St, Petersburg day AND evening tour

We are in St. Petersburg for two days. An option we are looking at is taking the grand city 2 day tour.

Day one runs from approximately 8:30 AM to 5 PM, and day 2 runs from 7:30 AM to 5 PM.

We are also considering taking the evening option on day one which would get us back to the ship at 10 PM, so that would mean going from 8:30 AM to 10 PM without returning to the ship

Has anyone done the day and evening tours and if so, was is too much to do...i.e. how you felt on day 2, would you recommend doing it?

We are in St. Petersburg for two days. An option we are looking at is taking the grand city 2 day tour.

Day one runs from approximately 8:30 AM to 5 PM, and day 2 runs from 7:30 AM to 5 PM.

We are also considering taking the evening option on day one which would get us back to the ship at 10 PM, so that would mean going from 8:30 AM to 10 PM without returning to the ship

Has anyone done the day and evening tours and if so, was is too much to do...i.e. how you felt on day 2, would you recommend doing it?

Yes, we participated in both day and evening tours when we booked with Alla Tours several years ago. We wanted to maximize our time in port and it was fantastic (in fact, I loved the city so much that I have returned multiple times with a visa).

We felt fine the second day even though we didn't return to the ship till late. I have no idea of your particular energy level but we felt that the evening add-on was an excellent use of our limited time in port (BTW - one group member was in his mid 70's at the time and he loved both the Grand Tour and the ballet.)

We added the Faberge Evening tour to the 2-day Alla Grand Tour this August. We'd recommend the night add-on and we didn't feel it was too much. Day one was a full day, but the pace was moderate. We did have a leisurely sit down lunch at a hotel restaurant and that gives you a chance to relax a bit. At the end of the day tour, our guide dropped us off at a nearby casual restaurant and we met the others joining the Alla Faberge tour. It was an early 5:30pm dinner, but it was another chance to rest up. Nice place, reasonably priced and very trendy. There was only one other couple with us for our tour.

Our Alla Faberge escort arrived about 6:30pm, and we had a mini sightseeing drive to the museum. She walked us in around 7:00, got us set up for the tour, and said she'd meet us in the lobby when we were ready to leave. The tour itself is an 'on your own' with a headset and audio guide. Great opportunity to squeeze in another part of St Petersburg. The museum has so much more than just the Faberge Eggs (e.g. decorative gold, silver, porcelain artwork.)

Because we were a small group, and no crowds that evening, we were able to tour the museum and get back to the lobby as early as 8:30. Our guide said the evening was still early and offered to tour the city some more. At this point, we were ready to head back to the ship. If you wanted to extend the tour (either at the museum or in the van), our guide was willing. We were back on board by 9:30 that night.

If you are taking a tour with an independent operator, they may issue you a blank visa for the entire time you are in St. Petersburg because guests sometimes add night tours at the last minute. If your tour company has space available (and your visa ticket covers this time) I believe you can try to add on a tour if you are feeling up to it on the day of your visit. But you are taking the risk that they have space and will agree to let you go at that time.

I would recommend trying to conserve a little energy in Tallinn, since that is usually the day before St. Petersburg. Tallinn is one of the highlights of this cruise for most visitors, but the primary thing to do in this beautiful medieval town is to walk around. You might want to take a cab up to the top of Toompea hill and then walk down on your own, take a pedicab or there is a little tourist train that goes around the city to take it easier and save some energy for St. Petersburg.

Our family of 5 booked the 2 day city tour through TJ Travel and the evening tour. At the end of the first day tour, our small bus of 18 dropped the 5 of us off in the city where we met up with another guide in a smaller bus. It ended up being a private tour - no one else joined us! It was amazing. We were able to do whatever we wanted. Our guide took us shopping, vodka tasting, dinner, siteseeing - it was incredible. You cannot get off the ship without a Visa or a tour booked, so since we probably would not be returning to Russia, we wanted to enjoy every minute of it.

What about evening activities? I found few - Folk Show, ballet, Faberge museum, Colonnade of St. Isaac's, dinner at a local restaurant. My friends told me about a sort of amusement park Divo Ostrov. Has anyone heard of this?

Yes, Divo Ostrov is an amusement park on Krestovsky Island in Primorsky Victory Park. I believe that the rides are open until midnight during the summer.

Thank you for the info. Have you been there?

Yes, I visited with my Russian friend and her children. I was NOT on a cruise - I was staying in the city for 3 weeks. It is definitely not how I would choose to spend my limited time if I were visiting from a cruise ship.

Thank you dogs4fun for your honest reply. I really appreciate it.

I'm going to cruise with my son who will be 13 at that time. You know teens are not very easy to travel with ))) Will it be interesting for him? I want him to relax and enjoy himself after a long day,

I have no idea if it will be interesting for your 13 y/o son. The amusement park is comparable to amusement parks throughout the world (including the USA - although not quite as comprehensive as, say, six flags). You can check-out their website here (in Russian but you can utilize Google translate) https://www.divo-ostrov.ru/

FYI: credit cards were not accepted/cash only (rubles)

We have done day/evening tours (through TJ Tours). In our case, we wanted to go to the Ballet in the evening (a full performance of Swan Lake). Our day tour group (about 10 people) were returned to the ship about 4:45. We quickly showered and then went to the Lido for dinner. We later exited the ship and met our evening tour transportation (a group of just us) at 7pm...to drive the the theater.

We did have friends that never returned to the ship. They had also used TJ and structured their own tour (for 3 persons). They spent the day doing various things and then where directly taken to a restaurant (which they had chosen in advance) where they had dinner. After dinner they were driven to the Ballet (where we met them) and we were all picked-up after the ballet to drive back to the ship.

Hank