Christmas in St Petersburg Traveller Reviews

This trip was a cultural guided tour of St Petersburg, its history and art collections

Ciceroni are a hard act to follow with an unbeatable combination of experience and expertise in the topics of the tour. The practical organisation of travel and accommodation was second to none.

My first tip to Russia put St Petersburg and environs into sharp focus. In a group of retirees, who value an introduction or refresher course on the history, the culture, the architecture ,the painting, the sculpture and other decorative arts, we were shown the best of the best. Tom Duncan shares his immense knowledge and passion for the Arts with generosity and patience lightened with humour. I came home resolved to continue exploring ; for me it was a wake-up call so many, many years on from my own student days!

Ciceroni has a very personal approach to running tours. They take trouble to get to know their clients and have gathered a loyal following. The Company is efficient and researches sites and hotels with care. The days are action packed but enjoyment and fun are not sacrificed in any way.

Extremely informative and well run holiday, often in difficult circumstances. Uniquely expertly guided by Tom Duncan, we feel nobody could do it better.

Ciceroni were very helpful and very efficient. An excellent selection of treasures to visit, well organised. Knowledgeable assistance from the pleasant local guide, who spoke excellent English.

Our guide paced our holiday with enormous care so that we covered the great treasures of St Petersburg over six days without ever feeling too tired or overwhelmed. We visited the Hermitage on three separate occasions rather than spending 8 hours in one day getting exhausted. Two guides shared the load and this also helped, one broadly covering Russian and the other non-Russian art. our visits to palaces allowed lots of time to visit pavilions and parks; this included changes of plan to include rarely open places which showed that our trip was not mass produced.

Ciceroni is totally trustworthy

The holiday was a joy to both of us and we had an excellent guide in Tom Duncan who was most knowledgeble about his subject which is why we chose the Ciceroni holiday because we knew it would be excellent and value for money

As above they attend to every detail and stay in very good hotels