what is better in St. Petersberg...
 

will be in St. Petersberg the first week of september w/a cruise. what is better, to sign up with a cruise tour, or make my own arrangements?
will be there 2 days.
also what is the weather like at the begining of september

We hired a taxi driver to tour us around St.P, but it was a little scary, he took us to some very odd places. Do you have any contacts there? How would you make prior arrangements?

If you sign up with a cruise tour you will pay about 20 times as much as if hiring a guide privately. However, it is not easy to find a private guide. When we were there we hired a guide through our hotel, which was quite expensive. After the tour, the guide offered us to accompany the next day, too, for a fraction of the price. And she paid only a tenth of the entrance fees in museums as foreign tourists (they have different prices for foreigners and for natives. Keep in mind that everything costs 15 Dollars, including a visit to a church).

It's the same with taxi drivers. They charge ten times more than from natives. And taxi drivers are not always reliable.

Maybe the best thing is to leave the vessel and negociate with some of the dispatchers and taxi drivers there.

Or you walk into a hotel. BTW, the city is very easy to walk, and most attractions are in easy reach by foot.

Besides the prominent attractions, I strongly recommend to spend an evening in the Marinskij Theater (opera) and to visit the Yusupuv Palace.

How much time do you have? It is very walkable.

It's true that there are two levels of cash economies - and quite openly so. I bought an opera ticket in Russian and was nicely but firmly reminded of the foreigner's prices (just in case I had any ideas about buying at the local rate I suppose, but my Russian isn't good enough to get away with that anyway...); but who can blame them for having a pricing level for foreigners that approaches equivalent pricing in other world cities? Theatre tickets and such, entrance fees, they're on a par with the rest of the world.

Locals couldn't afford to go to a museum or concert if it weren't for the much much reduced rate they pay. Seems fair to me.

I suggest you hook up, over the internet and through personal recommendations from prior visitors on this and other boards, with a guide that can pick you up and take you around. It will not cost you more than getting ripped off by cab drivers and such, but you will get value for your money.

Read up on the city beforehand, and discuss with the guide beforehand some options that strike you as attractive.

The guide may be very proud of the car, but traffic around the interesting parts of St. P. is mostly at or near a standstill - in the middle of the day!

Insist on doing a bit of walking, maybe a loop from the Admiralty along Nevsky Prospekt to Gostiny Dvor, (go inside and browse), then past the Russian Museum and the parks/gardens to the north of it to the church of the Savior of Spilt Blood and along the canal Nab Reky Molky back to the Hermitage (Winter Palace etc.) and to the Admiralty.

That would be a cool three-hour leisurely walk (or less, but why rush it), and the guide could tell you interesting things along the way - very memorable and relaxing.

Enjoy!

WK

"Keep in mind that everything costs 15 Dollars, including a visit to a church"

I'm not quite sure what you mean by "everything," but I spent a week in St. Petersburg last year (mostly solo, occasionally accompanied by Russian acquaintances) and there were plenty of things that cost less than that or were free. Though the Church on the Spilled Blood does charge (as I recall, about 10 dollars), all of the other churches I visited were free. And like Wally, I didn't object to the dual pricing structure, because the average St. Petersburger earns only a small percentage of what the average Western tourist earns, and the prices for non-Russians were not what I consider exorbitant for world-class sights. Though I'm sure some people will differ.

Please note that St. Petersburg is a lot smaller than Moscow, but the cruise ship dock is outside of the main downtown area.

If you know at least enough Cyrillic letters to sound out words, you can easily use the St. Petersburg Metro to get from the cruise ship to downtown. The Moscow Metro is much larger and much more imposing and I would be more hesitant to recommend it for anyone having only a brief time there.

I should say that I rode both these Metros (and successfully negotiated a change of train in Moscow where 4 lines meet; the key is knowing the color of your line; you follow the color of the signs and you get there). I have some very basic Russian and can sound out Cyrillic. Please note that no map in English is worth anything because no street signs in St. Petersburg are in conventional lettering. In Moscow you can find a few signs near the Kremlin in conventional lettering, but otherwise you have to read Cyrillic.

While I took a package tour, I did go off the tour for one day in Moscow to do my own thing and again in St. Petersburg, but, again, I had some basic Russian (from high school eons ago) and can sound out Cyrillic pretty well.

Whether you go solo or take the tour associated with the cruise ship depends on how adventurous you are and whether you can handle the uncertainty of doing it on your own. Please note: For The Hermitage the guides get you in quite quickly. Without a guide, you will be in the regular line. I do believe that the guides slip some bribes to get their groups in so that time is not wasted. That can be a considerable advantage.

You will love Russia!

Weather may be pleasant or may be cold. I was there the week of my birthday one year (9/9) and while several days were pleasant one day was about 45 and very damp and windy. (The locals had pulled out their winter coats.)

We were there several years ago and hired a guide and she brought a driver. The whole thing cost $100 for a full day. St. Petersburg is a college town, so there are students who will act as guides who are fluent in English. We really enjoyed the experience.
Frankly, I have forgotten how I found her, but I just googled and found this link: http://www.russianguidenetwork.com/

thank you all for your information.

We were in St. Petersburg for several days with a river cruise. Because I was not able to determine ahead of time just what "optional" tours would be available, I engaged a private tour guide (one I found highly recommended here on Fodor's). This turned out to be the most splendid decision! (The many "optional tours" were ridiculously priced, by comparison...)

I could not more highly recommend http://www.tourservice.sp.ru/

Olga is exceptionally charming and knowledgeable, and also as flexible as you want/need to be. We corresponded via e-mail many times finalizing our plans.

Licensed tour guides not only skip the ticket lines, they get you into the "executive" rest rooms! (And, she knew the location of all the elevators...)

Olga provided exceptional private tours/commentary (in expert English) everywhere we went. She also directed us to fabulous dining/shopping. Her rate is ridiculously reasonable.

She met us at the ship both days, and engaged a "reliable" taxi driver to get us back to the ship (less than $10 with tip).

Best was the CANAL CRUISE. These are only available with commentary in Russian, but we had Olga along! (And, she knew the longest one with the best route...) You wouldn't think you'd want to take a canal cruise, along with the river cruise, but, trust me on this, it is NOT TO BE MISSED!

If you do decide to venture into St. Petersburg on your own, take the tram from the cruise dock. It's much more scenic, and easier to figure out where to get off. With the metro (we took this one day with Olga), if you don't know what you're doing (and you won't), at most stations, it is nearly impossible to determine the name of the stop.

Note that, at all the venues, in St. Petersburg, the guides DO NOT get in by "slip some bribes", rather skip the lines with their LICENSE(s).

Others on our ship ventured into St. Petersburg on their own, but experienced considerable difficulty reading street signs and getting around. (Also, getting into venues, with long, long lines.) Even with the excellent map provided by the ship.

If you cannot read Cyrillic lettering, you will not be able to read the maps and match them to the street signs.

Some people are simply more able to do things themselves than others. Also, some people simply want to be left alone to wander around. It is a question of different styles of travel.

Jenmamam, you will have to decide what is right for yourself.

Even with a week in St. Petersburg, I did not get to go to the Marinsky Theater or the Yusupov Palace. We could have gone to the Marinsky one night but it was Wagner and I did not think 4 hours or so of "Seigfried" would be enjoyable after a day of exhausting touring. The Yusupov Palace is sort of out of the way and I think you may need to reserve in advance. Those are two things that would be on the top of my list when I return to St. Petersburg. The Yusupov Palace is where Rasputin was murdered.

When I take the Transiberian RR next year, one day is spent in Yekaterinburg. The site where the last Tsar and his family were murdered is on the itinerary, but the house where they were held was torn down to prevent it being turned into a shrine. There is a great interest in the pre communist past now in Russia--and sometimes an over glorification of it.

On the elderhostel trip, we went to a lot of evening entertainment in all sorts of venues. I believe it was in St. Petersburg where we went to a nobleman's house where had it done up like the entrance to a cave when you entered.

If you are interested in the arts (and I normally go to the theater at least once a week at home because I volunteer usher for 5 different theaters), the Elderhostel trip would probably be enjoyable for you.

You should plan an entire day for your visit to The Hermitage. The next day you can do some of the other things.

We were with a cruise ship last year and found out that you need some kind of visa to go on land. We were too late to sign up for the tour on the ship but were able to go with Red October Tours. I heard that the cruise tour was good. Ours was great and cost a little less.

We had a great tour experience last September with a company called Denrus.We planned it in advance with about ten people that we "met" via a Cruise Critic message board. Denrus provided a very comfortable van, a drver and an excellent guide. (Her name is Antonella and her background as an art history professor made tours of the museums a very enriching experiece.) In our preplanning with them, we had some input into the sites that we wished to have included in our 2 day tour. Although people from our cruise who took the ship tours also reported having had very good tours, I believe that we were able to see more sites and we spent about $100. less per person to do so.It was also very efficient to have to be in a group of ten as opposed to a busload of 40. I highly reccomend arranging a smaller group and also highly reccomend Denrus. I have also heard good reports about Red October. We chose Denrus because they were more timely in their email replies in the planning process. Keep in mind that unless you are with an authorized tour company that you will be required to obatain Russian visas to even leave the ship. The weather was warm and sunny when we were there about the 7th or 8th of September last year. Note that many cruise lines try and pressure pasengers into taking the ship tours, even telling you that if not on a ship tour you will the last to disembark. Do not be intimitaded by their pressure tactics. We were among the very first off the ship both mornings. It was absolutely not true that Russian immigration would not process us, etc.

We did a river cruise from Moscow to SPB about five years ago. It was May and Moscow was very cold, so we stuck with the cruise guides - big mistake. Aborted, overpriced tours led by lazy and/or uninformed guides.

DH has a better knack for languages and he learned the Cyrillic and some Russian words before the trip. So that made a big difference when we were on our own.

We had had enough of the company guides and the horrible food on the ship, and in SPB we regularly 'jumped ship' or the tour bus, especially in the evenings. It was in May and the weather as gorgeous and it was light until past 10:00PM.

We did take the ship's tours for palaces that were out of town. They wanted something like $25.00 each for the canal tour. We had a guide book from home and so we knew that we could take it ourselves, for about $5.00. It wasn't they money, we just like traveling independently as much as possble.

The fact that it was of course in Russian made no difference to us, as it was a gorgeous day and the canal ride was wonderful. The other passengers, all Russians were delighted that we were American tourists and were very gracious to us.

We took the subway (thanks to DH) and wandered all over by ourselves.

Every night in SPB we ate off the ship and had some fabulous meals at a fraction of what they would cost here. The oysters were the best we had/have ever eaten. They may have been from Finland, but I'm not sure. Also the ice cold vodka and the cavier added to our enjoyment of the meals.

Cabs from the dock to town (at that time) were about $12-$15 depending on the driver. They also tried to get more. Returning to the ship, always get a definite price before starting the trip - they wanted at least $30.00, so we would get out and get another cab. One night we took a ride from a student, who wanted $15 with no tip and we had an enjoyable ride back to the ship.

Take the advice given here about the guides, I wish that we had had that information when we went.

Also, try to go to the Hermitage on the day that the golden peacock moves. It may be Tuesday at about 4:30 or 5:00PM. It is really worth seeing. Luckily we stayed behind when the ships tour left, without evening knowing about the peacock - what a lucky break for us.

Contact one of of the recommended guides, you have plenty of time, and see what they advise as far as must see sights, Peterhoff, etc.. Use your ships itinery (sp) as a guide. Your money and time will be better spent with them, not the ships paid guides who either don't know or don't care about your enjoyment and learning.

SPB is a beauiful City and you will enjoy it.

Nina

As with most ship tours, the guides always managed to find time to take us to a rip off tourist store. To our surprise we found better bargains in the ships gift shop.

Although dollars are accepted and expected all over Moscow and SPB, we used rubles 99% of the time. When prices were quoted in dollars, which they did first, and a lot of the price tags were in dollars, often the mark up is incredible. In one store, we were quoted $8.00 US for a small toy, but the sticker in rubles came to about $1.50. I am a shopper and we saved quite a bit using rubles. Hey I have to justify a bad habit ;-)

Don't overbuy rubles, they can't be bought or sold outside of Russia, or at least couldn't be when we were there a few years ago.

The palaces and the mosaic art work is incredible.

We did go to the ballet in Moscow with a tour from the ship and even paying so much extra for it, it was worth it for the night round trip transportation and the ease of getting the tickets. That I would recommend.

Nina (a good Russian name)

I must correct the name of the guide I offered on my earlier post. Her name was Ludmillia, not Antonella. My husband recently read my post and corrected me. I apologize for my confusion and hope that you have not cotacted Denrus and asked for Antonella! Best wishes for an enjoyable couple of days in St.Petersburg.