St. Petersburg Advice
 

Hi:
Am arriving in St. Petersburg late on August 11 and leaving late afternoon on August 16. Do I need a tour guide to see the high points (am especially interested in the Hermitage)? Do I have time for a side trip to either Moscow or Helsinki? Does anyone have an restaurant recommendations? I am travelling with my adult daughter. Thank you so much.
GEsssa

Do you have your visas already?

And no - 4 days is barely scratching the surface of St Pet. Definitely no time for Moscow or Helsinki unless they are places you need to fly out of.

You can easily do in city sights yourself but might want to consider a day tour to palaces outside the city. The Hermitage is HUGE - you can tour it yourself but would probably see more and better with a guide. (We did it rouselves but were there for 7 days.)

I agree , first you have to have a Visa.

A tour guide may be helpful because it will get you from point A to point B faster.

Make a list of all the place you want to see in St.Petersburg.

Then systematically you can see them all.

Forget about Moscow or Helsinki ( both are nice ) ,but no use
skimming over St. Petrsburg , to rush off to Helsinki or Moscow. ( unless there is a good reason)

If you do not have a Visa ( about $80.00 per person) then a tour guide can get them for you BUT you have to stick with the guide .

Re The Hermitage. Unless you have very serious reasons not to, I would recommend that you engage a guide at least for the interior of that site, and hopefully a knowledgeable one.

Be aware of a couple of things. There are over 3 million works but they are not all on display; don;t worry, plenty of them are and then, unlike a lot of other art museums, the interior itself is a work of art.

The place can very easily be MOBBED, especially if there are cruise ships docked, and it can be VERY noisy so having someone there with you to guide your eyes and mind and that you can hear is important.

I agree with all of the above - do not try to fit Moscow or Helsinki (or anywhere else) into this trip, and visiting the Hermitage with a guide is worth considering. Enjoy!

St. Petes only. We hired a guide inside the Hermitage , a fellow approached us right away, and she showed us the highlights for just over an hour. Very worthwhile. Then we spent the rest of the day looking at things on our own.

We also did a walking tour of St. Petes, with Peters walking tours. Very worthwhile and not expensive.