Sorry I am late posting this, but we were on the Viking Helgi for the first cruise of the season, which left St Petersburg (SPB) at the beginning of May. We also took Viking’s hotel extensions, in both SPB and Moscow and flights were included (as they are when booking in the UK). Our flight out was OK and the transfer driver was waiting to pick us up on arrival in SPB.

The hotel used in SPB was the Corinthia, were we stayed there for two nights. It is in Nevsky Prospect and very near the Faberge museum and the start point for Anglo Tourismo canal boat tour of St Petersburg, which meant it was very easy for us to ‘do’ those things independently. The museum was very good and it was easy to visit in the evening, when it was very quiet, and we saw a lot of very interesting Faberge eggs. It was easy to tour the museum without a guide as there were booklets in each room which described the eggs and the reason they were made. The canal boat tour was the one which was recommended to me as it has a good English commentary, not multi lingual. As it is run on a hop on hop off basis we were able to leave the boat on the Neva River by The Hermitage and get on another boat at a later time. We used the time there to just walk along the banks of the Neva, taking in the beautiful view of Peter and Paul Fortress on the other side and having a drink in one of the cafes by a boat pier. The canal cruise was really good and the weather dry and sunny, so we could sit outside on the boat, which gave better visibility then inside. The hotel was also near a number of other tourist places. As we walked down Nevsky Prospect and along side roads from there we saw a lot. There was also a metro station about 5 minutes walk in the out of town direction, which could take us anywhere else in the city very quickly.

We were extremely impressed with the hotel itself. The room could not have been better and was very quiet as it was in the inside well of the hotel (we had asked for a quiet room). The room was well furnished, had a very big, comfortable bed and a good bathroom, all of which were in very good condition and spotlessly clean. We only had Breakfast in the hotel, but again, that could not have been better, with excellent food and service. For dinner we went to a restaurant opposite, which served Russian food and again that was very pleasant and served good quality food at a reasonable price, so we returned the next day. There was also a small supermarket opposite were we could easily pick up drinks and some snacks as required. The hotel reception was always quick, efficient and very helpful, as was the Viking concierge (Maria). This hotel could not have been better for our St Peterburg stay. Read more