Travelling to St Petersburg - 2 Days with or without Guide

sagrules on 16/04/2019 - 10:49
Last edited 16/04/2019 - 10:50

Inlaws are travelling overseas this coming May and will spend 2 days in St Petersburg and spending the night on their cruise ship. They have never been and with the limited time concerned they wont be able to see anything without a private tour guide.

They have been quoted a ridiculous amount for 1.5 days private tour guide including visa for over $1000 AUD. As far as im aware this includes entry to some musuems, car and local guide who speaks Russian.

As a true ozbargainer I am appalled at the expense for such a short time and need alternative options and suggestions from people who have travelled there and what they have done.
The cruise ship they are on charges $1340 for the same trip and it would be much bigger group.

They also can speak Russian so it is not a language issue. I have limited travel experience so cannot help them out.

Also, they do not have a Visa as they have been told its $300 for 2 people which is covered by some clause that lets them avoid this cost by being with local tour guide at all times.

Recommendations what to do and where to go also appreciated.
Thanks.

Travel

Comments

  • jastreb on 16/04/2019 - 11:22

    places to see: hermitage museum, Peterhoff.

    That does sound like a ripoff. If they speak Russian they will have no problem getting to where they want to go. Everyone is a taxi over there. Just stand by side of road and put your hand up.

    I do not know about visa though. I would have thought since the cruise ship is stopping there that they would be able to organise for that, but $300 sounds crazy amount for a visa. Perhaps get visa in advance before they take the cruise. May need to apply online or at a russian consulate.

    • sagrules on 16/04/2019 - 12:54

      This is a price for 2 pax and is direct from Consulate. Had difficulty in applying for it due to strange operating hours and making an appointment.

  • [Deactivated] on 16/04/2019 - 11:26

    Just find a local to do the guiding when they get there..

  • brad1-8tsi on 16/04/2019 - 11:26
    +2

    I was in St.Petersburg in 1988. We got around without a guide using the metro system and taxis. It was a safe city back then and we know that we had somebody keeping an eye on us as we got lost and a bus magically appeared and took us to our hotel for free. I'm sure things have changed dramatically since then.

    The Hermitage (when we were there) was run down (water leaks, lifting floors, flaking paint) but wonderful and I could spend all day there (inc winter palace gardens, etc).

    We also went to Peterhof (I think we got lost after that)

    I can't remember what else we did as it was so long ago and we have almost no photos (not allowed back then) but we were flat out over 3 days (we are museum nerds so it wasn't hard).

    I think you'd get a guide much cheaper if they searched in Russian. Keep in mind that a guide can usually jump the queue and knows what the major attractions are.
    Tripadvisor seem to have some reasonable prices
    https://www.tripadvisor.com.au/AttractionProductDetail-g2985…

    The question is, what do they want to see?

    • sagrules on 16/04/2019 - 15:43

      The places you mentioned is what they are interested in. Mostly Royal History and Theatre which they have booked tickets for.

  • Klasglart on 16/04/2019 - 11:39

    I would say if they speak Russian that they would have no troubles. I did a cruise to St Petersburg for 2 nights (3 days) which is visa free (as long as you enter and exit with your cruise ship and it's less than the specified time. I would not believe the cruise ship price. I didn't pay over $1000 AUD and I went from Stockholm with a stop in Tallinn. The only troubles (I encountered) were the Cyrillic characters but if your in laws can read that, everything should be fine. There are taxis everywhere and the metro works fine. St Petersburg is quite a touristic city and there's a lot within walking distance/short taxi ride from Nevsky Prospekt where most the hotels are. Unless the quoted price is all inclusive, they can definitely do it cheaper. Russia is quite cheap for Australians.

    • sagrules on 16/04/2019 - 12:59

      Can you please elaborate on this - enter an exit with cruise ship? As in you took a tour with the cruise ship? It sounds like it could even be the same cruise ship but they are going start and stop from Amsterdam.
      Yes they can read the cyrillic characters no problem. How long would you say the queues for each musuem are?
      I do not think its all inclusive, it is them communicating with the guide and not me.
      Can tickets be bought online to avoid queues?

      • Donaldhump on 16/04/2019 - 13:50

        2 hours queues at hermitage, went one day, changed ming, bought ticket online and walked straight passed the next day

        • sagrules on 16/04/2019 - 15:42

          Thanks was hoping that would be the case, just like the Vatican

      • Klasglart on 16/04/2019 - 15:56

        There's visa free entry if your cruise ship arrives and departs within 3 days. You sort it all out at passport control.
        I went in late November so there were no queues anywhere actually. But I can imagine queues in the Church of Saviour on Blood / Hermitage and the usual other Petersburg sites in summer.
        I say as long as they know roughly know what they want to see in Petersburg, they should be fine to do it themselves. $1000 AUD for a guide in Russia is very expensive. When I was in Russia in 2014, a McDonalds meal was like $4 if that gives you some perspective on cost.

        • sagrules on 17/04/2019 - 09:37

          Yes, i have tried to explain to them that in general things are much cheaper over there - transport, food etc. However, they have told me yesterday that their private guide is all inclusive (including food and entry to some places).
          They seem set on going with this local guide that a friend recommended to them so I'm not sure how else to convince them to do their own thing.

      • linhuang0101 on 17/04/2019 - 09:03

        My parents and I took the HAL cruise B2B from Amsterdam last year having 2 days in St Petersburg.
        Either you apply Russia Visa or join the group tour, else cruise passengers won’t ALLOW to pass the custom.

  • Donaldhump on 16/04/2019 - 13:48

    get hermitage museum ticket online and by pass the queue like a boss.

    also there are apps that scan foreign writing and translate.

    • sagrules on 16/04/2019 - 15:42

      Not required, they can speak and read the local language

  • Hellfire on 16/04/2019 - 17:03

    It's worth picking up a tour for hermitage and peterhoff. Should be less than $100 each for a small group tour at each one. Maybe even cheaper for a Russian speaking guide.

    The city is easy to get around so they'll be able to do most of it themselves.

  • onevstheworld on 17/04/2019 - 18:53

    Me and my wife visited St Petersburg around 6 or so years ago. We neither speak Russian nor had a guide and we still got around OK and saw most of the sights. Sounds expensive for what they are getting.

    Hermitage and Peterhoff will take up much of those 2 days. Try fit in a ballet performance too.

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