In the morning meet your personal experienced guide and a private driver on the cruise ship pier.

Start your sightseeing day with a comprehensive overview city tour for 4 hours. Drive to the Spit of Basil Island, from where you are afforded excellent views of the River Neva, the outside of the St. Peter and Paul Fortress and the Winter Palace. Your private shore excursion taking in such sights as the Synagogue, the Smolny Cathedral, the Bronze Horseman, the Mariinsky Palace, Nevsky Prospekt, St.Isaak's Cathedral etc.

Then you will have time to enjoy lunch in one of the local restaurants (own expense) before you continue to explore St.Petersburg. Your guide will recommend a good place for lunch.

Now visit The Hermitage Museum  -  the largest art museum in all Russia and ranking among the most prestigious museums in the world. It was founded by Catherine the Great in 1764 as a private court museum and evolved into the most remarkable collection of art in the world with a total collection of more than 2.7 million works. The tour covers the masterpieces of Western European art. The route includes the State Rooms of the Winter Palace, the collection of Western European art featuring Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Titian and others. There are Dutch and Flemish Art collections, including Rembrandt, Rubens and Van Dyck and the superb French Impressionists collection. You will see a collection of Spanish art, second only to Madrid's Prado and a collection of French art, the largest outside of France, displaying works by Degas, Renoir, Monet, Cezanne, Gaugin and Matisse. After this, you will visit the magnificent Palace Square, the heart of historic St. Petersburg. Surrounded by some of the city's most magnificent buildings, it is an architectural showcase and one of the prime tourist attractions in the city.

Enjoy a private drop-off back to the cruise ship. 

ITINERARY:

09:00 - Port pick up. Meet your guide and driver at the port. Transfer to the city
09:00 - 13:00 - City sightseeing 4hrs
13:00 - 14:00 - Lunch (own expense)
14:30 - 16:30 - Hermitage Museum
17:30 - Back to the ship port

INCLUDED:

• Ship pier pick up and drop off
• Professional English-speaking guide assistance. Other languages upon request (additional charge may apply)
• Driver’s services as per the program (Comfortable car/minivan with A/C)
• Private guided city tour
• Entrance fee to the Hermitage museum
• All taxes, fees and handling charges
• Port visas

NOT INCLUDED:

• Food and Drinks
• Personal expenses
• Gratuities to guide/driver (optional)

DEPARTURE/RETURN DETAILS: flexible (adjusted to the arrival/departure time of your ship)

Comfortable clothing and sensible walking shoes are recommended. Sun glasses and sun screen are suggested.

Guests must be able to walk a total of approximately 2 miles each day. Long flights of stairs are required to reach the public rooms in most palaces and the Hermitage. Due to the quick pace, this tour is not suitable for any mobility restricted traveler including slow walkers, or guests who need to sit and rest periodically.

Note that 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. 4) An immigration form passed out to all guests on the ship. We will provide you with your tour tickets as part of the documents we e-mail to you after you make a tour booking.