Recommended tour companies in St. Petersburg

We put a group together of 12 and hired TJ Travel as our guide. Our guide was Elena who did a wonderful job. She was very knowledgable and was able to adjust our tour based on how busy each location was and what are group preferred.

We had three full days and had very little down time with the exception of lunch each day which were all excellent.

Communication from TJ was excellent from our time of booking till we boarded our ship, which was reassuring. We did not pay anything until the end of the tour after the third day.

The van was comfortable with a good speaker system to hear Elena and was easy to enter and exit.

Overall we were very pleased with TJ and would not hesitate to recommend them for a St. Petersburg tour.

We booked TJ Travel's 2 day St. Petersburg tour with Faberge museum. It was a highly organized and interesting 2 days; Nina (guide) and Ivan (driver) were very professional; the small group meant our time was spent more efficiently than if we were part of a large group; the vehicle was clean and comfortable; we did not have to worry about returning to our ship in time. All in all, a great experience. Highly recommend.

Our group (from the US and Britain) visited St. Petersburg on May 28th and 29th while cruising on Celebrity Eclipse. Our group was 6 couples who "met" on Cruise Critic Roll Call.

Victoria was our guide and she was especially knowledgeable about Art, History, The Hermitage, The Palaces, and local culture/customs. Her English was very, very good!

Kudos to TJ's for easy booking, excellent communications thru e-mail, no visa concerns, and pleasant interactions all around!

Victoria got us into the Hermitage in an early/timely way, and knew a lot of shortcuts.

We were dazzled by her interesting presentations of the Treasures and the backgrounds she provided about the artists and historical figures from the Renaissance thru current times. I cannot express how delightful and personable she was--she truly loves her work!

She also "mother-henned" us through crowds in a few locations and kept us together when necessary, yet gave us wandering room when it was appropriate.

The sound systems we used were flawless and very much appreciated!

Transportation was in a small Mercedes Van-clean and comfortable. The driver was pleasant and accommodating.

We chose our second day lunch as a group (Victoria presented the alternatives) and liked having the experience of a real local lunch spot. On our first day, we had a set lunch which was waiting for us when we arrived. Both were perfect for us!

I HIGHLY RECOMMEND TJ's Travel for St. Petersburg. We have family members who will be visiting next year--they are planning to book with TJ's everywhere!

We too used TJ Travel in Oslo, Berlin,Tallinn, St. Petersburg, and Stockholm. This company is extremely organized, no detail unturned. The guides are very knowledgeable and do a great job "herding" their flock. The use of headphones worked well in hearing our guide in noisy areas as well as in keeping us together. St. Petersburg was the most AWESOME of all the tours. We also had Elena as our guide and she was the greatest. Ask for Boris in Berlin too. You can't go wrong booking with TJ Travel.

Saw this post and thought I would use it to say that we toured St P for 3 days in June 2016 and used TJ Tours for a 2-day tour. The boat was docked for 3 days but we decided to keep the 3rd day free. Our 2-day tour included all the major attractions and we saw them all under the great guide Dina and the TJ Tours driver. We were disappointed that the visit to the Faberge Museum had been moved to the 3rd day, which we were not a part of. However TJ Tours arranged for a car to collect us from the boat and took us to the Museum to join the other group members then back to the boat. This was all without any extra cost.

We have to say that we thought our guide and driver were fantastic for the whole tour as was the management of the trip by TJ Tours. Would highly recommend them.

This was our third Baltic cruise so we decided to do something different since we had done the “standard tour” twice using a different one of the big well known companies each time.. I am interested in religious art especially icons and Novgorod, south of St Petersburg, is the birth place of Russian icon painting. Could we go there? Internet research turned up several new to me tour companies offering tours to Novgorod. I contacted them plus the well known companies often seen on this board. The new companies were VERY expensive for what they offered. Two of the better known companies (used before) replied but said they would get back to me. I'm still waiting. I received a quick response from Best Guides. They already offer a tour to Novgorod. I began working with Natalie and came up with the following: we would go to Novgorod on the first day and have a walking tour around the center of St Petersburg on the second day. We told them some places we would like to visit and a place and time schedule was worked out for the walking tour. We expected to pay more as it would only be the two of us but their price was only a bit more then what a standard tour for two would have cost. Here's a link to their Novgorod tour: http://www.bestguides-spb.com/tour-novgorod.html Natalie was quick to reply and easy to work with even when we made several changes over time to both parts of the tour.

How did all this work out.....well, you always have doubts and fears. Will they be there to meet you at the dock, will ride to Novgorod be safe (it's about a three hour trip each way) etc. On June 11 we arrived in St Petersburg and quickly got off the ship and through boarder control. There was a representative from Best Guides along with our driver, Anatoli, waiting to meet us. Anatoli took us to his van and we were off. He was an excellent, careful driver and the drive to Novgorod was pleasant with lots to see, old wooden houses, small towns etc. Our guide, Galena, was there to meet us and we began by walking into the “Kremlin” area of Novgorod. I won't go into detail but will be happy to answer questions. It was a truly wonderful day except for the rain. Even with that we saw everything as promised and Galena was excellent with lots of information about the meaning of religious paintings and icons. The ride back to St Petersburg was uneventful and Anatoli (who, by the way, did not speak English but that was never a problem) indicated he would be our driver tomorrow.

He was there to meet us on Sunday with our guide for the day, Elena Isakova. Again, rather then going into detail, our day worked out wonderfully. Elena was a excellent, knowledgeable guide. From the first stop at an Orthodox church to see and hear some of the service, to the Central Naval Museum, not usually on a tour but a place DH wanted to see, and finally the Peter and Paul Fortress we saw everything we wanted to see and more. We had a long walk along the Nevsky Prospect that made us feel like everyday Russians out for a stroll. Stopped in at the office and paid with a credit card, no problem.

All in all we could not have been happier with service and guides from Best Guides. We would use them again in a heart beat. They were easy to work with and quickly responded to our emails. Being able to pay with a credit card on the second day was a plus because we did not have to bring a lot of cash with us. Apparently, the big two companies (I will name them if asked) were not interested providing anything but the “standard tour”. Best Guides stepped up gave us exactly what we wanted. They certainly earned their name as they were the “Best Guides.

<<<Karen>>> *

We just returned from our cruise on Holland America's Prinsendam. Our group of 6 had booked private tours with TJ Travel in Tallinn and St. Peterburg and I wanted to provide a review here for anyone interested in touring with them as well.

First, let me say we were very happy with them!

I started planning these last winter. All communication with TJ Travel was very quick and clear. I asked about having german speaking tour guides in both cities and they were happy to comply.

A couple of weeks before our cruise, they sent us tour vouchers that we needed in place of visas when entering Russia in St. Petersburg, this worked well, no questions were asked by the immigration officials.

Our first tour was in Tallinn. Unfortunately, only the official tour providers are allowed to enter the harbour area, so we had to walk about 10 mins from the ship to the port gate, which normally wouldn't have been a problem, but the moment we stepped off the ship, it started pouring so we got drenched quite a bit, despite umbrellas.

At the port gate, we were greeted by Brigitte, her german was perfect and she had a lovely personality. First part was a walking tour in the old town, as some in our party had trouble walking long distances, especially on uneven cobblestones, Brigitte made sure the van would pick us up early. We then went on to a traditional latvian restaurant, were were served coffee, water and pastries. After this, we went on a driving tour of some sights at the outskirts of town. Meanwhile, Brigitte provided many intersting details and even sang a few lines from the latvian anthem, what a beautiful voice!

The next day, we arrived in St. Petersburg. Immigration formalities didn't take too long. Our guide Valeria was already waiting for us and took us to a very clean and new looking van. We had plenty of room.

Valeria provided a lot of informations as well, her german was also very good. She was also excellent in time management and brought us to the different sites ahead of most other tours. In many places, we were also able to just skip the long lines and enter the sites immedeatly. While we couldn't ride the Hydrofoil to Peterhof because of high winds, the metro ride was one of the many highlights of our visit. Even though the booking documents said there would be no refund if the Hydrofoil ride was cancelled, Valeria made sure to mention it when we paid for our tours and got a $10 discount each on our tour rates.

On the second day of the visit, we started with a river boat tour, our group of 6 got a boat just for us alone.

Lunch was included for both days, on the first day, we went to an elegant looking hotel near Peterhof, service was efficient and the food was quite good. On the second day, we ate at a restaurant in the basement of Yusopov Palace and the food there was good as well.

At the end of the second day, Valeria brought us to a souvenir shop where TJ Travel has a small office and we paid for both of our tours in Talinn and St. Petersburg.

I was very happy with both tours and the tour guides and also the drivers were great. Always on time! I felt that their rates were really reasonable and it felt much more personal and less crowded than the ship tours with probably up to 40 people in one coach.

I can really recommend TJ Travel and would book with them again happily!

We then went on to a traditional latvian restaurant, were were served coffee, water and pastries. After this, we went on a driving tour of some sights at the outskirts of town. Meanwhile, Brigitte provided many intersting details and even sang the latvian national anthem

Why go to a Latvian restaurant and sing the Latvian National Anthem when in Tallinn, ESTONIA?

Ugh, sorry, I got lost in translation. Of course I meant Estonia, not Latvia!!!

We used TJ Travel when cruising the Baltics on the Koningsdam. We had very Nice and knowledgeable guides: Boris in Berlin, Nina in St Petersburg and Erich in Helsinki & Porvoo. TJ is highly organised. They used a portable reception set so in busy places you can follow the commentaren and know where the group is. When we were in St Petersburg, there was a Large event in the city. TJ knew how to move around it and visiting all the sites in the programm in time. The tours from HAL experienced a lot of problems, we did not and had enough time at all the beautiful spots: Hermitage, Isaacs Cathedral, Metro station (great to visit), Catherina Palace, Peter & Paul Fortress, canal Tour by boat, Hydrofoil to Peterhof and its beautiful fountains, Yusupov palace where Rasputin was murdered, Church of spilt blood. Great Experience. Free water and WiFi in the van and two complementary Russian lunches.

I would recommend TJ Travel to every visitor to the Baltics!

Just back from an eleven day Baltic cruise on the Regal Princess. We used Cruise Critic to hook up with some of those on the same cruise and had a fantastic time. Spent a day with some of them in Copenhagen before embarking.

We weren't sure which tour company to use on this trip. But, we were very sure we wouldn't be using the ship's tours which were extremely overpriced.

* (As a footnote): We did use a Princess tour in Helsinki, Finland. Still don't know why. I think I had booked it way early and then forgot about it. Anyway, you could hardly understand our guide AND, she managed to lose four of our group half-way through the tour!

Our group decided to use TJ's for most of our organized tours. We used them in Berlin, St.Petersburg, and Stockholm. Some of the tours were private which allowed us to tailor make them. We added the Faberge Museum in St.Petersburg and the ABBA Museum in Stockholm. We also were able to tour the Hermitage on a day when it was closed!! No lines ... no crowds.

TJ's was fantastic! They were on time, very organized with wonderful tour guides. Correspondence with them was extremely easy. Tatiana, the owner, goes out of her way to provide a great tour. Our small group had two days with Alla (our tour guide ... not the company) in St. Petersburg. She was phenomenal. Excellent English and quite knowledgeable in all areas of the city. I would recommend asking for her. All visas in Russia were taken care of and there were no problems at all.

I can't speak to ALLA and SPB Tours. I've known friends who have used them and speak well of them also. I just know the experience we had with TJ's was the best!

We signed up for the 3-day Grand tour with TJ Travel mainly because they have the smallest maximum group size - 12 vs. 16 in other groups. I checked the itineraries of Alla, SPB and TJ, and all covered the same basic sights, but TJ also included the boat back from the Summer palace, which was fun and saved time. Our guide, Anna, was excellent, and kept us moving, which I appreciated. When Peterhof Palace changed opening times due to a special event, Anna rearranged things and got us box lunches to eat in the van rather than go to a restaurant. The box lunches were the best of the 3 days of meals. Be aware that there is a lot of traffic in SPB so a lot of time is spent travelling place to place. Our van had free wifi. From start to finish I felt TJ really delivered.

I highly recommend Anastasia tours in st petersburg. Our guide was EVegeny..spelling? and he was amazing young man who's knowledge at every stop was unbelievable. he was very accommodating(made adjustments en route as we asked questions) and came totally prepared with a roomy van(probably for 14) for only the four of us. he had waters and snacks for us and brought us to the most delicious lunches both days on our tours. absolutely perfect. Their arrangements to the museums was seamless. we walked past all the lines and this was a huge advantage. it is a very long day, both days, but amazing city. the last day we had an extra half hour at the end and we went for an ice cream with a view of the river that was divine way to end our tour.

THis tour company was recommend by friends and we just trusted them. Glad we did. and if you are going to splurge on a private tour on this itinerary, do it in st petersburg! The emails from Katherine to set the intinerary and send confimration for all VIsas was perfect. Very nice organization...I highly recommend!

I used SPB tours to set up a very specialized tour that visited the gold treasure room at the hermitage, the amazing subways, a farmers market, local restaurant, Peterhof, a canal tour, a hydrofoil, the Peter and Paul fortress the churches, and where Rasputin died etc! Victoria was amazing and I ended up organizing 4 separate tours for 56 people in total. It was incredible and we used them as well for Berlin.

We are happy TJ customers. It was our first visit to St. Petersburg and all I had to go on was the websites of various companies recommended by posters here. I chose TJ for the clarity of their website and e-mail communication and because they were willing to accommodate a special request. We got really lucky with our guide Irina, an intelligent, informative guide with excellent English and a pleasant personality.

We did Tallin and Stockholm on our own and used Tours By Locals with Klaudia for Gdansk, also an excellent company.

Any advise on companies to use for a private tour for two? While we originally were going to look at private tour companies with a smaller group than the ship ones my husband has been having some knee issues and we don't know how he will feel next year when we travel. We are thinking of doing a tour just the two of us,

I understand it will be much more $ but don't want to hold up or inconvenience others if he doesn't get 100% better

Thank you

We did he tour for our family group of 4. Glad we didn't join another group.

We did he tour for our family group of 4. Glad we didn't join another group.

May I ask who you used? And how you liked it?

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Any advise on companies to use for a private tour for two? While we originally were going to look at private tour companies with a smaller group than the ship ones my husband has been having some knee issues and we don't know how he will feel next year when we travel. We are thinking of doing a tour just the two of us,

 

I understand it will be much more $ but don't want to hold up or inconvenience others if he doesn't get 100% better

 

Thank you

I have wanted to visit St Petersburg for many years and specifically chose a Celebrity cruise in June as it had three full days there. To make the most of it we decided to do a private tour for two, and so I did a lot of research to make sure we found the right person. Well, in a nutshell, we could not have been more happy with our guide Irina Kochkina who runs her own tour company - Muse Day Tours - as well as working through another larger tour company. What an amazing depth of knowledge of St Petersburg and Russia this young woman has! She was also very personable and spoke excellent English. Trying to find our own way to the places we wanted to go would have been very difficult due to the language barrier. Instead, each day she was waiting at the dock, we hopped in her car, and set off on our pre-agreed itinerary. We did all the main sights, palaces, churches, gardens etc - all without waiting in very long lines to get in - plus a few extra WW2 things I wanted to see.

I can't speak highly enough of the experience (and it was very reasonable in cost as well). You can contact her directly via: kochkina-ira@yandex.ru.

Have a fantastic time! Brenda

We used SPB Tours and were satisfied with the price and professional service.

Thank you Brenda I will contact her

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Any advise on companies to use for a private tour for two? While we originally were going to look at private tour companies with a smaller group than the ship ones my husband has been having some knee issues and we don't know how he will feel next year when we travel. We are thinking of doing a tour just the two of us,

 

I understand it will be much more $ but don't want to hold up or inconvenience others if he doesn't get 100% better

 

Thank you

If you've been wondering why so few people have replied to your post, I suspect it is because your request already has been answered on the thread.

You've jumped into a four-page thread without appearing to have read the beginning pages of the thread. I recommend you do so. Posts #10 and #39 offer outstanding general advice. Posts #31 and #34 contain some very good advice for selecting a tour company without many reviews which is important since Muse Travel is in position #85 (out of 280) on Trip Advisor with only 16 reviews.

Don't just skip to the four posts I've cited. The whole thread is a gold mine of excellent advice about specific tour companies, specific guides, and specific suggestions for things to do.

The only detail I didn't spot in the four-pages worth of posts is someone talking about adjustments to their itinerary because a group member had mobility issues. Otherwise, this thread does a very good job of answering your question.

May I ask who you used? And how you liked it?

 

 

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We used TJ and had an amazing time. I am convinced that we had the best guide of all of St. Petersburg. Her name is Irina. I wrote more in more detail about it on cc and on trip advisor.

Any advise on companies to use for a private tour for two? While we originally were going to look at private tour companies with a smaller group than the ship ones my husband has been having some knee issues and we don't know how he will feel next year when we travel. We are thinking of doing a tour just the two of us,

 

I understand it will be much more $ but don't want to hold up or inconvenience others if he doesn't get 100% better

 

Thank you

I wish you would have spent a few minutes and read the entire thread, and you would have gained some knowledge about some of the private tour companies in St Petersburg.

I don't want to sound as if I am scolding you but NO ONE can recommend a tour company for you. If you read all the posts, and many other threads, you will see that EVERYONE comes back singing the praises of the tour company that they used, and I mean EVERYONE. But what may be good for so and so, may not be a good fit for you.

All the companies are basically the same in that they show you the same sites, but they all have their individual quirks and YOU have to contact a few of them on your own and see which one YOU feel most comfortable with. We used SPB Tours because they had a complete sit down lunch, which we wanted. Other companies may do a boxed lunch so they can spend more time touring. Some tours include a subway ride and canal cruise. PLEASE, just do book a tour company just because you read a good review over here. They won't bite if you contact them. PLUS go to your roll call and if you want to join a small group see what your fellow cruisers are doing. We simply cannot do the work for you. Part of the excitement of going is the planning. Go for it.

Cheers

Len

Just back (yesterday) from another Baltic Cruise (on HAL) and will share a few thoughts. Regarding the private tour companies, there are many excellent companies working in St Petersburg (Alla, SPB, and TJ are just a few) who all provide similar tour services. We used TJ (and they were above excellent) but, based on our friend's experience on the same cruise, would have been just as happy with Alla or SPB.

While the cruise line (HAL) did provide misleading info prior to the cruise (which led some passengers to believe they had to book a cruise line excursion to get off the ship) the staff was very accommodating when it came to the actual operations in St Petersburg. Folks using private tour companies were able to get off the ship without hassles (from the cruise staff) and did not have to wait for the cruise line excursions. In fact, we were off the ship before any of the cruise line tours.

The Russian immigration folks could care less if you have a cruise line excursion, a private tour, or a personal visa. You simply wait in a queue (for one of many processing officers) who review your tour document, cruise card, and Passport. There is some delay as they do enter your Passport info into their own computer system.

As to private tours versus cruise line excursions, we found that most private tours cost no more then half the cost of comparable cruise line excursions. And most private tour groups are much smaller then the oft large (40+) cruise line groups. Our own TJ Tour group were 10 passenger,,,transported in a new Mercedes mini-bus that could hold 20!. Watching a cruise line group of over 50 people trying to tour the very crowded Hermitage would have been enough to convince most folks that these large groups are not the way to go!

And Private tours have some amazing advantages. We decided (on the morning of our arrival) that we wanted to go that evening's performance of Swan Lake at the Marliinki Theater. Our tour guide immediately faxed TJ's Office which quickly obtained us excellent seats (Row 9). TJ sent a car/driver to pick us up at the ship (at 7pm) and we were in our theater seats at 7:45 (the performance was excellent). After the ballet we were again met by a van/driver for our transport back to the ship. Total cost for the ballet tickets and transport was only $105 per person..... which we later heard was a fraction of the cost charged by the ship's tour desk for the same performance. And we had no delays that often happen with groups. We simply walked off the ship about 7, met our driver in the terminal....and were off to the ballet. After the ballet we just walked out of the theater, stepped into our private van....and we were quickly back aboard with no delays waiting for the typical slow/late passenger.

As to the debate about which private company is the best, we think it really is more a factor of your particular guide (some guides actually work for more then one company). Our particular guide (Elena) was terrific....but we did not hear a single complaint from any other cruiser about their private guide (regardless of the tour company).

Hank