OUR TOUR STARTED IN FRONT OF THE HERMITAGE ITSELF BY MEETING OUR APPOINTED TOUR GUIDE MS ALYONA - WE WERE SURPRISED TO LEARN THAT MY WIFE AND I WERE THE ONLY TWO WHO WOULD BE ACCOMPANYING HER - AFTER THE PRELIMINARY INTRODUCTIONS MS ALYONA TOOK US TO THE ENTRANCE OF THE HERMITAGE AND THUS STARTED THE ACTUAL TOUR - IMMEDIATELY WE WERE IN SHE BEGAN EXPLAINING IN VERY GOOD ENGLISH ALL THAT WE SAW - IN SO DOING DEMONSTRATING THE DEPT OF HER KNOWLEDGE OF ALL THAT THERE WAS TO SEE - WE ACCOMPANIED HER AND LISTENED TO HER VARIOUS EXPLANATIONS ON THE MOST IMPORTANT EXHIBITS OF ALL THE COLLECTIONS - THE NUMBER OF EXHIBITS IN THE HERMITAGE IS SO NUMEROUS THAT IT IS SIMPLY IMPOSSIBLE TO VIEW IN ONE VISIT - BUT MS ALYONA DID HER UTMOST TO GIVE US AS MUCH INFORMATION ABOUT ALL THAT WE SAW IN OUR PATH - BEING A CARAVAGGIO AFICIONADO, I ASKED HER IF THERE WAS AT LEAST ONE SUCH PAINTING AND WITHIN THE SPAN OF FIVE MINUTES WE WERE STANDING IN FRONT OF IT - IN SHORT SHE WAS SPLENDID AND WE WERE LUCKY.

I arrived in St. Petersburg on a cruise ship and selected this tour rather than going with a cruise ship excursion with a bus full of people. More specifically I wanted something that would better fir my partners limited mobility and allow him to tailor the amount of walking and sightseeing. Our guide was an absolute wealth of knowledge and always made us feel in control of the tour while accommodating my partners limitations. Her English skills were on par with any tour guide in the US. We had a very nice luxury Mercedes van which felt as if it had just come off the car lot. Our driver was very professional and made every effort to drop us off as close to the different venues as was possible and was ready and waiting at the exits. I even made multiple comments that it felt as though he had spots right in front reserved for him. I would recommend this tour to anyone looking for something more private and personalized and can say it was well worth the cost. 5 star service & tour.

Our guide Tim was wonderful. He navigated the building with much grace and poise. He was courteous and assisted other people that were not even part of our tour. His commentary on the history, art and architecture was very informative. He told little jokes along the way. We all had an ear phone and audio box to hear everything very clearly. We skipped the line at the beginning and could not believe how many people were already waiting. For your first time going to the Hermitage make sure you pay the extra for this tour.

This was an excellent tour. Our guide was very knowledgeable and made sure the group saw key artworks and state rooms. We all had some problems with accessing the guide's commentary using our own phones with the earpieces provided, but once we abandoned these and simply relied on listening to the guide's voice, the issue was resolved. We were very impressed with the guide's knowledge of art history. We would recommend this tour.

The activity was exactly as decribe, our guide was exceptionnal and the price was good for two days. We were on a cruise, no problem to meet our guide after the customs. We were only two and still the tour was not cancel. We strongly recommand, our tour was in french with Masha (Maria). Thank you to Masha, you made our visit in Saint-Petersburg memorable.