Russian culture tour: St Petersburg and Moscow
The Winter Palace on the St Petersburg's Palace Square is on the landmarks of the city
Prices from £1904 per person
This package starts and ends in Helsinki, the gracious capital of Finland. Take a train to the historic St Petersburg, the imperial city of the Russian czars and history. Visit Moscow with its amazing churches and Kremlin, the ancient seat of power in Russia. The tour combines history and art with visits to Hermitage Museum and Tretyakov Gallery, to imperial palaces and cathedrals.
Thursday: Helsinki the Daughter of Baltic
Arrive at Helsinki-Vantaa airport and later on check in to your city centre hotel. Helsinki is easy to explore on foot as everything is within easy reach – it is a beautiful city on a human scale. For those who are keen shoppers, Helsinki offers an interesting choice of boutiques and open-air markets.
Friday: Welcome to the imperial St. Petersburg
Board the early morning Finnish train “Sibelius” in Helsinki. After arriving to St. Petersburg in early afternoon, it is time for a lunch at a local restaurant. Peter the Great founded St. Petersburg in 1703 as his capital. The city is majestic with palaces, churches and cathedrals, river embankments and canals, handsome parks and dozens of bridges.
The Peter and Paul Fortress is one of the great landmarks of St. Petersburg. It was founded in 1703 on a small island in the River Neva to protect the town against Swedes. The fortress housed a part of the city’s garrison, and later served as a notorious political prison. Over the years, the residents included Dostoyevsky, Gorgy and Trotsky.
Visitors can admire the gilded spire of the Peter and Paul Cathedral that stands in the middle of the fortress. The cathedral is the highest building in the city, and on top of its spire stands a magnificent golden angel holding a cross. All Russian emperors and empresses from Peter the Great to Alexander III are buried in the cathedral. Other buildings in the fortress house the City History Museum and the Mint, one of the only two places in Russia where coins and medals are minted.
In the evening, you can enjoy a leisurely stroll along the bustling avenue of Nevsky Prospekt, the city’s most famous street.
Saturday: For art lovers
Have a good breakfast at the hotel, as you need energy for a comprehensive tour of The Hermitage, one of the greatest museums in the world. The tour includes Old Masters, State Rooms in the Winter Palace, and the Impressionists’ Exhibition. The Hermitage has one of the greatest art collections, including works by Leonardo Da Vinci, Raphael, Renoir, Degas and Matisse. The collection of Spanish art can only be compared to Prado Museum in Madrid, and the French collection is the largest outside France.
Lunch is at a local downtown restaurant.
The Afternoon’s Panoramic sightseeing tour includes the most essential sights of this magnificent Russian city, such as the Admiralty, the Peter-and-Paul Fortress, the city’s founding monument; the brilliant St. Isaac’s Cathedral, decorated with more than 500 paintings, sculptures and mosaics by Russian masters; and the onion-domed Church of the Bleeding Saviour.
Former palaces of czars, extravagant mansions, and richly decorated churches create an imperial ambience all around the city, the home of Russian rulers for two hundred years.
Sunday: Imperial Palaces and night train to Moscow
Breakfast at the hotel. Morning excursion to Pushkin, one of the former imperial summer residences, and a visit to the Catherine’s Palace. The town of Pushkin was originally called Tsarskoye Selo (Czar’s Village). The Empress Elizabeth had the original palace, named Catherine’s Palace, expanded and renovated in 1752. The work continued during the reign of Catherine the Great. The palace is a combination of white and gold, and has a huge ballroom and ornately decorated drawing rooms. The most famous of these is the Amber room, which was raided by the German’s during the war, and restored after its return to Russia.
A traditional Russian lunch at a local restaurant.
There will be a late evening transfer to the railway station for the overnight train to Moscow.
Monday: The Capital of Russia
The day starts with a transfer to the hotel after arrival. The city sightseeing tour features the highlights of the capital giving a good idea of the enormity of the capital.
Lunch in a typical Russian restaurant downtown.
The afternoon takes you to the recently renovated Tretyakov Art Gallery with over 150,000 works of art. The Gallery’s collection consists entirely of Russian art and artists, ranging in date from the 11th to the early 20th century. The collection covers the history of art from early days to Soviet Realism and modernists such like Chagall and Malevich.
Overnight stay at hotel.
Tuesday: Historic Kremlin
Breakfast at hotel gives you energy for Tuesday’s visits to the greatest sights in Moscow. The Red Square and the Kremlin area are the heart of Russia’s capital. The name “Red Square” is, in a way, a translation mistake: originally the Russian word “krasnaja” meant beautiful, but over the centuries the word’s meaning changed to “red”. This meant that also the name of the square changed.
The Lenin Mausoleum is situated in the centre of the square. The founder of the Soviet Union is buried in the mausoleum that is still visited by thousands of people every year. Kremlin has been the centre of power in Russia and the Soviet Union for centuries.
The fortification has 19 towers and is surrounded by a wall. Kremlin area has several ancient cathedrals with colourful onion-shaped towers, some dating back to 15th century. The Assumption Cathedral was the main church for imperial Russia, and the czars were crowned there. The Annunciation Cathedral has a collection of ancient icons, including works by Andrei Rublev.
The lunch is in a downtown restaurant.
The afternoon is dedicated to the enormous white-stone Church of Christ Our Saviour. Its golden dome dominates the Moscow’s city view. The church was originally built to celebrate the victory over Napoleon’s army in 1812. The building work took decades and the church was inaugurated in 1883. Stalin wanted to replace the church with the Palace of the Soviets and it was blown up in 1931 to make space for the new monument. This plan was interrupted by the Second World War. The Russian Orthodox Church started to raise funds to re-build the church in 1990s, and the copy of the original church was opened in the year 2000.
Departure by overnight train Tolstoy to Helsinki at 22.50.
Wednesday: Back to Helsinki
Arrival in Helsinki at 12.00. There is a restaurant car in the train.
After arrival check in to your city centre hotel. Another opportunity to further explore the delights of Helsinki. There are fabulous design shops, excellent restaurants and various museums and galleries to visit.
Thursday: Good bye to Helsinki
Unless you have taken optional extra nights in Helsinki it is time to say good bye to Helsinki and head home.
Package prices:
Prices per person:
July-September: £1904 /sharing a twin/dbl room, £2179 /single
May-June: £1969 /sharing a twin/dbl room, £2309 /single
What is included in the price:
- Scheduled return flight from London Heathrow. Flights from other airports are available for additional charge
- Two nights in a city centre hotel in Helsinki including buffet breakfasts
- Two nights in a city centre hotel in St. Petersburg and one night in Moscow at chosen hotel, two nights in train
- Two breakfast and lunches in St. Petersburg, one breakfast and two lunches in Moscow
- Transportation between Helsinki and St. Petersburg in 2nd class and between St Petersburg, Moscow and Helsinki in 1st class (2 berth compartments)
- Transfers railway station – hotel and vv. in St Petersburg and Moscow
- Excursions as per programme, entrance fees included
- Visa support letter
- Departure taxes and fees, service charges and taxes in included items
Please note that transfers in Helsinki and visas for Russia are not included in the price.
Departure dates:
May 14, 28
June 04, 11, 18, 25
July 02, 09, 16, 23, 30
August 06, 13, 20, 27
September 03, 10, 17, 24
Optional extras:
- 1st class in rail Helsinki-St Petersburg (compartments for 6) 45 euros per person
- Optional evening programme: ballet or opera (60-90 euros), folklore or circus (30 euros per ticket)
- Additional nights in Helsinki
- Single supplement in night trains 140 euros per each train
- Helsinki Card
Visa for Russia:
A visa is required for all passengers on the tours to Russia and each passenger must apply for the visa in his/her country of domicile. As the visa application must be accompanied with confirmation documents, they will be provided by our local agent. To obtain the necessary visa support letter, we require some personal information for each passenger (surname, first names, date of birth, gender, nationality and passport number).
Please visit the Russian Embassy page for further information on visa requirements www.rusemblon.org
