Cultural Russia Tour Itinerary

Itinerary:

The days of the week may change based upon your schedule, but we have found the following to be a very workable schedule. Also, we will make changes at your direction and based upon what is happening at that moment in Moscow and Saint Petersburg. The dining scene, entertainment and nightlife change very quickly, even by the season. This is a sample and events will necessarily require flexibility. Bear in mind also that if you have a special request, there is a good chance we can accommodate it. The trip is 9 nights, but it can be shorter or longer at your discretion. It is important for us to communicate that your tour will be customized to your schedule and interests. Our strongest desire is to show you the best possible time.

Day 1 (Thursday):

Arrival in Moscow. Your Personal Concierge and limousine and drive are awaiting you at the airport. You and your group are driven to your hotel in the city center. Along the way you enjoy a chilled bottle of champagne and the sites of the city. You check in at your hotel, the lavish and historic 5-star National located adjacent to Red Square. After a brief interval to unwind and refresh yourself, the Personal Concierge who has been assigned to you for your stay will show you Red Square. There you will see fantastical Saint Basil’s Cathedral, the Kremlin walls, Lenin’s tomb and walk across Red Square itself - the site of many parades and the backdrop for much of Russian and Soviet history. Following this tour, we will show you back to the hotel, so that you may rest from your journey and prepare for the evening ahead!

9:00p.m. Your Personal Concierge meets you in the lobby of the hotel and together with your group you embark in your waiting vehicle for dinner. We take you to one of Moscow’s ultra-hip restaurants to enjoy a drink in the bar, dinner and the fabulous scenery of Moscow’s nightlife. Then if your group chooses, we will take you to one of Moscow’s most refined casinos. Another alternative is an evening at a blues club enjoying some of Moscow’s best music and mingling with performers and local music-lovers. This is one of our favorite places in Moscow and virtually unknown to tourists.

3:00 a.m. We return you to your hotel. (unless you make other arrangements).

Day 2 (Friday):

You breakfast in the hotel, if you choose or sleep in to recover from your long journey.

10:00 a.m. Meet in the lobby with your Personal Concierge. He takes you on a guided tour of the Moscow Metro system that delivers 8,000,000 people, daily to their destinations. Many of the stations are recognized as architectural masterpieces of the genre. We take you to view some of the best.

12:00 a.m. Lunch at an authentic Georgian restaurant in the city center, walk Arbat Street and enjoy the street performers and lively crowd.

2:30 p.m. Victory Park. Tour the museum devoted to the tremendous sacrifices of the Soviet Union in World War Two (the Great Patriotic War).

4:30 p.m. Return to the hotel. You go to the hotel’s facility on the 7th floor for swimming, relaxing in the Jacuzzi and a sauna. From the pool and Jacuzzi you enjoy panoramic views of Moscow’s exotic skyline.

9:00 p.m. Your Personal Concierge is waiting for you in the lobby. He joins you in your car and together you go out to dinner. We take you to one of the most chic and acclaimed restaurants in Moscow. Here you enjoy dinner and drinks in opulent surroundings and mingle in Moscow’s glamorous social scene.

12:00 a.m. Next stop is a nightclub or maybe you will go club hopping and hit several of the most exciting clubs. The club scene is constantly changing, even by the season, so we will not commit specifically at this point. Perhaps it will be Cabaret, or Propaganda or Zeppelin or yet another. You are escorted past face control and spend an evening enjoying Moscow’s nightclub scene. Your Personal Concierge is with you to make sure that there are no translation problems with the new friends that you meet!
3:00 a.m. Your car will take you back to hotel. (unless you make other arrangements).

Day 3 (Saturday):

If you choose we will have your Personal Concierge available at 10 a.m. However, we recognize that everyone needs some rest so your tour of the Kremlin and its museums is put off until 1:00. You lunch in the hotel.

1:00 p.m. Kremlin tour and museums, including the fabulous Diamond Fund.

3:00 p.m. Your car and driver and Personal Concierge take you on a driving tour of the architectural highlights of Moscow, including the 7 Sisters of the Stalin period.

5:00 p.m. Drinks at a fashionable café in Pushkin Square.

7:00 p.m. Return to the hotel and prepare for the evening.

8:30 p.m. Your Personal Concierge meets you and you go to the very sophisticated Red Bar with a breathtaking view of Moscow from the top of one of its’ tallest buildings.

10:00 p.m. Dinner in a fashionable nearby restaurant.

12:00 a.m. If you wish we take you to another of the red-hot clubs in Moscow. You are steered past face control and spend the next several hours drinking, dancing and making new friends. Or if you choose, you return to the hotel and enjoy a good night’s rest.

Day 4 (Sunday):

11:00 a.m. After breakfast, you meet your Personal Concierge in the lobby of the hotel and together you leave to spend the day at Novodevichiy Convent and Cemetery and also to visit the spectacular grounds and monuments at Kolomenskoe. At Novodevichiy you see some of the best examples of Russian religious architecture and while walking the grounds of the cemetery you will see many of the graves and spectacular tombstones of notables of Soviet history.

2:00 p.m. Lunch at a Ukrainian restaurant. This is noted as one of the best in the city.

3:30 p.m. We take you to GUM. This 3 level, 3 row historic building immediately adjacent to Red Square has many of the most famous European clothing lines in its numerous shops. This is a great place to spend several hours people watching, shopping or enjoying a coffee as the world goes by.

5:30 p.m. Return to the hotel for a sauna and preparations for the evening.

7:00 p.m. Evening performance at the historic and grand Bolshoi Theatre.

9:30 p.m. Dinner in an exotic and spicy Uzbekh restaurant. Many people find this to be one of their most memorable dining experiences in Moscow.

11:00 p.m. Sunday night and we take you to several bars in the happening district close to the Bolshoi Theatre and Lubyanka.

Day 5 (Monday):

10:00 a.m. Today your Personal Concierge and car and driver will take you to Sergeiv Possad for a day touring the grounds of this ancient monastery and medieval fortress. You get to experience some of the Russian countryside and to see a bit of life in a smaller city outside of fast-paced Moscow.

(An alternative in the summer months will be to spend a day at a rustic dacha {cottage} with a family in the rural area outside of Moscow. There you will be treated to homegrown and homemade food and many vodka toasts with your friendly and very hospitable hosts. For many people this is an absolutely unique and unforgettable experience. The dacha does not have electricity or running water, so we do mean rustic, though! However these people and their neighbors will more than make up for it with their friendliness and warmth. There will be an additional charge for the dacha experience of $200 for two people and an extra $50 per person if your group is larger than two people.)

6:00 p.m. Return to the hotel.

8:30 p.m. Dinner at a restaurant in the center. For your last evening in Moscow, we recommend a very interesting Armenian restaurant. This place has a very exotic look and the food is great!

10:30 p.m. At this point, you may wish to pack or simply rest before the next leg of your journey, but the choice is yours. We can take you to your favorite of the places you have already been for your last night or another of the hundreds of choices in Moscow.

Saint Petersburg:

Day 6 (Tuesday):

Your car and driver meet you at the hotel to take you to the train station for your train ride to beautiful Saint Petersburg.
Approximately, 6 hours later you are met at the train station in central Saint Petersburg by one of our representatives there. There you are escorted to your hotel, the 5-Star Grand Europe. The Grand Europe is consistently recognized for the quality of its accommodations and service. This is one of the best hotels in Europe and its location is in the most central part of the city. We are confident you will be very happy with the experience. After check in and preparations for the evening, your Personal Concierge meets you. You will be shown to your waiting car and then taken to one of Saint Petersburg’s many elegant restaurants for dinner.

Day 7 (Wednesday):

10:00 a.m. Fully rested after a night at the Grand Europa, your Personal Concierge takes you to your car and gives you a guided tour of Saint Petersburg’s spectacular sites. This will probably include the Hermitage, Neva River, Isaacsky Cathedral, Nevsky Prospekt and the Spilt Blood Cathedral and some of the many beautiful canals and bridges for which Saint Petersburg is famous.

12:00 a.m. Lunch at one of the cafés in the thriving hub of Saint Petersburg, Nevsky Prospekt.

1:30 p.m. This afternoon, we take you to the home of one of the best collections of art and artifacts in the world, the Hermitage Museum. Your guide escorts you past the lines of people and shows you some of the highlights, including a premier collection of the masters of Impressionism.

4:30 p.m. You and your group return to your hotel for a sauna and relaxation before your evening out.

7:00 p.m. We take you to an evening performance at the Mariinsky Theatre. This historic and beautiful venue has recently been renovated and it is deserving of its reputation as one of the world’s best theatres.

9:30 p.m. Dinner at a traditional Russian restaurant with a direct view of the Split Blood Cathedral. This Cathedral with its jaw-dropping exterior rests on the banks of one of Saint Petersburg’s most famous canals.

11:00 p.m. After dinner you are taken to a dance club off Nevsky Prospekt to learn about Russian nightlife Saint Petersburg- style.

Day 8 (Thursday):

10:00 a.m. Today your Personal Concierge is waiting to take you to the Russian Museum. This is within a very short walking distance of your hotel. It also contains many of the art treasures of historic Russia, including much of the best Russian art of the 20th Century.

12:30 p.m. Your driver and car are waiting to take you to lunch at another hip café. You spend several hours here with your friends.

2:30 p.m. Tour of the Fortress of Peter and Paul and its museums. Here you walk the ramparts above the Neva River and get a great look at the mansions lining the far side. You can also see the small cabin nearby where Peter the Great lived from 1703 during the construction of the city.

4:30 p.m. You spend several hours walking along Nevsky Prospekt. Your Personal Concierge gives you a walking tour and if you choose, you shop or have a coffee or a drink (or several) at one of the many bustling cafes.

6:30 p.m. Return to the hotel. Prepare for the night out.

8:30 p.m. This evening we take you to one of the best new restaurants in the city.

10:30 p.m. Afterwards we take you to another dance club or a casual and relaxed café. Some guests choose to relax at the hotel at this point.

Day 9 (Friday):

This is your last full day in Russia, so we have decided that you should see the incredible palace built at Peterhof.

10:00 a.m. Your car and driver take you together with your concierge to Peterhof. Located some distance outside of the city, Peterhof could be compared to a Russian version of Versailles. There you are given a guided tour.

5:00 p.m. Return to the hotel to rest before your last evening in Russia.

8:00 p.m. For you last dinner in Russia (until your next trip!), we will give you several choices, perhaps Noble Nest or the Old Custom House. Another favorite is one of several very good restaurants in the hotel.

10:00 p.m. First stop is to a bar in the city center for several drinks and then we take you to a club that is only steps away.

12:00 a.m. Your last night in Russia concludes with dancing and drinking at an all-night dance club. You stay here as long as you wish.

Day 10 (Saturday):

Your vehicle is waiting to take you to Pulkovo Airport for your journey home.

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