5 star tour of Moscow and St. Petersburg
My wife and I took the above named tour in late September early October 2018. It was advertised as a small group tour and there were five of us. We spent 3 nights in Moscow and that seemed the right amount of time. The Hyatt hotel was exceptional with a fitness center that was stocked with different machines to exercise all muscle groups. The included breakfast was excellent with a very attentive staff. The location was easy walking distance to Red Square. Enjoyed our drinks on the top of the building. Our tour was led by Alexi and we covered everything from Red Square to St Basils (and included an amazing Kyrie performed by Doros) GUM department store, tourist streets, city views, the Moscow Kremlin multiple churches, convents and an unusual cemetery with buried political, literature and music leaders. Lead by Alexi we ate lunch in typical Moscow restaurants avoiding tourist traps. We enjoyed every minute we of it including the metro on our way to the high speed train. Everything was as planned and all we had to do was be on time. St. Petersburg began on the train where our guide Mihail (Michael) met us on the train and took us to our mini bus and the hotel. Again the European Belmont was a 5 star hotel with a large breakfast buffet. I suggest you find the videos on the hotels and train to see how good they are. If you go to the fitness center in the morning before 9 AM do read the directions to the stairway that gets you in there. Michael was a wonderful guide who paid attention to the little things. Like if we wanted to see a market we got there, if we commented on the outside of the mosque we stopped so we could take pictures. The history of the city did come alive for us. Again we enjoyed every moment of the tour. We found this tour better than a cruise as we got to experience the two largest cities of Russia without having to worry about a cruise ship being unable to dock (the gulf of Finland can be rough and high tides could stop shipping from getting in). We got what we wanted to see in a little over a week — faster and cheaper than a river cruise.