Carpediemdsk

I'm planning a two week vacation. I've been looking at tours that spend a week in Russia (Moscow, St. Pete, Novgorod) and a week in the baltics (Belarus, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia) & 2 nights in Helsinki. (The tour is Trafalger/Best of Finland, Russia, Estonia). I wondering if 3 nights in St. Pete is enough being that I'm a huge history buff? Are the Baltics worth a week or should I spend more time in Russia? I'm considering doing 4-5 nights each in St. Pete & Moscow and forgetting the Baltics. Any thoughts on the itinerary or Trafalger? Thanks!!

Grandma

We've been to St. Petersburg twice (first time it was called Leningrad!).
We did it on our own (first time) with stops in Copenhagen, Stockholm, Helsenki. Second time we were on a Clipper cruise with all the previous stops plus Visby and Tallin (and others). We did an add on to Moscow after the Clipper cruise. I think you're planning too much for two weeks. St. P., Moscow could take quite a chunk of two weeks.
Helsinki is nice but in my estimation (having been there twice) not worth the time on such a short itinerary. If you have an interest in the Baltic States I think it might be wise to keep them for a separate trip.

helen63

Carpediemdsk, St. Petersburg is great, especially if you are a history or art lover. You can easily spend a week there, and enjoy every minute of it. I am not sure what time of the year you are going, but the best time is during 'white nights' when it never gets dark, which is around end of June/Beginning of July. There are many suburbs that you would love to visit like Peterhof, Pushkino, Pavlovsk, Lomonosov palace. You can spend at least a day in Hermitage alone. Moscow is not that interesting IMO, so about 3 days there would be probably enough.

Baltic Republics are rich in history and very pretty. The main towns there (Riga, Tallin, Vilnus, Kaunas) are relatively small and you don't need a lot of time there. Belarus is waste of time (I was born there).
Personally, I don't like Trafalgar iterinary I think it is too rushed, but it is my opinion only. If you need more info, please ask.

Carpediemdsk

Thank you for your replies. They were very helpful. I've decided to book the 16 day Trafalger tour but will fly into St. Petersburg 3 nights early for a total of 6 nights in St. Pete, 1 in Novgorod, 3 in Moscow and a week in the Baltics. I don't want to miss anything in St. Petersburg which seems to have so much to see. I'm very excited about Russia and am trying to learn some of the language before I go.

katya_NY

Sounds like enough time to get a feel for StPb, which is important. I love the city, and I do think it will help you immensely to learn the Cyrillic alphabet before going. Even if you just master some basic polite expressions, the people will be wonderful to you. People who don't speak Russian often don't realize how many cognates the language has, so reading the alphabet will come in handy!
I teach Russian, so feel free to ask any questions! : )

KT

I just spent a week in St. Petersburg, and I agree you made a good decision. I think it's an amazing place, and you want to have enough time to soak up the atmosphere. Even with a week there, I saw less than half of the things on my to-see list, but it was a loooong list....

I only learned some polite phrases in Russian, but I managed just fine travelling alone. It really did help to learn the alphabet, if for no other reason than to be able to read the street signs and figure out which subway platform to use.

Have a great trip.