On my recent Viking Ocean cruise on the Baltic Sea, I wasn't sure how to handle my three days in St. Petersburg, Russia. Although our cruise did offer many excursions to choose from, the full three-day experience I was looking for was not available. I had heard nothing but the best about booking excursions with ShoreTrips, a company that offers independent tours, so we decided to look into it.
The website was a great starting point. You can go directly to the ship you are traveling with, select the date of your own detailed itinerary and see exactly what ShoreTrips offers for any of the days you're looking to book an excursion.
We were easily directed to our three days in St. Petersburg and saw the many choices available. Many of the trips are priced based on the number of people traveling in your party. ShoreTrips has group-sized trips that can be arranged for you as well.
After looking at the website and speaking with ShoreTrips' customer support, we ended up selecting a private tour for the two of us. It is not as economical as a group-sized trip, but for what we were looking for and comparing it to the individual excursions we would have had to book, it came to about the same cost in the end. I cannot begin to say what a great decision that was and how wonderful an experience it turned out to be.
St. Petersburg is a city that requires a visa to tour on your own. Getting that visa is not cheap and takes a bit of time, so traveling with a licensed tour operator with a blanket visa was a great alternative.
Our guide, Sophia, met us directly outside the customs room each day. She was always on time and with the driver, Eugenie, waiting directly across the street. Both of them were extremely professional and friendly. Sophia spoke flawless English. She is a teacher in St. Petersburg, and her knowledge of both history and the current culture were extensive.
Although we followed our booked itinerary each day, having the private guide meant having a few special advantages. We had the flexibility to alter plans slightly if we wanted. We never had to wait in line anywhere. Even though we were just two people, we were considered a tour and got to go in with the tour groups lines, but ahead of everyone else.
At all the palaces and museums, we were able to get in small spaces that let Sophia educate us on the history and meaning of what we were seeing, intimately and easily. We moved through at our own pace, lingering if we had additional questions or moving through at a quicker pace if we were ready. At each stop, Sophia made sure we were happy, comfortable and well informed.
Our stops over the three days covered Peterhof Palace and gardens, Catherine Palace including the magnificent Amber Room, the Hermitage Museum, Yusupov Palace with its fascinating history of the infamous Rasputin, Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood, Peter and Paul Fortress where many tsars are buried and St. Isaac's Cathedral, originally the city's main church.
We were able to travel through the metro system with Sophia. The underground of the metro is known for beautiful tile, arches and chandeliers, and one of the stops has a beautiful wall fresco where we took photos. We walked through several streets to see where locals go for wedding ritual stops or just to hang out in squares with their families. St. Petersburg is a city of canals, so our tour included an hour-long boat ride.
Through each part of the tour, our driver was waiting when we exited, directly in front, and we were able to get in and out of every attraction with great ease. That made for a completely stress-free, three-day experience.
I have to say one of my favorite parts of spending three days with our guide was simply driving around and asking questions about Russian culture and their everyday life. Hearing her perspective on everything was both informative and enlightening.
We were able to have lunch at delicious local places that served meat and vegetable pies and also a place specializing in crepelike dishes filled with meat, chicken, fish or even sweet selections. The staff at the restaurants, not really used to tourists, were gracious and helpful with Sophia's assistance, giving us time to decide what to have and enjoy.
At the end of each day, we were delivered safely and on time back to our ship, as we had nighttime activities that we needed to be onboard for. By the end of the three days, our experiences in St. Petersburg were complete, and we felt like we were leaving friends.
There is always more to see and many places to visit, and we will book through ShoreTrips again, as it was an enjoyable and easy experience.
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