winter63

We had a different experience since we were on a Viking river cruise and had a few days in St P beforehand. We needed a regular tourist visa and had no issues with that. As for Best Guides itself we could not have happier - guides In both St P and Moscow were great, they helped with theater tickets and restaurants and other advice. 

Lunches were not included in our tour although we had a private guide for four of us so their set tours could be different.  We had fairly quick stops in restaurants, either at a museum (Hermitage) or a local restaurant. If that is the case you should therefore have some flexibility in what and where you eat. 

And we had an excellent experience overall with Best Guides.