I N C L U S I O N S

5 nights in each Moscow

and St. Petersburg

Breakfast daily

Lunch and dinner per

itinerary

Ground transport via

air conditioned private

coach

Admission tickets and

sightseeing as outlined

in itinerary

The Best of Moscow and St. Petersburg

S U G G E S T E D I T I N E R A R Y — C A N B E C U S T O M I Z E D

1 1 D A Y S / 1 0 N I G H T S — G R O U P T R A V E L

Moscow and St. Petersburg are Russia’s two largest cities. At different points in time, they

both have served as Russia’s capital. They both contain fascinating historical attractions,

theatres and some of the world’s best art museums. That being said, Moscow and St.

Petersburg couldn’t be more different, and by spending time in both of these wonderful

cities, it will give you a terrific understand of Russia, the world’s largest country.

The first half of your trip to Russia will be spent in Moscow, today’s cosmopolitan,

energetic capital city. While here you will begin to learn about Russia’s intriguing history

with a visit to the Kremlin and the Red Square. You will also visit medieval Russian

Orthodox monasteries, see where some of Russia’s best writers once called home, and

attend a performance of Russian ballet. The second half of your trip will be spent in St.

Petersburg. Creating this “Venice of the North” was the dream of Peter the Great, and

even today the city retains an air of its aristocratic, imperial past. This is the intellectual

and cultural capital of Russia, and while here you will explore its picturesque canals,

historic palaces and tour its world-famous art galleries.

DAY 1 ~ ARRIVAL IN

MOSCOW

Arrive in Moscow, Russia’s

political capital and largest

city. After exiting customs, meet your

professional tour escort in the terminal’s

arrivals hall. He or she will accompany your

group throughout its Russian adventure.

Travel by private coach to the hotel.

(Should your group arrive before the

hotel’s official check-in time, it is welcome

to store luggage with the hotel’s reception

staff). There will be free time until this

evening to begin exploring Moscow on your

own. Over the next few days you and your

fellow group members will discover that

Moscow is home to many fantastic sights

well worth visiting.

Note: If you and your fellow group

members arrive to one of Moscow’s

airports in the morning and decide to go

ahead and immediately begin sightseeing

before heading to the hotel, en-route from

the airport to the city center we

recommend that your group stop and tour

the Kolomenskoye Estate, an official

UNESCO World Heritage Site; this splendid

former royal park estate is a treasure-trove

of historic buildings (including the

magnificent 16th century Church of the

Ascension) constructed in Moscow’s

beautiful countryside.

Tonight join your fellow group members for

a welcome dinner of local Muscovite

specialties in the hotel’s restaurant.

DAY 2 ~ HISTORIC

AND POLITICAL

MOSCOW, THE

KREMLIN

After breakfast in the hotel, your group will

enjoy a full-day guided tour (combination

private coach & walking) of Moscow’s

extremely-historic and fascinating fortified

citadel complex, best known as the

Kremlin. This UNESCO World Heritage Site

has been inhabited for over 2000 years and

H I G H L I G H T S

Guided visits of four

UNESCO World

Heritage Sites: the

Kolomenskoye Estate,

the Kremlin, the Trinity

Monastery of St.

Sergius, and the

historical center of St.

Petersburg

Tour the Tolstoy House

Museum

Attend an opera, ballet

or classical music

concert in Moscow

Take a traditional

Russian tea

Canal dinner cruise in

St. Petersburg

Guided visits to three of

Russia’s best art

museums: the

Tretyakov Gallery, The

Russian Museum and

State Hermitage

Museum

Visit to Peter the

Great’s Imperial

Summer Palace

its architecture is nothing short of

magnificent. Some of Russia’s most

interesting moments in history took place

on these grounds, and even today Russia’s

president has his offices inside the Kremlin.

Your guided tour will take you past the

complex’s historic walls, towers and

cathedrals. Then depending on the date of

your visit and availability, your group will

also go inside either the fantastic Armory

Museum or the Diamond Fund. After a

break for lunch on your own, your

sightseeing tour will continue with a visit

inside Moscow’s iconic Saint Basil's

Cathedral, which was commissioned by

Ivan the Terrible in the 16th century, set in

Moscow’s famed Red Square (which is also

the site of Lenin’s Mausoleum).

Your group’s tour will finish back at the

hotel in the late afternoon, and the evening

is free for you to continue exploring

Moscow on your own.

DAY 3 ~ ARTISTIC

AND LITERARY

MOSCOW

After breakfast in the hotel,

your group will continue its sightseeing in

Moscow with a look at its cultural, artistic

and literary attractions. A local guide will

first take your group (by private coach) to

visit one of Europe’s great art museums:

the Tretyakov Gallery; its impressive

collection contains Russian works that span

a millennium. Afterwards your tour will

continue with a visit to the Tolstoy House

Museum. Leo Tolstoy, the author of War

and Peace, Anna Karenina, and The Death

of Ivan Ilyich, is widely considered to be

one of the greatest novelists of the 19th

century; now you will tour the house where

he lived with his family, which has largely

been kept in its original state.

This afternoon, before returning to the

hotel, your group will also enjoy a

traditional tea in a local hotel or restaurant.

Served from the old-fashioned Russian

samovar, tea (along with vodka) is a staple

beverage in Russia and is usually served

with meat or fruit-filled pies and pancakes.

To round off your artistic tour of Moscow,

this evening your group will attend a

classical music concert, opera or ballet

performance in one of Moscow’s famed

theatres.

DAY 4 ~ MOSCOW

After breakfast in the hotel,

you have a full day at leisure

to catch up on all the

sightseeing you haven’t made it to thus far.

Your tour escort will be on hand in the

breakfast room to make suggestions.

Depending on your interests, we’ll leave

several suggestions for you to consider:

1. Check out Moscow’s famed metro

stations; you won’t see any quite this

beautiful anywhere else in the world. The

Circle Line is a good place to start, but if

you only make it to one, make it the

Mayakovskaya stop.

2. Shop in Moscow’s Izmailovsky Market.

3. Go for a stroll in Moscow’s lovely

Patriarch's Ponds neighborhood

(Patriarshiye Prudy).

4. Continue your Russian literary pursuits

with visits to the Chekhov House Museum

or the Pushkin Apartment Museum.

5. Are you interested in learning about the

former Soviet Union’s competitive space

program? If so, check out the Museum of

Cosmonautics.

6. Enjoy a relaxing spa day at the

Sandunovsky Baths.

DAY 5 ~ SERGIEV

POSAD ON “THE

GOLDEN RING”

After breakfast in the hotel,

meet your local guide for a full-day

excursion by private coach to the historic

city of Sergiev Posad, which is known for

housing the Trinity Monastery of St.

Sergius, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

This 14th century monastery is the most

important site in the Russian Orthodox

Church. You will tour this impressive,

spiritual, and historical site (including its

Museum of History and Art) before

returning to Moscow in the afternoon.

The remainder of your afternoon is free in

Moscow, and tonight you and your fellow

travelers will dine together in the hotel’s

restaurant.

DAY 6 ~ ST.

PETERSBURG

After breakfast in the hotel,

your group will travel by

private coach to rail station and board a

train to the beautiful city of St. Petersburg,

the completed vision of Peter the Great

and cultural capital of Russia. The train

journey will take approximately four hours.

Upon arrival to St. Petersburg, your group

will travel to the hotel to check-in.

(Depending on your hotel’s location,

appropriate logistical arrangements for

your group will be suggested).

Upon arrival to the hotel, enjoy some free

time to get your bearings and begin

exploring this fantastic city. Your tour

escort can make suggestions but for a start,

consider taking a stroll down elegant

Nevsky Prospekt, St. Petersburg’s main

avenue. Tonight you and your traveling

companions will dine together in the

hotel’s restaurant.

DAY 7 ~ ST.

PETERSBURG

After breakfast in the hotel,

your group will enjoy a full-

day guided tour of St. Petersburg, whose

entire historical center is an official

UNESCO World Heritage Cultural Site. The

tour will show you the city’s most

important monuments including the grand

Palace Square as well as St. Petersburg’s

impressive Russian Orthodox churches like

the Church of the Savior on the Spilled

Blood, Kazan Cathedral and St. Isaac’s

Cathedral. As part of the tour, your group

will go inside the State Hermitage Museum,

located inside the grandiose, baroque

Winter Palace.

This was the residence of Russia’s

emperors and empresses from the imperial

House of Romanov from 1732 until 1881.

Conceived by Peter the Great, it was

constructed into the lavishly-grand style

that we see today by his daughter, the

Empress Elizabeth. Ultimately though, it

was Catherine the Great’s extensive art

patronage that grew into today’s

impressive Hermitage Museum, one

Europe’s finest art museums. During your

guided tour, you will see that the palace

and the artwork are both treasures in their

own right. Magnificent, ornate and

enormous, the Winter Palace serves as a

symbol of St. Petersburg’s imperial past.

After a busy day of sightseeing, this evening

your group can relax with an evening

dinner cruise through the city’s picturesque

canals. (May through October only)

DAY 8 ~ ST.

PETERSBURG

After breakfast in the hotel,

your group will travel over

to Hare's Island, located just across the

Winter Palace, for a morning tour of Peter

& Paul Fortress. After traveling extensively

through Western Europe, this is where

Peter the Great originally intended to build

his new northern capital. Inside the

fortress your group will hear the daily

cannon blast at midday, walk along the

fortress’ walls and go inside the Peter and

Paul Cathedral. Inside the Cathedral are

the remains of Russia’s tsars, tsarinas,

emperors and empresses from the times of

Peter the Great until the last Romanov

ruler, Czar Nicholas II, (along with his

family) were killed by the Bolsheviks in

1918.

After your visit to the fortress, there will be

free time for lunch followed by a guided

tour of the Memorial Museum of the

Leningrad Siege (1941-1944), which

remembers the victims of the Nazi siege

that lasted almost 900 days and killed over

one million civilians in St. Petersburg due to

starvation and freezing temperatures.

The tour will finish back at the hotel by mid

-afternoon. This evening your group could

consider attending the ballet or opera

inside St. Petersburg’s famed Mariinsky

Theater.

DAY 9 ~ ST.

PETERSBURG

After breakfast in the hotel,

this morning your group will

have a guided tour of the Russian Museum.

Housing an incredible collection of Russian

masterpieces from the 12th century to the

20th century, this is one of the most

important art museums in the world. After

your guided tour has finished, you and your

fellow group members are free to enjoy the

rest of the day on you own. Literary fans

can consider paying a visit to the

Dostoyevsky House Museum, and those

wanting to do a bit of shopping might want

to check out knock-off Fabergé eggs or

Lomonosov porcelain.

DAY 10 ~ PETERHOF

After breakfast in the hotel,

on your last full day in

Russia, you and your fellow

group members will travel to Peterhof,

Peter the Great’s grandiose imperial

summer palace. It is said that he was

inspired by France’s Versailles Palace when

he commissioned Peterhof. While here you

will tour the Great Palace and Marly Palace

as well as have time to explore the park’s

spectacular grounds, which are filled with

beautiful fountains and gardens. If your

group is traveling in the warmer summer

months, the best way to reach Peterhof is

by taking a short hydrofoil along the shores

of the Baltic Sea; otherwise, it is possible to

arrive by bus or train.

Upon arriving back to the hotel, enjoy some

free time to relax and freshen up before

tonight’s farewell dinner in a local

restaurant.

DAY 11 ~ ST.

PETERSBURG

After breakfast and check-

out, your group will board

its private coach and drive a short distance

to St. Petersburg’s Airport for its return

flight to the USA or Canada.

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Through Us?

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