St Petersburg - Private Tour Company

Hi everyone!

 

Anyone know of a good private tour company in St Petersburg, Russia?! Will be there for two days in July while on Legend of the Seas. Is there anything else I should know about touring in Russia?!

 

Thanks I'm advance :-)

Just read down the board. You will see tons of tips on touring (like the requirement for a visa), as well as many recommendations for tour companies (using one would eliminate your need for a visa) like Alla, SPB, etc.

Den-Rus did a great job for us in 09

Just returned from our Baltic trip - booked with SPB tours - I believe from what I saw they are the best - I just submitted a review on TripAdvisor - should be published soom

My family and I took a tour in St. Petersburg with DenRus and we loved it. Our guide was amazing and we had a great time. We were able to tweak the itinerary that fits all of us (we had a group of 16 people that got together on Roll Call and we managed to finalize an itinerary that appeals to everyone). It was a fabulous 2 day tour. I would definitely use them again if I return to Russia.

Anyone know of a good private tour company in St Petersburg, Russia?! Will be there for two days in July while on Legend of the Seas. Is there anything else I should know about touring in Russia?!

Probably the most important thing to know about touring in Russia is that you need the right paperwork to disembark the ship and tour. If you book with any of the licensed tour operators, they will provide you with a tour ticket that essentially serves as your visa. You will need that ticket, your passport, and a Russian immigration form that the ship will give you - without any one of those items, they will deny you entry. When you disembark, you will go through an immigration hall where the agent will very carefully check over your documents, stamp your passport, and keep one half of the immigration form. They will return to you your passport, tour ticket, and the other half of the immigration form. After your first day's tour, you will again go through immigration, giving the agent your passport and the other half of the immigration form. The agent will again stamp your passport and keep the other half of the form.

 

Then next day when you disembark, you will need your passport and your tour ticket - no more immigration forms. They will look for the two passport stamps, review the ticket, and send you on your way.

 

Give yourself plenty of time to disembark. The first day immigration is pretty slow, and you want to make sure you meet your tour in time.

Thanks for all the info. Submitted a request with SPB for their Best of the Best two day tour. Hopefully they will get back to me tomorrow! Would love to have it booked and sorted!

Hi everyone!

 

Anyone know of a good private tour company in St Petersburg, Russia?! Will be there for two days in July while on Legend of the Seas. Is there anything else I should know about touring in Russia?!

 

Thanks I'm advance :-)

 

You might receive 100 answers on this question and every one will swear their tour company was the best and their guide was that also. They ALL do a great job doing what they do.

 

We also used SPB Tours for our time in St Petersburg and have recommended them ever since. They do more than a wonderful job, they excel at what they do. And I'm sure the people who used Best Guides will say the same thing, and the people who used TJ will say that also, as well as the ones who used ALLA Tours.

 

You cannot go wrong with any of the major tour companies, and that is the key. There might be 20 or so companies out there, but my advice is to stay with the 4-5 well known ones that have all the experience in this sort of thing. Several others are sort of start up companies and may not have all the quirks out of the system yet.

 

If you have already chosen SPB TOURS. I can guarantee you will have a wonderful time. They just do a fantastic job showing you their city, and if you decide to book them for some of the other ports you will be visiting, you usually can get a better deal the more ports you book.

 

Don't know if you've been to your roll call for your ship, but if others are looking to share a tour, now would be the best time to either join a tour or organize your own.

 

Cheers

 

Len

We used SPB but believe all the major companies do a good job.

We used Alla Tours. www.alla-tour.com

Probably one of the best tours we have ever had. You can see lots of photos from our two days touring St. Petersburg in our review on our website, www.thepreismans.com. As has been said, there are many fine touring companies to use there. Since there are very few people that have used multiple companies in St. Petersburg, I don't know that you will get opinions other than their company is best. That is probably a good problem to have, since you will be happy with whatever choice you get.

 

A lot depends on the quality of the tour guide you have. Ours with Alla Tours was just outstanding. All the other people on our cruise we talked to that had different guides with Alla, also thought that theirs was outstanding.

When we were making this decision....I e-mailed the major 5 companies and based on their responses and a gut feeling..opted to go with TJ Travel...An amazing private tour and trip of a lifetime...Enjoy whatever company you decide will work out the best for you.

Hi everyone!

 

Anyone know of a good private tour company in St Petersburg, Russia?! Will be there for two days in July while on Legend of the Seas. Is there anything else I should know about touring in Russia?!

 

Thanks I'm advance :-)

We are also on Legend of the Seas next July - departure on the 13th. Which voyage are you on? I'm starting to investigate these same questions...I've started a Roll Call, but no one has joined yet...I'm hoping we'll be on the same trip! We love the itinerary :)

Deedee

Thanks for all the info. Submitted a request with SPB for their Best of the Best two day tour. Hopefully they will get back to me tomorrow! Would love to have it booked and sorted!

 

This looks like an interesting option...I'm hoping we're on the same voyage and can share the excursion!

Deedee

We used Alla Tours. www.alla-tour.com

Probably one of the best tours we have ever had. You can see lots of photos from our two days touring St. Petersburg in our review on our website, www.thepreismans.com. As has been said, there are many fine touring companies to use there. Since there are very few people that have used multiple companies in St. Petersburg, I don't know that you will get opinions other than their company is best. That is probably a good problem to have, since you will be happy with whatever choice you get.

 

A lot depends on the quality of the tour guide you have. Ours with Alla Tours was just outstanding. All the other people on our cruise we talked to that had different guides with Alla, also thought that theirs was outstanding.

The Alla 2 day grand tour looks awesome! Thanks for sharing...and I love your travel reviews - I've read some before, and really appreciate the time and effort you put into the travel logs as well as your great pictures :D

Deedee

The Alla 2 day grand tour looks awesome! Thanks for sharing...and I love your travel reviews - I've read some before, and really appreciate the time and effort you put into the travel logs as well as your great pictures :D

Deedee

 

Thank you so much Deedee. Glad you enjoyed them and that they helped in your cruise planning. The Alla tour was awesome and I think you will thoroughly enjoy it. Have a great cruise.

Did this cruise several years ago and booked private tour thru Alla. She was wonderful! My elderly parent ran out of steam in the Hermitage and our guide managed to secure one of only two wheelchairs in the place.

A word of caution: At least back then, the night before landing in St. Petersburg, the cruiseline sent a memo that everyone taking a private tour must meet in a room at the opposite end of the disembarkation site, thus allowing the cruiseship tour-groups to leave first. I had read about this previously so just ignored the memo and the 4 of us pranced right off without any problems.

Also, prior to their recent Baltic cruise some friends said their travel agent informed them it was her impression you must be on a ship-tour to leave the ship in Russia. Totally untrue if you are with an established private tour which completes necessary paperwork in advance.

We went on a private tour with TJ travel and had a wonderful time! I would highly recommend them, and would use them again.

We are also on Legend of the Seas next July - departure on the 13th. Which voyage are you on? I'm starting to investigate these same questions...I've started a Roll Call, but no one has joined yet...I'm hoping we'll be on the same trip! We love the itinerary :)

Deedee

 

We're sailing on the 20th July! I've contacted SPB Tours several times and they've been really good to reply. Just booked our 2 day tour.

We're sailing on the 20th July! I've contacted SPB Tours several times and they've been really good to reply. Just booked our 2 day tour.

 

Great choice. SPB Tours does a fantastic job and Viktoria is just a joy to work with. I must have emailed her every other day, and she always replied back the very next day, always reassuring us and answering all our questions, no matter how silly or trivial they might have been. You will meet her before your tour is over. Say Hi from Len for me. :D:D:D

 

Cheers

 

Len

My wife and I just returned from the Baltic on Celebrity Cruises and we used SPB tours. We researched prior to the cruise and saw the positive comments on SpB Tours.

 

I can attest that SPB was one of the best tour companies that I ever used including ship tours.

 

let me give kudos to Luba in Saint Petersburg, Jim in Berlin and (law school student) in Estonia.

 

Our tour guide Jim in Berlin was a German History grad program graduate and had stories and historical facts that made our tour perfect. he spoke perfect English which was not surpirsing since he was from Minnesota. Our bus driver in germany was excellent. he made our three hour bus trip each way a pleasure. he should be given a raise for being patient with us getting off and on so many times.He made sure to help the older passengers safely on and off the bus.

 

Luba was excellent. Perfect English and able to tell us not only about the amazing palaces but also provided details about Russia -historical and present day. She as fantastic. Dimitry (sp?) was our driver for the bus and he added to her comments and was very personable. If there is one small negative it would be the mini buses were somewhat tight snce they were MB mini buses but that is what is available for Russia. this certainly did not detract from our experience.

 

Our Estonia walking tour was given by an Estonian Law Student who spoke better English than most crew on our cruise. She was excellent.

 

Anyone looking for a reasonably priced tour company please consider SPB tours. Victoria was always responsive to my emails and I met her husband Stefan in Berlin who is in charge of the Berlin Office ( and apparently a professional photographer). He is very personable and helpful and made a point to meet the tour bus in Berlin (nice extra attention to see if we needed anything and to tell us how to get off the boat and meet the tour in Saint Petersburg.

 

I really loved our tours, tour guides and given the price this a no brainier. Go with SPB tours.

They even trust you for payment your first day in Saint Petersburg if you pay by credit card and they do not charge any 3% cc fee!

 

Michael T Kicenuik, MD

We are having a tough time deciding between SPB and TJ (both have been very responsive to my emails). I am trying to take Len's admonition on another thread to heart -- not to agonize too much here as we can't really go wrong either way with one of the top operators.

Just returned from our Baltic trip - booked with SPB tours - I believe from what I saw they are the best - I just submitted a review on TripAdvisor - should be published soom

 

I booked with the same company. I offered 4 different companies my itinerary, and SPB was the best. They contacted me first, and answered all of my questions...:)perfectly. There is a lot of competition going on there for our business, and they better be sharp and transparent in what they will and will not do!

Edited September 11, 2013 by Lastdance

We're sailing on the 20th July! I've contacted SPB Tours several times and they've been really good to reply. Just booked our 2 day tour.

cflower we are on the same cruise. This is a graduation present for our daughter. Does your tour group need to grow in size. We will be looking to go through a private tour company also. Open to options. Can't wait.

We recently used the services of SPB tours and have only praise for them. I was always a little nervous booking independent tours until I read the reviews on here. I'm so glad I did; we saw and learned so much, had a wonderful experience and at a fraction of the cost of ships excursions. Go ahead, you won't be disappointed!:)

Just want to let everyone know that SPB is running a early-booking discount to all Cruise Critic members who book before Jan 1, 2014. Two day deluxe tour only $285 per person.

 

TJ Tour is also having a 5% discount on their website for booking before October 1.