St Petersburg 'Closed' on Wednesday

I am sailing on the NCL Getaway that arrives in St. Petersburg on a Wednesday. My understanding is that many attractions are closed that day. (Church on the Spilt Blood, St Isaac's Cathedral and Peter and Paul's fortress are closed on Wednesday) I am planning on doing a private excursion for my group. What do you recommend substituting? Has anyone else been there on a Wednesday?

If you don't have Peterhof on your itinerary, that should be included as it's surely a sight to see. Obviously a visit to the Hermitage goes without saying. Not sure if these 2 are open but I hope so. Your tour operator would be better suited to guide you on what's open to be visited.

Yes. We are planning to do Peterhof and the Hermitage. We could do the Faberge Museum in lieu of some of the closed sites.

Thoughts?

Sorry, I didn't do that museum. Depending on how much you like art, you can spend a considerable amount of time in the Hermitage. There is a separate impressionist museum which is less crowded and modern. You can easily spend an hour+ there. We did not do the amber room at St. Catherine's but you can also do that. In Peterhof, you can also spend more time there as you can tour the inside palace, as well as the separate bath houses. Don't forget lunch, souvenir shopping, and a stroll on the Nevsky prospekt which is pretty good since you get a clear sight of the Spilled blood church.

A lot of people visit the Hermitage on day 2 so they can get there at early admission time. But you should speak to your guide office about this - the Hermitage was dead empty when we started, and completely crowded by the time we left, but others on this forum have reported that it was really crowded for them even during early admission time. The tour guides should have a sense of whether early admission is likely to give you a less crowded experience. Please note that the exhibits are opened on a rolling basis during the open admission time, so you need to be flexible about what order you'd like to see the art if you get there early.

Day one could be a scenic drive around the city, visit to the subway or local market, possibly a canal ride and Catherine's Palace and Peterhof.

Only one day in SPB for us. ....And it happens to be a Wednesday when several things are closed. Thanks for the tips though.

Oh, sorry, I didn't understand you are there for just one day.

Catherine's Palace, the grounds of Peterhof, the Hermitage and the exterior to the church of the spilled blood were my personal favorite sites in St. Petersburg (I personally don't love mosaics, so as much as I love the exterior of the Church of the Spilled Blood, the interior wasn't my personal favorite.). You should check with your tour operator about the time all of that would take, but my guess is that will fill one day in St. Petersburg.

Just make sure to research the Hermitage ahead of time, since you could spend weeks in there so you need to know exactly which paintings or genres you want to focus on seeing since it will probably be a tight day.

Also, you can look at photographs of St. Isaacs to see if you want to make a photo stop there to see the exterior. We were in St. Petersburg for two days, but our tour operator didn't take us inside (and by then we'd seen so many churches we weren't going to argue). The exterior is quite nice, but not as spectacular as the exterior of the Church of the Spilled Blood for me personally.

If you're there for a single day, I would probably do something like this but it's up to you/tour operator:

AM - Hermitage

Noonish-PM- Spilled blood/lunch

PM - Peterhof (perhaps hydrofoil back to save time)

PM - Depending on on-board time, you can then do souvenir shopping if that's your thing.