RC tours in St. P: Anyone got a favourite?

[woohoo21]

Have 2 days in SP with Jewel of the Seas and at the moment trawling through the list of tours. Do I do an extra long tour? Do I miss the Hermitage or Peter and Paul or...

 

Hope you can help!

[mcca2]

Just got off the Jewel June 7. Don't miss Yusopov's Palace. It is the best in St. Pete's

[JodiBB]

Don't miss St. Isaac's Cathedral either....quite amazing!!

[gratefulguy]

Most posters say they were glad they took private tours vs. the ships' tours, because of the smaller vehicles, the absence of long lines at entrances, the ability to tailor the tour beforehand (and somewhat as you go), and the interaction with the guides. The total cost can be less than the ships' tours (e.g.,Denrus Value Excursions). Most tried to see as many sights as possible in the time they were there--esp. if it's the first time in St.P

However, if you normally don't like to go to a kind of venue (Palace, museum, ballet, cathedral, or whatever), at home or in other ports, you may not enjoy it any more just because it's in St.P!

The one advantage to the ships' tours is the comfort zone of knowing they will wait for your bus if it's late.

I'm on a cruise with only 2 days there, and I had made a list of about 6 days' worth of "want-to-see" places, so good luck in your planning!

[tommui987]

Have you ever been to St. P before?

 

If not, while a long tour might be taxing (physically and financially), you should do it simply because you may never have the opportunity to do it again.

 

Of course Gratefulguy has a point that if you never enjoy or even doing museums, palaces, churches etal before, you might not like doing it now.

 

However, a little education never hurt an intelligent person!

 

We did go full blast tours with Red October and never regretted a moment of it.

 

In fact, we are looking into a river cruise Moscow to St. P with time before and after including seeing more of the sights of St. P that we missed during our previous two day stint.