Christmas in St Petersburg Traveller Reviews

A Focused, educational visit to St Petersburg and surrounding places of interest. This was enhanced by the Knowledgeable tour managers and guides. Excellent Hotel, food and drink and other members of the group were good company.

Know what they are doing and it shows. Customer comes first. Thoughtful and considerate

The week not only gave us a fascinating view of St Petersburg; its social history - past & present, its palaces and architecture but was an education in all the varying elements of the decorative arts; reaching back to the great Italian & Dutch masters up to the baroque, rococo & neo-classical styles promoted by Peter the Great, the Empresses Elizabeth, Catherine 1 & Catherine the Great. With two great art historians leading us through the myriad of treasures in the Hermitage, with privileged behind the scenes and private visits to several palaces, this was an 'MA standard' week - a once in a lifetime experience.

Ciceroni travel left nothing to chance. All the necessary travel details were carefully presented, the hotel accommodation was excellent, as were the various restaurants visited. The Ciceroni office was always ready to answer any questions - nothing was too much trouble.

Very well organised, with private visits in the company of curators or experts in their field, in a small group. Hotel and meals well chosen and in convenient locations. Constant update and proctoring by group leaders.

Efficient and responding rapidly, observing deadlines, knowledgeable even though we were departing from Switzerland and not England .(Ciceroni)

Everything ran like cloclwork, from being picked up at the airport, arriving at the hotel which was lovely , our rooms were very comfortable and the bathtub a dream. The sights were truly amazing not just the size of the palaces but their contents which were a bit overwhelming. There were such wonderful collections of paintings, artifacts, treasures, furniture and chandeliers. After a busy day at the galleries it was a dream to come back to the hotel and relax with an Italian style hot chocolate. One abiding memory for me will be how Tom had even organised the weather. After the first couple of sunny days the weather was dull but the streets were covered in residual snow and slush. On our last day we went out to Pavlosk which was a more "homely " size and as we came out of the palace, horse drawn Troikas replete with roly poly Russian lady drivers were waiting for us. As I got into the sledge it started snowing, we were then wrapped up in blankets and rode around the palace grounds with the horse's bells ringing, what a scene, we all started singing Lara's theme from Dr Zhivago. That is what I call organization, snow to order and what a wonderful scene. From there we went to a restaurant much favoured by Mr Putin. It was a large log cabin, toasty warm inside and decorated with Russian Folk Art, accordian man was playing and one of the singers had a very deep baritone like the voices you hear in Orthodox chuches and can only be Russian. As we were eating our stuffed cabbage leaves and drinking vodka, I looked out through the floral curtains at the window and it was snowing hard still. Such a difference from the grandeur of the palaces with all their gold decoration but a very memorable moment.

Everything was well organised,even the snow . Tom has a wonderful way of talking about Art History and History together and joining up all the dots so that things have real context. He was very easy to listen to and concentrated on the most important works. That also included the visits with local guides, they did not attempt to talk about everything but highlighted the star pieces, Hotel had a lovely breakfast buffet and a good bar, huge bathtub in our bathroom which is great when you are 6ft 4inches, brilliant service everywhere which was a nice suprise as we have lived for several years in the former Soviet Union where service was almost unheard of. The inclusive lunches and dinners were well chosen togetger with Elena the local tour guide who was utterly delightful. A wonderful trip.

We had an extremely interesting and informative visit to this amazing city. The Palaces are beautiful with so much gilding and interesting objet d'art revealing an aspect of the history of Russia. It was pleasing to see the amount of refurbishment being undertaken. The Hermitage Museum has the best art collection in Russia and walking around the galleries, the range and scope of artefacts has to be seen to be believed. The evening entertainment of ballets and opera was enjoyable and contributed to the overall understanding of this city. Our lovely hotel perfectly placed. Our guide was excellent, her English perfect and combined with her sense of humour - a 5 star holiday experience. se of humour

The organisation, planning and especially the information provided before we departed, was first class. The variety of places visited was perfectly balanced. Our leader was exceedingly knowledgeable and imparted the information well and, combined at times with a sense of humour, made it more memorable. Our Russian guide was excellent especially in her knowledge and all aspects of her involvement in the tour. Definitely a 5 star experience.

6 days spent visiting the wonderful museums and palaces of St Petersburg led by a serious expert in Tom Duncan and very ably supported by a charming and knowledgeable local guide.

This was our 8th trip in 4 years with Ciceroni and every one has been a great success. They have been varied in style and location but all most enjoyable and in company with like minded people

I had a marvellous time. Everything was very well organised. The Tour operator and the local guide are both excellent, so much knowledge to impart to us and both are witty and have a good sense of humour. They have made my trip very enjoyable. The hotel Astoria, chosen by the tour operator is excellent ,the room is spacious and well laid out and being in the centre of the city ,shops , local restaurants are easily accessible and within walking distance from the hotel.

He is excellent. His knowledge on the Arts and History of the City is very deep and given in a very interesting manner. He is also courteous and charming.

My Husband and I had an amazing holiday with Ciceroni to St Petersburg. We started our arrival into St Petersburg with a group dinner and then every day we met in the lobby and walked or coached to visit the famous sites of St Petersburg. We stayed near St Isaac's cathedral and made a visit there to start with then went to the Peter and Paul Fortress. During the week we had three visits to the Hermitage which was great as it was so busy and so to dip in and out was exactly the right thing to do. We also went on the hydrofoil to Peterhof to visit Peter the Great's Palace and also saw the Chinese Pavilion made for Catherine the Great. We enjoyed a canal cruise and visit to the Church of spilled blood which was amazing! We also visited the Russian Art Museum and Tsarskoe Selo, Catherine the Great's favoured retreat. We finished the trip with a visit to Pavlosk the Palace of Paul I. We enjoyed many group lunches and dinners.

Tom, from Ciceroni, who guided the group through the week, was so informative and enthusiastic about all the subjects and places we visited. We love travelling with Ciceroni as they look after you so well. The hotels they book are always good combined with great organisation of all the transport and logistics of moving the group from place to place. Tom also had a Russian guide to come along with us which also adds to the smooth running of the trip. If you went on your own you would not cover as much as we did as a group. We had all our tickets and entrance times booked into the Hermitage and all our meals pretty organised.

A week spent visiting all the main Palaces, three visits to the Hermitage, a production of Swan Lake, eating in delightful restaurants with delicious Russian food. A delightful Russian guide, very easy on the eye for the men in our party, who could not stand Putin, very refreshing! Our Hotel, the Astoria was excellent. All in all a wonderful week.

Ciceroni has to be the best small tour operator. Very efficiently run with their leader, Tom Duncan, being so knowledgeable in his subject & such a joy to listen to. We are hoping he will return to Jordan as we will certainly go there with Ciceroni.

We flew to Saint Petersburg in Russia with BA- the best airline, as it is reliable and comfortable and one feels in 'safe hands' ! We stayed in the Astoria Hotel in St Petersburg, which was comfortable, and close to all the attractions we were to visit. Our main visit was to the Hermitage Museum, which is vast and full of history and beautiful paintings and objets d'art. We had a Russian guide with us, and she explained a lot about the history of Russia and acted as our interpreter getting in and out of restaurants etc. We saw so many palaces full of amazing art, we got to know each other as a group, and travelling as a single woman, I felt completely safe and secure and that enabled me to relax and enjoy all the art and history I had come to learn about.

Ciceroni specializes in taking small groups to various places, not necessarily outside British Isles, where the accent is on learning about Art, Architecture, music, Houses etc.... Their Groups Leaders are experienced, knowledgable, kind, good humoured, tolerant and great fun! They have excellent staff at their office who organise all your flights, hotel bookings, museum bookings, restaurant bookings, they organise everything for you, and you can trust that where ever they choose to stay, eat, travel etc, it will be safe, comfortable and as reliable as one can get. So, you, the traveller, just sit back and relax and enjoy!