I had been recommended to book SPB tours in St Petersburg by another satisfied client. We were amazed by our tour guide Maria's high standard of English and her ability to understand all of our Australian accents. Maria has an incredible knowledge of St Petersburg's art and history. Viewing the thousands of art exhibits with Maria was an excellent experience that we shall all treasure. Her love of fine arts was truly a pleasure to share. SPB provided a wheelchair for me and Maria was most flexible with her tours allowing me to access many areas I did not think would be possible to view. They even managed to purchase four tickets to the ballet with only one days notice. The Peterhof and its beautiful gardens and fountains were magnificent. Our friendly and helpful driver Max was very skilled at weaving through the traffic and he had an uncanny ability to find a much appreciated very close car park. Even the pleasant selection of lunch venues were places where we could eat along side the locals.

We booked SPB because of problems obtaining a visa for Russia. Our cruise company, Holland America, demanded visas and only offering limited tour options. So we booked through SPB because they claimed no need for a visa and they had a great two day tour. We were a little nervous, but ended up booking a private tour for the 4 of us with a private van, tour guide and driver.

We got a little nervous when we received a notice from SPB, just before we left on our trip, advising us that some cruise companies were trying to restrict people from leaving cruise ships in St. Petersburg unless they had visas or booked tours through the cruise line. Cruise lines were evidently refusing to issue a boat certificate required by Russian authorities. Our unease built up after we boarded the cruise ship when our Holland America tour brochure made it clear that nobody would be allowed off the boat unless in possession of a visa or having tour tickets booked through Holland America. We were getting ready for a fight. However, the day before our arrival in St Petersburg, boat clearance certificates were delivered to our room, all filled in, by Holland America. Good going guys. Good customer service.

At the end of the day, we cleared Russian Immigration/Customs no sweat. SPB was there with car, driver and tour guide and we had two absolutely outstanding days. I highly recommend SPB. Everything was as promised. Our tour guide was exceptional at working 'the system'. A one hour wait to see Catherine the Great's palace was reduced to a few minutes. This scenario was repeated at Church of the Spilled Blood and The Hermitage. Our guide was very good at reading us. People will tell you it takes a week to see the Hermitage. I could do it in about an hour. Others in our foursome would take the week. Our guide led us through the Hermitage, constantly checking our tolerance (Do you want to see another Rembrant? No!) and striking a balance that satisfied everyone.

Anyway, by day two we were beginning to feel comfortable enough to make special requests. I wanted to see the Aurora. Our driver told us he would try and make it given the traffic at rush hour and make it he did with some pretty interesting driving on some backstreets.

I would recommend SPB tours of St Petersburg if traveling a cruise ship or not. The two day tour is a great way to get the lay of the land in case you want to head off on your own. If on a cruise ship, ite the way to go.