Long lines on St. Pete Value Tours????

[heatescapee]

If we book a Value Tour for St. Pete (Aug. '07) will we be in the same long lines as are those booked with ships' tours? I've read that private car tours bypass the long lines, which is very important to us during possible August crowds, but where do the 30-person (?) Value groups fit in? Thank you so much.....though I'm a new poster on this site, it has been a tremendous help to me in the past!

[spearmint]

If we book a Value Tour for St. Pete (Aug. '07) will we be in the same long lines as are those booked with ships' tours? I've read that private car tours bypass the long lines, which is very important to us during possible August crowds, but where do the 30-person (?) Value groups fit in? Thank you so much.....though I'm a new poster on this site, it has been a tremendous help to me in the past!

 

On our DenRus Value Tour, although there were only 10 of us :D , we encountered no lines. We were taken right in to each place immediately; we did encounter ship's tours inside the Hermitage, for example, but if there were too many tours/people, our guide, Ljudmilla, simply took us to another area, and returned when crowds had left. Also, you start right away in the morning around 7:30-8:00. At the Peterhof, we had toured the inside of the palace and were preparing to go outside when some of the ship tours were arriving. You are going to love Saint Petersburg!:)

[heatescapee]

Thank you so much for your reply, Spearmint. We're excited about visiting St. Petersburg and anticipate that it will be unique compared to other European cities. :)

[KyCatfan]

We took the Value Tour in September and never encountered a problem with lines. Ludmilla knew how to navigate around the crowds and circle back when they thinned. She was a wonderful guide!

[RickT]

A little off topic but when I went to the Baltic this summer, we looked at a Value tour but found if you could find ten people that a standard tour would cost about the same plus it could be customized. Between Red October (that was the company we finally chose) helping out and the meet and mingle site for our cruise it was no problem coming up with ten.

 

The nice thing about smaller groups is that you are rarely waiting for anyone. There were a few places we visited (not to mention the bathroom stops) that were very quick because we could get in and out as a smaller group.