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3 nights in St Petersburg, 3 in Moscow, Private tour vs. Group?

3 nights in St Petersburg, 3 in Moscow, Private tour vs. Group?

Old Dec 11th, 2015, 08:36 PM
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3 nights in St Petersburg, 3 in Moscow, Private tour vs. Group?

Hi folks,

It's been a while. I'm traveling alone to Helsinki for 2 nights June 24,25th staying at Hotel Kamp (for free on points). Then Quark expeditions puts me up for 1 night at an airport hotel in Helsinki.

Then 11 days to the North Pole and back with them.

My questions come about tours in St Petersburg and Moscow afterwards. I plan to stay for 3 nights in each location. It's all the time I have. Quark gave me a list of tours while there and the prices seem crazily high. I'll be by myself and an intimidated, like others, to travel alone in these 2 cities. I've traveled over much of Europe alone but not here. I'm not going to learn the language, or even take a course in the alphabet. I have no interest or the time. I work ALL THE TIME so I'm just going to wing it like I always do.

I'm staying at the W Hotel St Petersburg (for free on points) and the Sheraton Palace Hotel in Moscow (for free on points).

Are these prices super high for these tours below? My trip planner from Quark Expeditions said that they as a company don't do group tours here, that they're all private with a driver and typically a Mercedes car. I usually take free walking tours in Europe when I travel, or bike tours that run $35-100 for 4 hours, for cheap tour around $65-90 per day. Nowhere near the prices listed below, but they were mostly group tours set up on the day or arrival or the day I woke up and decided to do a tour.

I don't want to get stuck in horrible lines at the Hermitage and I'm terrible with directions, taking mass transit (I get lost a lot, though I typically do it anyway when traveling), and this is... Russia. It's just different, right? I read a few just back reports but am still not sure which way to go. This is what he wrote me:
`````````````````````````````````````````````````` ``````

Please find the ST PETERSBURG info below, please note that all tours are private include English speaking guide and Mercedes car:


Tour of Pushkin: Catherines Palace and Park w/ English guide - 4 hrs - $235
Tour of Pavlovsk: Pauls palace and park w/ English guide - 4 hrs - $235
OR both together for - Pushkin & Pavlovsk - 6 hrs, with price - $355


Transfer to the pier and Hydrofoil to Peterhof Palace w/ English guide - one way by hydrofoil, return by car (transfer to pier is included)
(including tickets for hydrofoil to guide, Park & Grand Palace in Peterhof). Duration 5 hrs $330

Tour of park and one of the Smaller Palaces: Monplaisir or Bath House w/ English guide by car, duration - 5 hrs - $285
Tour of Lomonosov: Menshikov Palace and Park w/ English guide - 5 hrs - $285
Tour to Lomonosov can be combined with Peterhof
Tour of St Isaac’s Cathedral w/ English guide (visit to St. Isaac's lasts not too long, so it can be included to the city tour, city tour incl St. Isaac's (3 hrs together) - $165


And for MOSCOW (Ford Modeo or Toyota Camry and English speaking guide is included)

Tour of Saint Basils Cathedral w/ guide - Visit to Saint Basil's cathedral & Red Square (30 min) can be included to the city tour - $325

`````````````````````````````````````````
I'm lost as to which tours to take. Which are WAY too expensive for what they are. What a good itinerary would be in St Petersburg and Moscow with my limited time here. Any suggestions as to the highlights? I LIVE FOR ART, seeing the Hermitage will be a dream come true for me, and I like historical walking tours that aren't boring . For Helsinkin, I'll figure out what to do when I get here but for these 2 cities, I'm lost...

Thanks in advance,

Steve R
Gaithersburg MD
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Old Dec 11th, 2015, 10:12 PM
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"I'll be by myself and an intimidated, like others, to travel alone in these 2 cities. I've traveled over much of Europe alone but not here. I'm not going to learn the language, or even take a course in the alphabet."

I traveled solo (female) to St. Petersburg and Moscow in 1994; I came home with a few great stories, but honestly, it wasn't that hard! And I can't imagine that it would be any HARDER now than then. I didn't take a language course -- I just used index cards to help me learn Cyrillic: Cyrillic letter on one side, English sound on the other. Not hard, not that time consuming. But we all travel differently....

So IMO, ALL of the tours you mention seem overpriced -- you could do much better exploring on your own -- But it sounds like you don't want to venture out on your own and would prefer to pay for a tour. OK -- your call! So I have just one question for you:

Given your constraints, are you sure that you want to try to visit both St. Petersburg and Moscow on this one trip? IMO, 3 days is not enough for either city; 6 days might give you a nice introduction to one or the other. JMO. You might consider putting ALL your time into Moscow, with the thought that St. Petersburg is easier to reach and so more likely to fit into a future itinerary. Just a thought....

Also: Only 2 night for Helsinki? Again, not the way I would do it. Your call.

Good luck!
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Old Dec 12th, 2015, 01:48 AM
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>>I'll be by myself and an intimidated, like others, to travel alone in these 2 cities.
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Old Dec 12th, 2015, 03:11 AM
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This is the trip I'll be doing after 3 nights in Helsinki and before the 3 nights in St Petersburg and 3 nights in Moscow (these 6 nights were merely an afterthought in the scheme of things). Since I've done the 7 continents, the North Pole has been a dream of mine since I first heard about it on an Antarctica trip last December. I asked a couple I met on the ship, "What could possibly top this trip to Antarctica we just did, and where's your next trip?"

They said "Oh, we're going to the North Pole next summer, and only 123 people per expedition get to go, twice a year. Totally exclusive in a way. Less than 1000 people a year go, including the 2 trips or so the Russians do."

I was like... WOW, I'M IN TOO! Then I found out how much it cost, but decided to do it anyway since I have no kids, no wife for the past 5 years, house paid off, and things were stable at work. Feeling totally blessed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmckDac-Ua0

Steve
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Old Dec 12th, 2015, 03:24 AM
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Wow, thanks so much for your 2 replies so far... I SUPER appreciate it. I do realize that 2 nights in Helsinki isn't that much. I don't have a lot of time there, the main point of my travel to this reason was ONLY to go to the North Pole and back. Everything else was an afterthought.

I'm happy to only have 2 nights in Helsinki on my own, and a 3rd night at the tour group's airport hotel there in Helsinki. I'm only looking for a brief smattering of touring and looking around. I'm totally good with this little bit I'll be getting to see. Ok, to be truthful, I get bored quickly . Also, I only have so much time off of work. 3 weeks is all I can get and most of it will be to the North Pole.

And yes, I know that 3 nights in Moscow and 3 in St Petersburg isn't enough. Like I said, if I can ONLY get to the Hermitage (my life's dream) and the see Red Square and some cool stuff in Moscow, I can die happy! I understand I'll be missing tons of stuff. I don't have time for it. 6 days in one place would be better in theory to get a more total immersion of a place, but I want to get to both places so it is what it is.

I get it that my trip may not make sense to some of you but I'm super happy to get to all these places, however brief.

More importantly, the trip private trip prices I listed DO SOUND PRETTY EXPENSIVE TO YOU ALL? I got that... I think, like you said, I can just get there and find a trip on my own. I just didn't know if it's scary and complicated to get around, since I'm totally lazy and will not do the index card thing or learning part of all this to comprehend the language. I know me. I will just go and totally wing it, and be frustrated as heck at times.

If I can just show up in St Petersburg at my W Hotel, book a private trip from there or a group trip, even, I'm super happy. It may not be for everyone, but a private or group trip there, would be a good option for me since I don't know how to do metro, subway, will get lost walking probably, etc. It's not like Paris where I just intuitively will get around. At least I don't think so. I actually have no bloody idea.

If anyone else wants to chime in, I'm all ears. You people offer me an invaluable service here. There's nothing else like it. I'll check out that link to the city tours and Alla Tours, too. If I can simply show up on a day, book it for that day, then the next, I'm SUPER HAPPY to be stuck on a tour, to "see it all" in a few days. Or even just a little.

CAN'T WAIT!!!
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Old Dec 12th, 2015, 04:29 AM
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Those rices sound normal for top of the line private limousine tours. If you don't want to pay that much either see things on your own - perfectly possible in both places - we have done it. Not as easy as western or central europe but not wildly complicated. (Although saying you get lost a lot does make me question if you do any preparation for any of your trips).

Learning the basics of the cyrillic alphabet is easy - but if you don;t want to take subways you can easily take cabs and most drivers speak decent english and they are not epensive. And I'm sure there are local group tours you can sign on with at much lower rates that the very upscale tours you are looking at.

Google tours in St Pet and Moscow for info.
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Old Dec 12th, 2015, 04:49 AM
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Without understanding Cyrillics, the Moscow metro will be scary to navigate on your own. But you should see some of the stations as they are amazing. You can join a walking tour for that.

Or maybe use a service like this?

http://www.moscowgreeter.ru/aboutus.html

The tours do sound expensive but you are doing an expensive trip judging by the hotels you are staying in.
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Old Dec 12th, 2015, 05:49 AM
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Thanks folks. The hotels I am staying in are for free. Now that I see how to do things a bit better based on your replies, I may just show up at the hotels and ask them to "hook me up" on some group tour, private tour, whatever, rather than book everything in advance w/private drivers. The one thing I did want to avoid was to try to get in the Hermitage and find out I can't as it's booked out, or the lines were like 2-3 hours to get in.

I'm guessing if I asked at the concierge at my hotels the night before, they could connect me with a tour or driver or way to do all this that's a heck of a lot cheaper than Quark is recommending. Truly, if I only get to see like 4-5 cool things in each city I'm going, get to ride around a bit on either a bus or private car, and take in a bit of the scene, I'll be a happy camper. I'm not trying to do it all, just get a taste of it.

Steve
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Old Dec 12th, 2015, 06:10 AM
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Agree with the others that Cyrillic is not difficult, and navigating those cities on your own is no worse than other European cities once you learn it. I am terrible at languages, but had no trouble learning to transliterate Cyrillic.

Those prices don't look out of order for a private limo and guide. I did St. Petersburg and Moscow mostly on my own (2004) but joined a local bus tour for one day in Moscow. Any guidebook should have listings of local tour companies if you don't want to rely on your hotel. If you care more about the transport than the guide, you or your hotel should have no trouble arranging a more reasonable price with a taxi driver.
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Old Dec 12th, 2015, 07:30 AM
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I can't advise about the expense of the tours, but I sure wouldn't advise you to go to these places alone, without a guide or without tickets.

I was in St. Petersburg in June and wasn't able to go inside of any of the places I wanted to see because of the horrendously long lines. I did a sort of tour of the city with an English-speaking taxi driver, and I wandered around the grounds at one of the Palaces. But that was it.

I am not sure that I'd wait until I arrived at my hotel to hook up with a guide, either.
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Old Dec 12th, 2015, 07:51 AM
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Yes, you have to learn C. alphabet to navigate the metro in Moscow.
(A few words in Russian would help)
In SP metro there are signs in Latin alphabet.
Absolutely agree with Odin about tours.
I purchased a 2 day ticket for Hermitage on line, picked it up there
and avoided the line up. ( in July this year ).
Taxis are not regulated...you better check the cost before you get in
unless your hotel makes the arrangement.
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Old Dec 12th, 2015, 08:54 AM
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We used the Global Greeters in both Moscow and St. Petersburg. It's a wonderful organization that matches you up with a local resident for a private tour of their city and it's free. They are not professional tour guides but the greeters we have used in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Berlin, and Tokyo have all been wonderful. We plan on using them again on an upcoming trip to Buenos Aires. They pick you up at your hotel and will take you where you want to go. On their website they ask you what you want to see and will match you with a greeter who has similar interests. We had a Greeter for 2 days in Moscow and 2 days in St. Petersburg.
The Moscow subway directions are in cyrillic so it was especially helpful to have our Greeter go with us. Moscow, by the way, has some beautiful subways which are a destination in themselves. Among other things, in St. Petersburg we asked our guide to take us to a restaurant that specialized in their dumplings......we were surprised there were so many different kinds and she explained to us the various ones we were eating.

The website for Global Greeters is www.globalgreeternetwork.info.

Have a wonderful trip to Russia! We loved visiting there.
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Old Dec 13th, 2015, 05:27 PM
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Wow, this all is GREAT INFO! I'm just as confused as before as to which route to go but at least I have some guidance now with your replies. I'll pour over them, check out the various websites and set up one tour or another.

Steve
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Old Feb 5th, 2016, 08:10 AM
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Hi Steve! I am so pleased to hear you are planning on visiting St. Petersburg and Moscow. St. Petersburg is one of my most favourite cities and probably the most beautiful city in Russia. There is a joke in Russian "Tell me the three most beautiful cities in Russia. ...St. Petersburg, Petrograd, Leningrad" For history buffs, that is actually one city with different names at different times.

I agree with the private tour prices, they do not seem to be outrageous. Expensive-yes. But in Western Europe prices are even higher. For a single traveler that is quite pricy. I am not sure if there are any group tours that you can join. From my own experience, I can recommend Ulko Tours from St. Peter. http://ulkotours.com The owner Elena was wonderful. I used her services in 2012 when I traveled to Russia with a group of Japanese ladies. All the arrangements and communications were top notch. I don't know if they have any group tours you can join but it's worth asking.

Your hotel in St. Peter is in an amazing location. I think you could just pretty much walk anywhere you wanted (with the exemption of the Palaces like Petergoff and Summer Palace). With three days, it will be difficult to fit both of those in I think.

This is similar to what we did:

Day 1 / Herminate + Nevskyi prospect + Church of Spilt Blood / Issaki Cathedral

Day 2 / Petergoff , only the gardens with their fountains. The palace was very badly damaged during WWII and it's not the most exciting part of the complex. The fountains on the other hand are marvellous. I would also recommend touring the bathhouse attached to Monplaisir Palace (I think they have English guides at the site). It's small but fascinating. Russians and their (our banyas! http://www.saint-petersburg.com/peterhof/monplaisir/ For Peterhof you really do not need a guide or a transfer. The hydrofoil is very easy to manage and it's really fast.

Day 3 / Summer palace with its Amber Room. This is a tricky one. I can only vouch for the info as of summer 2011, but even for me (a Russian person) it was hard to figure out the logistics. We took the bus tour there just so that we'd have the skip the line entrance. The gardens were so lovely that we left the tour figuring that we'd get back on our own. wow, that was not easy! public transportation to / from the Summer palace is not that good. We had to make i think three transfers using the local buses. So, if you were planning to splurge, this is where a guide might come in handy.

One evening at the Ballet. I am sure somewhere there will be Swan Lake! Alexandrinskii theatre was gorgeous and quite reasonably priced.

Another must is a boat ride on the canals. During the daylight and / or evening.

you will be there during White nights. So everyone will be out and about until wee hours! St. Petersburg I would say is reasonably safe, and the longer days encourage people to spend more time outside.

Last you should (if not taking the boat at night) walk to the embarkment around 1am when they open the bridges for the navigation. Spectacular. Lots of people come to watch.

Have fun in Russia!
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Old Feb 22nd, 2016, 09:31 AM
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Hi, I have done the trip to St Petersburg in the past and actually paid quite a lot more for two days of private tours. But this year when we go back and then to Moscow, I have asked the hotels to give me recommendations and book the tours and guides for me. They seem to be better priced than the ones quoted for you, and since you are staying at 5 star hotels they should offer the same service. Have a great trip!
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Old Mar 2nd, 2016, 10:02 PM
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Hello!
I live in St. Petersburg.
I do not really speak english . sorry ! Necessarily recommend to visit Peterhof , Hermitage .
Now the dollar -ruble exchange rate , it is very convenient to make purchases .
In St. petrbug better to arrive in the late spring or early summer ! Then you can catch the midnight sun , it is when most of the night as bright as day ! If necessary I can help with the choice of hotels and places to visit !
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Old Mar 10th, 2016, 05:03 AM
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The offered tours are really overpriced, additionally I don't think you need to pay extra for Mercedes. Business class car like Ford Mondeo or similar, is more then fine.
Just for better understanding, normally the tour to Pushkin takes 5 hours (4 hours are not enough)and the price for the private tour is around 140 USD (almost 2 times cheaper than the rate you've got).
As well you can join a group for the tour to Pushkin in English and it will cost you around 40 USD, bus tour to Peterhof same price. Group city tour 15 USD (2 hours).
As your hotel is near Hermitage, you don't need a car to go there. You can book 1)a private walking tour with English speaking guide, it will cost you around 80 USD or 2) you can purchase tickets online and do it on your own with audio guide (but I suggest option 1, as it's easy to get lost inside).
If you have not yet decided on the itinerary, PM me, I'll be glad to help, both with Moscow and St. Petersburg!
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Old Mar 10th, 2016, 08:37 AM
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I went to St. Petersburg last June and regretted that I hadn't been able to get inside ANY of the palaces because of the horrendous lines for tickets.

If I visit St. Petersburg again, I will contact Red Star Travel in Seattle for advice and for tickets for various places, such as the Winter Palace, the Hermitage and the Church on the Spilled Blood.

It looks like you've got good advice from various of the above posters. Whatever you go, make some arrangements beforehand. Don't just show up and expect to see all that you want to see.
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Old Apr 4th, 2016, 04:33 PM
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I haven't checked back here in a while but it's now time to book the touring around part of my trip. I fly from Murmansk Russia to Moscow on July 8th, 2016 so I'll be there for 3 nights. Then I take the train to St Petersburg and will be there for 3 nights.

To RussiaIncoming: I will take you up on your offer about itinerary ideas and message you about that. Thanks so much.

I'm totally stressed trying to figure out what I can legitimately do in 3 nights at each place without killing myself. I want to see a lot, but not so much where I can't really enjoy it as I'll be rushing. And, I'd like to save money on Mercedes Bus tours (by not doing them) and do something a bit closer to the earth/lower key.

A small, very small bus tour or a small group or private tour that's not high end would be perfect. I just don't want to be waiting on a large bus group where some or many of the people are really old and taking forever to get anywhere .

It's cool that the Hotel Kamp in Finland broke off from Starwood last month but they're still honoring my free points and reservation. Yay!

I can look at a lot of art, rather quickly, and enjoy it quickly and more on. I'm not much of a lingerer spending hours and hours in just a few rooms.

Steve
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Old May 5th, 2016, 01:39 AM
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Steve, you are absolutely right, the prices look crazy. Being for just three days in those two very big Russian cities I would concentrate on the cities themselves without going to any suburban palaces (except maybe Petershof palace near St. Petersburg – worth seeing). If I were you I would buy a guide book and use it walking around. For instance St. Basils Cathedral is good to see from outside and there’s nothing impressive to see inside. The entrance Kremlin tickets cost RUB 700 (about $12) and I guess it includes the visit to the three main Kremlin Cathedrals. At the Kremlin ticketing desk you can buy an audio tour (rent a Walkman), it shouldn’t be too much. Buy a city tour (or other tours) at your Moscow (or St. Petersburg) hotel Service Desk. I believe they’ve got moderate prices compared to those you’ve been offered. Prices for the museums and art galleries usually stay within $10, except the Hermitage, it’s more expensive.
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