Days required for site seeing in russia

Moscow and St Petersburg (not »berg«) are the most popular foreign tourist destinations in Russia. The package tour you mention gives you very, very little time. Those 7 days will undoubtedly include 2 travellng days, leaving you with 5 usable days for two big cities with each enough attractions to fill 10 days.
If your »less than a lakh« means »less than INR 100.000« it doesn't sound very expensive.

Thanx a ton..pls lemme noe if its easier to xplore on our own or join a tour..which is a better option??

Have a tour, if only to avoid all the hassle with visas for which you might need a prior booking with a hotel. And you don't want to waste your limited time with figuring out how to get from sight A to sight B and deciphering the Cyrillic signs. You can always decide to skip an excursion. Saint Petersburg is a wonderful city just for walking around. Much nicer than following a guide in the Hermitage. And in Moscow you must have some rides on the Metro. By far the most beautiful in the world.

Hey ) I live in Moscow and I can tell that the first week of November is Ok, but may be cold, so prepare some warm clothes and everything will be great, dont be afraid ) As for me, I prefer travelling on my own, without tours (its cheaper and more interesting, it`s a kind of special and individual experience). So I recommend you to come here and explore Moscow (and Spb, ofcourse) as an independent tourist. I think, two or three days for Moscow would be enough, for Spb too.

Artem is right, I prefer that too but it's quite more challenging in Moscow if you don't speak the language and don't read their alphabet. We had four days in Moscow and I wish we had more. It's a huge city with a lot to see. Maybe next time.

tours don't provide visas; you have to get your own visa (at least that is the case for visitors from the US) The tour will provide an 'invitation' but you have to get your own visa. November is likely to be pretty cold for someone from India. We were in both cities in late August this year and in Petersburg in September last year and it was not warm at that time, although quite pleasant; we don't like traveling in warm weather and these were nice times. We had very little rain and many sunny temperate days. But we were wearing jackets or lightweight coats in September. It will be cold in November and also quite dark early.

We have done Petersburg and Moscow on our own although I hired a private guide for the trip to Catherine Palace in Petersburg and for the Novodivichy Cemetery and the metro system in Moscow (which served as an orientation to using the metro as well. We did a river cruise and so also had tour group tours of each of those cities and they were totally dreadful -- superficial, drive by photo ops etc etc. You are IMHO better off on your own spending your time with what you want to see. I would not attempt either city in fewer than 5 nights/4 full days -- and that is nowhere near enough. You could however see a good deal in that length of time. If you only have 7 days for your vacation, I would choose one or the other.

The OP said in August that their trip was to take place the first week of November.

If you are from India and traveling in Russia, being part of a tour group might be the safest bet for you.