Rate my St. Petesburg Itinerary
Sep 30th, 2011, 06:29 AM
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Rate my St. Petesburg Itinerary
Three weeks till our trip. We already purchased the opera and ballet tickets. The Hermitage and Russiam museums (3X) are musts. We Love art and history. I would appreciate your input.
Also, I saw a reference to a St Petersburg Museum pass a while back. Has anyone used this? If yes, was ii worth it?
THIS IS WHAT WE PLAN TO TO:
Fri. Arrive at St. Petersburg and walk Nevsky Prospect.
Sat. Self guided city tour to Peter-and-Paul Fortress, Log Cabin, St. Isaac’s cathedral and the Church-on-Spilt Blood.
Sat. Evening- Opera, A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Sun. Private Guide to go see the Hermitage and St Catherine Palace.
Mon. Russian Museum.
Tue. Puskin Apartment-Museum. Afternoon: Smol'nii Museum.
Wed. Hermitage. (Evening-Laundry).
Thu. Hermitage.
Fri. Usupov Palace (Rasputin's murder was here)
Fri. Evening- Opera, La Bohme.
Sat. V Nabokov Museum. Afternoon at Bread Museum.
Sat. Evening- Ballet-The Nutcracker.
Sun. Museum of the Defense and Blockade of Leningrad. Museum of Russian Vodka.
Mon. Travel day.
Also, I saw a reference to a St Petersburg Museum pass a while back. Has anyone used this? If yes, was ii worth it?
THIS IS WHAT WE PLAN TO TO:
Fri. Arrive at St. Petersburg and walk Nevsky Prospect.
Sat. Self guided city tour to Peter-and-Paul Fortress, Log Cabin, St. Isaac’s cathedral and the Church-on-Spilt Blood.
Sat. Evening- Opera, A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Sun. Private Guide to go see the Hermitage and St Catherine Palace.
Mon. Russian Museum.
Tue. Puskin Apartment-Museum. Afternoon: Smol'nii Museum.
Wed. Hermitage. (Evening-Laundry).
Thu. Hermitage.
Fri. Usupov Palace (Rasputin's murder was here)
Fri. Evening- Opera, La Bohme.
Sat. V Nabokov Museum. Afternoon at Bread Museum.
Sat. Evening- Ballet-The Nutcracker.
Sun. Museum of the Defense and Blockade of Leningrad. Museum of Russian Vodka.
Mon. Travel day.
Sep 30th, 2011, 08:23 AM
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I get the sense that you enjoy history. I would incorporate:
-Aurora (whose blank shot signaled the start of the Revolution),
-the Kirov Museum,
-Museum of Political History
-Dostoevsky Museum (and a walk around the neighborhood)
And possibly drop 1/2 to 1 day of the Hermitage.
Also remember that the Russian Museum has genres that are little known outside of Russia, such as Russian impressionism and avant-garde.
-Aurora (whose blank shot signaled the start of the Revolution),
-the Kirov Museum,
-Museum of Political History
-Dostoevsky Museum (and a walk around the neighborhood)
And possibly drop 1/2 to 1 day of the Hermitage.
Also remember that the Russian Museum has genres that are little known outside of Russia, such as Russian impressionism and avant-garde.
Sep 30th, 2011, 02:06 PM
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We just left SPB last week after being there for 8 days so a bit similar to your schedule. A note: the weather we had for our 2 1/2 week trip to Russia was nice temps 55-65 but drizzly, sprinkly, very overcast, and generally wetweather at some point during the day.
I used a blank sheet of paper and blocked out the days in the city where we were going to be. I used post it notes for the major activity of each individual day withthe day when that particular major site was closed. This way, depending on the weather, I could manipulate the post its easily and have the closed day visible at a glance. Another FYI: most sights don't open till 1030 which means half the morning is gone.
Friday doing NP sounds OK
Saturday sounds a bit ambitious.Might want to do Spilled Blood and Russian Museum as they are close together or same for PP Fortress and Log Cabin as they are on the same side of SPB.
Sunday at Hermitage and Catherines I believe will be too overwhelming. Both will be extremely crowded on the weekend and especially if it is a sunny day. We did Russia on our own so it might be different if you have a guide, but at Catherines everyone mingled together. If you don't get a guide a The Hermitage and use an audio guide, you can do it with the audioguide in about 5 hours.
Monday for the Russian Museum sounds Ok and then there's the sights on your original schedule that you might need to get to.
Tuesday and Wednesday are Ok depending on what you do on Sunday about The Hermitage and Catherines.
Thursday you probably won't need to go to The Hermitage again. In all of your schedule you might get a guidebook like DK SPB that has "walks" and streets to find and walk down. I found them pretty special. You also haven't included a canal cruise and they are wonderful, scenic and a view of the spectacular palaces of the 18-19th centuries.
Friday is good as is Saturday and Sunday although we did not visit those places.
We went to the Piskarevskoe Menorial Cemetery (Metro: Akademicheskaya and then bus 123 or 178) During the 900 day and night seige of Leningrad millions died. They buried the soldiers and civilians in seperate mass graves in a number of cemeteries and this was one. There are about 186 huge mounds marked by a year of death with either a hammer and sickle signifying civilian dead or a star for soldiers. There is also an excellent exhibition hall you might like.
If you are not set on Catherines Palace, I would opt for Peterhof. You can get a similar fabulous golden interior (minus the recreated Amber Room) but you get the FABULOUS Grand Cascade Fountain and the other great fountains. Enjoy.
I used a blank sheet of paper and blocked out the days in the city where we were going to be. I used post it notes for the major activity of each individual day withthe day when that particular major site was closed. This way, depending on the weather, I could manipulate the post its easily and have the closed day visible at a glance. Another FYI: most sights don't open till 1030 which means half the morning is gone.
Friday doing NP sounds OK
Saturday sounds a bit ambitious.Might want to do Spilled Blood and Russian Museum as they are close together or same for PP Fortress and Log Cabin as they are on the same side of SPB.
Sunday at Hermitage and Catherines I believe will be too overwhelming. Both will be extremely crowded on the weekend and especially if it is a sunny day. We did Russia on our own so it might be different if you have a guide, but at Catherines everyone mingled together. If you don't get a guide a The Hermitage and use an audio guide, you can do it with the audioguide in about 5 hours.
Monday for the Russian Museum sounds Ok and then there's the sights on your original schedule that you might need to get to.
Tuesday and Wednesday are Ok depending on what you do on Sunday about The Hermitage and Catherines.
Thursday you probably won't need to go to The Hermitage again. In all of your schedule you might get a guidebook like DK SPB that has "walks" and streets to find and walk down. I found them pretty special. You also haven't included a canal cruise and they are wonderful, scenic and a view of the spectacular palaces of the 18-19th centuries.
Friday is good as is Saturday and Sunday although we did not visit those places.
We went to the Piskarevskoe Menorial Cemetery (Metro: Akademicheskaya and then bus 123 or 178) During the 900 day and night seige of Leningrad millions died. They buried the soldiers and civilians in seperate mass graves in a number of cemeteries and this was one. There are about 186 huge mounds marked by a year of death with either a hammer and sickle signifying civilian dead or a star for soldiers. There is also an excellent exhibition hall you might like.
If you are not set on Catherines Palace, I would opt for Peterhof. You can get a similar fabulous golden interior (minus the recreated Amber Room) but you get the FABULOUS Grand Cascade Fountain and the other great fountains. Enjoy.
Sep 30th, 2011, 02:33 PM
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Regarding Peterhof, I am not sure the fountains are active when they are visiting (they usually close in early October). A shame, as they are stunning (making Versailles look like a bird bath for comparison!).
Oct 14th, 2011, 01:57 AM
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The fountains in Peterhof are not active as of October 11th, so it makes sense to see Catherine's palace instead. It won't be too difficult to do both the Hermitage and Catherine's palace in one day if you go by car.
Your visit to Smolny museum is a bit ambiguous - there is the magnificent Smolny cathedral (built by Rastrelli in the 18th century), which has no museum inside and no decorations inside - quite plain. You'd only want to see it from the outside and it's not a separate tour, it doesn't take long. Besides, there is the Smolny Institute building (built by Quarenghi in the beginning of the 19th century). It has a museum of Lenin inside, but to get there you need to book the admission and a tour in advance, because Smolny Institute is at present the seat of the city's governor, you cannot just walk in as in other museums.
Your visit to Smolny museum is a bit ambiguous - there is the magnificent Smolny cathedral (built by Rastrelli in the 18th century), which has no museum inside and no decorations inside - quite plain. You'd only want to see it from the outside and it's not a separate tour, it doesn't take long. Besides, there is the Smolny Institute building (built by Quarenghi in the beginning of the 19th century). It has a museum of Lenin inside, but to get there you need to book the admission and a tour in advance, because Smolny Institute is at present the seat of the city's governor, you cannot just walk in as in other museums.
