This is the extended Kronstadt tour. Beyond the naval town and its cathedral, it takes you to Fort Rif at the far western tip of Kotlin Island. The fort was closed to outsiders until 2020, and its underground galleries are the longest in the whole Kronstadt fortified district. Visits are possible only in organised groups, so we arrange the tickets and timing for you.
You are collected from your hotel or apartment for a drive of about an hour and a half along the flood barrier, past the forts in the gulf.
Fort Rif, around 10:30. Built between 1909 and 1912 with three gun batteries. Before that, the site was a testing ground where concrete fortifications were shelled to develop methods used across Russian military engineering. In March 1921 rebels from the Kronstadt uprising escaped across the ice to Finland from here. Inside are vaulted galleries, barracks and casemates, part of a UNESCO World Heritage site, and a field kitchen operates on site.
Kronstadt, around 12:30. The dry dock and the Dock Bridge that swung aside, the Admiralty that Catherine II moved here from St Petersburg, the Merchant Harbour and the warships in the Middle Harbour. You also see the tide gauge from which every height in the country is measured, and the little monument to the stickleback, the fish that fed the town in the Siege.
Anchor Square and the Naval Cathedral, around 14:00. The monument to Admiral Makarov and the Eternal Flame, then St Nicholas Naval Cathedral, built between 1903 and 1913 on the model of Hagia Sophia and lined with marble tablets naming sailors lost in service.
Back at your hotel around 16:00.
Military history enthusiasts, travellers who enjoy places that were off-limits until recently, and anyone who wants Kronstadt in depth rather than as a quick visit.
To be booked
| People | Price per person |
|---|---|
| 1 | $402 |
| 2 | $203 |
| 3 | $136 |
| 4 | $103 |
| 5 | $83 |
| 6 | $70 |
| 7 | $60 |
| 8 | $53 |
| People | Price per person |
|---|---|
| 9 | $48 |
| 10 | $43 |
| 11 | $40 |
| 12 | $37 |
| 13 | $34 |
| 14 | $32 |
| 15 | $30 |
| 16 | $28 |
| People | Free places | Price per person |
|---|---|---|
| 10–14 | +1 | $38 |
| 15–24 | +2 | $26 |
| 25–34 | +2 | $17 |
| 35–39 | +3 | $13 |
| 40+ | +4 | $12 |
Group rates apply from 10 people.
Please note — even in warm weather, bring warm clothing; it is cold inside the fort
Skim across the Gulf of Finland by Meteor hydrofoil in forty minutes, then walk Peterhof's Lower Park with its 147 fountains. Boat and park tickets included.
A three-and-a-half-hour drive through the centre, ending on Hare Island where the city was founded in 1703, with entry to the Romanov burial cathedral.
A private two-hour walk through the Mikhailovsky Palace: a thousand years of Russian art, from medieval icons to The Ninth Wave and Repin's Barge Haulers.
Visit the Konstantinovsky Palace at Strelna, a working state residence that hosted the G8 and G20 summits, by car with a guide and entry arranged.