In addition to the private agencies, every major hotel has a tourist bureau through which individual and group tours can be booked. Explorer-Tour arranges city tours. The Modern travel agency offers incoming tour services for groups and individuals, arranges excursions around St. Petersburg and Moscow, and can also arrange wedding and business tours. Mir Travel Agency can custom-design tours.

Contact

Explorer-Tour (50 ul. Marata, Vladimirskaya. 812/320-0954. 812/712-1967. www.explorer-tour.ru. Metro: Mayakovskaya). Mir Travel Agency (11 ul. Marata, Liteiny/Smolny. 812/325-7122. Metro: Mayakovskaya). Modern (3 Torzhovskaya ul., Office 236, Vyborg Side. 812/246-9533. Metro: Chernaya Rechka).

Boat Tours

A float down the Neva or through the city's twisting canals—Exkursii na katere po rekam i kanalam—is always a pleasant way to spend a summer afternoon. For trips through the canals, take one of the boats at the pier near Anichkov Bridge on Nevsky prospekt. Boats cruising the Neva leave from the pier outside the State Hermitage Museum. Both boat trips have departures early morning to late afternoon from mid-May through mid-September.

St. Petersburg's aquatic infrastructure is still a far cry from the developed waterways of Amsterdam or Venice but six local cruise operators have joined with the city to create the City Water Bus project. Four routes circulate between the main tourist sights and theaters. Each departs once an hour and takes from 1 to 1 ½ hours to complete. One stop on any route costs 30R, while the entire journey is a bargain at 150R-200R. Another option is an all-day ticket for 350R.

River and canal cruises are slightly more expensive than water buses (they cost 200R-500R depending on route, time of day, and day of the week) but departures are far less regular. You can hop on and off at various stops. Route A starts and ends at the Peter and Paul Fortress. Route B begins and ends by Kazan Cathedral. Route C starts near the Russian Museum's Stroganov Palace on Nevsky Prospekt and ends at St. Isaac's Cathedral. Route D begins by the Admiralty and circulates between the Hermitage, Smolny Cathedral, the Okhtinskaya Hotel, the cruiser Avrora, and the Peter and Paul Fortress before ending at St. Isaac's Cathedral.

Smaller boats that you can hire on demand for 1,200R-1,800R per hour—without the running commentary, making for an extremely peaceful ride—also leave from the Moika River, opposite the Field of Mars, two steps away from the Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood. Perhaps best of all, you can negotiate with the owners of the smaller boats to take you out at almost any time of the night, which can be a magical way of seeing the city during the White Nights. This is likely to cost your party a total of 2,100R-2,300R.

Walking Tours

If you prefer to plunge into city life instead of observing it from the window of your tour bus, the best bet is to take an excursion (400R) with the sole walking tour company, Peter's Walking Tours. Founded by inveterate local backpacker Peter Kozyrev, the company turns walks and pub crawls into a real experience. The guides masterfully interweave history, current affairs, mystery, and gossip. The most popular walk is the five-hour-long Original Walking Tour: express your wishes and the guide tailors the route. There's no need to book a tour, just be sure to check the schedule on the company's Web site at www.peterswalk.com, choose a walk, and show up about 15 minutes before the start. There's no telephone number for the company, and all private tours have to be made via e-mail.

Contact Information

Peter's Walking Tours (www.peterswalk.com. info@peterswalk.com).