Private Shore Excursions For Cruise Travellers VISA - FREE TOURS

Available Tour Departure Dates

The tour is available Daily from 01 May to 31 October.

Departure time:  9 AM

INCLUSIONS:

-          Private car or mini-van roundtrip transportation

-          Guide speaking your language assistance

-          Museum entrance fees ( Peter & Paul Fortress, Usupov Palace, Peterhof Palace & Gardens)

-          Restaurant lunch

-          Shopping Stop

-         Visa - free arrangements
-         Pier pick up & drop off 

TOUR DESCRIPTION

Saint-Petersburg is a mecca for lovers of beauty. You are welcomed by the Comprehensive City Tour of St.Petersburg - an excellent introduction to the second largest and the most beautiful city in Russia, the imperial city of golden spires, sparkling domes, pastel palaces and picturesque canals. With its arrow-straight avenues, leafy parks and lovely architecture, Petersburg is as staggeringly impressive as New York or Paris.

During the tour with 5-7 stops you will see all the main highlights of St.Petersburg : the Winter Palace, Nevsky Prospect, Kazan Cathedral, the Admiralty, Palace Square, the Peter and Paul Fortress, the Naval Museum, St.Petersburg University, the Menshikov Palace, the Fine Arts Academy, the Bronze Horseman, Alexandrinsky Theatre, Smolny Cathedral, the monument to Catherine the Great, Fine Arts Square, the State Russian Museum, the Church of Resurrection on Spilled Blood as well as numerous canals and rivers and beautiful bridges across them. Your guide will tell you the story of the city, the events that have left their scars on its face, its optimistic and dramatic plans for the future, together with anecdotes about its strange, friendly and colorful inhabitants, and will answer any questions you might have about this most fascinating of cities.

Discover the Usupov palace which was designed and decorated to rival grandeur of royal living quarters. It features original interiors of the 19th - beginning of the 20th centuries. The rooms are decorated in various styles: baroque (the theater), Empire style (gala halls), Oriental style (the Turkish study), neoclassicism (some rooms of the ground floor) and others. The Yusupov family possessed extensive collections of paintings, sculptures and applied art objects. Some of them are on the display in the palace exposition.

Walk down the winding staircase of the "bachelor's quarters" of the palace into a cellar to look at the spot and listen to a story sending goose flesh down your spine, here on the 17th of December 1916 Rasputin was assassinated, poisoned and shot. You will see the wax figures of Rasputin and plotters and other interesting exhibits.

In the afternoon, after a restaurant lunch you will discover Peterhof - St. Petersburg's most famous and spectacular Imperial estate. Located on the sea shore The Grand Palace and park complex of Peterhof with its unique array of fountains is considered to be one of the most beautiful in the world. Peterhof is perhaps St. Petersburg's most famous and luxurous Imperial estate. The Grand Palace, filled with fascinating and elaborate interiors, sits on top of a high seashore ridge overlooking the vast Lower Park. The palace at Peterhof sits amidst an enormous park, adorned with fountains, statues and pavilions.

The Upper Garden is a typical French-style formal garden with five fountains including one depicting Neptune, the God of the Sea. The estate's Lower Park lies between the Grand Palace and the seashore and boasts the world's largest system of fountains, earning it the title the "Russian Versailles". The park's unique fountain system was designed in the 18th century and doesn't require the use of any pumps to operate the fountains.

There are three major cascades and over 140 fountains in the park. The most impressive is the Grand Cascade, located directly below the Grand Palace and featuring an impressive golden statue of Samson grasping the mighty jaws of the lion. The park's other cascades feature black and white chess board designs, Chinese dragons and numerous other features are definitely worth seeing!