Journey to Moscow and St. Petersburg 10 days / 9 nights

May – September 2024

Arrival in Moscow airport. Meeting with the guide. Transfer to the hotel. Accommodation in hotel.

Optional: “Moscow by night”. Evening Bus Tour of illuminated streets of Moscow city center and skyscrapers of the Moscow International Business Center “Moscow City”.

Duration of the tour: 3 hours

Breakfast in the hotel Meeting with the guide

09:00 – 13:00 City tour of Moscow

You will drive along the famous embankments and streets of the historic city: Boulevard Ring and Garden Ring, Kutuzovsky Avenue; you will see the Bolshoi Theater, the Moscow Manege, Stalin's High- rise buildings, the Triumphal Arch, Sparrow Hills, the building of Moscow State University, the Luzhniki Olympic Stadium, the Novodevichy Convent, the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, modern skyscrapers of Moscow City and many others.

13:00 – 14:00 Time for lunch

Optional:

Visit to VDNKh (All-Russian Exhibition Center) and the Memorial Museum of Cosmonautics, a museum dedicated to space exploration. The museum contains a wide variety of Soviet and Russian space-related exhibits and models which explore the history of flight; astronomy; space exploration; space technology; and space in the arts. The museum's collection holds approximately 85,000 different items.

Duration of the tour including transfers: 3 hours OR

Visit to the Federation Tower, a complex of two skyscrapers built on the territory of the Moscow International Business Center in Moscow (Moscow City). The two skyscrapers are named Tower East and Tower West. The supertall skyscraper Tower East is currently the tallest building in Moscow, the second- tallest skyscraper in Europe and Russia, and the 55th-tallest building in the world. We can reach by an elevator the 89th floor of the Tower East with PANORAMA360 — the highest observation deck in Europe.

Duration of the tour including transfers: 3 hours

Transfer to the hotel Free time

Overnight stay at the hotel

Breakfast in the hotel Meeting with the guide

09:00 – 13:00 Visit to Red Square and Alexander Gardens. Red Square is one of the oldest and largest squares in Moscow. Owing to its historical significance and the adjacent historical buildings, it is regarded as one of the most notable and important squares in Europe and the world. In addition, it has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1990. It is located in Moscow's historic center, in the eastern walls of the Kremlin. You will see famous buildings such as Saint Basil's Cathedral, Lenin's Mausoleum and the GUM (State Department Store).

Alexander Gardens stretch along all the length of the western Kremlin wall for 865 metres between the building of the Moscow Manege and the Kremlin. The gardens were originally called the Kremlin Gardens, but after the coronation of Alexander II in 1856, the gardens were renamed the Alexander Gardens. Towards the main entrance to the park is the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier with an eternal flame. It contains the body of a soldier who fell during the Great Patriotic War at the nearest point the forces of Nazi Germany penetrated towards Moscow. Post Number One, where the honor sentinels stand on guard, used to be located in front of Lenin's Mausoleum, but was moved to the Tomb of The Unknown Soldier in the 1990s.

13:00 – 14:00 Time for lunch

Optional:

Visit to the Moscow Kremlin: you will see the unique architectural ensemble of the Moscow Kremlin. Cathedral Square is the heart of the Kremlin. It is surrounded by six buildings, including three cathedrals (During your tour you will be able to visit two cathedrals: one with guided tour and another on your own). The Cathedral of the Dormition was the main church of Moscow, where all the Tsars were crowned. The gilded, nine-domed Cathedral of the Annunciation was originally the personal chapel for the tsars, and its abbot remained a personal confessor of the Russian royal family until the early 20th century. Between the Great Kremlin Palace (only outside view) and the Ivan the Great Bell Tower there is the Cathedral of the Archangel Michael, where almost all the Muscovite monarchs from Ivan Kalita to Ivan V of Russia were buried. The other notable structure is the Ivan the Great Bell Tower (only outside view), which is said to mark the exact center of Moscow and resemble a burning candle. Completed in 1600, it is 81 meters high. The Tsar Cannon is a monument of Russian artillery casting art, cast in bronze in 1586 in Moscow. Mostly of symbolic impact, it was never used in a war. Between the Ivan the Great Bell Tower and the Kremlin Wall there is the Tsar Bell, the largest bell in the world, weighing 201,924 kg.

Duration of the tour including transfers: 4 hours OR

Visit to the Kremlin Armoury. Originated as a royal arsenal, the Armoury was in charge of producing, purchasing and storing weapons, jewelry and various household articles of the tsars. Now the museum holds the treasures of the Golden and Silver chambers of the Russian tsars. The Armoury keeps ancient

state regalia, ceremonial royal clothes and coronation dress, liturgical garments of the hierarchs of the Russian Orthodox Church, the largest collection of gold and silverware made by Russian craftsmen, Western European art silver, monuments of gunsmithing, a collection of carriages, items of ceremonial equestrian decoration.

Duration of the tour including transfers: 4 hours

Transfer to the hotel Free time

Overnight stay at the hotel

Breakfast in the hotel Free Day

Optional:

Visit to the first Russian lacquer miniature factory in the town of Fedoskino, about 20 km from Moscow. Fedoskino miniature painting was born at the end of the XVIII century. The most highly valued were chests and caskets, which were decorated with complex multifigure compositions - copies of paintings by Russian and Western European artists. Excursions to Fedoskino lacquer miniature factory will allow you to learn more about the history of this amazing craft.

Duration of the tour including transfers: 5 hours

OR

Visit to the Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius, a lavra (an especially venerated monastery) and the most important Russian monastery, being the spiritual center of the Russian Orthodox Church for many centuries. The monastery is situated in the town of Sergiyev Posad, about 70 kilometres from Moscow.

It’s the largest center of educational and publishing activities of the Russian Orthodox Church and the seat of the Moscow Theological Academy. According to the Statute of the Russian Orthodox Church, the archimandrite of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra is the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia. In terms of importance, the Trinity-Sergius Lavra can be compared to the Vatican.

At the beginning of the 20th century, Sergiev Posad was called "the toy capital of Russia". There were more than 30 artels producing toys made of wood in the city. For an additional fee you can visit the Matryoshka doll workshop in Sergiev Posad, which continues and multiplies the traditions of the old masters.

Duration of the tour including Matryoshka doll workshop: 9 hours (Lunch is available for an additional surcharge).

OR

Another opportunity is to visit the factory of carved artistic products in Khot’kovo, about 60 km from Moscow, one of the oldest and leading Russian enterprises for the production of jewelry and artistic and decorative items made of mammoth tusk. The factory staff will be glad to tell you about the work of the factory, about its masters, about the peculiarities of making carved bone products. The excursion through the exhibition halls and production facilities of the factory covers the issues of material, mammoth fauna and its extraction, history of Khotkovo craft and technology of bone carving. If you

wish, you can additionally order a master class on bone carving, which allows you to get an idea of some tools and carve a small souvenir by yourself.

Duration of the tour including transfers: 6 hours OR

Visit to the Gzhel Porcelain Factory, a unique and world-renowned manufacturer of handmade porcelain products and "blue and white pottery": white pottery and porcelain decorated under the glaze with a blue pigment, generally cobalt oxide. Located in Gzhel, about 60 km from Moscow, the factory has been creating beautiful works of art for over two centuries. Today, the porcelain of the Gzhel Porcelain Factory is still produced using traditional methods with blue-and-white decors and shapes that made it famous throughout the world. Many production processes are carried out manually, which makes it possible to create intricate curves of each piece, as well as to elaborate decorative elements that vary from piece to piece and are always unique works of art.

You will get acquainted with the history of the craft, see how porcelain masterpieces are created by hand. You will be able to see how products are cast, how cobalt painting is born, how firing is carried out in huge kilns, and even learn the "secret of porcelain".

Duration of the tour including transfers: 6 hours

Breakfast in the hotel

Check-out of the hotel. Meeting with the guide. Transfer to the Railway Station.

The high-speed express train Sapsan (literally meaning 'Peregrine Falcon') will bring you to St. Petersburg within approx. 4 hours.

Arrival in St. Petersburg. Meeting with the guide. Transfer to the hotel. Check-in.

Time for lunch.

City tour of St. Petersburg. You will see a unique architectural phenomenon called the Historic Center of St. Petersburg, which was entirely included in the list of World Heritage Sites. This was one of the first cases in UNESCO's practice when the status of monument was granted to a huge landscape, where hundreds of thousands of people live. You will see the monumental St. Isaac's Cathedral, the Admiralty, the Neva River with its granite-clad banks, the Sphinxes brought from Egypt on the University Embankment and aristocratic palaces facing the Neva, the Spit of Vasilyevsky Island with the Rostral Columns, the Winter Palace and the Palace Square, the Summer Garden and the Field of Mars, the Mikhailovsky Castle, the Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood, picturesque palaces of Nevsky Prospekt, Kazan and Smolny Cathedrals.

Return to the hotel.

Free evening

Overnight stay at the hotel

Breakfast in the hotel Meeting with the guide

09:00 – 13:00 Visit to the Peter and Paul Fortress, the original citadel and historical core of the city from which it grew. Between the first half of the 1700s and early 1920s it served as a prison for political criminals and is often nicknamed – the “Russian Bastille”. We will visit the Peter and Paul Cathedral, which has a 122.5 m bell-tower and a gilded angel-topped cupola. The cathedral used to be the main cathedral of the Russian Empire for a long time, where all the tsars and tsaritesses of the Romanov dynasty were buried.

13:00 – 14:00 Time for lunch

Optional:

Visit to the Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood – one of the most picturesque churches in St. Petersburg. The church was erected on the site where Russian Emperor Alexander II was assassinated in March 1881.The cathedral differs from other predominantly Baroque and Neoclassical churches of St.

Petersburg and harks back to medieval Russian architecture. Inside, the temple is a truly museum of mosaics. The church contains over 7500 square meters of mosaics—according to its restorers, more than any other church in the world.

Duration of the tour including transfers: 3 hours OR

Visit to St. Isaac's Cathedral, the largest Orthodox cathedral in St. Petersburg. It took 40 years, from 1818 to 1858, to build the cathedral and upon completion it was given the status of a principal church,

i.e. the main Orthodox church of the capital of the Russian Empire. The height of the cathedral is 101.5 meters and the interior area is more than 4,000 square meters. The cathedral is decorated with 112 giant granite columns. The height of the columns of the lower porticoes is about 17 meters, and the columns of the drum of the central dome reach 14 meters. Each of the giant columns consists of a single piece of granite. Ten to twelve thousand people worked around the clock for forty years on the construction of St. Isaac's Cathedral.

Duration of the tour including transfers: 3 hours

Return to the hotel.

Free evening

Overnight stay at the hotel

Breakfast at the hotel Meeting with the guide.

09:00 – 14:00 Visit to Peterhof - a summer residence of the Russian Tsars. This incredibly beautiful palace and park ensemble is often called "Russian Versailles". We will visit the richly decorated Grand Palace of Peterhof and the unique in its technical solutions Lower Park with fountains, which was arranged on a landscape ideally created by nature for round-the-clock water flow. This made it possible

to create about 150 permanently operating large and small fountains on the territory of more than 100 hectares. A distinctive feature of the Peterhof palace and park ensemble is its proximity to the sea.

14:00 – 15:00 Time for lunch

Optional:

Tour of Kronstadt. On the way to the sea fortress of Kronstadt you will drive across the Saint Petersburg Flood Prevention Facility Complex, unofficially the Saint Petersburg Dam, a 25 km long complex of dams for flood control near Saint Petersburg, and learn about St. Petersburg's long history of flooding and flood control. The dam extends from the city of Lomonosov northward to Kotlin Island (on which the city of Kronstadt is located). Founded in the early 18th century by Peter the Great, Kronstadt had the strategic significance as a primary maritime defense outpost of the former Russian capital. The main base of the Russian Baltic Fleet was located in Kronstadt, guarding the approaches to Saint Petersburg by means of many military fortifications. We make a stop at the Fort "Grand Duke Constantine". Then during the sightseeing tour around Kronstadt you will see the Kronstadt Footstick - a level gauge for measuring the height of the Baltic Sea level. From the zero mark of the Kronstadt Footstick absolute height measurements are made on the whole territory of the former Soviet Union. You will see the Petrovsky dry dock, a unique hydraulic engineering structure of the XVIII century, and visit the Naval cathedral of Saint Nicholas in Kronstadt (no excursion inside), a Russian Orthodox cathedral built in 1903–1913 as the main church of the Russian Navy and dedicated to all fallen seamen. The Cathedral of St. Sophia in Constantinople served as the prototype of this grandiose cathedral.

Return to the hotel.

Free evening

Overnight stay at the hotel

Duration of the tour including transfers: 6 hours

Breakfast at the hotel Free day

Visit to the famous imperial residence Tsarskoe Selo, created by architect Rastrelli in the Russian Baroque style, which is characterized by majestic ensembles and huge size of buildings, powerful proportions, abundance of color and gilding. We will visit the Catherine Palace, created by Peter the Great for his wife, but it received its present form during the reign of Catherine the Great. Fascinated by antique art, the Empress wished to decorate her apartments in accordance with fashionable tastes and entrusted their decoration to the Scottish architect Charles Cameron, a connoisseur of antique architecture. The interiors he created were characterized by exquisite beauty. The most famous is the Amber Room, the jewel of the Catherine Palace, justifiably called one of the wonders of the world.

Duration of the tour including transfers: 5 hours OR

Visit to the Fabergé Museum in Saint Petersburg. The museum's collection contains more than 4,000 works of decorative applied and fine arts, including gold and silver items, paintings, porcelain and

bronze. A highlight of the museum's collection is the group of nine Imperial Easter eggs created by Fabergé for the last two Russian Tsars.

Duration of the tour including transfers: 3 hours OR

Boat Trip on Canals and Rivers is a “must have” excursion in St. Petersburg in the summer. A comfortable boat with panoramic windows will pass under a variety of bridges across rivers and canals of St. Petersburg. Even familiar views look in a different way when viewed from the water. Peter the Great ordered buildings in St. Petersburg to be built facing the rivers. Thanks to this we still can enjoy the most elegant facades of St. Petersburg’s palaces and mansions by a boat trip.

Duration of the tour including transfers: 3 hours

Breakfast at the hotel Free day

Optional:

Morning tour: Excursion to the historic Konstantinovsky Palace, a monument of architecture of the XVIII century, named since 2003 the State Complex "Palace of Congresses". The complex is subordinate to the Department of Affairs of the President of the Russian Federation. The palace has preserved the atmosphere of luxury of tsarist times and multiplied it with the rigor of the Palace of Congresses, where nowadays events at the highest interstate level are held. In July 2006, the Palace of Congresses hosted the G-8 summit in St. Petersburg, and in September 2013 it hosted the G-20 summit. Among the halls visited on a guided tour there are: Marble Hall, Blue Hall, Belvedere, Presidential Drawing Rooms and many others.

Duration of the tour including transfers: 5 hours

In the afternoon: Visit to the Hermitage Museum. The State Hermitage Museum is a world-known museum of art and culture. Its collections, only a small part of which is on permanent display, comprise over three million items. The exhibition halls feature works of Italian Renaissance artists, including Giorgione, Titian, Veronese, and Leonardo da Vinci; Italian and Spanish fine art including Tintoretto, Velázquez and Murillo; Dutch Golden Age and Flemish Baroque painting, including the large collections of Van Dyck, Rubens and Rembrandt, and many other paintings and sculptures. The collections occupy a large complex of six historic buildings along Palace Embankment, including the Winter Palace, a former residence of Russian emperors.

Duration of the tour including transfers: 5 hours

Free evening

Overnight stay at the hotel

Breakfast at the hotel Check-out of the hotel Transfer to airport

Program is subject to change due to organizational reasons without reducing the scope of services provided!

The starting times specified in the program are advisory and may change depending on the transport situation and the entrance time confirmed by the museum!

Some optional tours have to be booked long beforehand. Please check the deadlines with your tour provider!

Net Package Rate per Person in EUR

Optional excursions per person in EUR