LarryRGV

I am doing some early planning for a 11 day June 2008 Scandanavian cruise that would include a two day stop in St.Petersburg. I want to visit Moscow also but obviously will not be able to do that as part of the cruise. We will probably need to fly to Moscow either before the cruise starts in Stockholm or after it ends in Copenhagen. Any good advice for private guides, or escorted tours from these two cities? And would three days in Moscow be about right for a tourist to get a good feel for the City?

Nancy_Mike

Can’t say a word about Moscow, but in St.Petersburg we had a private guide Eugenia Kempinskaya ([email protected]) and she was more than exceptional - very professional and at the same time very warm and friendly. She asked many questions and then combined all of our desires into our 5 days of sightseeing. She also planned our lunches and dinners and picked perfect restaurants, so that we were able to experience Russian cuisine.
I can highly recommend Eugenia to anyone who wants the perfect St. Petersburg vacation. She made our trip an unforgettable experience.


Nancy and Mike

kja

Hi, LarryRGV -

It depends on what you want to see and experience, but 3 days doesn't sound to me like enough time for Moscow. And 2 days doesn't sound like enough time for St. Petersburg.

Good luck with your planning!

Hope85

Hi Larry! I will be very glad to offer you my service =)
Couple of words about myself: my name is Nadya, I'm from Moscow. Last year I graduated from Moscow State University.
I a not a professional guide, but I know a lot about Moscow and will be glad to open you this city not only as a touristic place, but also as a wonderful place to live, go out and have fun!
Currently I'm trying to start my own business in this sphere, so if you are interested this will be my first official experience. On such occasion you will have good price of course.
We will construct your individual plan in Moscow and I am sure that even if it will be only 3 days you will never forget them!
Let me know by calling +007-903-676-12-13 or by writing to [email protected]

BRgrds
Nadya

neeps

Nadya - not a good way to get business.

LarryRGV - keep in mind that you might need a double entry Russian visa to fly in before or after the crusie and come then to return on the cruise (not sure what the visa rules are for cruises)

Here's the text of my tour guide recommendations to another poster:

I recommend Patriarshy Dom tours in Moscow (toursinrussia.com) and Premier Voyage Travel in St. Petersburg (travel.inc.ru). I have used both multiple times (living in Russia for the time being).

Patriarshy has small group tours or you can contact them to hire a private guide (I recommend Felix or Lena). Their group tours do not provide transportation you are expected to meet at a certain location for each tour. The private guide will typically meet you at your hotel.

Premier Voyage Travel does private tours that provide all transport to and from your hotel. The tours are cutomizable and having a guide means that you jump the que at each venue. I recommend Elena and the driver is Vadim.

tzarinna

Let us know how it goes, LarryRGV.
I'm doing research for my trip which will be in '09 and I'm already pulling out my hair.

Not to mention I'm planning trips in the US for the next few months...,hmmmm, that could add to the stress.

LarryRGV

Yeah, tzarinna, I can understand your frustration in doing the planning. Most of our trip will be on a cruise so I imaingine I will probably stick to the tours offered by the boat. But the Moscow portion is on our own before the cruise starts and it is hard finding the right info that you can depend on. There does not seem to be a lot of guide info or advice available online as there is for other countries. And as you have already seen on your other posting you get a lot of people promoting themselves and you just don't know whether to trust that info or not. Good luck in your prep. If I find someone for my Moscow trip I'll be happy to share. And you are smart to start early. I did that on our recent trip to China and Japan and was happy with my result. BTW if you need any help with your US trips, especially if Texas happens to be included, let me know.

katya_NY

I would agree that it seems VERY short for a visit to StPb- but if you are intent on squeezing in Moscow, I can recommend very highly the tour guide who helped us this past fall. We used East-West Tours (based in the Seattle area) and specifically Dora helped us IMMENSELY with our trip. I was bringing a group of 22 students- so my needs were very different than most- but Dora was fantastic, and happily responded (quickly) to every request. So definitely call (or email) Dora at East-West, and from there, I would highly recommend Lana (Svetlana)as the guide for Moscow. She was great, helped and advocated for us- the kids loved her.