Day 1 – Depart USA

Day 2 – Arrive Moscow. Begin your tour of Moscow at Red Square with St. Basil’s Cathedral and Lenin’s Mausoleum. Lunch will be on your own at the amazing shopping mall, GUM, or in the food court of the underground mall, Okhotny Ryad. Tour the circle line metro stops, each uniquely and splendidly decorated. Dinner will be at a near-by restaurant before transferring to your hotel for the night.

Day 3 – Today a panoramic city tour awaits you, bringing you to such sites as the Boyar Romanov house, VDNKh Soviet park, Church of Christ the Savior, Monument to Peter the Great, Stary Arbat (Pushkin’s Home), Moscow State University, Tverskaya Street and the Alexander Gardens. This afternoon you will visit inside the Kremlin where you will see several early Orthodox Churches, Ivan’s Bell Tower, the gigantic Tsar Bell and Tsar Cannon. You will also tour the Kremlin Museum and Diamond Fund housing treasures of the Russian tsars such as Catherine the Great’s gowns and carriages and the crown jewels.

Day 4 – This morning you will visit the Tretsakov Gallery housing the most spectacular Russian works of art. This evening, enjoy the prestigious Russian Ballet at the Bolshoi theatre.

Day 5 – Traveling just outside the city, you will arrive at Sergeiv Posad, one of Russian Ortodoxy’s 4 most holy religious collectives. Here, you can see the stunning Trinity Cathedral which boats iconography of the great writer Andrei Rublev. This afternoon you are free to explore the city with your tour lead. We suggest the fun outdoor atmosphere and excellent shopping of Ismailovsky Park. This evening, an overnight train will bring you St. Petersburg.

Day 6 – Awaken in Russia’s “Window on the West”. St. Petersburg was built on a series of islands and canals on the delta of the River Neva and was appointed by Peter the Great as Russia’s new capital city in the early 1700s. Your day will begin with a panoramic city tour seeing such sites as St. Isaac’s Cathedral, Palace Square and Alexander Column, the Armory, Peter’s Cabin, Peter and Paul Fortress, the Bronze Horseman, Soviet Cruiser Aurora, Kazan’ Cathedral, Nevsky Prospect, Smolny Convent and the Church of the Spilled Blood. Tonight, you might enjoy a cruise down the River Neva.

Day 7 – Today is dedicated to exploring the Hermitage, or Winter Palace, a world-class art museum whose architecture and gilded interiors are as spectacular as the canvases hung on the walls. Tonight perhaps you will enjoy the St. Petersburg ballet or opera at the Marinskii Theatre.

Day 8 – Leave the city center for Peterhof Palace and Gardens, summer home to the Romanov family, located on the coast of the Gulf of Finland. Here you will see the decadence of the Russian rulers and the dedicated work to restoring the palace after its Nazi occupation during WWII. Visit the countless fountains in the garden of the “Russian Versailles” and revel in the splendor of the Grand Cascade.

Day 9 – Your final day in Russia may be spent at the beautiful palaces of Tsarskoe Selo (Pushkin Palace), Pavlosk, or Lomonosov. Perhaps you would like to experience Peter the Great’s Musuem of Curiosities which houses many of his “unique” collectables or walk through the ever superstitious and eerie paths of Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment.

Day 10 – Today you fly home for the United States taking with you fond memories of this unique journey.

PLUS – NOVGOROD, 2 Days

Novgorod is just between Moscow and St. Petersburg. It rivaled both for a position as the capital of the empire. Early in history, this city was the most modern in Russia and showed development and good relations with the West. It is with the downfall of this great city, Russia fell into the backwardness that it is still known for today. Sights of great interest here includes the Detinets (Novgorod Kremlin), Cathedral of St. Sophia, Granovitaya Palata (Chamber of Facets), Museum of History and Arts and the monument to Russia’s 1000th year built in 1886 by Alexander II honoring the first Russian Emperor and many other famous Russians throughout the millennia.

This itinerary is ideal!
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Note: Entrance fees and /or transportation to may be offered optionally, are subject to availability and are not included in the tour price.