Without reservation, I highly recommend TJ Travel for small group tours in all Baltic Sea ports, particularly St. Petersburg. Agents were very knowledgeable and responsive to my queries, itineraries were well-planned and comprehensive (recognizing our time constraints in each port), and our guides were knowledgeable, enthusiastic, flexible, patient and well-spoken. The small-group format was high-value, reasonably priced and ensured nimbleness, with most tours capped at 16 participants.

If you are like us, you start with some initial apprehensions…

• Russian Visa Requirements – scare tactics to persuade you to purchase your tours fr om the cruise ships. TJ Travel provides you with a tour ticket that includes the required visa for your stay in Russia well in advance of your trip departure date. Same visa that the cruise ships provide to passengers taking their tours.
• Disembarkation (later, after folks who booked cruise ship tours) – TJ Travel has factored this into your tour departure time; we and the other 13 tour participants had no issues meeting up with our guide in plenty of time for our tour to begin on Day One (of two) as planned. Our nimbleness (compared to cruise tours of 50 people) and a slightly later Day One return time ensured our itinerary was not compromised.
• Missing the Boat (literally) – TJ Travel guarantees that you will return to your cruise ship in time for embarkation, or they provide transportation for you to the next port at their expense. Besides, given social media and travel forums, how long would any tour company stay in business if they stranded tour participants?
• Payment to a company in Russia in advance – TJ Travel prefers you meet company representatives at the end of the St. Petersburg tour for payment. For us, we paid for six (6) tours after completing tours in Stockholm, Helsinki, and St. Petersburg.

While our experiences were very good on all six Baltic Sea port tours (Stockholm, Helsinki, St. Petersburg, Tallinn, Berlin, and Oslo), we were particularly impressed with our experience in St. Petersburg, where TJ Tours and our guide Maria adjusted our itinerary to allow us to visit The Hermitage on the day of the week wh ere it was closed to the public (Mondays). No queues for museum entry and we were able to experience the fabulous architecture and exhibits without the usual crowds (only a handful of other small group tours were allowed on this day and these groups moved from room to room to room on the same interval). Two long days that flew by, with minimum time spent on the minibus, as we also traveled by canal boat, hydrofoil, walking and subway. Included in our tours were lunches on both days – the restaurants we visited did not appear to be touristy; they were clean, the food was good and filling.

We had a very aggressive itinerary and TJ was the only company able to meet our request. Everything we asked for was provided and done very well.

Our arrival in St Petersburg was easy and our coach and guide were waiting for us. The coach was clean and comfortable and the drive was warm and friendly even joking with our husbands.

Our guide was Natalia Kulagina and she was excellent. As I said we had a very aggressive itinerary and she was able to keep us moving and yet provide great insight and commentary on what we were seeing. I really can’t say enough about how good Natalia was. What a joy to have as our guide. There were 10 in our group and all of us were very impressed and would definitely recommend TJ Travel.

Thanks for a wonderful trip.

Perfect for my nonart loving son and husband. Her suggestions for lunch both days were exactly right. One day for Logan and the second day more for the adults.

I have left reviews on Trip Advisor and on Cruise Critic. That is how I found your company so I know it is always nice to read recent reviews when looking to book trips. Thank for being so easy to work with. It made our time in St. Petersburg the highlight of our trip.

Our guide, Helen was amazingly knowledgeable. Every day was so interesting and we learned so many wonderful facts about the beautiful country and its sights. Thanks to Helen we were able to travel to all that we wanted to see without waiting on long lines and in crowded venues. We all honestly felt it was the best money we spent on our trip and we highly recommend touring privately with TJ Travel rather than through your ships so that you can maximize the time you have in the country. Thank you TJ Travel for your superior guide service. Please extend our thanks to Helen. We have many wonderful memories of St Petersburg and we are most thankful to her, for her patience, professionalism and amazing knowledge.

Warmest Regards,

Bob & Sue Le Duc

We simply went to immigration, showed them the ticket TJ had sent us, gave our passport (we did not have a Visa) and we passed through in under a minute. Getting back on board and off the next day was a piece of cake. All the passengers who booked independently had the same experience.

There were ten of us in a very modern Mercedes mini bus which parked very close to all our stops. It was a marvellous full tour including the underground, canal trip and entry to the hermitage , when it was nearly empty- among many other attractions. Our guide Alexander was just brilliant, kind and very informative about the attractions and life in Russia.

So don't have any hesitation in getting a tour which I don’t think could be beaten and save yourself a small fortune as well.

You were all just wonderful

Thank you so much

To all the wonderful staff at T J travel.

Firstly my apologies for taking so long to respond to your letter. I was sick on my return to Australia and it has taken time to catch up with everything.

To start with  Victoria was always there to guide us through the booking process. I would send off an enquiry at night and the answer would be there when I woke up.

We were absolutely delighted with our comfort / relaxed tour for 2 days in St. Petersburg. We saw so much more than we ever hoped for. Our guide Alexis and driver Yuri were a great team. We were worried how we would manage with my scooter but he just said stand back & he did everything.You have no idea how pleased I was for that. I relied so much on my travelling companion for help and was delighted she had a break for those two days. Yuri dropped us off very close to everything and magically appeared just as we exited. Alexis charmed us with her insight into  history and developments in St., Petersburg. Her knowledge of the back ways in and easy access made our days run so smoothly. We didn't seem to have to queue anywhere. We loved our experience dining out of the city in a restaurant patronised by locals and the food was delicious.

We also did tours in both Berlin & Helsinki. Again the guides and drivers gave us excellent tours. We didn't’ expect a Scotsman from Glasgow to be telling us about Berlin but his wealth of knowledge about the city made a long day into a roaring success. Together we covered so much May he keep guiding  tours with your company for a long time.

I am sorry I cant remember the name of our guide and driver in Helsinki but together they showed us an amazing amount in a short time. The driver went out of her way to get me as close to the sights as possible and our guides enthusiasm for her city and all things Finish made for an enriched experience for us.

We will leave posts on cruise critic under disabled travellers thread as we heartily recommend your company both for their overall knowledge about their cities and for going out of their way to assist people with scooters, walking frames or just walking problems with hips or knees that slow them down.

Thank you again

I just returned from a Viking cruise to the Baltics ("Homelands"). A group of 6 friends (2 of whom had spent a few days in St. Petersburg on a prior trip and one of whom was a Russian history major) booked a 2-day private tour of St Petersburg with TJ Travel. I don't lightly give 5 stars, but TJ Travel earned it in many ways, such as:

1. answering fully and promptly the many questions that we had;

2. helping us to craft an itinerary that met our interests at a sensible pace; and

3. providing us with a great guide and driver.

We limited the scope of our itinerary so that we could cover the places in which we were interested in more depth, namely the Hermitage, the Impressionist collection at the Staff Building, the Faberge Museum, Catherine's Palace, and the Church of Spilt Blood.

TJ could not have been more accommodating, even agreeing to modify (not drastically, of course) the tour if we changed our preferences. You know that for a guide who conducts tours for a living to speak passionately about art and teach this group about art that we did not learn previously in all of our studies and travel is really impressive.  Thank you, Alex.

So some things to keep in mind:

1. Cruise lines do not access the best of the best in guides. In fact, our experience with other tours provided by Viking were disappointing in the quality of a few of the guides.

2. Cruise line tours can be very crowded. I am tired of being at the back of the group in another room while the guide is literally pointing to a great artwork that I cannot see. Tours are not meaningful or enjoyable if you are rushed to a bus to make it to one of the nine sights covered that day, while being delayed as bigger groups mean more time for bathroom and shopping breaks.

3. All of the incredible sights of St. Petersburg cannot be be done in 3, muchless 2, days. Some of the sights are far apart in different directions from St. Petersburg (e.g., Catherine's Palace from Peterhof). Be selective in developing your itinerary. 

4. Some guide companies told us that there was a distinct possibility that they would not be able to get tickets to Catherine's Palace, but TJ guaranteed entry. That was critical to us.

5. I think that the Gold Room in the Hermitage is worth doing only if you can see the main sights as well. 

6. The cost of our private tour was substantially less than that of Viking for a 2-day tour. Book directly with TJ, not on this site.

BTW, we reached out to ALLA Tours as well. They told us that they no longer provide customized private tours. No loss---TJ Travel does, and it does it extremely well.

Thank you very much

Hats off both to TJ Travel and to our terrific guide, Nadia Smotkin, for a 2-day private tour of Saint Petersburg. Without question it was the highlight of our glorious Baltic Sea cruise.

First, over the many months of planning this trip, TJ communicated exceptionally well, responding to my questions and emailing substantive replies promptly. The result was a comprehensive itinerary that was customized to our interests. The logistics were carefully planned and included all the most important attractions, as well as some that allowed us to view daily life among the locals, including tasty Russian lunch venues and a visit to the amazing Saint Petersburg subway during rush hour.

Second, and most importantly, I give thanks to our guide, Nadia, and our driver, Igor, for making this such a fun and memorable visit. Aside from Nadia's wealth of knowledge about Russian history, artwork and culture, she is such a delightful person to get to know, always smiling and laughing with funny stories, but at the same time always conscious of time and logistics so that we stayed right on schedule with our 2-day itinerary. 

We learned so much in the two days about the land of Russia and the people who live there. Nadia gave us personal examples of daily life in Russia today, as well as during the Soviet period and the Pestroika decade following the collapse of the Soviet Union. So much we didn't know beforehand, but we leave with the impression of a hard-working, but not materialistic people, who have a distinct pride in their country and its legacy of artistic beauty and excellence.

Thanks again!

We just wanted to write and thank Tatiana so much for an unbelievable one-day tour of St Petersburg, Russia.  Once our ship, Royal Caribbean Serenade of the Seas, came into port Wednesday morning 8-Aug, we found it very easy to go through immigration and locate our TJ Travel group as explained in the instructions.  

The nice size group of about a dozen seemed to be very efficient for avoiding long lines, and gaining entry to the sites.  This was apparent after leaving the Hermitage when we passed the incredible long line of people waiting with folding seats and umbrellas in the heat.

The sites were truly amazing, and we were astounded at the amount of information she provided at each.  Also, giving us the interesting background on the different buildings and statues we passed going to the next site.  Since we only had the one day, we wanted to see as much as possible, and she came through with the perfect itinerary.  The use of the electronics with earpieces was very necessary to conduct the tours at each place with crowds of people all around which would otherwise be impossible.

The bag lunches were delicious and bottled water when needed was very welcomed. Our driver, Vladimir, was an expert on getting us through traffic, dropping us off and picking us up quickly to get us to the next site.

We had done a great deal of research on different tour groups and chose highly rated TJ Travel.  We can say from experience they are very professional and incredibly well organized from the beginning of the booking process through to the end of the tour and getting us back to the ship in plenty of time for boarding.  All of the instructions provided after booking the tour were very clear and thoroughly explained everything we needed, and any question very quick response.

It was an incredible tour that we will remember forever.

These 2 employees of yours are marvelous. The spacious and smooth riding Mercedes was an unexpected treat as well!

Elizabeth made us feel completely at home fr om the first moment. The grace, courtesy and professionalism she showed never faded. Her knowledge of the landmarks is amazing. We gave her some special challenges and she handled them all smoothly. Jan had injured her knee and we needed a wheelchair several times, using one on the 3 longest tours. That obviously slowed us down, but she never showed any frustration and worked with us as if we were her parents rather than strangers. I never felt we were missing any attractions due to the delays were causing. I was constantly wandering off taking photos and I know that was hard on her, but again she adjusted with great style and patience. She was a queen of courtesy and the whole experience was delightful!

Renat was also quite competent behind the wheel. He moved us through heavy traffic, road construction, traffic jams, narrow roads and around slow cars with amazing skill. I would look up and see the road blocked, expecting a long delay, and before I knew it he found an opening and had slipped past it all, putting us back on track in a fraction of the time I had expected to lose. I cannot get over how often and how well he did that. This skill got us to each attraction quicker, giving us more time to enjoy the things we came to see. As a result we were able to see more within the time allowed. He would swiftly slip through narrow holes between cars that most drivers in the U.S. could never get through without creeping along. Jan and I took a long time at many stops, accidentally putting pressure on him to make it up wh ere he could. He showed great talent in doing just that.

We cannot think of one thing these two great individuals could have done better. Really. Elizabeth and Renat are great examples of top level employees and good ambassadors for the city and TJ Travel. Thanks for assigning them to us! We will give a glowing report to Trip Advisor, and will tell everybody we know to use you guys when they come to your city!

Attached are several photos they patiently waited for me to take. Thanks again to them and to your company!