St. Petersburg welcomes you. This tour is perfect for travelers with only a few days in St. Petersburg. We’ll provide the best guides, arrange express, no queues entrance to museums, and do our best to make your St. Petersburg long week-end most enjoyable.

At the airport arrival hall or at the station, your private driver will meet you and transfer to your hotel in the center of St. Petersburg. The drive from the airport to the heart of the city is interesting architecturally and impressive. In the evening you can rest, take a walk or go out for dinner in one of the nearby restaurants (we will be happy to provide recommendations).

Full day sightseeing / guide 8 hours, car 4 hours

09:30 The city-tour (4 hours) will give you an overview of the history and geography of St. Petersburg St. Petersburg, the UNESCO World Heritage site and one of the world’s most amazing travel destinations. You’ll observe: the Mariinsky Theater, the Hermitage, the Winter Palace, the Palace Square, the Spit of Vasilievsky Island, the Bronze Horseman Statue, Peter’s Log Cabin, Cruiser Aurora, Smolny Convent, the Nevsky Prospect, the Square of Arts and more. The tour also takes you inside Peter-and-Paul Fortress and St. Isaac’s Cathedral.

The Peter-and-Paul Fortress marks the founding of the city by Peter the Great in 1703. Inside stands the Cathedral of Peter-and-Paul (1714) where the Romanovs from Peter the Great onwards are buried. In July 1998 the last Tsar, Nickolas II, with most of his family, were finally laid to rest here. Started as a citadel to defend the city from sea invasions, the Fortress has served many other roles as well. It was later converted into a prison for political dissidents before being harnessed by the Bolsheviks as a museum.

The majestic St. Isaac’s is one of the world’s largest and most opulent domed cathedrals. It took 40 years to construct, under French-born architect Auguste de Montferrand’s direction, from 1818 to 1858. The neoclassical exterior of St. Isaac’s barely hints at the riotously rich interior, decorated with various sorts of marble, semiprecious stones and mosaics. The iconostasis is framed by ten malachite and two lapis lazuli columns. The Cathedral’s doors are covered in reliefs, patterned after the celebrated doors of the Battistero di San Giovanni in Florence.

Visitors willing to climb 300 steps will get a spectacular view of St. Petersburg (with extra ticket).

14:00 This afternoon you’ll visit the Hermitage Museum which contains the largest art collection in the world. It takes years to see the whole of it, but under the direction of your experienced private guide you will see the best of the collection in 2-2,5 hours before exploring the Museum on your own.

You’ll enter the Winter Palace (1762) – a gem of Russian baroque and the main residence of the Romanovs. The tour takes you to see the State rooms and art galleries of the palace, as well as other buildings of the Museum: Small Hermitage, Old Hermitage, New Hermitage and the Hermitage Theatre. Our tour will include works from some of the great masters, such as Leonardo da Vinci, Titian, Rafael, Rembrandt, Van Dyck and others.

 Free time in the Hermitage, or optionally visiting the newly renovated General Staff building across from Winter Palace (on your own with extra ticket) to see fabulous French Impressionist collections.

Please note that there will be no transport provided from the Hermitage.

In the evening you might like to attend a ballet performance or an opera or a symphony concert. We would be happy to provide you theatre schedules and to get tickets.x

Full day sightseeing / 8 hours with guide & car

9:00 The drive to Pushkin town is only 45 min, it lays through the modern districts of St. Petersburg and a picturesque country-side to the hilly area originally known as Tsarskoye Selo (Village of the Tsars). The drive will be narrated by your private guide.

After a short walk through the gardens you’ll enter the Catherine palace – the summer residence of the Tsars. The grandiose Catherine palace is the last great Baroque Palace in Europe (1756) with a famous undulating façade, dazzling Ballroom, Rococo interiors, and the legendary Amber Room.

At the end of the 18th century it was Catherine the Great who invited the British architect Charles Cameron to work on the palace and converted the garden into an elaborate English park, where Cameron created his masterpiece – the Cameron gallery.

In the afternoon, you’ll drive (40 min) to Peterhof* – ‘Russian Versailles’, the most impressive and ornate country residence of the Romanovs built by Peter the Great in 1706-1723 on the coast of the Gulf of Finland. Peterhof is world famous for its palaces, gardens and the largest functioning 18th century fountain complex with 150 gilded fountains run by gravity. You’ll walk through the delightful formal gardens, past cascades and fountains, and visit the original home for Peter I, the Monplaisir Palace – a charming baroque mansion on the shore of the Gulf of Finland that demonstrates the Tsar’s exquisite and restrained taste.

* In the off-season (October – May), when fountains don’t work in Peterhof, this tour is re-placed with the trip to Pavlovsk – an architectural jewel dating from 1786, built by the Scottish architect Charles Cameron for Grand Duke Paul (who would later become Paul I). Every room of this palace is filled with superlative furniture, chandeliers, tapestries, paintings, and objects d’art exemplifying the best of 18th century Russian and European taste and craftsmanship. The park is one of the largest landscape parks not only in Russia, but in Europe.

17:00 return to hotel

4 hours sightseeing with guide & car. Transfer to the airport

10:00 This morning prior the departure there will be time for exploring the most beautiful private home in St. Petersburg which used to belong to the Yusupov family. You’ll see the restored State Rooms, some still with their original furniture, the exquisite Rococo private theatre, and the cellars where the murder of Rasputin took place in December 1916 – the scene eerily recreated in wax.

Finally, you will be taken to the airport or station. 

We’re confident that you will feel enriched from your time with us in St. Petersburg and hope that you return to this romantic city again!