Luxurious Private, Historical and Cultural Tour of Moscow & St Petersburg with personal English-speaking guides

Day 1

Fly from your chosen airport in a luxury private jet straight to Moscow. The journey takes approximately 3 hours 50 minutes.

Upon arrival in Moscow Special VIP arrival services have been arranged for you. You will be taken to the VIP Lounge, where passport control, customs and luggage will be handled for you. Your private Exeter International guide will be waiting for you just outside customs, after you collect your luggage.
Evening This evening your car and driver will be at your disposal for dinner transfers.

Day 2

Moscow

This morning your guide will meet you in the lobby of your hotel and will take you to see the Kremlin, (meaning citadel) including the armoury, diamond vaults and the expansive grounds. Here you will see the largest bell in the world – as well as the largest canon. Neither was ever used due to their enormous size.

The Armoury Museum - including its vast collection of Imperial Russian artwork. You will have the opportunity to see the greatest collection of Faberge Imperial Easter Eggs and many of the most important Imperial thrones and crowns, including the most historic, Cap of Monomachus.

Diamond Vaults - you will see Catherine the Great’s sceptre with its famous Orlov Diamond and one of the largest collections of diamonds and gem stones in the world.

Exeter International Extraordinary Experience

Home to the Tsars for 200 years, the Faceted Palace and Terem is now used by the Russian President to entertain foreign dignitaries at the highest level. No palace in Russia s more opulent and following a $300million renovation, the glorious rooms of the Faceted Palace and Terem have never looked more beautiful. The Faceted Palace and Terem are strictly closed to the general public. Please note that special permission and security clearance is required for this visit. Your passport details will need to be sent to Kremlin authorities at least one month prior to your visit. This excursion cannot be moved to another time once it is confirmed.

Later today your guide will take you on a walking tour of Krasnaya Ploschad. Commonly known as Red Square, however the word Krasny initially meant beautiful in the 17th Century. Today krasiva still means beautiful.

You may wish to visit Lenin’s Tomb, which is an experience. Behind his mausoleum, are the tombs of other famous Soviet leaders including Brezhnev, and Andropov, plus writers such as Maxim Gorky and of course the Soviet Union’s most famous cosmonaut – Yuri Gagarin.

A fitting entrance to the square are the newly rebuilt Resurrection gates and chapel. Destroyed several times since they were originally built in 1534, most recently in 1931 to allow access to Soviet tanks for military parades. Directly across the square is the fairy-tale St Basil’s Cathedral. This magnificent church-museum was commissioned by Ivan the Terrible and was completed in 1561. Legend has it that Ivan had the architect blinded so he would never be able to design anything as exquisite again.

Time allowing we also suggest you take some time to walk through the famous G.U.M. (Glavny Universalny Magazin -“Main General Store”) department store which faces Red Square. Completed in 1893 it is hard to imagine now the queues it was once famous for.

Full day Guide

Evening

This evening your car and driver will be at your disposal for dinner transfers.

Day 3

Moscow

This morning your guide and driver will take you for a Moscow city tour. You will stop at Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, visible from all over Moscow and the largest church in Russia. The original Cathedral was built by the architect Konstantin Ton between 1839 and 1881 to commemorate Russia’s victory over Napoleon in the Napoleonic Wars. In December 1931 the church was demolished and the site lay empty until 1958 when a lido was built. The Cathedral was rebuilt in 1997 and is quite remarkable.

Clad in marble and granite, with huge bronze doors covered in relief depictions of the saints, the cathedral is a statement of the re-found power and prestige of the Orthodox Church and one of Moscow’s most impressive ecclesiastical buildings.

To the south of the city lie a number of fortified monasteries, built to defend the city against the Mongols. The most spectacular of them is Novodevitchy Convent, constructed in the 16th century. This serene sanctuary houses the lovely Cathedral of the Virgin of Smolensk. Located adjacent to the convent, you may like to visit Novodevitchy Convent’s fascinating cemetery. Many famous Russians, from cultural figures to political and military dignitaries – now also including Boris Yeltsin are buried here.

You will stop at Sparrow Hills for one of the best views over the city. You will have the opportunity to see all the highlights of Moscow, including the Russian White House, Arbat Street and the Moskva River.

Next your guide will take you to the New Tretyakov Gallery, and focuses on the Russian Avant Garde and Soviet Realism movement. Close to the museum, you will see the Graveyard of Fallen Monuments – a collection of some of the Soviet statues removed from Moscow.

Full day Guide, Car & Driver

Evening

This evening your car and driver will be at your disposal for dinner transfers.

Day 4

St Petersburg

Today your guide will take you to the airport where you will board Citation Excel, where you will be flown to St Petersburg in style, the journey takes roughly 1 hour 15 minutes. Upon arrival in St Petersburg, Special VIP arrival services have been arranged for you. Your private Exeter International guide will be waiting for you just outside customs, after you collect your luggage.

Evening

This evening your car and driver will be at your disposal for dinner transfers.

Day 5

St Petersburg

This morning your guide, vehicle and driver will take you for a city tour to get you acquainted with Peter the Great’s “Venice of the North”. We recommend that you begin at 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.

On the other side of the fortress you can see the dark side of the reign of the Romanov tsars: the Imperial prison. The dark, cold halls of the prison that housed everyone from Peter the Great’s first son to many of the Bolshevik revolutionaries, contrasts starkly against the gilded church of the Romanov royal family.

You will also see the famous Bronze Horseman statue of Peter the Great, the Strelka (the spit in the centre of the Neva River, overlooking the Winter Palace), the first stock exchange, and many stately palaces and of course, the grand Nevsky Prospect, the main avenue of the city.

After lunch, your guide will take you for a walk to the 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. This tour is by appointment only and cannot be moved to another time or day.

Exeter International Extraordinary Experience

Today you will be invited backstage at one of the most famed theatres in the world, the Mariinsky. Perhaps best known as the Kirov, the theatre is celebrating its 150th anniversary year. Built in 1860 and named after Maria Alexandrovna, wife of Alexander II the theatre is a birth place of Swan Lake and home to Pavlova, Nijinsky and Nureyev to name just a few. This tour is by appointment only and may not be confirmed until a day prior to your visit.

At the end of the day we suggest a private boat tour of the canals of St Petersburg. This is a perfect way to explore the city, and take in the sights from a different perspective.

Full day Guide, Car & Driver

Evening

This evening your car and driver will be at your disposal for dinner transfers.

Day 6

St Petersburg

Today your guide will take you to explore Peter the Great’s summer palace, Peterhof, to see first-hand the palace’s countless fountains and gardens. We have arranged for slightly early entrance to stay ahead of any cruise ship tours.

Peterhof Palace (or Petrodvorets in Russian) is often called the Russian Versailles due to the prominence of the gardens and fountains.

If you wish you can return to the city centre by hydrofoil (which takes 45 minutes).

If this is the case, your driver will meet you in the city centre and will be at your disposal for any additional touring or shopping.

Exeter International Extraordinary Experience

This evening your guide will take you for the short walk to Palace Square and the Hermitage Museum where you will experience a totally private after hours tour.

Your walk will take you to the heart of the city and Palace Square (Dvortsovaya Ploshchad) - the most grandiose among the squares of the city. The focal point of its architectural ensemble is the Winter Palace, an architectural masterpiece of the Russian Baroque and the royal residence of all the Russian Emperors but Paul.

Your visit to the Hermitage Museum will take you to another world; a time when Catherine the Great commissioned whole buildings to house an ever growing collection of the world’s finest art. The former Winter Palace now spans just about every artistic period from Greek and Roman collections to Matisse. This museum holds the largest collection of art in the world. Your guide will escort you through the entire museum, from its collection of Rubens to its da Vincis and beyond.

You will have the unique opportunity to see the Peacock clock operating. The clock arrived as a gift to Catherine the Great in 1797 from her lover, Potemkin. Previously the clock was activated once per week, and now is only activated for VIP visitors.

Full Day Guide, Car & Driver

Evening

This evening your car and driver will be at your disposal for dinner transfers.

Day 7

St Petersburg

This morning your driver and guide will take you out into the Russian countryside to see one of the city’s most elegant and beautiful palaces – Catherine Palace where we have arranged special VIP entrance.

The palace was started by Catherine I (Peter the Great’s second wife and not Catherine the Great) and it bears her name. Russian Baroque means gilded statues, gilded mirrors and gilded wall, ceilings and picture frames.

Exeter International Extraordinary Experience

While visiting Catherine Palace, you will be invited into the Amber Room workshops where craftsmen rebuilt the famous amber panels lost in World War II. This tour is by appointment only and cannot be moved to another time or day.

We suggest that you return into the city centre for lunch.

This afternoon your guide will take you to visit one of the largest collections of purely Russian art at the Russian Museum (the former palace of Grand Duke Michael). We suggest you start at the ancient Russian icons (including a tremendous collection of Rublevs) and end with some of the most famous 20th Century Russians- including Kandinsky.

Full Day Guide, Car & Driver

Evening

This evening your car and driver will be at your disposal for dinner transfers.

Day 8

St Petersburg–Onwards

This morning your guide and driver will be at your disposal before your transfer to the airport for your departure onwards. We have arranged for VIP departure services at the airport. The flight back to the UK will take approximately 3 hours 15 minutes.

Full day Guide, Car & Driver

Your itinerary includes:

Accommodation

Moscow

Carlton Suite for three (3) nights at the Ritz Carlton Moscow; Tax (18%) and breakfast included daily and access to the Club Lounge - with it’s own terrace- where you can while away part of the evening enjoying one of five inclusive food and beverage servings of the day.

The Ritz Carlton provides excellent service and location and the place to people watch Moscow; in the lobby, cigar bar or on the spectacular roof top lounge and terrace that offers panoramic views of Red Square and the Kremlin. Reincarnated from the debris of the old Intourist Hotel, the two could not be further apart. Although a new build the façade of the Ritz is very sympathetic to Russian classic époque and fits well into the historical setting of Tverskaya Street.

St Petersburg

Presidential Suite for four (4) nights at the Rocco Forte Collection Hotel Astoria; Tax (18%) and breakfast included daily.

The Hotel Astoria, wonderfully located in St Isaac’s Square the hotel was built in 1912 and is managed by Rocco Forte Hotels. Light parquet floors, Volga linen and local touches like Lomonosov porcelain give it a classical but contemporary feel.

The elegant Presidential suites at Hotel Astoria measures 108 sq m/ 1162 sq ft and incorporates two double bedrooms. The suite have been individually decorated and feature paintings, sculptures, ceramics, furniture, chandeliers and lighting from the Astoria’s original collection. These magnificent two-bedroom suites are located on the main corner of the building and therefore look out to the Statue of Nicholas and the Mariinsky Palace, or the St Isaac’s Square and Cathedral.

Prices starting from £41,887 per person, based on two people sharing.); Tax (18%) and breakfast included daily and access to the Club Lounge - with it