This morning your guide and driver will meet you to transfer to one of the canals of the city for an overview city tour by private boat of the rivers and canals in the city. Your first stop will be a visit to the Peter Paul Fortress: the birthplace of St Petersburg. As Peter’s original outpost against the Swedes, St Petersburg was born from this fortress and its historical significance is felt to this day by the presence of every Romanov tomb from Peter the Great.
You will continue your tour and also pass by the famous Bronze Horseman statue of Peter the Great, the Strelka (the spit in the center of the Neva River, overlooking the Winter Palace, the first stock exchange, and dozens of stately palaces).
Disembark your cruise and step inside the famous Yusupov Palace on the banks for the Moika Canal. You will have a private tour of the palace including its famous theatre and Arabian Room. You will hear how Rasputin was poisoned here by Prince Yusupov.
Enjoy lunch at the Bellevue restaurant in Palace Square with sweeping views of the rooftops of the Hermitage and surrounding buildings. Located in the Kempinski Moika 22 hotel. Reservations will be made on your behalf. The cost of your meal is payable locally.
The State Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg needs little introduction, but who has heard of the General Staff Building? Several years after its completion, there is little awareness that all the impressionist and post- impressionist works of art from the Hermitage have been moved across Palace Square to this stunning neo- classical building which has, after a 6-year refit, a jaw-droppingly modern interior. A space that in any other country would be hailed as a major new museum, in Russia, it is merely an extension! Monet, Cezanne, Renoir, Degas, Gaugin, Matisse, Picasso and Van Gogh to name some of the very most famous. Your guide will take you through the 24 galleries of incredible art.
Tonight, you will enjoy a performance at one of the most famed theatres in the world, the Mariinsky. Perhaps best known as the Kirov, the theatre is celebrating its 237th season. Built in 1860 and named after Maria Alexandrovna, wife of Alexander II the theater is the birthplace of Swan Lake and home to Pavlova, Nijinsky and Nureyev to name just a few. We recommend Mansarda for post theater dinner with stunning views of St. Isaac’s Cathedral and close to your hotel. Reservations will be made on your behalf. The cost of your meal is payable