PROGRAM IN MOSCOW, ST PETERSBURG AND GOLDEN RING (8 DAYS/7 NIGHTS)

Meeting with guide in the lobby of the hotel and departure to the excursions

City tour

You set out on a half day city highlights tour, providing an excellent introduction to Moscow’s neighborhoods, its famous buildings, and top monuments. Get an impressive view of the Kremlin from the Sophiiskaya Embankment, see Lubyanka Square and Tverskaya Street, view the white and gold Christ the Savior Cathedral, see Victory Park, take in parts of Red Square including the colorful onion-shaped domes of St. Basil’s Cathedral, the Lenin Mausoleum and more.

The territory of the Moscow Kremlin is a place of high historical and cultural value, where architectural monuments of the 14th to 20th centuries are situated. The Kremlin cathedrals, churches, administrative buildings form the ensemble of the Cathedral, Ivanovskaya, Senatskaya, Dvortsovaya and Troitskaya Squares and Spasskaya, Borovitskaya, and Dvortsovaya Streets of the Kremlin.

The center of the Moscow Kremlin is occupied by the main and most ancient square of the city — the Cathedral Square, which still retains its original form — a unique complex of masterpieces of medieval architecture.

You'll have a highlights tour of the Tretyakov Gallery, the largest museum of Russian art in the world. The museum represents the history of Russian art from the ancient periods. Its superb collection consists of numerous icons, paintings, sculptures, and graphics. Tretiakov Gallery may boast of its 62 halls, packed with artistic items, including Soviet propaganda paintings.

The Moscow Metro is one of the largest and most grandly built metro systems in the world. It was meant to be a showcase of the Soviet Union´s achievements both for the Russians and foreign visitors. The stations are all uniquely designed with decorative elements including mosaics, statues, chandeliers, marble floors, walls, and staircases, utilizing semi-precious stones and sculptures.

The tour will proceed to bohemian Old Arbat Street, the heart of one of Moscow’s trendiest neighborhoods and the most famous pedestrian shopping street in the country. Learn about the street´s interesting history, including the great fire of 1812, and enjoy its vibrant artisan culture.

Buffet breakfast in the hotel

Check out

Vladimir is part of the "Golden Ring", and former capital of medieval Russia. While here, visit three UNESCO World Heritage Sites; the five-domed Assumption Cathedral, and the St. Demetrius Cathedral, and the Golden Gates, featuring classical Russian architecture.

Suzdal is recognized as a leading town-museum due to its preservation of stunning architectural structures dating between the 12th-17th centuries, discover first hand how Suzdal is fabulously rich in ancient cathedrals and monasteries, bell towers and churches, along with other wooden and brick buildings. Visit Suzdal’s prized 11th century Kremlin and its reception hall the Krestovaya Palata, as well as the 16th century Pokrovsky Monastery, a former place of exile for unwanted wives of Tsars.

Breakfast in the hotel

Check out from Pushkarskaya Sloboda

Meeting with guide in the lobby of the hotel and departure for excursions

Transfer to Sergiev Posad

Sergiev Posad is a lovely Golden Ring town whose 600 years of history have centered around the monastery. Explore the unique monastic ensemble of Russian Orthodoxy from the 15th to the 19th centuries, and witness a functioning monastery with 200 monks, 300 novices, and an Ecclesiastical Academy on its grounds. Here, the finest choirs of Russia can be heard at services in any of the five churches open to the public. Have your guide walk you through the flea market in front of the Holy Gates to scope out souvenirs and other memorabilia

Departure with guide and transport for excursions

You set out on a highlights tour of St. Petersburg to get acquainted with the main architectural and historical monuments of the city. Drive along the world famous Nevsky Prospect and view the Monastery of Alexander Nevsky with its magnificent Trinity Cathedral and the cemetery where Dostoevsky, Tchaikovsky, and other iconic Russians were buried. See the massive St. Isaac’s Cathedral, the fourth largest cathedral in the world, adorned with a golden dome which dominates the skyline along the Neva.

Today you’ll set out on a tour of the Hermitage Museum, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Spread across four massive buildings, including the renowned Winter Palace, the Hermitage is comprised of nearly 360 rooms in total. The collection of Western European art, numbering over 600,000 items, presents the development of art from the Middle Ages to present, and is considered to be one of the finest in the world. Enjoy outstanding masterpieces by Old Masters such as Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Michelangelo and Titian, and marvel at world famous works by Picasso, Degas, Renoir, Pissarro, Van Gogh, and Gauguin. Admire the Military Gallery, featuring hundreds portraits of generals from the Patriotic War of 1812, and see works from ancient Greece and Rome, as well as early Eastern art.

Departure with guide and transport for excursions

Visit one of the most remarkable interiors of Catherine Palace, the Amber Room. Your private guide will tell the story of the consturuction of Catherine Palace and about the tragic moments in the palace's history, connected with the Nazi occupation during World War II. Continue with the summer residences of the Royal family, Peterhof. The world-famous palace, fountain, and park are an outstanding landmark of Russian artistic culture of the 18th-19th centuries. After the tour you will return to your hotel.

You’ll visit Peter and Paul's Fortress, a Travel+Leisure ‘Thing Not to Miss’, and site where Peter the Great first broke ground for the construction of St. Petersburg. The citadel boasts a 400 foot bell tower, and became the burial site of many Russian tsars and nobles.