Best Guides evening tours in SPB? White Nights?

[oksteveou]

My family has booked a minigroup "Happy Tour" with St. Petersburg Best Guides on June 11-12 on our NCL Getaway Baltic Cruise.  They offer some evening options that I would love some advice/feedback on for anyone who has experienced them.  The options are the ballet, a folk show and a classical music concert.  I've seen a lot of other threads about the folk show, so I think I know what that is like.  Are these ballet and classical music performances full performances offered to the general public, or are they abbreviated and canned performances aimed squarely at cruise ship passengers or tourists generally?  If the latter, how long do they last and are they any good?

 

Also, Best Guides offers a complementary White Nights evening tour.  Can anyone speak to that tour and whether you enjoyed it or not?  Thanks!

[dogs4fun]

13 hours ago, oksteveou said:

My family has booked a minigroup "Happy Tour" with St. Petersburg Best Guides on June 11-12 on our NCL Getaway Baltic Cruise.  They offer some evening options that I would love some advice/feedback on for anyone who has experienced them.  The options are the ballet, a folk show and a classical music concert.  I've seen a lot of other threads about the folk show, so I think I know what that is like.  Are these ballet and classical music performances full performances offered to the general public, or are they abbreviated and canned performances aimed squarely at cruise ship passengers or tourists generally?  If the latter, how long do they last and are they any good?

 

Also, Best Guides offers a complementary White Nights evening tour.  Can anyone speak to that tour and whether you enjoyed it or not?  Thanks!

The ballet performances are aimed at tourists - like the USA, the Russian ballet season does not run in June and locals attend ballet performances during their regular ballet season. They are full ballet performances but quality of the performance is not on par with the regular season's performances - they are still pretty good though.

The concerts are also aimed tourists - if you wish something that would appeal to the general public, you can usually book online yourself.

 

[oksteveou]

Thanks so much for the feedback!

[oksteveou]

By the way, if anyone cares, I think we are going to switch to the "Best of the Best" minigroup tour.

[Lagerta]

On 12/28/2018 at 12:53 AM, oksteveou said:

My family has booked a minigroup "Happy Tour" with St. Petersburg Best Guides on June 11-12 on our NCL Getaway Baltic Cruise.  They offer some evening options that I would love some advice/feedback on for anyone who has experienced them.  The options are the ballet, a folk show and a classical music concert.  I've seen a lot of other threads about the folk show, so I think I know what that is like.  Are these ballet and classical music performances full performances offered to the general public, or are they abbreviated and canned performances aimed squarely at cruise ship passengers or tourists generally?  If the latter, how long do they last and are they any good?

 

Also, Best Guides offers a complementary White Nights evening tour.  Can anyone speak to that tour and whether you enjoyed it or not?  Thanks!

To be more exact, there is authentic Russian ballet in St Petersburg in summer, however, you need to check the theatres. The most famous one, Mariinnsky, will most likely be on holidays. However, there is Alexandrinsky and Mikhailovsky, and if there is something on there, it is usually the real local thing, not tourist attraction. We have been to Michailovsky, and absolutely loved the Sleeping Beauty we saw there!

I am not sure what is the White Nights evening tour, offered by Best Guides. It might be a driving tour around the city in the evening, or a boat trip. A night boat trip is relaxing and scenic, however, judge your energy level, so you are not too tired after the day of touring to appreciate it.

[dogs4fun]

The Russian Theater season begins in the early fall with most theaters scheduling performances from mid September to June. Autumn and winter are the best times see opera/ballet in St. Petersburg - it is during this time period that the locals attend and it is when I have attended in both St. Petersburg and Moscow.

The performances held during the summer months, while authentic Russian ballet, are not the top tier dancers from the regular season and I can discern the difference in the quality of the performance (there are exceptions for special performances). That said, the performances are still good and the venues in which they are held are worth seeing.

 

[oksteveou]

Main differences I see:

Happy Tour has much shorter city driving tour (30 minutes vs 90 minutes both days for Best of Best, which is mostly why the Happy Tour ends an hour earlier on Day 1 and starts an hour later on Day 2).

Happy Tour drives to Peterhof (60 minutes) while Best of Best takes Hydrofoil (30 minutes).

Happy Tour includes a "Citizens Walking Tour" vs. a Boat tour on the canals on the Best of Best.

 

The last 2 differences are the main reasons why we switched from the Happy Tour to the Best of the Best.  We like boats!

If you click on these links, you can compare the itineraries yourself:

Best of the Best:  https://www.bestguides-spb.com/best-2day.html

Happy Tour:  https://www.bestguides-spb.com/happytour-2day.html

 

Steve