Five-day program

1st day

9:30 Your guide will meet you in the hotel lobby.

9:30-13:30 We will drive you around Central St.Petersburg in a car (or minibus for a small group) to show you all of the city’s main highlights: the Kazan Cathedral, The Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood, St.Isaac’s Cathedral,St.Nicholas Naval Cathedral, the Summer Garden, the Stroganov Palace, as well asthe imperial residences of the Anichkov Palace, the Marble Palace and as theculmination the Winter Palace.

The city tour includes a drive down Nevsky Prospect -the main thoroughfare of St. Petersburg and allows for a few stop to enable you to enjoy the sights and take pictures.

           

The centerpiece of the morning programme will be a tour of the Peter and PaulFortress St.Petersburg’s birthplace which will incorporate a visit to the cathedralof the same name, where all Russian Emperors were laid to rest.

       

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

13:30-14:30 Time for lunch  *Optional 

14:30-16:00 You will visit St Isaac’s Cathedral, which was designed by the Frencharchitect Auguste de Montferrand and took forty years to build. Your guide will tell you that the Cathedral, which is the fourth largest domed building in the world decorated with 43 different kinds of minerals, was turned into a Museum of Atheism throughout the Soviet period.

          

   16:00-16:30   We will go upstairs to the Colonnade to see the city from a bird's eye view.          
    17:00 You guide and driver will take you back to the hotel.

2nd day

9:30 Your guide will meet you in the hotel lobby and you will start to the Hermitage by car.

10:00-13:00 – Guided tour of the State Hermitage Museum (early entry) focusingon the department of West European art with its world famous paintings by Rembrandt, Velasquez, da Vinci, Boucher, Gainsborough, Picasso, Renoir, andVan Gogh. The tour will also include magnificent Gala rooms, among them St.George Room, the Gold Drawing Room, and the Raphael Loggias.

        

14:00-15:30   Time for lunch  *Optional

15:30-17:30 Tour of the Yusupov Palace, which is equally interesting for loversof arts and history and often referred to as an encyclopedia of aristocratic interiordesign of St Petersburg. For 200 years, it was owned by five generations of theYusupov family – one of wealthiest noble families in Russia, and became famed asthe scene of Grigory Rasputin’s murder by Prince Rasputin.Sumptuously rich interiors, in-depth story of the family’s illustrious history and,finally, an exhibit of Rasputin’s murder will arrest your imagination.

          

18:00-19:00 Your impression of St. Petersburg when viewed from a boat will betotally different that from a car window. So, a boat trip on the canals and rivers isa must-do ( For the boat trip trip you will be joined to the English-speaking group)

19:00-19:30 After the Boat trip, your guide and driver will take you back to thehotel.

3d day

9:30 Your guide will meet you in the hotel lobby.

9:30-10:45 We will drive you to one of the most spectacular of all imperial residences in the suburbs of St Petersburg – the Catherine Palace (about 30 kmsouth of the city).A tour of the magnificent interiors of the palace with its stunning 200 meter long golden suite of rooms and the world famous Amber Room will be followed by astroll in the scenic Catherine Park, where you will wander through an array of marvelous pavilions, grottoes, statues and monuments – including the BaroqueHermitage pavilion, a granite terrace, a Turkish Bath and many others silently treasuring their long histories which your guide will reveal to you

         

  10:45-13:00 Tours of the Catherine Palace and Park

13:00-14:30 Time for lunch  *Optional

 14:30-17:00 The next step in your exploration of St Petersburg will be Pavlovsk –the Palace and the Park (It will be only a 10 minute journey by car from the Podvorye restaurant.) – Guided tour of the palace and the park.

            

The place was the summer residence of Paul I and his wife Maria Fyodorovna.Compared to other imperial palaces, the one in Pavlovsk excels as an example ofrefined taste and displays numerous pieces of applied arts which could be savedduring the World War II. The enormous Pavlovsk Park is a perfect place to castcare aside and enjoy its picturesque views.

17:00-18:30 Drive back to Saint-Petersburg

4th day

14:30 Your guide will meet you near the Russian Museum.

           

14:30-16:30 A tour of the Russian Museum will deepen your appreciation of Russian art – from the 12th century icons to avant-garde paintings of the 20th century - and offer you an insight into the history of the nation as well. This gem ofa museum – formerly the palace of Grand Duke Mikhail, Paul I’s youngest son –displays over 400,000 works of art.

16:30-18:00 After the Russian Museum tour, you will head for the multi-domed Church on Spilled Blood, which is within a three-minute walk from the museum.It is worth noting that St Petersburg has over 200 churches, each being unique and beautiful in its own way. However, the Church on Spilled Blood undoubtedly deserves special attention. A Russian Revival style marvel, it is the mosts pectacular church in the city center with the mot tragic history behind it, which you guide will reveal to you.

          

*This day is without transport.

 

5thday

9:30 Your guide will meet you in the hotel lobby to take you to the jetty outsidethe Hermitage museum.

10:00- It will be a trip by hydrofoil to Peterhof – the Summer Residence of Russian tsars founded by Peter the Great.

10:30-13:00- Tour of the Lower Park and the Bath House.

            

 You will be stunned by 200 splendid fountains, which are responsible for the fact that the place was rightly referred to as a second Versailles. The tour also includes a visit to one of the lesser palaces - the Bath Wing, where you will know exciting facts from the lives of the high and mightiest.

      

13:00-14:00 Time for lunch  *Optional 

14:30-15:30 You will spend the next sixty minutes in a drive to Kronshtadt.

15:30-17:00 A tour of the little city of Kronshtadt which is well worth a visit despite not being included in the lists of top 10 tourist attractions of St Petersburgand its environs for a city’s glory and specialness don’t always depend on its size.Founded by Peter the Great as a fortress in 1704, Kronshtadt was used as a naval base, a commercial sea port and the gateway to St Petersburg. It was from Kronshtadt that all round-the-world sails started. In 2006 President Dmitry Medveded awarded Kronshtadt with the title of a City of Naval Glory. Until 1996visits to the city were strictly restricted for foreigners.

         

17:00-18:30 – Drive back to St Petersburg.

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