LowCountryIslander

I am in the very beginning stages of planning a trip to Tallin, Helsinki and St. Petersburg for next September. This will be with a group tour and the tour ends in St. Petersburg.

Since I'll be in Russia I was thinking of flying to Moscow after the tour ends and spending a few days there. I would fly to Moscow in the afternoon and then have 2 days that I could spend there before flying home from Moscow. So I would have 3 nights and 2 full days in Moscow.

I was wondering if 2 days would be sufficient to skim the surface of Moscow and see the major sites?

kja

Hi, LowCountryIslander -

IMO, you would really ONLY be able to skim the surface in 2 full days. In general, I'd say that Moscow warrants about 5 days to see the major sites.

Hope that helps!

LoisLane777

Moscow is a HUGE city with a lot of sites and very rich history. I agree with Kja.

SuQue

We only had two and a half days in Moscow and were very frustrted when we had to leave with so much more to see and experience.

LowCountryIslander

Thanks for the replies! I have a few days I can "play with" and may be able to extend to 4 full days...sounds like that's what I may want to do.

kja

Hi again, LowCountryIslander -

If you can add a few days to your time in Moscow, I don't think you'll be disappointed - it is a fascinating place!

Rich

I lived there for three years and did not see everything.

LarryRGV

If you have ever seen any of my "Grouchy Old Man" reports, you will know that I quite often take a contrary view of cities. So please take everything I say with a grain of salt, but in my opinion your shedule is just fine. I was there in July before picking up my cruise in Copenhagen and thought our 2 full days were about right. Of course you can't see everything in your 2 days, but you can easily see the highlights and visit the major museums, etc. We had private tours both days and we really saw quite a bit. I don't feel short changed at all. And while I did not particularly like Moscow, I am very happy we added this to our trip. BTW, I like restaurants and did love going to Cafe Puskin for an experience one night.

LowCountryIslander

Larry...

Thanks for your information.

Would you be willing to share the contact information for the guide you used for the private tours? And did you feel the private tours were worth your time and money or did you feel you could have done it on your own? I'm leaning towards hiring a guide since I don't speak or read Russian.

Thanks!

FrankS

I would stay in St Petersberg, but if you decide to go to Moscow take the train. Its a beautiful train ride.

Paulo59

By all means go to Moscow. It's a very exciting, interesting City. I think of it like New York must have been in like the 1950s with a great sense of new prosperity. St. Pete is for art and culture, Moscow is the beating pulse of Russia. I loved both but had more fun in Moscow. There's lots to see and and even just people watching is fun there. 4 days would be good. Enjoy!

LarryRGV

I will gladly share the tour info with you, LowCountry. Olga Mozias
SPIRIT OF MOSCOW tel +7-495-730-3170
e-mail: [email protected]
www.spirit-of-moscow.com. I thought that Olga did a great job for us. And, yes, I felt we needed a private guide. We went on our own schedule so we didn't feel part of a herd of people and we didn't rush to start at the crack of dawn. We got in front of all lines at the Kremlin. I even had Olga meet us at the airport and am I ever glad we did that as well. Olga toured us around the city the first day. Quite a complete tour. The next day she had a Kremin special guide meet us at our hotel and we went with her on the subway to the Kremlin where we spent most of the day. We spent a couple of hours on our own in that area after the tour. We had plenty of time to do that. Visited GUM, etc. on our own. Olga was great. Good unbiased view of Russia and politics. The Kremlin young lady guide was quite knowledgeable and efficient, though not very personable. For some reason she seemed to speak somewhat of a party line. Strange for a young person, but I think a lot of older people are not quite in tune with the new Russia and pass that on to their children. Olga, being the entreprenuer, had a different outlook (not shared by her parents she told us). Quite interesting. BTW I had just read a fascinating mystery novel called "Child 44". If you are into mysteries don't miss this book before your trip. It is set in Soviet Moscow and will give you a perspective on Russia. Sorry. Back to your question. Yes, the tour was worth every penny (or Ruble). Not cheap but especially for a short stay well worth it. I know many fodorites say do it yourself and I admire them for that. But at our advancing age I just get too frustrated without a tour guide in a place like Moscow. Everyone says the metro is easy. Good for them. I can even read a bit of Russian but I would have been lost at the first stop. Olga also arranged for a driver to take us to the airport when we left. I probably could have done that on our own, but her price for that wasn't much different than having the hotel arrange a cab, and maybe even cheaper.
Have fun. Feel free to contact me if you have any other questions I can help you with. I'm sure you will get many other responses here that differ from mine. Thats good to have various perspectives.

LowCountryIslander

Larry,

Thank you for sharing the information on the guide you used and your thoughts on Moscow. I'm inclined to think the same.