Private Grand St. Petersburg (Visas Included)

After meeting your professional guide at the pier, your private St. Petersburg excursion will begin with a brief introduction to Russian history while you drive to the Spit of Basil Island, where you will enjoy the magnificent view of the Neva Embankments, St. Peter and Paul Fortress, and the Winter Palace. During your St. Petersburg tour, you will also see all the remarkable places of interest such as the Synagogue, the Smolny Cathedral, Nevsky Prospekt, the Bronze Horseman, and the Mariinsky Palace. The most picturesque places are chosen as photo stops en route.

After the city tour, your guide will recommend a local restaurant for lunch on your own before the afternoon program.

After lunch, you will visit one of St. Petersburg's most famous sites. The Hermitage museum occupies the Winter Palace, the winter residence of the Russian Czars, and four more buildings: The Small Hermitage, housing Catherine's original collection, the Old Hermitage, the Hermitage Theater, Catherine's private theater, and the New Hermitage. The Hermitage Museum is the largest art museum in Russia and ranks among the most prestigious and fabulous museums in the world. Its collection of Western European art is second to none. Your St. Petersburg tour will include viewings of the State Rooms of the Winter Palace, the collection of Western European art, featuring Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Titian and others, Dutch and Flemish Art collections, including Rembrandt, Rubens, and Van Dyck. After the tour of the museum, you will visit museum square where your transportation will be waiting to take you back to the pier.

Please Note: All of our tours in St. Petersburg are operated by authorized guides, and you therefore do not need to secure an independent visa in order to participate in this tour. However, in order to book this tour, you must provide us with full names, dates of birth, nationality, and passport numbers for each tour participant so that our guides can secure the proper tour visas on your behalf. Note also that, if you wish to explore St. Petersburg on your own while not accompanied by one of our guides, you will need to secure an independent visa.

Please be aware that cruise lines occasionally mislead passengers by telling them that they are not allowed to disembark the ship in St. Petersburg unless they are on an excursion purchased through the cruise line. In addition, the cruise lines also sometimes tell passengers that they cannot disembark the ship until the passengers on the cruise lines' excursions have done so first. This is incorrect, and you are free to exit the ship as soon as passengers start to disembark because Russian law states that a cruise ship cannot hold passengers onboard against their will as long as they have the proper documents. In order to clear immigration, you will need to bring along: 1) Your passport; 2) A photocopy of the picture page of your passport; and 3) A copy of your tour tickets. We will provide you with your tour tickets as part of the documents we e-mail to you after you make a tour booking.