St. Petersburg Tour Companies

I haven't been there yet but here is the company we are planning to go with: http://www.expresstorussia.com/guide/st-petersburg.html The same company has more options on this website: http://www.expresstorussia.com/tours_petersburg.html

The same companies that do cruise ship tours also will arrange tours for those arriving by other means. Check Cruise Critic for recommendations. http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=192 The following companies come up frequently as being good ones: http://www.alla-tour.com/ http://www.denrus.ru/ http://www.redoctober.us/ http://www.spb-tours.com/st-petersburg/en/ Disclaimer: I have never used any of these companies and have no connection with any of them I saw St. Petersburg on my own (well, with my sister) in September 2001 and April 2010. Things that I don't see always on the standard tours that I highly recommend (if you have time) are: 1. The Russia Museum. We actually enjoyed this more than the Hermitage. When we returned in 2010, we didn't go back to the Hermitage (amazing though it is), but made SURE to go back to the Russia Museum.
2. The Yusupov Palace. Rasputin's assassination was started in the basement, but we didn't take that tour, which at the time was separate. The rest of the place was amazing, including the private theater. It felt intimate, despite the opulence. 3. The Sheremetov Palace. A museum of musical instruments, in a fantastic chateau. Of things that often are included in tours, I loved the Church on the Spilt Blood (also went both times) and the canal cruise. I didn't get to any of the palaces outside of town like Peterhof or Catherine's Palace. If a 3 day tour is too pricey, you might consider using a company for 1 or 2 days and focusing on out of town sights or places where they can get you in before the crowds. Then, you can see less crowded places on your own.

Great info. Thanks.

We used DENRUS while stopped there for a day on a cruise. All went well, except the tour guide was a little long winded. We wanted to hit some shops, he made us go to yet another church thing, but it was fine.

Hi La Rae, I looked at Alla Tours, DenRus, Davranov, White Nights and TJ Travel but I ended up going with Palladium. here is my trip report: http://www.ricksteves.com/graffiti/helpline/index.cfm/rurl/topic/86958/trip-report-russia.html i contacted all the companies by email for basic questions and to see how customizable they were. one big thing for me was lunch breaks! and not many of them had an ample lunch break to really consider it a break. palladium was cheaper, even though there were 2 of us in the group. sergei was our tour guide and he was extremely smart, witty and considerate.

my tour: 9 am hotel pick up @ the lobby 10-12 catherine palace 1230-130 lunch 2-5 peterhof
6 hydrofoil back with drop off at winter palace $400 for 2 whereas others where $500 for 2 let me know if you have any other questions. andrea

Thank you.

We ended up using Alla. I'm sort of the opposite. I'll skip lunch to see more sights. Alla had a "strenuous" option that skipped lunch and involved a lot of walking. Since I was coming off a cruise ship, I was really interested in a tour that WOULDN'T appeal to many of the older, semi-ambulatory, cruise passengers. The Alla tour fit the bill, but even the middle-aged people on our tour (ten of us total) complained about skipping lunch - then followed our lead. We packed sandwiches and snacks (from the Lido restaurant on the ship) and ate in the van.