The venice of the north

Arrival in St. Petersburg

On arrival in St. Petersburg you will be met by our friendly representative who will escort you by car or mini bus to your hotel. On the way to the hotel, you will have the opportunity to get your first glimpse of this truly unique and beautiful city. After settling in at the hotel, you can sit down to a short lunch (optional), to prepare you for the city tour.

We get down at major beautiful photo panoramic spots and also with visits inside the Cathedrals.

• The Spit of Vasilevsky (St. Basil’s) Island with stop at the river Neva panorama water front.
• Cabin Of Peter The Great.(First Residential Building in St. Petersburg).
• Peter and Paul Fortress.(First Official Building of St. Petersburg). Visit to the cathedral on the territory of the fortress is optional.
• University Embankment with photo stop to Antique Egyptian Sphinxes.
• Menshikov’s Palace.
• St. Isaac's Cathedral with St. Isaac's Square.
• Church on Spilled Blood.
• Kazan's Cathedral.

In the evening you will have free time to stroll along the city streets and to dine at a restaurant of your choice. If you would like recommendations on good places to eat, just ask us.

Overnight at the Saint-Petersburg hotel.

Breakfast at the hotel.

After breakfast we will head to one of the greatest and largest art museums in the world - the Hermitage. The museum consists of five historical buildings including the Winter Palace - the residence of the Russian Tsars. The museum contains over 3 million pieces of art with dates ranging from high antiquity to the present day. Among the Hermitage´s treasures are artworks by Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Titian, Rembrandt, Rubens as well as many others. We will spend 5 hours at the museum, however, to view the collection in its entirety would take almost 15 years, spending 8 hours a day in the museum and taking one minute to examine each exhibit.

In the evening, enjoy a ballet or opera performance at the Mariinsky Theater - one of the world´s greatest musical companies (optional). Another option would be to attend one of Russia´s premier folk shows, "Feel yourself Russian!" The show is performed by the best folk company in the city. During the intermission, delicious Russian appetizers will be served. (optional)

Breakfast at the hotel.

After breakfast we will visit the Palace and Park of Tsarskoye Selo, a former country residence of the Russian emperors. It is a fascinating monument of the world´s architectural and gardening arts of the XVIII-XIX centuries. Its 3 parks occupy an area of 600 hectares on which are located over 100 architectural monuments: from magnificent palaces and grand monuments to intimate pavilions and park sculptures designed by masters of the Venetian school such as P. Baratta, A. Tarsia and D. Bonazza. The center of Tsarskoye Selo is Catherine Palace, containing exquisite decorative objects, furniture, Russian and Western-European paintings, unique collections of porcelain, amber, arms and decorative bronze sculptures. The Palace also contains the Amber Room - a truly unique work of craftsmanship – a room made entirely of amber. The room was looted by the Nazi’s during WWII but luckily most of its pieces were recovered. The room was fully rebuilt in 2003. Tsarskoye Selo was also the main residence of the last Tsar Nicolas II and his family.

Lunch at the Famous Russian Village Restaurant Podvorie.

En route visit the War Memorial (The monument to second world war/Heroic defenders to Siege of Leningrad)

At midnight you may take a boat ride.

River and Canal Cruise for 2 hours:

• Private boat (cruise) booked only for you. It’s not the common city boat, but a private charter personal boat. No outsiders would be present. (optional)
• Snacks and drinks on board can be arranged as per the guests wish. Dinner can be organized on the boat.
• Look at the beauty of St.Petersburg from a completely different perspective, you would not be able to believe that this was all built a couple of centuries ago. After this tour you will understand why the city is nicknamed as The Venice of the North.

Overnight at Saint-Petersburg Hotel.

Breakfast at the hotel.

Visit to Peterhof. Peterhof (Petrodvorets) is a jewel of Russian art - a town of parks, palaces and fountains. In the past, it was used as an exquisite summer residence by the Russian Tsars. You will visit the Grand Palace - the largest and the most famous palace of the residence which was often used for gala receptions. After this you will proceed to the Lower Park (Nizhny Park) which is a genuine masterpiece of landscape design. The park is adorned with more than 150 fountains and 4 monumental cascades. There are several small palaces and pavilions on the park territory, such as the Monplaisir, Catherine´s Block, Marli, Hermitage, the Bath Block and many more.

Lunch at the local restaurant.

Optional visit to the Island Kronstadt- Famous for its beautiful drive on the dam built over Gulf of Finland (Baltic Sea) Huge and eye-catching Naval Cathedral.(its highly recommended). This island was off limits to civilians right up to the break up of USSR as it was the main Baltic Fleet naval port.

En Route also you may also visit:

• The Imperial Lomonosov Porcelain Factory.(entry tickets not included).
• Strelna.

Overnight at Saint-Petersburg Hotel.

Breakfast at the hotel.

Yusupov’s Palace- the Palace of one of the richest Russian noble families, famous for the basement (wine cellar), where the famous Rasputin was Murdered.

Faberge Museum. Largest collection of Faberge under one roof.

After lunch visit a souvenir shop. There are a lot of handicrafts that can be purchased that are intimately related to Russia: nesting dolls, lacquered boxes, traditional Russian outfits - sarafans and head-dresses kokoshniks, wood carving and painted figurines, khokhloma wood crockery and many other nice souvenirs. You can also negotiate prices and get decent discounts at the street shops if you are willing to try!

Overnight at Saint-Petersburg Hotel.