mvpl

Has anyone taken a tour of Scandinavia and St Petersburg with a company they really like? Maybe a better question is, with a tour company they really hated! We don't have time for the planning necessary to do it ourselves and are torn between a land tour and a cruise. We plan to go this summer and time is getting short.

mvpl

Come on Fodorites - someone must have an opinion about companies to go with and those to avoid for this part of the world. Help!

Kristi

I thought Orient Lines did a nice job of travel in this area, you got a day or two in Copenhagen (hotel included) on one end and a day in Stockholm on the other (both expandable if you should so choose) with a stop in Helsinki and Tallinn and a 2 day stop in St. Pete.

We found that all of the ports were doable independently although in St. Pete I would recommend a private guide if you are first timers to the city. You will see a lot more.

Most of the major cruise lines do similar itineraries, some you can combine with Norway if you have more time. I liked the cruise because you did most of your traveling at night and you didn't need to unpack and repack like you would on a bus trip.

helen

I actually agree on a cruise for Denmark, Sweden and St. Petersburg. If combining it with a day-trip or multiple day-trip from Bergen, Norway like this:
http://www.fjordcruise.com/webpages....doc_group_id=1
You would get much of what Scandinavia has to offer. Skip Oslo, there are direct flights from Bergen to Copenhagen.

mvpl

Is there any benefit to staying on a ship in St Pete as opposed to a hotel? I agree with the packing/unpacking but wonder if you get to see as much as with a land tour? Also, then you're eating ship food instead of trying local restaurants - but that might also be a plus in that part of the world. Ah, decisions, decisions.

Garfield

He3re is some information with regards to arriving in St Petersburg by cruise ship. The information is provided by a tour company looking for clients, but it is information that may give you more ideas. Costs look high.

http://www.russianguidenetwork.com/new_page_58.htm

Decent trains run between Helsinki and St Petersburg you might want to consider this as an option. St Petersburg is an easy city to see as an independent traveller.

elayne

If you are over 50, we took the tour with Grand Circle Travel last September. It was marvelous.

Kristi

I don't know how much time you have and honestly I never looked into the land options for Scandanavia/St. Petersburg. If you had asked about just Russia I would have said land tour (we did one last year with Gate 1) but for Scandanavia and St. Pete, the distances are pretty far and I think you would be spending a lot of time on the bus, mostly in the daytime hours which cuts from your time actually seeing things.

We spent one day with a private guide in St. Petersburg and saw a lot of stuff, if you use a private guide you can see exactly what you want to see without the cattle call feel of a ship excursion. Yes, it is on the expensive side, even a little more than ship excursions, but it is well worth the money. The thing that frustrated me the most on the land tour was waiting for people who got lost or couldn't get themselves down to breakfast on time. Every day we probably lost an hour just due to that.

In one day we were able to see Peterhof, Strelna, St. Isaacs, Church of the Spilled Blood, Yusopov Palace and a stop at a market for souvenirs. Most ship and land tours would only see a fraction of that.

As far as food goes, we had both lunch and dinner in St. Pete, you don't have to eat on the ship. There was a recent thread on food in Moscow, go take a look at it for opinions on Russian food. I really enjoyed the food in Russia but there are many who probably would not.