like to know the answers to those questions also. Hopefully someone who's visited will be able to post a reply.

[dileep]

denrus and red october did not give us the hydrofoil option. We did start the day at peterhof and got there just before they opened, so the hour drive was at a time when most sights are not open.

[itsjb1]

denrus and red october did not give us the hydrofoil option. We did start the day at peterhof and got there just before they opened, so the hour drive was at a time when most sights are not open.

 

 

Red October did give us the hyrofoil option.We took it back into the city where we met up again with our driver. It was well worth it.

[BaltiGator]

I recommend driving one way and taking the Hydrofoil the other. Doesn't matter which comes first, but each mode of transportation will give you a different perspective on the city.

[Sky Sweet]

From what I've read, there are 2 ways to get to Peterhof, either drive or take the hydrofoil.

 

What are the pros and cons of either.

 

How much does the hydrofoil cost? Was the cost worth the reduction in driving time? How long does it take to drive to Peterhof?

 

Thanks in advance.

 

We did a ship sponsored shore excursion to Peterhof wherein we took a bus from the port in St Petersburg and a hydrofoil back to the city. The cost of the hydrofoil was included in our tour. The advantage of taking the hydrofoil back is that it is much faster and you get to see the area from a different perspective.

[Lovincruisin1321]

We did a ship sponsored shore excursion to Peterhof wherein we took a bus from the port in St Petersburg and a hydrofoil back to the city. The cost of the hydrofoil was included in our tour. The advantage of taking the hydrofoil back is that it is much faster and you get to see the area from a different perspective.

Which cruiseline were you on? We'll be on RCI in August.

[Sky Sweet]

Which cruiseline were you on? We'll be on RCI in August.

 

We were on Celebrity's Constellation. Since RCI owns Celebrity, they probably offer a similar excursion. We took three different shore excursions in St Petersburg through Celebrity, which were all excellent.

 

Morning of First Day - Pushkin

Afternoon of First Day - Peterhof

 

Second Day - All day tour which included lunch, Hermitage, St Issacs, Smolney, Aurora, and other highlights of the area.

 

You will love your Baltic Cruise :)

[Lovincruisin1321]

We were on Celebrity's Constellation. Since RCI owns Celebrity, they probably offer a similar excursion. We took three different shore excursions in St Petersburg through Celebrity, which were all excellent.

 

Morning of First Day - Pushkin

Afternoon of First Day - Peterhof

 

Second Day - All day tour which included lunch, Hermitage, St Issacs, Smolney, Aurora, and other highlights of the area.

 

You will love your Baltic Cruise :)

I'm anxious for RCI to post the excursions. I can't wait!

[dbh62ark]

denrus and red october did not give us the hydrofoil option. We did start the day at peterhof and got there just before they opened, so the hour drive was at a time when most sights are not open.

Red October was not flexible with us in accomodating changes to their standard itinerary for a private tour (this is the main reason why we chose Denrus), but Denrus was, and the hydrofoil was definitely an option for our Denrus private tour. I don't know whether or not Denrus uses the hydrofoil on the value excursions.

 

Donna

[Sky Sweet]

I'm anxious for RCI to post the excursions. I can't wait!

 

For Baltic Cruises, Celebrity mails a shore excursion guide to everyone shortly after they have made their final payment. This booklet includes a pre-paid shore excursion order form which can be mailed to them, as well as details about each excursion offered for your itinerary. Even though we wound up ordering our exursions online, this booklet made it much easier to do research and make final decisions.

[jstducky]

I'm anxious for RCI to post the excursions. I can't wait!

 

You can still go to the RCI website under Shore Excursions and look at all the available shore excursions for St. Petersburg. You can get an idea of what was offered on cruises for this year and what the price for this year was...

[cruisemom42]

It's worth noting that traffic in St. Petersburg can be a nightmare. We went with Den Rus and opted (per their recommendation) to drive to Peterhof early in the morning (so, not missing any hours of sightseeing), then take the Hydrofoil back. It's much faster, and it is fun to come in and dock right in the heart of all the beautiful old palaces. If you opt for this, your driver will drop you off, then drive back to the city while you tour, thus he will be waiting when the hydrofoil pulls in.

 

One note: don't expect to see much when the the hydrofoil gets going. It really sends up a spray. However, when it pulls out of Peterhof and then when it slows and approaches St. Petersburg, the views are priceless.

[RC_BC]

Red October was not flexible with us in accomodating changes to their standard itinerary for a private tour (this is the main reason why we chose Denrus), but Denrus was, and the hydrofoil was definitely an option for our Denrus private tour. I don't know whether or not Denrus uses the hydrofoil on the value excursions.

 

Donna

We did the Denrus value excursion in July, and it did not use the hydrofoil.

[JodiBB]

Through RO last year, we took the hydrofoil. It was a great way to see the city from the water. Also, on that day, we ordered the boxed lunches and ate them on the hydrofoil. Saved us time from stopping and eating and we were ready to go when we hit land!

[dog]

I am wondering how the hydrofoil ride from Peterhof to city centre differs from the boat trip Red October is offering for 2007 season?

 

They offer the boat trip in the rivers and canals at the end of day 1 and then on day 2 use the hydrofoil from Peterhof to return at lunch time to the city. J.

[JodiBB]

The boat ride is a casual, leisurely boat trip down smaller canals and rivers where you get a continued tour of historical buildings as you're traveling.

 

The hydrofoil is more a faster boat that takes you down the main canal to the Peterhof palace. It's a totally different experience. It's not a tour boat, but more a water taxi.

[cadreamer]

We did both the hydrofoil from Peterhof (one way - we drove there in the morning) and the canal ride when we toured with Alla Tours. The canal ride was great because we could see everything from a different perspective, plus you saw things you could not see from the street.The hydrofoil was fun and an efficient use of our time. We also thought taking a subway to see one of the very elaborate stations was worth doing. All in all we did quite a few transportation options. We liked shopping at the market right behind the Church on the Spilled Blood. I have not seen this mentioned recently and it is great for souvenirs. Sometimes we have seen postings suggesting it is not safe but we did not have any problems there.

[cadreamer]

We did both the hydrofoil from Peterhof (one way - we drove there in the morning) and the canal ride when we toured with Alla Tours. The canal ride was great because we could see everything from a different perspective, plus you saw things you could not see from the street.The hydrofoil was fun and an efficient use of our time. We also thought taking a subway to see one of the very elaborate stations was worth doing. All in all we did quite a few transportation options.

[cadreamer]

We did both the hydrofoil from Peterhof (one way - we drove there in the morning) and the canal ride when we toured with Alla Tours. The canal ride was great because we could see everything from a different perspective, plus you saw things you could not see from the street.The hydrofoil was fun and an efficient use of our time. We also thought taking a subway to see one of the very elaborate stations was worth doing. All in all we did quite a few transportation options.

[SaylorGirl]

We had our own Visa's and we took the train. We used a bus to come back to St. Petersburg. It cost us about $3.00 total.

[Peregrina651]

Thanks, everybody! Because of what we read here we made sure that the private tour we just booked for August includes the St. P-Peterhof hydrofoil. Now we are just hoping for two sunny days.:)

[onlyparrotlets]

Alla will allow you to include a hydrofoil ride and she charges an additional $15 pp. We opted for it because we had taken a hydrofoil to Capri last Sept and we thought part of our group who had never been on one would enjoy it. To me, it is worth $15. Alla will also allow a boat tour of the river for an additional $15 pp, but you will have to cut back on some of the other sights as it takes about 1 hr to do. We decided not to.

 

I can hardly wait to see if Alla tours are as great as they already seem!