Moscow and St. Petersburg Tour

Day 1. Moscow

Arrival in Moscow. Meeting with the driver (the driver will be holding the sign Russia Travel Group). Transfer to the hotel located in the city center. Accommodation in double room. Free time.

Day 2. Moscow

Breakfast at the hotel.

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

The tour of Moscow City will present you one of the most beautiful sights of the capital of Russia. We shall start at your hotel and organize this tour depending on its location but it certainly will include the Red Square with the Kremlin, St.Basil's Cathedral and GUM Department Store. Then we move to Gorky Street, Tverskaya street today, Moscow's Broadway, which goes all the way from Sheremetievo Airport to the Red Square. Then you’ll enjoy the panorama of Moscow from Sparrow hills. Turn around and watch the main building of Moscow State University. Local vendors will offer you matrioshkas and military shapkas and other souvenirs.

Next point in the itinerary is the Novodevichy Convent, situated not far from Luzhniki Olympic Stadium, on the bank of a small lake with white swans. That will remind you of Swan Lake at Bolshoi theatre.

Continuing the city tour, you will pass along Kutuzov avenue and visit the Victory Park with its memorials, fountains and churches.

Free time for shopping, picture taking. Transfer to the hotel.

Day 3. Moscow

Breakfast at the hotel.

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

Kremlin tour with visit to the Armory and Cathedrals. The Kremlin has always been perceived as a symbol of power and might of the Russian land. Each era of the Russian history left its architectural mark on the Kremlin. Within the Kremlin walls there are many architectural monuments, churches, cathedrals, museums, etc.

Second part of excursion: Walking tour along Arbat Street.

The Arbat is a true symbol of old Moscow, and has recently celebrated its 500th anniversary. Today Arbat is a cobbled pedestrian thoroughfare about one kilometer (two-thirds of mile) long, and one of the most popular meeting and shopping spots in Moscow. Along with its shops, cafes, art galleries, concert and theatre halls and a museum tracing the history of the area, are portrait painters, performance artists and even demonstrators. It is also a frequent site for festivals and carnivals.

You’ll see the legendary Moscow Metro with its mosaics and frescos. Return to the hotel.

Day 4. Moscow

Breakfast at the hotel.

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

Excursion to the Tretyakov State Gallery - one of the world's largest museums, a treasure house of old Russian art from the 11th century till our days. The State Tretyakov Gallery is the national treasury of Russian fine art and one of the greatest museums in the world. The Gallery's collection consists entirely of Russian art and artists who have made à contribution to the history of Russian art or been closely connected with it. The collection contains more than 130 000 works of painting, sculpture and graphics, created throughout the centuries by successive generations of Russian artists. Free time for shopping, picture taking.

Optional evening performance at the Bolshoi Theatre

Thå State Academic Bolshoi Theatre of Russia is one of the best musical theaters in the world. Today' s Bolshoi Theater means the grandeur of traditions being developed in the contemporaneity, è means the scale of artistic individualities gathered in its troupe, it means the repertoire it means concentrated creative life, it means daily hard work and regular improvement of mastery.

Day 5. Moscow

Breakfast at the hotel.

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

Excursion to Kolomenskoye. Kolomenskoye features vintage wooden structures built by many of the country's Tsars, one of the most beautiful churches and examples of Russian tent-roofed architecture in the country, and is a beautiful site for a spot of summer sunbathing or a snowy walk in the winter. Today, it is a museum-reserve, a monument of 16th and 17th century Russian architecture, and a favorite venue for popular festivities and theatrical shows featuring episodes from Russian history. Free time for shopping, picture taking.

Day 6. Moscow

Breakfast at the hotel. Free time.

Meeting with a guide. Departure to excursion.

Excursion to Sergiev Posad. The monastery houses the Russian Patriarch's temporary residence. In the monastery you will visit St.Trinity Cathedral where the shrine with St.Sergey's relics is stored, and the Assumption Cathedral that repeats its form after the Assumption Cathedral in the Kremlin. The most beautiful part of the monastery is represented by two similar constructions one of which is the Ecclesiastical Academy and Seminary and the other the Refectory with the Church of St.Sergiy.

Optional evening Circus performance.

Day 7. Moscow - St. Petersburg

Breakfast the hotel. Excursion to Pushkin museum of Fine Arts.

One of the richest world collections of fine arts from the time immemorial to nowadays is treasured I n the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts that is favorably situated in the very center of Moscow, close to the Kremlin and Red Square. Nowadays it is the second, after the Hermitage in Saint Petersburg, largest museum of foreign art in Russia. Transfer to Izmailovo for souvenirs shopping.

Check-out in the evening. Transfer to the railway station. Departure for St.Petersburg by overnight train.

Day 8. St. Petersburg

Arrival in St Petersburg. Meeting at railway station. Transfer to St.Petersburg hotel located in the city center. Accommodation in double rooms with breakfast. 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 9. St. Petersburg

Breakfast at the hotel. Meeting with a guide at the hotel lobby.

Excursion to Hermitage Museum - one of the major museums in the world. Its collection consists of nearly three million art treasures. Exhibits are displayed in the world famous Winter palace as well as the Small, Old and New Hermitages.

Visit to the Church on the Split Blood – one of the oldest and the most beautiful Russian Orthodox churches.

Optional performance at Mariinsky Theatre.

Day 10. St. Petersburg

Breakfast at the hotel. Meeting with a guide at the hotel lobby.

Transfer 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. Return to St.Petersburg. Free time.

Optional evening folk show at Nikolaevsky palace.

Day 11. St. Petersburg

Breakfast at the hotel. Meeting with a guide at the hotel lobby.

Excursion to The State Russian Museum.

The museum is housed in the former Mikhailovsky Palace, 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.

Day 12. St. Petersburg

Breakfast at the hotel. Meeting with a guide at the hotel lobby

Excursion to Pushkin - Catherine’s Palace

The Palace-and-Park Ensemble - a former residence of the Russian emperors - is a spectacular monument of architecture and art of gardening of XVIII-XIX centuries. Its three parks cover 600 ha housing over a hundred of buildings from magnificent palaces and monuments to intimate pavilions and sculpture. Free time for shopping, picture taking.

Day 13. St. Petersburg

Breakfast at the hotel. Free time for shopping, picture taking. Transfer to the airport. Departure.

Price starting from $ 990

Included

- accommodation in Moscow, St. Petersburg
- train tickets to St Petersburg (1^st class)
- all transfers according to the program with arrival/departure transfers
- all excursions due to the program with entrance fees, air-conditioned private car and - individual licensed English speaking guide
- tickets to the Bolshoi theatre
- tickets to the circus
- tickets to the folk show in St. Petersburg
- visa support documents