The Northern Venice

  Day 1. St. Petersburg

Arrival in St Petersburg. Meeting with a guide at the airport. Transfer to St.Petersburg hotel located in the city center. Accommodation. You will have 3-4 hours to freshen up and have a rest.

St Petersburg city tour – all major city attractions (3 hours) with visit to Peter and Paul Fortress. You will see the magnificent St.Isaac’s cathedral, Vasilyevsky island, The University, The Winter Palace, the Palace square, Church of the Savior on the Blood, the square of Arts and other famous places and monuments.

Excursion to Peter& Paul Fortress includes a visit to the Cathedral, which serves a Burial place of Romanov Dynasty of Russian Tsars.

   Day 2. St. Petersburg

8.30 - 9.30 - Breakfast at the hotel.

10.00 - Meeting with a guide at the hotel lobby.

Excursion to Hermitage Museum - The State Hermitage occupies six magnificent buildings situated along the embankment of the River Neva, right in the heart of St Petersburg. Put together throughout two centuries and a half, the Hermitage collections of works of art (over 3,000,000 items) present the development of the world culture and art from the Stone Age to the 20th century. Today the Museum is creating its digital self-portrait to be displayed around the world.

19.00 - Optional performance at the Mariinsky Theatre.

  Day 3. St. Petersburg

8.30 - 9.30 - Breakfast at the hotel.

10.00 - Meeting with a guide at the hotel lobby.

Excursion to Peterhof palace.

The world-famous palace, fountain and park ensemble of Peterhof is an outstanding landmark of Russian artistic culture of the 18-19th centuries. Nowadays, due to the unforgettable beauty of its fountains, parks and palaces, Peterhof has become the most attractive for numerous Russian and foreign visitors suburban royal park and palace ensemble of the northern Russia's capital. To feel happy, to make their spirits high, people often come to Peterhof and enjoy its magic charms. Return to St.Petersburg. Free time.

19.00 - Optional evening folk show at Nikolaevsky palace

   Day 4. St. Petersburg

8.30 - 9.30 - Breakfast at the hotel.

10.00 - Meeting with a guide at the hotel lobby. Departure to Tsarskoe selo (Pushkin)

The Tzarskoje Selo State Museum Reserve is a brilliant monument of world architecture and park and garden artistry of the 18^th-20^th centuries. More than 100 architectural objects with a total area of 300 hectares occupy the territory of the Catherine and Alexander parks: from the most magnificent palaces and monuments, to pavilions and bridges. Strolling through the alleys of these parks, you will be treated to views of whimsical lodges, elegant classical buildings, many monuments executed in marble, exotic constructions designed to imitate gothic style, and also Turkish and Chinese architecture which lend the park a romantic air. Return to St.Petersburg. Free time.

  Day 5. St. Petersburg

8.30 - 9.30 - Breakfast ay the hotel.

10.00 - Meeting with a guide at the hotel lobby. Departure to embankment.

Boat Cruise along the rivers and channels of St-Petersburg.

After embarking the cruise boat heads for the St-Isaac's Square passing under Narodny (Peoples) Having passed under Pochtamtsky (Post), Potseluev (Kissing) and Krasnoflotsky Bridges you’ll find yourself in the waters of Krukov Channel and enjoy the view on the Mariinsky Theatre, the Conservatory, the Nicolsky Square and the St-Nicolas Cathedral. Then the boat enters the Fontanka river between Egyptian and Smezhny Bridges not far from hotel Sovetskaya. Heading in the direction of the Nevsky Prospect under Izmailovsky Bridge you'll pass the Izmailovsky Gardens and the University of Railway Transportation, between Obukhovsky and Semenovsky Bridges you'll see houses of the 19th - the 1st quarter of the 20 century designed in different architectural styles like modern, Renaissance, pseudo Russian. There is the famous Tovstonogov Drama Theatre between Semenovsky and Lomonosovsky Bridges on the left bank of the river. At Anitchkov Bridge tourists will see several palaces - the Palace of Beloselsky-Belozersky, the Anitchkov Palace, the classic Shuvalovsky Palace, the Sheremetievsky Palace. At Belinsky Bridge you'll see the building of the Circus to the left and the Semenovsky Cathedral to the right. After passing the monumental building of the Mikhailovsky Castle and the Summer Gardens, the cruise boat enters the Neva, make a large circle, passes under Troitsky Bridge and returns into the Fontanka. From the Fontanka the boat goes into the Moika passing under Pantelejmonovsky Bridge, past the Mikhailovsky Garden and the Mars Field and returns to the mooring at Pevchesky Bridge. Free time for shopping, picture taking

  Day 6. St. Petersburg

8.30 - 9.30 - Breakfast at the hotel.

10.00 - Meeting with a guide at the hotel lobby. Excursion to the Russian museum.

The State Russian Museum is the world's largest museum of Russian art. The museum is housed in the former Mikhailovsky Palace, a stunning monument of Empire architecture.

The collection of the Russian Museum numbers some 400,000 works and covers the entire history of Russian fine art from the tenth century to the present day. It reflects virtually every form and genre of art in Russia, including a unique collection of Old Russian icons, works of painting, graphic art and sculpture, decorative and applied art, folk art and numismatics, as well as the world's finest collection of Russian avaunt-garde.

  Day 7. St. Petersburg

8.30 - 9.30 Breakfast at the hotel.

10.00 - Meeting with a guide at the hotel lobby. Departure to excursion.

Visit to the Church on the Split Blood – one of the oldest and the most beautiful Russian Orthodox churches. The interior decoration mesmerizes with lavishness of decoration. Breathtaking mosaics as well as different varieties of marble and other semi-precious stones, which adorn the walls of the temple, are abound to impress every visitor.

Second part of excursion: St.Isaacs cathedral

Just to the south of Senate square, looming majestically above the roofs, stands the forth biggest domed cathedral in the world - St.Isaac’s Cathedral - one of the most magnificent and, at the same time, ambiguous in architectural sense buildings of St. Petersburg. St. Isaac’s cathedral with its gilded cupola having the height of 101,5 meters is an inseparable city symbol just as well as Admiralty and Peter and Paul Fortress. This grand structure, which astounds with its dimensions (length is 115,5 m, width - 97,6 m), can be easily seen from any part of the city, and in clear weather - even from the suburbs.

  Day 8. St. Petersburg

Breakfast at the hotel. Check-out. Transfer to the airport. Departure.