Info > Frequently Asked Questions

Not if you come with a cruise ship. Passengers who stay in St. Petersburg up to 72 hours do not need a visa, but a tour ticket which we will provide you in advance. There is no extra fee for a tour ticket if you book your tour with us. Tourists coming to St. Petersburg with other means of transportation should contact us to apply for a visa-support (official invitation).

Definitely not. We guarantee that you will be able to disembark in St. Petersburg in order to join an SPB-Tours excursion. Regardless of what misleading information the cruise line may povide, so long as all documentation is in order, all passangers will be allowed to enter Russia. The only required documentation is a valid passport, a photo copy of your passport, and a Tour Ticket – proof of your participation in an escorted tour arranged by a licensed and authorized operator, which we will provide for you. You do not need to wait to leave the ship and the entire disembarkation process should only take 20-30 minutes, despite what the cruise line will lead you to believe.

Yes, it is. Our register number at the Federal Agency of Tourism of the Russian Federation is MBT 003341. SPB-Tours has a right to issue tour ticket (blanket visa) for the cruise ship passengers and the official invitation (visa-support) for getting a Russian visa for the land tourists. Only fully licensed companies like SPB-Tours can do it. SPB-Tours has an official agreement with the St.Petersburg sea port “Marine Facade”. Benefits are: our clients are covered by the tour tickets, we can meet our guests directly at the ship (on the other side of the Russian immigration) and bring our vehicles to the territory of the port. Not every agency has this advantage.

Yes there is. Children under 4 years are free of charge and children from 4-17 and students with a valid students ID card get a $40 discount.

No deposit is required.
1. You can pay in cash (USD, EUR or RUB) on the morning of the second tour day. Please be aware that we will not be able to accept foreign currency (EUR or USD) in bad condition; bills should be clean (have no writings, stamps of any kind), crisp and new (have not even the slightest defects/damages). It is the requirement of our banks and we must follow their rules. If this requirement is not met, the bank commission for such bills will be 10% of their value. Thank you for your understanding.

2. You can pay by credit card (Visa or Mastercard) on the first tour day.  Other types of credit cards are not accepted. We will charge the sum of payment for the tour from your credit card in Rubles. The currency exchange rate will be established according to the current rates of the Russian State Central Bank. Please note that 3% will be added to the final tour price for this operation/transaction.

A. You can cancel your reservation confirmation in written form two weeks (14 days)  prior to your tour without any cancellation fee.
B. Cancellations received on the 13th day or less prior to your tour will be levied a fee equal to 25% of the total cost of your excursion program.
C. Cancellations received on the 5th day or less  prior to your tour or in the case of a “no-show” (no-show is a person who never cancelled, and never reported to our waiting agents at the port after the ship arrived) will be levied a 50% charge of the total cost of the excursion program.
Concert and theatre tickets: There are no refunds for Mariinski Theatre, Russian Folkloric, Ballet, or any other theatre performances, if cancelled less than 5 days prior to your arrival in St. Petersburg.

A Tour Ticket (TT) will be your blanket visa in St.Petersburg. This service is already included in your tour price. We will issue you the TT, but we need the following information from you:
 
1.     Your last/first/middle names exactly like they are written in your passport
2.     DOB (day/month/year)
3.     Passport number
4.     Citizenship
5.     Name of the ship
6.     Days in St.Petersburg

We will send you the TT per e-mail and you will print it out at home. Please bring it with you to Russia. You will also receive the instructions on the disembarkment in St. Petersburg.

If you do not receive a response from us within one business day please let us know or check your junk mail folder and please resend your original e-mail to us.

SPB-Tours is run by a guide herself (Viktoria Rother) with 20 years of experience and she knows how much of the tour depends upon an excellent guide. All our guides are University graduators and speak excellent English, they are highly professional with many years of experience, very knowlegable, responsible and flexible as they consider their work to be a part of their business and not an occasional job as a hired guide. We know our guides very well. They have great personalities and are good entertainers. They have lots to share with you not only about the buildings you are passing by, but also about the politics and the economy in the country.

Yes you can. There are numerous options including the Mariinsky theatre, the Michailovsky theatre, the Hermitage theatre, a folklore show at Nicholas palace, a Canal Boat Ride or a dinner at a Russian restaurant. If you do a reservation using the form submitted on our website, be sure to include a request for the evening activities, including the desired schedule, and we will provide you with additional information.

Monday   
Hermitage
Grand Palace in Peterhof
Menshikov Palace

Tuesday
Catherine's Palace in Tzsars' Village/Pushkin
Russian Museum

Wednesday
Church on the Spilled Blood
St.Isaac' cathedral

In 2009 we had hundreds of groups and our guests did not have to stand in long lines to enter museums, so they felt very priviledged. The exception is when 4 or 5 ships are docked in the city on the same days. Then you will see lines at the museums during the early admission and normal entrance time. But we know how to make our way towards the entrance. Let it be our problem! Please note that at the Catherine's Palace in Tsars' Village and at the Grand Palace in Peterhof one has to wait some 10-15 minutes (no matter if you book the early or normal admission time), because of the guards who limit the entrance availability to the palace: everyone has to go through the metal detector and the doors are narrow. So they let people go in groups of 30-50 people at a time, then a 5-minute pause and again 30-50 people, etc.

There is a system in some museums and venues  which is called “early admission”. Don't get too crazy about it! They charge an additional fee for this benefit. It must be noted that there are early admission tourists in the museums and palaces every day during the summer season, so you will not be alone. Judging by our long-time experience we'll know when to bring you to the museums with less people inside.

There are a number of restaurants which are mostly for the tourists. We do not bring our guests  to those restaurants, as we prefer more authentic places where the locals go. We recommend our guests have lunch at the local places, like "Stolle" (the Russian piroggis – pies – and a nice choice of soups; the meal costs about $8-12) and "Shocoladnitza" (soups, pancakes; business lunch for $15 including a drink).  Judging by the quality of food, location, and the reasonable prices, we have chosen these two places which can match all tastes.
In the country-side it is more difficult to find an inexpensive cafe/restaurant with good food, but we know some there too and can recommend them to you once you are there.
*Please note, business lunch is available only on the work days  (except Saturday and Sunday).

Gratuities to the guide and driver are not included in the tour price. The amounts you wish to give to your guide and driver after a job well-done should be in line with the western standards. Usually the gratuity is divided: 2/3 to the guide and 1/3 to the driver. You can give the gratuities to them separately. We will not include gratuities on the credit card. Please have some cash with you (USD, EUR or RUB) for this purpose.

You can bring in up to 10 000 USD in cash without declaring it. ART: Anything resembling art should be cleared before departure at the Ministry of Culture: Malaya Morskaya ul., 17. tel: 571 5106. For more Infos about Russia read our Info page.

ALL our vehicles are air-conditioned, comfortable, foreign-made vans, fully covered by  insurance. We have sedan cars, small vans for 6 people and bigger ones with 14, 16 and 20 or more passenger seats. We will always try to get you a van with a few extra seats.
The drivers are professional and polite. Some of them even speak English which is very seldom in Russia. Most of them are non-smokers. No driver will smoke in your presence.