Russian Tour Blog

Private Tours of St. Petersburg and Moscow using "themes"

  I just wrote an article which discusses the way we plan and guides "execute" tours.

Usually tours are "geograpically" oriented. Wherever you are, you get the whole story even it means dozens of people and events over centuries of time.

 The article Here discusses a recent Private Tour of Rome we designed for a couple who had teen age grandchildren. The grandparents were taking the grandchildren on a private tour of Rome.

 Instead of doing the usual approach to touring Rome and running the great risk of the grandchildren being bored, we created a "theme" approach. In this design, we will intentionally ignore some important aspects of a "place" unless it fits into one of our themes.

 

 

 

The themes are

• Ancient Rome

• The Holy See - the Vatican and its predecessors

• Renaissance Rome
  • The Art geniuses of Rome
    
    • Michelangelo
    • Bernini
    • Borromini
    • Caravaggio

• Rome of the Martyrs
• The Tragedy of Pompeii

 If you would like for us to create some "theme' based private tours of St. Petersburg , Moscow or the Golden Ring, tell us. I think you could enjoy the tour more and remember more of it for a longer period of time.

A quick way to give us the information we need create, free of charge, a tour of your choice is to click the button below.

Art and Romance on Your Tour of Moscow

Proper tours of Moscow are so much more interesting than "going it alone".

Each time I visit Moscow I learn something interesting. As my Moscow tour guide colleague and I strolled from Zamoskovorechye to the Gorky House we stopped at the “Bridge of Kisses”

Russian tradition requires newly married couples to kiss on a bridge on their wedding day. However, Moscow is not a city that one would link to romance. Who would have guessed that  Moscow would house a bridge so famous for holding memories of newlyweds?

The “Bridge of Kisses” over the Moskva River,... read the rest of this article at See You In Moscow blog.

St. Petersburg and Moscow Airport Codes and Travel Tips to Russia.

I speak with many people as they plan flights to St. Petersburg and Moscow.

 

First, you need to know the St. Petersburg airport code and the Moscow airport codes.

 

The St. Petersburg airport code is LED - codes usually have local significance. St. Petersburg's airport code, LED, comes from LEningraD.

 

Moscow has 3 airports. Usual Airport codes in Moscow are SVO,Sheremetyevo and DME, Domoedovo.

 

What are the considerations when planning flights to Russia assuming you will visit is St. Petersburg and Moscow?

• Which city has the best , cheapest service for you?
  • Will your airline penalize you for arriving in one city and departing from another?
  • If you will be penalized to arrive in one city and depart from the other, buy a domestic air ticket to return to the origin. They are usually $150 or less.

• The airport in St. Petersburg is small
  • Clearing customs is fast..
  • No American airline serves the St. Petersburg airport.
  • Many European airlines serve St. Petersburg

 

• Travel time from LED, SVO and DME can be 1 hour or more. Usually travel from LED to the city takes a bit less time

 

• If you must change airplanes in route ALWAYS look at the time allowed for the change. Non-Stop flights to St. Petersburg and Moscow are worth a premium but sometimes are impossible to find.
  • Many visitors make aircraft changes in Paris or London
    • Allow plenty of time - these airports are notorious time consuming travel between gates
    • If you do not have a non-stop flight look at Frankfurt, Munich or Amsterdam for aircraft changes. Prague also has a very user friendly airport and Czech airlines flies to LED and Moscow's airports

 

 

• Arrive refreshed. Don't waste the first afternoon you are in Russia.
  • We suggest a easy tour, city familiarization, or a canal boat tour on arrival for:
    • Orientation to your surroundings
    • Meet your guide
    • Keep you awake until bed time in the new time zone.
      • As a world traveler I know too well the common experience of awaking at 2 am in a new city, unable to return to sleep. That is a sure-fire way to be tired for your important first day in Russia
  • Consider taking a sleep aid as your board your flight.
    • Avoid in-flight entertainment or taking too much time to consume your "free" meal.
      • These amenities will be very costly in the long run if they cause you to arrive tired.

 

• Shop not only for "best price" but also "best service" which includes:
  • Time in route - connecting times ,if any, must be long enough.
  • Arrival time. It is nice to have the 1st afternoon to begin your visit.
  • Does your airline have a way to get you to your destination today if your original flight is cancelled for maintenance?
    • Beware flights that, if canceled, will cause you to arrive a day late. Try to book a flight that has a back up, even if on another airline.
      • Here are 2 examples. From New York JFK, London Heathow, Paris CDG and others, local airlines go to Russia and there are also flights available on Aeroflot , S7 or Rossiya
      • Favor a flight with a carrier which ,if cancelled, can accommodate you on a flight on one of these other airlines. Booking on another airline may be easier to obtain if the other carrier is a code share partner or in the same airline alliance with your airline of choice.
    • Example: Delta and AeroFlot are both in "Skyteam". It is probably easier for Delta to put you on a later Aeroflot flight (or vice versa) if Delta cancels for some reason.
    • If you are going non-stop from Chicago, you may be forced to wait until tomorrow or change planes in Europe.
    • So, as much as I despise JFK airport it has some real advantages which may not be obvious.

If you are using the tour services of www.RussianTourGuide.com or our sister company www.MyRomeTourGuide.com (remember the tips presented here apply when flying to Rome, (Airport code FCO) you have access to my experience as a international airline pilot for help with decisions regarding flight details to Russia or Rome.

Good planning can give you a much better chance to get your exciting Russian holiday off to a good start.

One of the Best Moscow Restaurants- and it's affordable !

When there are a thousand wonderful restaurants from which to choose, how to you go about choosing a good restaurant in Moscow?

See the rest of this article at the delightful blog "See you in Moscow"

Moscow Airport Code SVO and Getting to Moscow from the Airport

The three letter Moscow airport code for the Sheremetyevo Airport is SVO.

Now, with your bags, how do you get from SVO to Moscow? The choice you make may determine if your Moscow tour starts out well or not.

 3 options:

• Take the AeroExpress to the Belorussky (Belorusskaya) Railway Station
• $20 R/T or $10 1 Way
• Take a cab to Moscow.
• Bad - You try to negotiate a price
• Worse – you accept the meter is honest  and go not knowing the final price !!
• Big Mistake !!!! (see example below)

• Arrange a private transfer from SVO to Moscow.
• Driver is waiting at Russian Customs Control
• He takes your bags to a private car

 

The AeroExpress is ok from SVO to Belorussky Railway Station (which is also a metro station) but you must still get to your Moscow hotel.
So

• SVO to Belosrussky Railroad Station by AeroExpress ($11)
• Pay a taxi almost as much to take you the rest of the way
• OR
• Board the Moscow Metro at Belorusskaya metro
• Be prepared for a walk and negotiating long escalators
• Possibly change Moscow Metro lines
• Can involve long walks and steps
• Carry and “protect” your bags
• Find room for your bags on crowded Moscow Metro cars
• Walk from  Moscow metro to your hotel – WHEW !
• Get the picture?

 

The taxi from SVO to a hotel will work, but “cab drivers”, frequently EXTREMELY overcharge !!

I experimented with this recently. I gave the “taxi man” the address.  He quoted $160.  I refused and offered $50. We settled on $60. It was a:

• “dilapidated” car
• driver who loved LOUD music.
• Initially tried to cheat me – no tip

 

You MUST negotiate a fixed price:

• The meters are FREQUENTLY extremely over priced
• If the meter is honest, traffic can run up the fees
• Sometimes, even if the price is negotiated, Moscow taxi drivers refuse to let you out of the cab until you pay extra!

 

I use RussianTourGuide.com for  transfers to Moscow. SVO to Moscow transfers are about $70

When traveling to unfamiliar places,

• Have a plan
• Probably better to arrange a transfer
• May even be cheaper than public transport with 2 or more in your party.

Transfer Example : Yuri , a great driver and friend, (pictured) once went to SVO to pick up a client. The flight was delayed. He did not leave as the arrival time was uncertain. It was 12 hours late. The client offered no tip but  even after that Yuri has a wonderful attitude.

St. Petersburg Shore Excursions: Private Tours Compared.

As we stated in a previous article on group tours:

Cruise lines desperately want you to pay them for your shore excursions in St. Petersburg . It is an important source of revenue for them. Unfortunately, they don't seem to be as concerned about the quality of your St. Petersburg guided tour as they do about intimidating you into paying them for it.

You should take the time to compare any cruise line's private St. Petersburg shore excursions to the private St. Petersburg guided tours offered by a private tour operator.

Let's get started on our comparison of private  shore excursions in St. Petersburg !

 

Let's compare private tours from 2 companies on:

• Price
• Value
• Convenience
• Customer Service

For comparison purposes we will use similar programs from:

• Celebrity Cruise Lines
• RussianTourGuide.com

Visitors to St. Petersburg on Celebrity Cruise Lines' Constellation have many choices for their St. Petersburg excursions. A St. Petersburg guided tour is a must. St. Petersburg is considered by many to be the most exciting cruise ship destination in the world.

How do you choose which of the many shore excursions is best for you?

Now we are comparing - St. Petersburg Guided Private Tours - They are popular because:

• You control the itinerary.
• The group is only as large as your party.
• If you want to make changes as you go along, to some extent, you can
• With a small number of people you can actually interact with the guide and some of the local people.
  • Large groups create a "bubble" around them. Local people will not come in and you can't break out.
  • Small groups in a private guided tour of St. Petersburg actually get the "feel" of the surroundings

Now let’s look at the Celebrity Cruise Lines private tour vs The private 2 day tour provided by RussianTourGuide.com

On private tours of St. Petersburg we can create itineraries to compare which are equal. So, "itinerary" when comparing cruise line excursions and private shore excursions in St. Petersburg is not an issue.

The issues are :

• Price
• Customer Service
• Ease of communication with your tour company to make changes and ask questions

Celebrity includes admissions to 2 venues in their full day car so we will compare using the concept of 2 persons on the tour.

• Note: Unlike some cities, the admission tickets to the major sites in St. Petersburg are quite expensive. Therefore, many tours exclaim the sights you will see not mentioning that they are loading their descriptions with a large number of "drive-by" visits and avoiding the payments for inside admissions and tours.

If we compare 2 full day tours which include:

Day 1	Day 2
Peterhof Gardens and Fountains	The Hermitage
The Catherine Palace	Peter and Paul Fortress

On Price:

            RussianTourGuide .com       $702.86 Per Person

            Celebrity Cruise Lines         $850.00  Per Person

            The savings are  $147.14 per person or $294.28 dollars per couple for the same 2 day tour.

On customer service:

            RussianTourGuide.com can and will listen and honor your requests for a tour which is specific to your interests. With Celebrity Cruise Lines you must choose from an inflexible menu.

            RussianTourGuide.com has offices in the USA and St. Petersburg. This results in the ability of our clients to pay by credit cards, checks and or cash on arrival in St. Petersburg. You do not have all of those choices with Celebrity.

            Tours of St. Petersburg, Moscow and Rome (and the Golden Ring of Russia) are all we do. When you speak with a tour planner at RussianTourGuide.com (or our sister company MyRomeTourGuide.com) you are speaking with someone who KNOWS first hand the area under discussion. We have been to our tour cities dozens of times. We know what is important and what is not. We are not salesmen who are selling from a fact sheet. We know our destinations.

How do I make Private Shore Excursions to St. Petersburg affordable if I am on a budget?

• Contact a reputable tour operator that specializes in St. Petersburg shore excursions and ask for their help to create a small group of people who are compatible.
  • By doing this you have control over the group size and the cost of your St. Petersburg guided tour.

How do I know what itinerary to request?

•  Call us.
•  Click this button and give us details about your visit to St. Petersburg

We will do our utmost to give you good advice, free of charge with no obligation.

 

Our goal is to give our clients the Trip of a Lifetime at the least possible cost.

The Jewish Cemetery - Private Tours of St. Petersburg

I have been, over the last 10 years, to many amazing sites in St. Petersburg. I had heard of the Jewish cemetery but really did not have any idea what it would really look like. It was a the big surprise for me.

St. Petersburg is a vast city. Some of the most important and interesting sites are at the edges and on various compass points of this large city which makes efficient planning more challenging.  At one extreme on the west side is Peterhof. On the Southeast side is Pushkin and the Catherine Palace. The Jewish cemetery is on the North east extreme.

So, my job is to try to give the potential tourist enough information to know whether or not, precious time in St. Petersburg should be expended to make this journey, about 45 min – to an hour by car, to visit the Jewish Cemetery.

Firstly, one knows if one likes cemeteries, in general, or not. If you would not be interested in seeing the grave site of  a slain American president or a famous writer or composer, then it is unlikely that a visit to the Jewish cemetery is for you. When I am in such a place my mind is busy with the thoughts of the events in the lives of these forever silenced personalities. I imagine the shock of their death to their families and their contemporaries. I think of all of those in attendance, comforting the family who are now, also passed. I imagine the hopes and dreams they had for their children and their accomplishments. If your imagination is stimulated, as mine is, by observance of a place of final repose, I think this could be for you.

 

One should not expect a grand, neatly manicured symbol of respect.  The scale of the cemetery is grand but the condition is anything but. While there are some signs of renewed interest, the lack of maintenance to the entrance façade and the generous growth of weeds, at certain places, leaves one with a sense of neglect. What was astonishing to me was the carefully maintained walkways (paved in a city where dirt walkways in residential areas are still common) creating a grid of many acres, between which were the haphazard eclectic collection of impressive individual monuments to the dead. Many of the monuments are of those who died during the blockade, either ,as so many were, of starvation or disease or at the front defending the city. Many monuments had the photographs of the dead, sometimes reflecting the family members who sleep together underneath a common memorial.

Guides and the people at http://www.RussianTourGuide.com are constantly striving to make tourists’ visits ones, which they will fondly remember. The challenge for guides  as well as for me as a tour planner is to glean from the tourist enough information to make an intelligent suggestion as to itinerary. Some of you would find a visit to this cemetery utterly moving, others of you would find it  utterly boring.  Your candid assessment of your personality can help the planner to decide if this non-trivial investment in time is a good one for you.

If you decide that you want to make the visit to the Jewish cemetery in St. Petersburg, I think, as a planner for RussianTourGuide.com, you will also consider it serendipitous that your journey takes you very close to the Alexander Nevsky Monastery.

This is the type of scene which one can observe over and over in the St. Petersburg Jewish Cemetery. This is a picture of the monuments of a family, the son within which, was killed during the Siege of Leningrad.

Moscow to St. Petersburg Trains

 

One of my favorite things to do in Russia is to make the journey from Moscow to St. Petersburg by train.

 

It was not long ago that there were limited choices for daytime travel by train from Moscow to St. Petersburg. Until recently, the vast majority traveled from Moscow to St. Petersburg using the numerous "sleeper" trains operating near midnight. Many of the classic names in passenger rail annals still ply that route. Those  Russian trains have names like "Red Arrow" and  "Nikolaevsky Express". The only high-speed Moscow to St. Petersburg train was the afternoon "Aurora".

 

In the last two years the landscape for Moscow to St. Petersburg train travel has changed dramatically. Now there are the sleek new SAPSAN high-speed trains. There are several departures each day from Moscow to St. Petersburg and from St. Petersburg to Moscow. Clocking in at about four hours the SAPSAN trains are as fast or a bit faster than the old Aurora and with many modern features.

 

I had the pleasure of taking SAPSAN number 155 from St. Petersburg to Moscow recently. The first thing I noticed was the sleek, modern design. Each wagon had stylish interiors with choices of entertainment. The food and beverage wagon was staffed with eager, friendly servers. But the most amazing feature of this St. Petersburg to Moscow train was the onboard concierge.

 I was curious about how this worked and asked what the concierge provided.  I was  told  that, among the many services offered, I could give the concierge an address and he would give me a quote for taxi service. Once I was given the quote I could accept it or not. Even though I suggest that our clients avail themselves of our service of transfers from the Russian train stations I thought I would try it. I gave the address of the Maxima hotel and shortly the concierge returned to my seat with a quote of 1200 rubles. (about $45). I speak Russian well enough to understand that the driver would be waiting for me, holding a sign, as I stepped off the train. To my surprise, as the train came to a halt I saw the cab driver with the sign in his hand. He didn't speak English but he was pleasant and I got to my hotel with no request for more money.

The SAPSAN is not your father's Moscow to St. Petersburg train.

• Cost  from St. Petersburg to Moscow – about $150 one way, 2^nd class
• St. Petersburg to Moscow train elapsed time – about 4 hours
• Ticketing for the St. Petersburg to Moscow train is still best handled by your tour operator.

Kremlin Armoury Chamber

The Kremlin Armoury is a “must see” museum if you are planning to visit the Grand Kremlin Palace’s Complex. It is known to be one of the oldest museums in Moscow that opened to the public in 1813. Kremlin Armoury originated as a royal arsenal in 1508. It was used for production, purchasing and storing weapons, jewelry and gifts from other countries andvarious household items of the tsars.    

When Peter the Great came to court, he changed the location of the Chamber and took everything with him to St. Petersburg. However, when Tsar Alexander I came to power, he changed the location back to Moscow. He was the one who opened the collections to the public.  

Nowadays, the Chamber has 9 different halls. In those halls you can find ancient state regalia, ceremonial tsar’s vestments and coronation clothing. The most spectacular of these is the dress which Empress Catherine II (Great) wore.

The largest collection of gold and silverware by Russian and west European craftsmen, artistic silver, ceremonial weapons, arms, carriages and horse ceremonial harness can be seen in the Armoury.  

 

Included in  these collections are such famous pieces as:

• 10 Faberge eggs (second largest single collection in the world),
• The throne of Ivan the Terrible
•  The imperial crown of Russia (Monomakh’s Cap),
• Inside of the Armoury you can also find famous Russian Diamond Fund.

The hours and dates of operation of the Armoury Chamber and of the Fund are subject to change so it’s better to check before you go on your trip

The tickets to the Kremlin Armoury are sold separately from the general admission to the Kremlin tickets. You can buy them only during the specified hours of the days at the ticket box by Kutafiya Tower and in the Alexander Garder. Both of the locations are near the Kremlin walls. The lines to these ticket boxes are usually very long. The Kremlin is closed on Thursday.

 If you want to save time and get a nice tour of the Kremlin Armoury Chamber, it is better to use the services of a proper guide company. Our tour guides buy the tickets in advance before your tour of the Kremlin.

St. Petersburg Shore Excursions: Group Tour Comparisons

Cruise lines desperately want you to pay them for your shore excursions in St. Petersburg . It is an important source of revenue for them. Unfortunately, they don't seem to be as concerned about the quality of your St. Petersburg guided tour as they do about intimidating you into paying them for it.

Price:

The Celebrity Cruise Lines' combined price for these two separate guided tours of St. Petersburg would be $358.00

Here are some features you need to note:

• There is no limit (other than coach size) on the number of participants
• Celebrity Cruise lines reserves the right to cancel the tour if too few participants enroll
• Lunch is provided both days

The RussianTourGuide.com St. Petersburg 2-Day Cruise Ship Excursion is $359.00

• This tour will have no more than 12 persons
• A privately conducted canal boat tour is included (just for the members of this tour)
  

 

 

 

• The Church on Spilled Blood is included in the tour
• A visit inside the Peter and Paul Cathedral (rather than St. Isaacs Cathedral) is included
  • This is the final resting place of all but one of the czars

 

• Lunch is provided 1 day

Value:

	Celebrity Cruise Lines’ Group Tour	RussianTourGuide Group Tour
Peterhof	Yes	Yes
Catherine Palace	Yes	Yes
Hermitage	Yes	Yes
Peter and Paul Fortress	No	Yes
Church on Spilled Blood	No	Yes
Private Canal Boat Tour	No	Yes
St. Isaac’s Cathedral	Yes	Yes

On Customer Service & Convenience

            RussianTourGuide.com can and will listen and honor your requests for a tour which are specific to your interests. With Celebrity Cruise Lines you must choose from an inflexible menu.

            RussianTourGuide.com has offices in the USA and St. Petersburg. This results in the ability of our clients to pay by credit cards, checks and or cash on arrival in St. Petersburg. You do not have all of those choices with Celebrity.

            Tours of St. Petersburg, Moscow and Rome (and the Golden Ring of Russia) are all we do. When you speak with a tour planner at RussianTourGuide.com (or our sister company MyRomeTourGuide.com) you are speaking with someone who KNOWS first hand the area under discussion. We have been to our tour cities dozens of times. We know what is important and what is not. We are not salesmen who are selling from a fact sheet. We know our destinations.

 

Having been to St. Petersburg many times, I would draw the attention of the prospective tourist to the inclusion these sights in the RussianTourGuide.com tour

• The Canal Boat tour
• Visit to the Church on Spilled Blood

These differences are powerful and worth serious consideration.

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