Saint Petersburg excursions

Panoramic private city tour offers the chance to explore the very best that Saint Petersburg has to offer in the safety and comfort of a private vehicle with brief photo stops. It is an excellent way to see the world-famous sights and impressive landmarks of this historic city, such as the St. Isaac's Cathedral, the statue of Iron Horseman, the Admiralty, the Winter Palace, the Peter and Paul Fortress, and much more. St. Petersburg sightseeing tour will be followed by a guided visit to the remarkable 18th-century ensemble and an open-air museum of the Peter and Paul Fortress.

Panoramic private city tour offers the chance to explore the very best that Saint Petersburg has to offer in the safety and comfort of a private vehicle with brief photo stops. It is an excellent way to see the world-famous sights and impressive landmarks of this historic city, such as the St. Isaac's Cathedral, the statue of Iron Horseman, the Admiralty, the Winter Palace, the Peter and Paul Fortress, and much more. St. Petersburg sightseeing tour will be followed by a guided visit to the spectacular St. Isaac's Cathedral.

The boat trip along the canals of Saint Petersburg is a must! Sailing along the Neva River and canals will have the opportunity to admire the city with its historic buildings and gardens from a different perspective. St. Petersburg was built on water, such as Venice, there are over 300 bridges connecting the islands on which the city stands; then by boat buildings reveal corners that would escape from view.

The Alexander Nevsky Monastery – named for the patron saint of St Petersburg – is the city's most ancient and eminent monastery. Peter the Great made a mistake when he founded the Alexander Nevsky Monastery on this spot at the far end of Nevsky pr. He wrongly thought that this was where Alexander of Novgorod had beaten the Swedes in 1240. Nonetheless, in 1797 it became a lavra, the most senior grade of Russian Orthodox monasteries.

The State Hermitage Museum is one of the largest and most significant museums in the world, which has about three million of artworks and monuments from all over the world. The museum’s unique collection includes paintings, drawings, sculptures, objects of applied art, archaeological finds and numismatic exhibits. The main museum complex is located in the famous Winter Palace of the Russian sovereigns.

The State Russian museum was founded in the late 19th century as the country's first state museum of Russian fine art. Nowadays the museum is a real treasure trove of more than 400 thousand unique artworks covering all periods, forms, genres, schools and movements of art from ancient icons to avant-garde artwork. The heart of the museum collection is comprised of oil painting, sculpture, graphic, decorative and applied art. Also every year the museum hosts numerous temporary exhibitions.

The Yusupov Palace is one of the most beautiful private palaces in St. Petersburg. It belonged to the family of thePrinces Yusupovs – a famous Russian noble family. This family was remarkable not only because of its title and wealth (in the 19th century they were the richest family in Russia), but also because of the role the family played in Russian history. The palace is most famous, however, because of the actions of Prince Felix Yusupov, heir to the vast Yusupov family estates including four palaces in St. Petersburg. The palace on the Moika was the prince’s favorite residence.

The first stone building in the city, the Menshikov Palace was built to the grandiose tastes of Prince Alexander Menshikov, Peter the Great’s closest friend and the first governor of St Petersburg. It is now a branch of the Hermitage and while only a relatively small part of the palace is open to visitors, it’s well worth coming here to see the impressively restored interiors. Menshikov was of humble origins (he is said to have sold pies on the streets of Moscow as a child), but his talent for both organisation and intrigue made him the second-most important person in the Russian Empire.

Saint Isaac's Cathedral was built to become the main church of Saint Petersburg and the largest cathedral in Russia. It was built between 1818 and 1858, by the French-born architect Auguste Montferrand. The Golden Dome of the Cathedral is one of the key elements of the city panorama. The cathedral's facades are decorated with sculptures and massive granite columns (made of single pieces of red granite), inside the Cathedral there are incredibly detailed mosaic icons, paintings and stained glass paintings. 

The Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood is one of the main Russian Orthodox cathedrals ofSt. Petersburg. The church is also variously known as the Church of Our Savior on Blood and the Church of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, its official name. The "blood" of the common name refers to that of Tsar Alexander II, who was killed on that site on March 13, 1881, as well as that of the crucified Jesus. The church is prominently situated along the Griboedov Canal. 

The Peter and Paul Fortress is the historical nucleus of Petersburg, military, engineering, architectural and historical complex. It was beginning of city building, when it was founded by order of Peter I in Zayachy (Hare) Island, is a birthday of the Northern Capital. Firstly the fortress was called the Saint-Petersburg, but there was another name - the Peter and Paul - name of the Peter and Paul Cathedral, located in the centre of the fortress. In the centre of the ensemble there is the Peter and Paul Cathedral (1712-33, the architect Tresini). Its bell-tower served as a city Clock tower.

Fyodor Dostoevsky, Vladimir Nabokov, Tolstoy, are just some of the many writers who made famous the Russian literature to outside its borders. This tour will show the places where these writers lived. The guide will tell of their lives and their works. The tour concludes with a visit to the house museum of Dostoevsky, where he lived for four years with his wife and children.

The October Revolution of 1917 brought Vladimir Lenin to power. This excursion is a trip in the Russian history of the century with a stop at the Finland Station, where Lenin returning from Switzerland made his first speech, to cruiser Aurora, which gave way to the October Revolution firing blanks on the Winter Palace and finally the Museum of Political History, once headquarters of the Bolsheviks.

Travel in the recent and sad past of the city, which withstood the siege for 900 days (the Siege of Leningrad), during the Second World War. We will see the monument to the defenders of the city and the Historical Museum, illustrating in particular the period of the siege that cost the lives of over a million civilians and military. The museum recalls with paintings, Soviet symbols, flags and photos of the days' siege.

Built in the early 18th century by Peter the Great, Peterhof (also known as Petrodvorets) is the most splendid official royal summer residence, often called the "Russian Versailles". The territory of the Peterhof ensemble houses several magnificent palaces, such as the Grand Palace, Monplaisir and Marly, with magnificent interiors and a variety of museums. Also, there are beautifully landscaped parks and gardens with numerous amazing fountains, water cascades, pavilions, sculptures, reliefs, vases.

The State Museum-Preserve Tsarskoye Selo (modern Pushkin) located not far from Pavlovsk and built in the mid-18th century for Empress Elizabeth by Bartolomeo Rastrelli, the architect of the Winter Palace. Tsarskoye Selo palace and park ensemble is the second suburban Imperial summer residence of the Romanovs, after Peterhof, and an outstanding world-rank monument in terms of its architecture and a historical importance. It is home to two magnificent palaces: the majestic Russian Baroque Catherine Palace, a central part of the ensemble, and the Alexander Palace.

Magnificent ensemble of Pavlovsk, with its elegant palace and charming park, was built as a summer residence of the Russian Emperor Paul I, son of Catherine the Great, in the late 18th - early 19th centuries during the prime time of Russian classicism. It is an outstanding historic and cultural monument as well as the UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Pavlovsk palace employs in its design such relationships of architectural volumes and masses that, despite its rather small dimensions, the palace's building produces the impression of a majestic monumental edifice.

Oranienbaum isn’t quite as popular among tourists as other similar palaces, but it's nonetheless a lovely place for a picnic or for a walk through peaceful gardens and pine woods. Prince Alexander Menshikov, one of Peter the Great’s best friends, started building the estate and its Grand Palace. Catherine the Great made it one of her holiday spots and built a small Chinese palace with baroque outside and rococo within. Menshikov’s Grand Palace hasn't changed a great deal over the centuries and it's one of the few palaces on the outskirts of the city that wasn’t destroyed by the Nazis.

The fortress of Kronstadt lies on Kotlin Island about 30 miles offshore from St. Petersburg in the Gulf of Finland. It was constructed in 1703 by Peter the Great, just a year after he established his new capital, St. Petersburg. The history of the fortress has closely paralleled the history of St. Petersburg. The most visible of these representations is in the emphasis that Kronstadt places on its military history and subsequently its role as protector of St. Petersburg. 

From the outside it may have the austere look of a military institution, but step inside and you can tell that the Gatchina Palace was home to the Romanov family, though the rooms are not as luxurious as the palace in Pushkin. The palace has various temporary and permanent exhibitions including a weaponry display and the church at the top of Gatchina’s main pedestrian mall is also worth seeing. But the big attraction is the underground tunnel running from the palace to the ornamental lake. Gatchina’s palace was badly damaged during WWII, and restoration work is still in progress. 

Vyborg was founded by Swedes in 16th century and is situated about 200 km from St. Petersburg. It's very unusual city because monuments of different periods are neighbouring one to each other. Here you will see the old Swedish castle, where you will walk upstairs to the Olaf's Tower and enjoy the city view. During the walking city tour you will have a chance to see an old Round tower, the houses of Northern Modern epoch and visit some of beautiful churches. Also you will walk in Mon Repos, one of the most spacious English landscape gardens in Eastern Europe.

Velikiy Novgorod - one of the most ancient cities of Russia located in its North-West, near the site where the Volkhov river takes its waters from Lake Ilmen, emerged as a political center of Slavic and Fino-Ugric tribes in the mid-9th century, while as a town it was formed in the middle of the 10th century. The history of Novgorod is closely linked with all major stages in the life of the Russian state.