St Petersburg on our own

Has anyone toured St Petersburg on their own without a guide? We are 4 Australians and would rather get our own visas and tour St Petersburg at our own leisure. Does anyone have any comments or suggestions about this.

Has anyone toured St Petersburg on their own without a guide? We are 4 Australians and would rather get our own visas and tour St Petersburg at our own leisure. Does anyone have any comments or suggestions about this.

I assume you mean St Petersberg Russia. The cruise port is a fair wayu from the city itself with little or no transportation to the city.

You'll find many of the attractions are booked in advance by tour groups. To get to some you'll need to use taxi' or some form of transportation.

St Petersberg has places that they don't recommend going because of a high crime level.

Has anyone toured St Petersburg on their own without a guide? We are 4 Australians and would rather get our own visas and tour St Petersburg at our own leisure. Does anyone have any comments or suggestions about this.

Aussie Belle

welcome to Cruise Critic and the Baltic Boards.

As for your request, there have been several threads during the year about people who want to do St Petersburg on their own. (try the search feature to find some of them) For the most part, they are usually dissuaded from trying. Not sure how it works in Australia about getting Russian Visas, but here in the states, they make it pretty difficult.

That said, St Petersburg on your own--very little English is spoken, most signage is in Russian, you need taxi's to get you around and very few speak English. The ship docks away from most of the attractions. If you want to get to Peterhoff or Catherine's Palace, they are out of the city and might make getting to, very difficult, especially if you have to make the ship before it leaves. Most venues there are lines to get in, you have to have tickets, and you just never know whomever you might get to help you isn't going to fleece you instead. All of these problems are alleviated if you are on some sort of private tour with a company from St Petersburg.

If your mind is made up on doing it yourself, go for it. Others have done it, but, for the most part, it is just so much easier to use a tour company from St Petersburg and design your own agenda. Cost wise will be about the same and you will see a lot more and understand what you are seeing.

Anyway, the choice is yours.

Cheers

Len

Has anyone toured St Petersburg on their own without a guide? We are 4 Australians and would rather get our own visas and tour St Petersburg at our own leisure. Does anyone have any comments or suggestions about this.

Welcome to Cruise Critic . We applaud your independent approach in this undertaking . We have visited St. Petersburg 4 times and the vast majority of our time is unguided . The biggest issue is not language ( many people speak English ) or transportation (buses run from the port to the Metro , which covers the city ) . The biggest impediment is ignoring the negative advice that you will receive . If you choose to go independent , listen to people who will support your decision and who have been there and done it! But you will have to do your homework , before going . We have done a lot of it for you , so click on the link in red posted below to get started . It will show you lots of pictures to see and help you decide where to go and what to see .

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1775172

Here's another link to the St. Petersburg card which provides transportation and admission to many museums and Peterhof .

http://petersburgcard.com/eng/

If you have any questions , don't be afraid to ask us on our thread . Enjoy St. Petersburg .

Has anyone toured St Petersburg on their own without a guide? We are 4 Australians and would rather get our own visas and tour St Petersburg at our own leisure. Does anyone have any comments or suggestions about this.

Once you have your own Visa for St. Petersburg ,not a problem. Follow the advise of scubacruiserx2

Most people just want to avoid the hassle of getting their own visa. Easier if part of an organised tour.

Thank you for your replies and especially Scubacruiser ;) for your encouragement.

We will probably spend most of our time in the city but thought we might get the hydrofoil to Peterhof.

Are there any problems getting the return trip on the hydrofoil ie are there large queues and is it a regular service.

Thank you for your replies and especially Scubacruiser ;) for your encouragement.

We will probably spend most of our time in the city but thought we might get the hydrofoil to Peterhof.

Are there any problems getting the return trip on the hydrofoil ie are there large queues and is it a regular service.

Easy to get the hydrofoil from Peterhof...regular service...but then I must confess we were on a private tour (just two of us) with TJ Travel and easily hopped on...no line but that might just have been our timing. We even snagged two of the front seats.

You can do it on your own but I would suggest it will take you longer to see the sights.

Without knowing how long you have (normally max 3 days on cruise) there are many things to see.

If you can arrange a private tour with small group they are often able to get to the front of queues. Our guide was able to walk to the front of queues and speak to guides of larger groups and we were fast tracked

Done both ways but prefer the private tour for 4-6 people

You can do it on your own but I would suggest it will take you longer to see the sights.

Without knowing how long you have (normally max 3 days on cruise) there are many things to see.

If you can arrange a private tour with small group they are often able to get to the front of queues. Our guide was able to walk to the front of queues and speak to guides of larger groups and we were fast tracked ��

Done both ways but prefer the private tour for 4-6 people

Agree, then you have to factor the cost of the visas.

I don't know how much Australians would have to pay, but we did a river cruise and paid a visa company at the cost of $200 pp.

Just my "two cents"-

We have been to St Petersburg twice both times on cruises. I would love to get visas and do it on our own. But....The cost for visas for Americans is high and the time you spent getting to the sights, waiting in lines, paying for tickets (make sure you have enough rubles) etc would give you no time to see much. This is one city where going on a tour with local guides really pays off. We mostly do ports on our own or use ship's "on your own" tours to get to the places we want to see. Our two tours, one with Alla and one with SPB, were great. We networked with people on our roll call for the cruise so our cost was reasonable. Never really waited in line for long either time. If you are going in the summer tourist season believe me there will be LONG lines and tour groups get first preference. Do you homework as to what you want to see and then decide how you want to do it. I think you will find that going with a group (not ship's tours but private tour companies mentioned here) is the best way to go.

Here's a link to our 2013 photos:https://picasaweb.google.com/gkappesser/BalticCruiseOnCrownPrincessJuly13272013?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCIqA36CHrbnZCg&feat=directlink

<<<Karen>>>

Hi,

The last time went to St Pete was our first visit to Russia, and we (I) did it all independently.

We had a great time and went off the ship three times during our 48 hour stay. I wrote extensively about it here, so check my previous posts to find it, or I will post a link when I get back on a computer.

The big difference is that then we were moored in a Mafia controlled commercial port, whose Mafia controlled shuttle drivers wanted $15 to take us to and from the ship to the port gates, less than one mile each way! Now there is a purpose-built cruise terminal.

The Meteor hydrofoil runs all the time, outside The Hermitage, they have a website in English.

We are going again in June, this time as a group of ten, and it will be as cheap to arrange a private group tour as to mess about with individual visas from $120 U.S. and up!

Just my "two cents"-

 

We have been to St Petersburg twice both times on cruises. I would love to get visas and do it on our own. But....The cost for visas for Americans is high and the time you spent getting to the sights, waiting in lines, paying for tickets (make sure you have enough rubles) etc would give you no time to see much. This is one city where going on a tour with local guides really pays off. We mostly do ports on our own or use ship's "on your own" tours to get to the places we want to see. Our two tours, one with Alla and one with SPB, were great. We networked with people on our roll call for the cruise so our cost was reasonable. Never really waited in line for long either time. If you are going in the summer tourist season believe me there will be LONG lines and tour groups get first preference. Do you homework as to what you want to see and then decide how you want to do it. I think you will find that going with a group (not ship's tours but private tour companies mentioned here) is the best way to go.

 

Here's a link to our 2013 photos:https://picasaweb.google.com/gkappesser/BalticCruiseOnCrownPrincessJuly13272013?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCIqA36CHrbnZCg&feat=directlink

 

<<<Karen>>>

Concur,

I have found that doing it yourself works very well in some ports, but sometimes tours (generally private) work the best. We even take the ship's tour sometimes when the distance from port is long and the potential for being late to the ship is there (and when the price is not that much different from the private tour).

We were on a very nice private tour of St. Andrews in Scotland in October and were a bit late for the the drop dead time, but still made the ship. We just don't need that kind of suspense.

We did STP on a Vantage river cruise and had a five star hotel in STP. We did have a little time on our own to explore, but most of our tours were included in the cruise. The tours were great. We were admitted into the Hermitage prior to it opening to the public.

Also,

having a guide for STP is more important, since sometimes a guidebook cannot give you the full flavor.

From my years on cc, I have seen some people are obsessed with doing it yourself, others with private tour (never do the ship's tours). I think it is best to be flexible and make the best choice depending on the port.

Here are my notes from last time, can't believe it was nine years ago!

http://cruiseforums.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=186310

And this Meteor timetable:

http://www.peterhof-express.com/

Has anyone toured St Petersburg on their own without a guide? We are 4 Australians and would rather get our own visas and tour St Petersburg at our own leisure. Does anyone have any comments or suggestions about this.

My 2 cents worth...

I, too, have toured St. Petersburg independently. Of course, the first time, from a cruise ship, I did use the services of an excellent tour company, Alla Tours. I would not have had the requisite self-confidence to tackle Russia on my own on my first visit (had many misconceptions about Russia at the time).

However, on my latest visit, I wanted time to really explore on my own and visit some of the more esoteric venues that are not offered on any of the group tour itineraries & wander around getting a "feel" for the local culture. Also wanted to experience the night life scene from a local's perspective (if you like jazz & blues, there is an excellent club with really good music: The Jimi Hendrix Blues Club)

I followed the advice of scubacruiserx2 (a big thanks, BTW, for your help and valuable input, Scuba), used ILS to obtain my 3 year visa & had no problems whatsoever seeing exactly what I wanted to see on my own terms and timetable. The only time that I felt even slightly uneasy was at the end of the Peterhof fountains closing ceremony where it was very dark, very crowded (I would estimate at least 50,000 plus) & at the conclusion of the ceremony (fabulous, BTW, replete with gorgeous fireworks display, ballet, music, & laser light show) the locals behaved like the goof balls I encountered at an 80's Who concert & pushed and shoved en masse to exit the grounds. :rolleyes:

I was not on a cruise this time but I can attest to the fact that St. Petersburg is an easy city to navigate using a combination of your feet & the metro. In terms of DIY, it is really no different from other cities like, for example, Athens or Rome. Many of the major venues (example: Hermitage), just like other major European cities, have audio guides that you can rent.

If you want a good overview of the main tourist sights in St. Pete, use one of the excellent independent tour companies frequently mentioned on this board.

If you want to explore only what you are interested in seeing, with some good research, you can easily DIY.

If you are truly interested in doing St. Petersburg by yourself, don't be dissuaded by others.

When I went, I let myself get talked into a private tour by others here. I enjoyed it, it was a great tour and the guide provided a lot of information definitely. But as I looked around, I became convinced I could've done it on my own and enjoyed it more.

Some don't get that it isn't all about the cost or how much you see. It is also about getting to experience a place on your own without having to see it through someone else's "filter" if you will.

A big factor in why many American cruisers might not even consider St. Petersburg on their own may be the cost of the visa itself. If you can apply at one of the 5 visa processing centers in the US (Washington DC, New York, San Francisco, Houston, and Seattle.), a visa will cost $160 for the consulate fee, plus $33 for a service fee. The private tours cost for a group of 16 is $300 per person, including transportation, a private guide and entry to all major museums. My family's situation is highly unusual, but since our 3 year old son was free on the tour, it wouldn't have made much financial sense for us to apply for three visas.

However, I believe a visa may be less expensive for Australian citizens, which would make it more reasonable to travel independently to St. Petersburg.

Also my opinion, the big downfall is the cost and the paperwork you'll need

for a Visa. If that's OK for you than do it, as visiting St.Petersburg on your own is quite easy and doable;

I did it after a tour with the "Trans Siberian Train". Firstly we had a walking orientation tour with a guide, but than we were on our own.

The inner core of the city is easy walkable (Corner-Points;

Peter-and Paul-Fortress, Ermitage, Newskij Prospect and the two big

churches right there in the center).

I never saw any big waiting lines.

I did as well the Hydrofoil to Peterhof on my own and there were plenty of emty seats on it; the departure point is of the hydrofoil as I can remember it was right on the river side of the Ermitage Building.

Again, just my "two cents"-

I think the issue here is not so much whether to do it on your own or not but rather that they are first time visitors to St Pete. Having been there twice on cruises and done private tours both times we would love to go back and do it on our own. Maybe we will.... But for a first time or maybe an only time visit I am glad we got to see as much as we did on tours. I would have been a nervous wreck trying to plan everything out and hoping it all worked. Having been there I would now know exactly what we want to see and how to get there. Hours in Church on Spilled Blood and more time at Peterhof would suite us well. Also, some of the other museums not normally on tours. Plus a visit to the Grand Choral Synagogue to buy the nesting dolls I didn't get in 2013 :(.

<<<Karen>>>

My suggestion is to get with other on your roll call to get a small group together and personalize the tour through an local agent.

This way you have your own schedule.

Having visited St. Petersburg on my own several times whike it was still t ge USSR I did enjoy such a tour on our recent cruise. It was great to get narration and did not have to worry about directions etc.

Sorry, I feel I have to add something that has already been said, but maybe not enough emphasis has been put on it.

Several people have said that they have done St Petersburg on their own. From what I have seen of this is that they weren't on a cruise to have done this. You have to understand, and the OP never said how many days they were in St Petersburg for, that TIME is your biggest drawback in doing this city on your own.

If you are planning on going during high tourist season be prepared for long lines at just about every venue you go to. If you are just interested in the excitement of doing the city on your own, fine, but if you are interested in seeing a good part of it, and many of the places and things that make this city so attractive, my question is why waste so much of the valuable time you have, standing in line, or trying to get from one place to another?.

Being on cruise to St Petersburg gives you very limited time to do and see things. Being on ANY tour will give you a lot more time to do and see this wonderful city. Yes, you can't go on your own, but for a first time visit, why not make use of what a tour company can give you, much better use of your limited time in St Petersburg. They will make sure you see most of the main sites, you will NEVER spend more than a few minutes on any line, while others are spending an hour. Believe me, this will happen at many of the major tourist attractions in high season.

Myself, I hate lines. I will pay any amount of money to avoid lines. What a waste of a person's time when you can avoid them.

Again, if it is just the excitement you crave, then go for it, if your goal is to see St Petersburg and most of it's major attractions, for the first time, your time would be much better spent with a tour, even if it is a private one just for your and your group?

Cheers

Len

Sorry, I feel I have to add something that has already been said, but maybe not enough emphasis has been put on it.

 

Several people have said that they have done St Petersburg on their own. From what I have seen of this is that they weren't on a cruise to have done this. You have to understand, and the OP never said how many days they were in St Petersburg for, that TIME is your biggest drawback in doing this city on your own.

If you are planning on going during high tourist season be prepared for long lines at just about every venue you go to. If you are just interested in the excitement of doing the city on your own, fine, but if you are interested in seeing a good part of it, and many of the places and things that make this city so attractive, my question is why waste so much of the valuable time you have, standing in line, or trying to get from one place to another?.

Being on cruise to St Petersburg gives you very limited time to do and see things. Being on ANY tour will give you a lot more time to do and see this wonderful city. Yes, you can't go on your own, but for a first time visit, why not make use of what a tour company can give you, much better use of your limited time in St Petersburg. They will make sure you see most of the main sites, you will NEVER spend more than a few minutes on any line, while others are spending an hour. Believe me, this will happen at many of the major tourist attractions in high season.

 

Myself, I hate lines. I will pay any amount of money to avoid lines. What a waste of a person's time when you can avoid them.

 

Again, if it is just the excitement you crave, then go for it, if your goal is to see St Petersburg and most of it's major attractions, for the first time, your time would be much better spent with a tour, even if it is a private one just for your and your group?

 

Cheers

 

Len

Len, people have different ideas about sightseeing. Not everyone wants to cram every possible site into a day or two. Myself, I'd rather spend quality time really understanding a couple of sites per day. But then I travel on the assumption that a visit somewhere isn't necessarily my one and only chance to see it. (However, even if it was, I think I'd still prefer to sightsee that way....)

As I said earlier, I have nothing but praise for our Russian tour. It just didn't suit ME specifically. Looking back now, I find it hard to remember what was seen at Peter's Palace versus Catherine's Palace (or was it Yusopov's Palace).... It was overload. I'd rather have just seen one of them.

Some of us are born liking to find our own way around a place. I enjoy doing a ton of research in advance; I enjoy the feeling of achievement when I'm able to successfully navigate in a new city.

I just wouldn't want someone else like me to ask about doing St Petersburg on their own and only get discouraging answers, because I do feel it is possible. (And at least a few other folks on cruise ships have reported doing it on their own. Successfully.) I asked here and was strongly discouraged. Guess I resent that a bit. :cool:

Here are my notes from our last visit in 2004. The ships are moored at a proper cruise terminal now, the Marine Facade, so the stuff about Mafia taxis is no longer relevant, pretty much everything else is. Of course prices will have changed.

St Pete? Well, surprise, surprise, the cold war is over and it's just like any other bustling city, if slightly more exotic than some. And the Cyrillic alphabet complicates matters somewhat! New Yorkers will feel immediately at home with crazy taxi drivers who speak little English!

Our ship docked in a derelict old commercial port in the Mariinsky district. Costa & P&0 were there too. The customs shed was a hut, with an army of passport perusers. Sometimes they double or treble up to check your passport. All very friendly though - keep smiling however many times they thumb through your paperwork, and eventually, after three or four minutes but it seems longer, you're out into Mother Russia.

You're entitled to feel smug as you swan past the hordes being crowded onto expensive ship's tours. Within seconds you will be approached by a "facilitator" with the words "You want taksi?".

You now have a problem, the dock gates are about a mile and a half away - he'll claim it is three, and when you get outside the gates it's not a very pleasant area. The man represents Mafia cabs; usually a man and a Lada car. Official licensed taxis are not allowed through the port gates. You don't really have any other choice than to deal with him.

I say “Mafia taxis” in that although the gentlemen driving them are perfectly pleasant, they have paid a backhander to be allowed to work in the Mafia-controlled port. Tell him where you want to go - a good suggestion is the Winter Palace - and he will quote you a price. First $30, although you should get it down to $20. Miraculously a vehicle will appear from nowhere and he will tell the driver your destination and price and away you go. Through the port gates and more passport checking. If you see an ATM "Bankomat" en route, stop and get some roubles.

When you get to your destination, you can either ask the driver to pick you up and take you back at a pre-arranged time to take you right back to the ship, or you can arrange an official taxi in town whenever you want. But remember, the official cab will only take you to the port gates and you will have to get “internal transport” on the other side costing $10 or $5 depending on your bargaining skills. These Mafia taxis run all night, as they also cater to the crew who like to pop ashore (or outside as they seem to call it these days) at all hours to visit the interesting “Seaman’s Club” not far from the port gates. Yes, my fiancée and I went there too……it’s not for the faint-hearted!

One Mafia car was a posh BMW, whose driver refused to drop below ten bucks for the night shift intra-port fare. We had the following conversation:

“Is this a Mafia port?”

“Yes”

“How much do you pay to work here?”

“Secret”

“Do you pay per journey or just once to work a whole shift?”

Prolonged silence.

“Oh well, I pay you, you pay another man, he pays another man…..that’s Capitalism”

Laughter.

“Yes, but I think somewhere there is one man who don’t pay!”

Laughter all round.

On your journey back to the ship from town it is a great help know where the ship is docked. We set out the first day into town thinking we were moored at Vasilevsky island, as someone on CC had intimated we might be. In conversation with the driver I mentioned Vasilevsky and he said “that’s miles away”. Fortuitously, when we stopped at the Bankomat, it turned out to be in the lobby of the pleasant, if inelegantly named “Seamen Hotel” (no relation to the club) and I had picked up the hotel leaflet with the address in Cyrillic. We were later able to find the ship on the map.

We returned that afternoon on a combination of tram (10 roubles; pay conductor on board), metro to Narvskaya station (10 roubles; buy subway token at cash desk), official taxi to dock gates (about 5 bucks) and Mafia cab, dock gates to ship (5 bucks). I noticed that there were trams almost up to the dock gates, and also Martrushka van minibuses running around. There were also bus stops with people waiting at them within the docks, and only 200 yards from the ship. In two days I did not have chance to get familiar with them. But if you did I bet you could get downtown for under two dollars.

That night, after dinner we ventured out again behind the Iron Curtain. This time we had taken the sensible precaution of obtaining the address of the port in English and in Russian from the concierge.

“To the Seaman’s Club, Mr Mafia”. $10. There we meet many members of the crew (male and female) making friends with local and Ukrainian ladies of the evening, including the ship’s Head of Security: “I only went there to buy CDs”

Hmmm…Yes, they have a lot of pirate CDs and porno DVDs on sale in Russia. A photographer bought the latest “Sith” Star Wars DVD for 5 bucks and pronounced it an excellent counterfeit.

Outside the Seaman’s Club – it was too smoky to stay for more than one drink, “You want taksi?”. It seems almost every car in St Petersburg is a potential taxi. The guy took us back to Narvskaya station and we took the Metro to Nevsky Prospekt, the main drag. Had a great night but were tired and we got the last metro train back which arrived dead on time at 12.46 a.m. Coming out of Narvskaya station we notice it’s getting lighter already. Another ad-hoc cab and more passport perusals and we’re back on board. Fellow guests are shocked: “You went ashore on your own? At night?”

Next day Mr Mafia takes us downtown himself in his new Ford minibus for $20. Drops us at the Winter Palace and arranges to meet us at 4.45 p.m. to take us straight back to the ship for the 6pm sailing. We had done the metro and didn’t want any hassle getting taxis/Mafia taxis back because of our tight schedule.

Go into the Winter Palace and get tickets and are immediately accosted by an “Official Licensed Private Tour Guide”. Arrange one hour private tour round this remarkable edifice, with each room being more splendiferous and gob-smacking than the last. You really need several days to look around, but we were soon cultured out.

Outside a street vendor approaches: "You want caviar?" On closer inspection the "caviar" appears to be round tins of shoe polish with home-made printed caviar tin labels stuck on top!

We go round the corner to the river and board the excellent “Meteor” hydrofoil service to the magnificent Peterhof palace on the Gulf of Finland. The high speed journey takes 40 minutes and costs 350 roubles return. Right next to the Meteor dock outside the Winter Palace there appears to be a ferry service straight across the Neva to the Peter and Paul fortress, another famous tourist attraction.

As we get off the Meteor back in St Pete, we notice a distinct absence of traffic and what appears to be a carnival parade passing over our Mafia taxi pick up spot. Yes, the roads are closed for the city’s birthday celebrations. Ask cop when roads will reopen: “Tomorrow”. Join in the celebrations, feel incongruous walking the streets with the throng without a bottle of strong beer in hand.

Even Mr Mafia’s influence did not extend to cancelling the carnival in order to pick us up as arranged. End up going back to dock gates in 5 star hotel’s limo: $35. Mafia to ship $5.

At no time did we feel threatened, although Rolexes and diamonds were locked in the ship’s safe. We did however spot one band of footpads in broad daylight on Nevsky Prospekt. They are common in mainland Europe and are known as “Thieving Gypsy Bastards”. There is a matriarch and a crew of street urchins and scallywags. The kids muck about with and jostle the mark whilst the elder ones pickpocket him. They were obviously “between projects” or perhaps we looked too impoverished to bother with.

I would estimate each day cost us around $100 for two, including taxi, metro, hydrofoil and tram fares, admissions, guide and odd drinks and snacks. Talking of which we went to a smart café on Nevsky where they had a concert pianist and an opera singer performing for a 20 rouble cover charge. We had a Baltica beer and a hot chocolate, which turned out to be just that – melted. I told Her Loveliness: “Stop whingeing and drink it before it sets in the cup”

Many people who had been on the ship's tours remarked how dour and miserable the Russians were. All the Russians we met were very pleasant. I bet we met more than they did! Cannot wait to return to St Petersburg, this time direct by air or by rail from Moscow. Will spend several days there.

Of course,we are sure to have missed many of the nuances of architecture and history and culture by doing these tours on our own without a professional guide. But then some of the groups I saw following the man with the “X” Celebrity Cruises sign were so large that many of the tour members will have missed much of what was said, also.

I just LOVE Tolkien!!!!!

But you know what - Mr.Baggins had a guide. His name was Gandalf. Guess when would Bilbo get in trouble? - Exactly! As soon as the guide was gone!;)

Well, even Galdalf says there is more to Bilbo than meets the eye.

And isn't it through travel and through working through problems on his own that Bilbo grew and stretched himself? ;)

This is a port I personally will use a guided tour, but I can definitely appreciate your desire to DIY.

The Rick Steves cruise ports for No europe book has a lot of planning info to do this port as self guide. I would suggest you look for the Rick steves book for some of your questions answered.

Has anyone toured St Petersburg on their own without a guide? We are 4 Australians and would rather get our own visas and tour St Petersburg at our own leisure. Does anyone have any comments or suggestions about this.

Our first trip to St.Petersburg was an on-land trip. We were there for five days and did walk in the city on our own a lot. we did have time to read up for the trip and we were able to find our way around quite easily. Nevertheless we did book a tour, or let us say a number of tours and never regretted it. We booked with Best Guides. I did not know they did the cruise tours as well. Anyway, this did not matter. We had a wonderful site- seeing tour which gave us a very good idea about the city centre "geography" and history. Whatever we knew about the city we would never be able to summarize it all like that. Then the Hermitage. It really has audio-guides available, but with the guide you can discuss things, ask questions. The guide will always quickly take you to the exhibits you are more interested in. Our guide was absolutely wonderful! She knew everything and her stories were very interesting. After all the tours we had time on our own in the afternoon, so it was a very good combination of guidance and freedom :).

Later when we came back on a cruise we booked with Best Guides again, this time because the time was very limited. We only had two days in St.Petersburg and we had to see some places we missed on our first trip, so the tour would make it time-effective and also (as we knew already from our previous experience with Best Guides) - very interesting. That turned out to be a very good decision. In addition we were shocked by the crowds in the Hermitage. Our first trip was in winter, so we were absolutely unprepared for this. If not for our guide who took us through all the crowds we most probably would be unable to get inside the Hermitage.

So in your case - if you like to be on your own so much - I would book at least the sight seeing tour and the Hermitage privately and do the rest on your own. You can indeed go to Peterhoff by Hydrofoil. You can take a taxi to the port or go there by metro (and then still by taxi - but it will be a shorter drive). This is not a problem. The real reason is that with limited time for the trip a private tour would make your visit more effective.

As for the visas - it was really quite troublesome and expensive to get a Russian visa. I would not bother to do that for just a two day trip.