Private Private Tour in St. Petersburg

We are a group of four in St Petersburg wishing to do on own private tour. Looking for feed back from folks that have done this. Do you travel along with the bigger groups, but travel in your own vehicle. The proposed itinerary seems to match that of the larger groups.

What was your experience in getting the guide to be flexible and make quick changes

Thanks

We are a group of four in St Petersburg wishing to do on own private tour. Looking for feed back from folks that have done this. Do you travel along with the bigger groups, but travel in your own vehicle. The proposed itinerary seems to match that of the larger groups.

 

What was your experience in getting the guide to be flexible and make quick changes

 

Thanks

My most recent tour with Alla Tours (about 2 years ago) was private and it was very flexible - saw exactly what I wanted to see. Although I haven't toured with other companies, I am sure that all private tours are about the same - flexible.

However, you need to be aware that some of the major sights have a timed entry - the tickets are bought in advance. I know for sure that Catherine Palace is one that you need to adhere to the time - not sure of the others. I did not travel along with any of the ship groups but, then again, I was not interested in going to the venues that most first timers visit. I do know that you will not queue - your tickets are purchased in advance.

If you don't mind waiting in queue, you could probably switch most venues to suit yourself - just be aware that you will need to wait in line without a pre-purchased ticket. Queues can be quite long during the height of the tourist season (June - September).

My last trip to St. Pete was a DIY - had my own visa and loved exploring to my hearts content.

a few years ago we did a private tour with just 3 of us

we had a Mercedes 7 seater van which was able to negotiate narrow streets to get us really close

it's your tour-they will do their best to make sure it's best for you

We used TJ Travel last August for our private tour. They were great to work with and by the end of the second day with them we felt as if we were leaving friends and not some tour. It was only my husband and I on the tour.

We were on a private tour last August. You can customize the itinerary ahead of time (we added a canal boat ride to our tour) and you should be able to change it in St. Petersburg, depending upon the guide's flexibility (and since they get tipped, they have an incentive to try to keep you happy within reason). If they don't want to change the itinerary, they should explain to you exactly why that isn't possible. The traffic in St. Petersburg is quite substantial, so they may have reasons for trying to visit attractions in a certain order. The amount of changes you can make on the day of your tour will depend upon your individual guide's flexibility - we always book private tours since we travel with a toddler and it is usually very easy to arrange changes, but sometimes you get unlucky with an individual tour guide so we can't guarantee it will always happen. We got a little unlucky in St Petersburg, as our tour guide seemed inflexible about switching the canal boat tour from day two to day one, since she wanted to use only one canal boat tour company which she claimed was the only one who had English speaking tours available (which I didn't quite believe) but generally tour guides are very flexible about things like this.

We were able to add time to our tour on the first day due to the weather, and they were fine with ending early on the second day to compensate for this change.

We were completely alone in our van, and the guide was able to maneuver us around the larger groups within the attractions, and also to skip ahead of them on lines waiting to enter (generally there were large groups outside each of the major attractions, either waiting for their tour guide to purchase tickets or waiting for the attractions to let them in, and the museums seemed fine with letting in small groups of people, but wanted to time entrance for tour buses filled with people).

Kitkat, can I ask who your tour was with? We are looking into switching from a regular SPB tour to a private tour with another company. The other company has good reviews but not that many compared to Alla and SPB.

Kitkat, can I ask who your tour was with? We are looking into switching from a regular SPB tour to a private tour with another company. The other company has good reviews but not that many compared to Alla and SPB.

We, also, are looking to change from a regular SPB tour to a private tour and would appreciate this info.

Private tours are usually just that, a tour without strangers. The itinerary is one that you either pick from past programs or create with the help of the tour operator. There are just so many ways to arrange a tour for 2 days, so all are very similar if you want to see the same things everyone else does. If you want to see both Catherine Palace and Peterhof, that uses one entire day or 1/2 of each day if splitting it between the days.

There is very little flexibility in changing much if you involve Catherine Palace, a canal cruise, Hermitage, Yusupov Palace or Hermitage. Each of those museums requires appointment times that have to be met within 30 minutes of after the requested time. If the tour operator misses that window, not only do you miss that venue but the company your tour operator bought the tickets through can be fined many thousands of dollars. The fine at Catherine Palace could be up to 500,000 rubles for example. The canal cruise, if booked in advance is not quite as strict but still, you lose the cruise if late so whoever the tour operator was who was "inflexible" might have been doing all they could do, or any tour operator could do.

If you do not want to cram so much into 2 days, you can get lots of flexibility, and pay at the ticket kiosk for example and go where you please when you please. You can rent a van with driver and a guide for the day for the whole group for $200-250 and plan your own tour, and just show up at museums and palaces(except Catherine Palace where you will not get tickets on the spur of the moment) and pay the ruble price. The choice is, a unique tours that is flexible or you can have a tour with every minute filled with activities some of which require advanced appointment times days in advance, but you can't have both. There are walking tours with free time for as low as $40 if you want to pay your own museum entrances or book your own tickets on-line before arrival. That requires that you know how to schedule activities and how much time it takes to get between them.

All the customized tour itineraries are essentially the same, just in different order and different timing. If coming by air and staying in the city for 4-5 days you can be flexible in designing your own tour. A typical intensive land tour, with 5 days in the city sees no more than cruise passengers see in the 16 hours off the ship, the difference is building in flexibility and more relaxed pace.

The destinations all cruisers ask for: Catherine Palace, Peterhof, Spilled Blood, Hermitage, St Isaac Cathedral, canal cruise, city tour, and possibly Peter and Paul Fortress/Cathedral are on every full tour. Some substitute Yusupov Palace for one of the above but the only real difference is between any of the tours is the order of seeing them and the prices. They are using the same guides, vehicles, ticket agencies, etc. It is very rare for someone to request a unique tour itinerary such as all history, or art or music.

15 years ago every independent tour was unique because there were no group tours except from the ship and all those were 45-50 members per bus. But over a few years or people on forums reporting their tour itineraries everyone settled into a set group of destinations, that always excludes some of the popular museums and activities. That is why all the tours now are the same, the companies that are the most popular were not around back when everything was customized so have no interest in doing anything that is not the same formula.

If someone has a special interest or hobby, there are museums and activities for it, in a city with 254 museums, you would be surprised how many would be interesting if your time was not filled seeing the same 7 cruise must sees. It is interesting that the same itinerary is offered from $199 to $400, using the same facilities, guides and features. The average is $320

All the comments have been helpful My back and forth with the tour agency has been that the major sites are locked into a time frame. The same seems to be true of the canal boat ride. Even if you are private, you will be joining that company's group for the canal boat

All the comments have been helpful My back and forth with the tour agency has been that the major sites are locked into a time frame. The same seems to be true of the canal boat ride. Even if you are private, you will be joining that company's group for the canal boat

If I were to skip anything on the itinerary it would be the canal boat tour. Ours was unremarkable and the narration was difficult to understand at times. I would have to preferred spending the time sonewhere different. (Wish we had insisted on the subway.)

If I were to skip anything on the itinerary it would be the canal boat tour. Ours was unremarkable and the narration was difficult to understand at times. I would have to preferred spending the time sonewhere different. (Wish we had insisted on the subway.)

our canal boat ride was our party of 3 and the guide on the whole boat!

she provided chocolate and cava for the journey and narration was very easy as she was right next to us

we also had a subway ride

we had a shortened day at our request as hubby was prior hip replacement

however we saw Peterhof,Hermitage,st Isaacs.church of spilled blood,subway and canal boat during our 2 days

All the comments have been helpful My back and forth with the tour agency has been that the major sites are locked into a time frame. The same seems to be true of the canal boat ride. Even if you are private, you will be joining that company's group for the canal boat

I don't understand what you mean, 'locked into a time frame'?

Most of the tour companies and the tours themselves are very flexible, so if the weather is bad or traffic troubles, they can move venues around, even for different days. If this has changed, since we've been, I apologize, but I haven't heard anything like that here.

When we toured with SPB Tours, we had glorious weather on day one so they took advantage of this and switched a couple of our outdoor events to day one from day 2, to take advantage of this weather. Also, the canal boat cruise, which we found great, was also scheduled for day 2, but they asked if we wanted it added to the end of our day one schedule and we all agreed, so they added that to the end of our day one tour. It was simply a great way to end the day after a long day of sight seeing, to relax on a small boat, with chocolates and champagne and just cruise down the canals of St Petersburg.

I have found all tour companies to have that flexibility into their schedules.

Cheers

Len

I don't understand what you mean, 'locked into a time frame'?

 

Most of the tour companies and the tours themselves are very flexible, so if the weather is bad or traffic troubles, they can move venues around, even for different days. If this has changed, since we've been, I apologize, but I haven't heard anything like that here.

 

When we toured with SPB Tours, we had glorious weather on day one so they took advantage of this and switched a couple of our outdoor events to day one from day 2, to take advantage of this weather. Also, the canal boat cruise, which we found great, was also scheduled for day 2, but they asked if we wanted it added to the end of our day one schedule and we all agreed, so they added that to the end of our day one tour. It was simply a great way to end the day after a long day of sight seeing, to relax on a small boat, with chocolates and champagne and just cruise down the canals of St Petersburg.

 

I have found all tour companies to have that flexibility into their schedules.

 

Cheers

 

Len

I am being told that our private tour must coordinate admission timing with their groups if we do not wish to wait or miss out on early admission. This is not a problem for the museums as once we are in, I assume we will be on our own. For the canal boat, I am told they have reserved the boat for all their groups This way it will be in English Three years ago, our guide just dropped us off at a shared boat and we rode with others.

one of the reasons we have abandoned that private tour idea is that several companies responded to my request for a custom tour by sending me exactly what they do on a regular tour. So even though we said we didn't want to go to Catherine's palace they sent a tour plan with it. It seems it basically the tour is decided and the only difference is whether it's just you.

one of the reasons we have abandoned that private tour idea is that several companies responded to my request for a custom tour by sending me exactly what they do on a regular tour. So even though we said we didn't want to go to Catherine's palace they sent a tour plan with it. It seems it basically the tour is decided and the only difference is whether it's just you.

Did you write back and say no we would rather spend time doing xyz? Maybe they assumed you wanted to see St Catherine's palace as it is a highlight of many visitors stay in SPB. I can't imagine any tour provider not accommodating your wishes, especially since they are all highly competitive.

We are currently in the process of finalizing the details of a private tour. The company sent us a sample itinerary, which is pretty much exactly what all the tours do. But they also included encouragement to let them know what changes we want to make. I think probably most first timers choose to go to the same half-dozen attractions, whether on a private or small group tour. The difference is that you can switch things up on the fly if you want, decide if you want to spend more or less time looking at things, not waste time waiting around for the rest of your group, decide if and when you want to stop for lunch, etc.

Carolla5501-

Just curious- Why don't you want to go to Catherine's Palace???

<<<Karen>>>

Did you write back and say no we would rather spend time doing xyz? Maybe they assumed you wanted to see St Catherine's palace as it is a highlight of many visitors stay in SPB. I can't imagine any tour provider not accommodating your wishes, especially since they are all highly competitive.

I put what I wanted in the request email.

As for why we are skipping the palace. We have decided that we would rather have in depth at fewer places. After talking to our friend who is from the area we decided the time spent getting there and back just wasn't worth it for us

Pompeii and Jmps -

I did book a private tour with SPB, which I chose since it overall has many excellent reviews and has been in business for a very long time. I didn't initially describe or disclose my concerns, since in all fairness I do genuinely believe my tour guide worked very hard to try to help us see St. Petersburg with a 3 year old, which is no easy feat. She told us which attractions we could bring a stroller into, and she worked hard to hustle us around larger groups within museums and palaces so we could see the absolute highlights within each attraction during my son's limited attention span.

But the problem I was describing earlier started when our tour guide suggested we move time from day two to day one, since the weather was lovely on the first day and there was a prediction of rain on the second day. We had seen the outside of the Church of Spilled Blood that morning, and she suggested we go visit the inside during the extra time on day one. Our canal boat tour was scheduled for day two, and I thought it would be better to move the canal boat tour to day one to take advantage of the perfect weather instead of being inside of the cathedral.

We had requested ahead of time that our canal boat tour be booked with a smaller boat that goes through the canals, instead of the Neva river, which some reviewers had stated was a better experience. Our tour guide stated that this would not be possible because the water levels were too high. She also stated that the next canal boat tour would be departing in two hours (we were just leaving Catherine's palace, so it would take an hour to get back to St. Petersburg). When I questioned her on this since my understanding is that there are many different canal tour operators, she said there was only one English speaking tour, and their next boat left in two hours. We told her we would be fine taking a Russian language tour, and to please find one that departs soon after we would arrive in St. Petersburg. In the meantime, my son fell asleep in the car, which was very good since he still naps (usually 2-3 hours a day and he'd been touring the city quite happily from 8 am until 3 pm and I was worried he might melt down soon if he didn't sleep. When we arrived at St. Petersburg, we asked our tour guide when the boat would depart, and she told us "it leaves as soon as it is filled." So I woke my son up, and we started to get ready to leave the car. After my son was awake, the tour guide told us the boat wasn't actually leaving for another hour. My husband was extremely angry at this point, since we would have let our son sleep (and the tour guide has young children, so we would expect her to understand why it isn't a good idea to wake a toddler up only to make him wait for an hour to do something). She was angry and told us she didn't think she should be expected to replan tours without notice. I didn't want to fight with her, but I did think that during the one hour car ride from Catherine's Palace to St. Petersburg it should be possible for a tour guide to plan a canal boat tour, and if she cannot, then in a company as large as SPB she should be able to call her office and request assistance from a more senior tour guide or a secretary with internet access. When my family landed in Copenhagen, the weather was beautiful and we immediately checked into the hotel and left to go on a canal cruise. I had never been to Copenhagen, but I got directions from a TI, took a bus to the canal stop and boarded a boat without a problem. Thankfully, my son woke up happy, and we visited Palace Square while we waited for the boat's departure time. But we did wind up on the canal boat we had told our tour guide we didn't want to be on since it left so late. It did seem a little concerning that she had pushed so hard for this one company when there are so many available in St. Petersburg. We always book private tours when traveling with our son since we would hate to ruin anyone else's vacation if he has a tough time on a tour, and previous tour guides have been much more flexible. However, SPB is a huge company with a ton of positive reviews. And again, in our tour guide's defense, I really did think she worked very hard overall to try to help us enjoy our trip to St. Petersburg.

Kitkat, thanks for the info. So sometimes even a private tour doesn't work out exactly as you plan. But with a toddler it was definitely the best option for you.

We've asked for a canal boat tour to be added to our itinerary, and they have it listed as a rivers and canal tour. Should I be more specific as to what I want regarding river or canal?

Kitkat,

Thanks so much for taking the time to give us your experience. Your decision to take a private tour with a toddler is a really good idea. We once aborted an a visit to the Grand Canyon with our toddlers and went to a resort instead of our plan because sometimes that is just what they need. I don't know enough to understand why your guide did what she did.

I am concluding that if one wants to see the major sites in SPB the only real advantage of a private tour over a small (16) group tour is you can drop sites and travel at your own pace a BIT more. With many sites having timed tickets or arrangements with particular operators it is hard for the guides to move things on the fly. It does of course also allow to bail out if needed (e.g. with a toddler).

The cost of a private tour for a family of foure is also a lot more than an already high small group price.

If you are going to the major sites, I don't see any advantage to the smaller private group. The locked in times give you little freedom. If you want to do your own thing without the major sites it makes sense

Did you write back and say no we would rather spend time doing xyz? Maybe they assumed you wanted to see St Catherine's palace as it is a highlight of many visitors stay in SPB. I can't imagine any tour provider not accommodating your wishes, especially since they are all highly competitive.

I've already posted about the very thing you can't imagine. The most popular tour providers are becoming less flexible. The number of potential customers is so large they can tolerate the occasional client backing out or failing to sign up with them when the company turns out to be less flexible than hoped for. At least SPB was kind enough to recommend a smaller, relatively new company that was willing to completely customize a tour for two persons only.

I've already posted about the very thing you can't imagine. The most popular tour providers are becoming less flexible. The number of potential customers is so large they can tolerate the occasional client backing out or failing to sign up with them when the company turns out to be less flexible than hoped for. At least SPB was kind enough to recommend a smaller, relatively new company that was willing to completely customize a tour for two persons only.

Flabbergasted to hear this. Wow. The power of Cruise Critic. When we were on our cruise only a few years ago the vast majority of cruisers didn't know about the private tour option. I was actually writing down about Cruise Critic on cocktail napkins. Three years ago we paid $212 USD for a ten person moderate tour with Vika. That was with the CC discount. The Vodka fun tour was $35.

I have been researching tours over the past couple months, and after reading CC & TripAdvisor (where an alarming reviews of tours are posted by people with less than 10 - or even less than 5 total reviews ever posted...hmmm). I settled on contacting 7 companies (because I truly wasn't sure if we wanted private, really small(4-6), or the standard up to 16 people. I found that there are a few Tour companies who specialize in the private or 4-6 size tours and would be extremely flexible in your schedule - your call what you want to see. The pricing was $400-$475 range for 4-6. Then I read somewhere that 10 is a great size - which based on other large cities we have toured rang true for me. I started asking about this option. One of the largest operators was totally inflexible, a second one said 'yes, we will guarantee no more than 10, and offer a Small CC discount over what the standard 16 person price is) in their first response to me, and the third large company said 'no less than 16 or prices are higher - (then when I told them that we were going with someone else, they came back and said 'we will go ahead and offer that size to you').

I guess my point is, there does appear to be some flexibility with a couple tour companies if you are persistent. Our visit will be end of May, so by peak season that flexibility may disappear. These tour groups appear to all have quite a bit of business.