Hermatige and crowds

Has anyone visited the Hermatige when it was NOT very crowded? I'm not referring to early entrance :) just wondering if there were better months to travel to St.P and avoid being crowded.

We were there in early June this year and the crowds did not seem too bad. we did a two day tour with Alla and I don't think we had early entry into the Hermitage.

We were there in June also, with DenRus. The crowds did not seem tooooo bad -- we only toured it with about 3000 of our closest friends.

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Have a GREAT cruise!

Has anyone visited the Hermatige when it was NOT very crowded? I'm not referring to early entrance :) just wondering if there were better months to travel to St.P and avoid being crowded.

We did Alla Tours "Complete St. Petersburg" on June 8-9 and had fabulous luck sightseeing without huge crowds. Here's what I wrote earlier about our time at the Hermitage:

Sunday June 8 - We were scheduled for early entry to the Hermitage at 9:00am, but we didn’t actually get there until 9:45am due to road closures and delays associated with an Economic Summit happening downtown. The rescheduling turned out to be brilliant, since when we arrived we had the Hermitage to ourselves - literally JUST OUR GROUP. Once inside, we climbed the majestic Jordan Staircase and marveled at the grandeur of this incredible building. We toured the State Rooms of the WinterPalace, Malachite Room, St. George’s Hall, 1812 Gallery and Pavillon Hall. We’re still alone! But by the time we reached the rooms of da Vinci, Rembrandt and Rubens, it was becoming more crowded. Elena did an outstanding job of highlighting pieces and whisking us to/from rooms to avoid any congestion. At the Gallery of French Impressionists, she gave us free time to enjoy this collection at our own pace. In total, we were at the Hermitage for about 2 hours, which for us was just about right.

I asked our guide, and she said that it is not as crowded in the off-season months when cruise ships are not in port.

We were there 1st week in August, so lots of cruise ships. We got there at 9:45 and our guide from Anastasia just told us to follow her closely and scooted us past all the crowds to the entrance. We were in 1st and had the first couple of rooms to ourselves but after about 30 minutes, it started getting VERY crowded.

I asked our guide, and she said that it is not as crowded in the off-season months when cruise ships are not in port.

We were there 1st week in August, so lots of cruise ships. We got there at 9:45 and our guide from Anastasia just told us to follow her closely and scooted us past all the crowds to the entrance. We were in 1st and had the first couple of rooms to ourselves but after about 30 minutes, it started getting VERY crowded.

We had a similar experience in July, our guide took us through the group tour entrance to avoid the lineup, and we had a 30 minute jump on the opening time which turned out to be very important, there were huge crowds later, you could hardly move around in each room to see the things. We stayed ahead of them for most of the tour, but ran into them on the way out. Great timing.

We visited the Hermitage last month on a Celebrity shore excursion, a full day tour entitled "Grand St. Petersburg with Hermitage." The Hermitage opens to the public at 10:30; we arrived around 9:00 and, other than a group from Princess Tours we pretty much had the place to ourselves. No lines, no crowds. All of my tablemates had been there in the afternoon and had to suffer through the crowds and lack of air-conditioning. This tour was definitely the highlight of our trip!

Has anyone visited the Hermatige when it was NOT very crowded? I'm not referring to early entrance :) just wondering if there were better months to travel to St.P and avoid being crowded.

I just returned with a group I booked with DenRus. I did the scheduling and put the Hermitage after lunch.. We got there about 3:00 and there were no lines, got right in, no crowds, moved easly thru the place. Most people were leaving. After my friend was there the week b-4 and said how bad it was, I thought we lucked out. even the guide commented on the lack of crowds. we were there till after 5:30 and I think it closes at 6:00, so there was no one left on the way out. I may have just given everyone an idea. I like to know if anyone else has gone late in the day.

Hi there,

Its always busy. Somethign ot do with tourists from Cruise ships. But well worth the delays and the waits. Just go for it.

If you can't then try the Hermitage in Amsterdam.

I just returned with a group I booked with DenRus. I did the scheduling and put the Hermitage after lunch.. We got there about 3:00 and there were no lines, got right in, no crowds, moved easly thru the place. Most people were leaving.

Amen !!! That is exactly the way we did it in mid July and there were no lines to speak of. Our tour guide with Alla took us first to the upstairs areas where we could marvel at the architecture of the palace. Then later on, towards the end of the day, we went through the more popular galleries. To the left is our group of five with a few stragglers: