Sightseeing Tours in St Petersburg

I really recomend this very interesting tour.

No line, no waiting and so much interesting facts.

A very professional guide!

10/10!

Really enjoyed the tour with our experienced and friendly tour guide
Definitely recommend this tour to everyone
Thanks

The guide Julia was very informative and gave us great insights into the history of St Petersburg and it’s monuments

From the very start on meeting Alexei in the morning and our guide Diana the service was exemplary. We had a simply fantastic 2 days in their company and it is difficult to know how we could have fitted more in. Diana was knowledgeable friendly and happy to amend the day to accommodate any of the groups needs. Our group tour consisted of 10 people from 3 different families, with a variety of interests but we found something for everyone. We arrived in St Petersburg on Brilliance of the Seas with Royal Carribean and despite the caution in their Royal Carribean's literature the visa-free process through border control was easy with just a passport, sea pass card (from the ship) and our maxibalt tour ticket. There was absolutely no problems - this had been our one concern prior to arrival but it absolutely wasn't an issue. Being in a small group was the best, as in busy museums such as the Hermitage we could use our "sneaking skills" as Diana put it to by pass any queues and maximise our use of the time available. During the two days we had lunch at two local restaurants (included in the tour price) where the service and welcome was on a par with Alexei and Diana's. Gift shopping whilst not imperative was made easier and cheaper by their knowledge of good shops off the beaten track where prices were much lower than the peak tourist areas, but quality was fantastic.

The tour we had included the Hermitage, Yusopov's palace, Catherines palace (inc the amber room), the fountains at Peterhof, St Peter and Paul's Fortress and Cathedral, a hydrofoil trip, a metro trip, plus my personal highlight "The Church of the Spilled Blood" which is an iconic building. Diana was always on the lookout for things to make our visit even more memorable - for example we had a short stop at one of the summer houses at Catherines Palace to listen to a 6 man choir sing a traditional Russian folk song which was unbelievably good and would have been missed by all the larger group tours.

My sister is going to St Petersburg next year and I have already told her there is no option but to contact Alexei!

The message is quite simple, if you go to St Petersburg, then you must go MaxiBalt!

My wife and I had an excellent two-day visit to St. Petersburg, thanks to Alexei and Maria. (Note for disclosure purposes: This was a private tour rather than one of the group itineraries. Our time was limited because we were on a cruise.) The proprietor (Alexei) listened to our priorities in advance, made great suggestions, and then drove or walked us around with insightful and enjoyable (but not overbearing) commentary. Alexei clearly loves his home city and conveyed that to us. The fact that he had spent a year as a grad student in the US made his remarks and responses all that much more meaningful. The only times Alexei did not stay with us was when he turned the job over to Maria for Catherine’s Palace on the first day and the Hermitage on the second. Maria’s tours were wonderful. She asked about our main interests before we walked into the Hermitage. We knew this could only be an introduction to the museum’s amazing holdings, so we had picked out our points of focus rather than follow someone else’s “top ten”. We wanted to spend our time on two of the major collections, combined with an architectural overview of the palace. Without knowing in advance about our interests, Maria quickly calculated the best walking paths including temporary shows that were in different wings from the permanent exhibits. The walking paths alone would have been worth the admission but there was much more. No matter what the painting, Maria had well-informed answers to our constant and unscripted questions. It was a memorable experience. After the Hermitage, we had a great time celebrating with Alexei and Maria over traditional dumplings. Until the next time!

My wife and I concluded our Russian river boat vacation in St. Petersburg and extended two days at a hotel to spend more time is this beautiful city. I had contracted with MaxiBalt Tours in advance of arriving in Russia for private guides for the Faberge and Hermitage museums. The services promised were delivered and could not have been better. Alexei Volkov, himself, coordinated both tours personally and the guides he provided were extremely knowledgeable and made sure we saw what we wanted to see. We never felt rushed and on this, our 2nd trip through the Hermitage, we were shown through doors and hallways so as to avoid much of the crowd. At the end of our last tour, Alexei showed us to a restaurant (somewhat hidden) where we enjoyed a nice lunch with him. All in all, Maxibalt Tours went above and beyond to leave us with very good memories of St. Petersburg.

My wife and I concluded our Russian river boat vacation in St. Petersburg and extended two days at a hotel to spend more time is this beautiful city. I had contracted with MaxiBalt Tours in advance of arriving in Russia for private guides for the Faberge and Hermitage museums. The services promised were delivered and could not have been better. Alexei Volkov, himself, coordinated both tours personally and the guides he provided were extremely knowledgeable and made sure we saw what we wanted to see. We never felt rushed and on this, our 2nd trip through the Hermitage, we were shown through doors and hallways so as to avoid much of the crowd. At the end of our last tour, Alexei showed us to a restaurant (somewhat hidden) where we ejoyed a nice lunch with him. All in all, Maxibalt Tours went above and beyond to leave us with very good memories of St. Petersburg.

We pre booked Ulko Tours for a trip to Peterhof, Grand Palace and Park.

Everything went very smoothly (unlike a tour we booked with another company). We were picked up promptly at our hotel and transported to Peterhof in a very comfortable Toyota.

Our tour guide was Senia and she did a superb job. She was very friendly, relaxed and informative. She was very knowledgeable on the palace and park and gave us lots of interesting detail

Beyond this Senia answered our many other questions about Russia - history,
transport, sport, culture etc

Her English was very good

All in all we had a great day out. Our driver, Yuri, also did a great job

The tour is not cheap but we could not have had such a great trip without a tour guide and I would thoroughly recommend Ulko Tours

We,a group of 7 people of friends and relatives, had an excellent two-day visit to St. Petersburg. We were on a cruise and instead of using the excursion arranged by Royal Caribbean, we booked our own from MaxiBaltTours. This was a private tour with a van and a driver. The owner Alexei gave us great suggestions in advance to choose the best way to see as much as possible the city within our limited time, yet everything run smoothly. The guide Elena was so nice and patient to help everybody. She was well prepared and spoke excellent English. She was very knowledgeable and well informed about the all historical events and the great art works. Thanks to Alexei and Elena, we experienced a most enjoyable and unforgettable tour in St. Petersburg.

I was traveling alone to St. Petersburg and only have a limited time there, and this day tour allows me to visit the 2 palaces in a day! My guide Marianna, and driver Akin, are both really friendly and helpful, making my tour a very pleasant and seamless one, not to mention that we have the privilege to skip the lines for entering each of these palaces. Marianna is very knowledgeable and cheerful, and speak very good English. She is also very accommodating and flexible in terms of the tour schedule. Last but not least, I got a very beautiful St. Petersburg picture guide book from Ulko tour as a gift, which is a really nice surprise! Highly recommend, worth the price.

Our guide Constantin and our car driver Nikita were on time to pick up us from our Hotel. They took us through the city with a nice new Van and Constantin told us many interesting stories about the city while traveling to Catherine Palace. There we had not to wait to enter in the palace and to admire the magnificent arquitecture and art of this incredible perfect restored palace. Constantin explained us a lot of details concerning the history of Imperial Russia in a perfect German language. We enjoyed a lot this tour and got safe back to our hotel. We can recommend everybody to get the services of this agency, Thank you very much: Andrea, Pauline and Carlos

We were delighted with our personal guide and tour of St Petersburg. I'd researched some places that interested us and Julie from Ulko Tours exceeded our expectations. We first went on a tour of the city, then to Peter and Paul Fortress, then to Spilled Blood Church, St Isaacs Cathedral (with a climb to the top and a view of the city, the Yusipov Palace and many other stops along the way, all with an interesting commentary of interesting facts and history. It was easy meeting up with our guide at the ship terminal and everything went smoothly. I would highly recommend this company.

Daria is an excellent guide and very knowledgeable. We also got a couple of freebies not included in the tour as she granted our request to see the Carriage museum at Catherine's palace, and also had our driver stop for us at the war memorial at our request on the way, where I got an excellent video of the interactive monument. Very happy, one of the highlights of our trip. Also, Paul's palace in Pavlovsk is not to be missed, one of the best palaces to be seen in Russia.

Yes! Our tour guide which we booked on Ulko Tours was not only knowledgeable, helpful, and accomodating, but also well-trained, well-prepared, bilingual, but also had great knowledge of the world making her, Marina, one of the best tour guides we´ve had!
Congratulations to all the Ulko staff for excellent service and training, our visit could not have been the same without your assistance. Thank you! We highly recommend Ulko Tours.

Nadja was the most knowledgeable tour guide we have ever had. She knew everything about anything we pointed to in the entire Hermitage. Nadja also knew exactly where to go to see the Best the hermitage has to offer. She enhanced the tour by making sure we got around the crowds quickly and efficiently while still seeing everything we wanted to and more! My only regret was not having booked her for more days!!!

Christina’s commentary was knowledgeable and informative. She actually got our tour into a couple of extra special little performances. Obviously she knew her way around and how to beat the lines. Very professional. Max greeted us prior to taking off on the first day and was there to greet us on the last day. He cares about the client’s experience. The driver was super. Highly recommend this company.

We spent time at The Hermitage with Dasha and she went above and beyond what she needed to, in terms of effort and time. She was punctual, helpful and the whole experience was just incredible
From the very beginning, this tour company were responsive, helpful and communicative and made sure we were looked after.
Our experience with them was excellent and we would not hesitate in recommending them.

We visited The Hermitage with Marianna from Ulko tours. What a fantastic tour she gave our small party. With perfect time management of the long queues, she had us inside and ready to walk round round in no time. Her knowledge and her enthusiasm for all the works on display was fantastic. We also did all the major sihts with her, including the Perterhof palace, what splendour.

We had a wonderful private tour with Arina. She was waiting for us at the meeting point and told us a lot of interesting things about the buildings and the art. We had a private entrance, avoiding long waiting lines, so this was really great.
Arina also shared some nice insights in the culture and ways of living of the locals during the coffee break. We loved it!

This was a small group tour (in fact it was only us and an additional person) of Pushkin over 5-6 hours. We had Olga as our guide and she was brilliant. She gave the right level of information and told us stories to keep us entertained. Highly recommended!