Weekends in Karelia and St. Petersburg

We invite you to get acquainted with the ceremonial St. Petersburg and the land of amazing nature - Karelia.

You will visit the Ruskeala Mountain Park, admire the Kivach and Akhvenkoski waterfalls, see the Girvas volcano and Lake Palaeozero.

Additionally, in Karelia you can take water trips to the islands of Valaam, Kizhi, Solovki, go on excursions to the Museum Petrozavodsk and Kemska Volost, take a ride on Lake Onega or rafting on the Shuya River.

And while staying in St. Petersburg, you will visit the Petrovsky Water Area, Pavlovsk and the Palace of Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich.

Location

Republic of Karelia, Sortavala
from
$470
+ tickets to the starting point of the tour
No need to pay now
Duration
7 days
6 nights
Departures
Accommodation
  • Hotel
    6 nights
Comfort
  • Upscale
  • Premium
Difficulty
Easy
Suitable for everyone
Group
From 2 to 50 tourists
Minimum age
5 years old
Group meet at
Republic of Karelia, Sortavala
Contact the tour coordinator
Weekdays: 8am - 8pm
Weekends: 8am - 7pm (GMT +3)
Or text us in messengers

Tour highlights

A big tour of St. Petersburg
You will visit the ceremonial center of modern St. Petersburg and see the Petrovskaya Aquatoria
The business card of Karelia
Go to the Ruskeala Mountain Park and admire the turquoise waters of Lake Marmara
The first Russian resort
Taste the healing mineral water from 3 springs at the Marcial Waters resort
Pavlovsk Palace and Park
Visit the summer residence of Emperor Paul I and stroll through one of the most beautiful parks in the world
Flexible program
You will spend 4 days in Karelia and will be able to choose additional programs to your taste
Interesting activities
If desired, go rafting on the Shuya River, get acquainted with sled dogs and play Karelian bowling

Itinerary

  • Day 1 - Sortavala. Ruskeala Mountain Park. Valaam Island (for an additional fee)

    Gathering of the group at the railway station in Sortavaly at 08:22. A guide with a sign "Karelia".

    08:30 And now we are on the shore of the boundless Ladoga, the city of Sortavala descends towards it like a stone fan.

    For an additional fee, we offer:

    09:00 Excursion "Legendary Northern Athos ..." (Valaam Island) (to be booked strictly upon purchase of the tour).

    Cost: adult — 4,400 rubles, child up to and including 12 years — 2,200 rubles.

    The time of a water trip on a meteor is 45 minutes in one direction.

    During the main tour: acquaintance with the central estate of the monastery and a visit to the majestic architectural monument — the active Transfiguration Cathedral of the Savior, where the relics of the founders of the monastery, Herman and Sergius of Valaam, rest.

    The time spent on Valaam Island is ~2 hours.

    13:00 Return to the city of Sortavala.

    For those who did not go on the tour:

    Sightseeing tour of Sortavale (Serdobol).

    Nicholas Roerich called it one of the few places on Earth where there is a special breath.

    During the tour, we will walk through the ancient streets of the city, see the Singing Field, the Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, built at the expense of St. Petersburg merchants Eliseev in the Russian style designed by architect N. P. Grebenka and climb the observation deck — Mount Kukhavuori.

    Free time in Sortavala for an independent lunch (~2.5 hours).

    For the whole group:

    Transfer to Ruskeala Mountain Park, on the way stop for a photo shoot at the Akhvenkoski Waterfall (the filming location of the film "And the dawns here are quiet ...").

    Ruskeala Mountain Park is a picturesque monument of nature and mining.

    Emerald-colored groundwater, bizarre outlines of steep cliffs, mysterious tunnels and caves.

    It was here that marble was mined for a long time to decorate the cathedrals and palaces of St. Petersburg.

    On the way to the park, the guide will tell you about the appearance of Marble Lake, and upon arrival you will have the opportunity to explore the land part of the park yourself.

    The total time spent in the park is 2.5 hours.

    We are going to the "cultural capital" of Karelia — the city of Kondopoga.

    Approximately at 21:30 accommodation in the rooms of the Karelia hotel ***.

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  • Day 2 - Free day. Additional excursions
  • Day 3 - Free day. Additional excursions
  • Day 4 - Girvas volcano. The Kivach Nature Reserve. Lake Palaeozero. The resort "Marcial waters". Transfer to St. Petersburg
  • Day 5 - Great sightseeing tour of St. Petersburg
  • Day 6 - Pavlovsk Palace and Park tour
  • Day 7 - Excursion "Palaces of St. Petersburg and their owners"
Difficulty
Suitable for everyone

Accommodation

Accommodation
  • Hotel
    6 nights
Comfort
  • Upscale
  • Premium

The tour includes accommodation in a hotel in Karelia (3 nights) and in St. Petersburg (3 nights).

The cost of the tour for 1 person, RUB.:

Karelia 3* (Kondopoga), buffet breakfast + Valo Business 4* (Saint Petersburg), buffet breakfast:

Check-in datesDouble with
separate beds
Single room
Standard + Comfort
13.06–25.0734 35047 100
01.08–15.0834 05046 050

Karelia 3* (Kondopoga), buffet breakfast + Comfort Port Ligovsky 29 4* (Saint Petersburg), buffet breakfast:

Check-in datesDouble room with separate bedsTriple
(2 main+additional cr.)
Single roomTriple
(2 main+additional cr.)
Standard + Smart (formerly Smart Plus)Standard + Superior
04.07–15.0834 80034 80048 30037 350

Discounts:

  • for children up to and including 13 years old — 1,400 rubles.;
  • children aged 14-16 — 1,000 rubles.;
  • for students (full—time Russian State universities) - 400 rubles.;
  • for pensioners (if there is a pension certificate on the tour) — 400 rubles.

Check—out time in hotels is 12:00. Guaranteed check-in after 15:00. 

"Karelia" 3 nights

The Karelia Hotel is located in the city of Kondopoga, not far from Lake Onega. A wide range of services is provided to guests here: there is a dentist on the 1st floor and a taxi service. 

Free access to an uninterrupted Wi-Fi network is available throughout the territory. All floors are equipped with coolers with cold and hot water, as well as a refrigerator and places for eating.

The hotel has 99 comfortable rooms. All of them are divided into categories such as "standard", "suite", and there is also a family unit and beds in dormitories. Each of them is equipped with comfortable sleeping places and high-quality furniture. The rooms are equipped with a private bathroom.

There is a cozy cafe on the 2nd floor of the building, where you can not only have a delicious and satisfying meal, but also have a good time. You can also use the tea set for free or drink coffee with sweets. You can reheat ready-made food in a microwave oven.

A sled dog kennel is located 100 m from the hotel, on Tokarskaya Embankment. Nearby there is a mini zoo, a water station, as well as a Sami chum with a bonfire. Petrozavodsk Airport is 46 km away, and Kondopoga Train Station is 1.5 km away.

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"Valo Business" or "Comfort Port Ligovsky 29" 3 nights

Tour conditions

Group
From 2 to 50 tourists
Minimum age
5 years old
Duration
7 days 6 nights
Group meets at
Republic of Karelia, Sortavala

Included in price

  • habitation;
  • breakfast;
  • guided tours and daily transportation services according to the program;
  • tickets to museums according to the program;
  • guide support.

In Karelia:

  • transport services in Karelia;
  • habitation;
  • 3 breakfasts;
  • guided tour service according to the program;
  • guide support.

Paid extra

  • railway tickets to Sortavala and back from St. Petersburg;
  • meals not included in the tour program;
  • the resort fee, paid directly at the hotel, is not included in the tourist package (from 04/01/2024 an experiment on the introduction of a resort fee starts in St. Petersburg) — 100 rubles/day;
  • additional excursions (options for excursions in the Karelia tour are booked strictly together with the purchase of the tour);
  • additional payment for foreign tickets (excluding the CIS) — 300 rubles. 

It's important to know

What important information do you need to know about the tour?

Briefly about the national teams: guests from different regions of Russia and the CIS come independently, one at a time, as a family or in mini-groups and are united by the operator into one group at the start point of the tour.

Cyclic and cascade tours assume that check-in and check-out is possible on any day, you can buy a tour for any number of days from 3 to 7. Every day there will be a new group and a new guide.

Bus and tours with a fixed arrival date (or fixed day of the week) of arrival assume that the group consists of the same tourists and under the guidance of one guide (except for tours longer than 7 days)

Combined tours (including visits to two or more regions) assume that when the region changes, there will be a change in the composition of participants and a change of guides.

The composition of the group depends on the tour: 

  • the standard group is 40-50 people;
  • comfort group — 19-27 people;
  • mini-group — up to 16 people. 

The comfort and mini format is indicated in the tour annotation, if there is no such annotation, then the group is 40-50 people. 

When visiting the museums of St. Petersburg and the Leningrad region, guests can be divided into groups of 10, 15, 20 or 30 people and are served by museum guides. The rest of the excursions (bus and pedestrian) are conducted by the operator's guide.

For guaranteed early check—in, it is necessary to book a room in advance — this is usually 100% of the cost of 1 night in a hotel in high season and 50% in low season. If the room is not ready before check-out time, guests can take their belongings to the hotel's luggage room (this service is free). Registration of foreign citizens is paid on the spot by tourists themselves (usually 250-300 rubles). Check-in at the hotel takes place according to your passport and last names.

Please note that the start of the excursion program does not depend on the check-out time at the hotel. The departure time from the hotel is indicated in the programs.

Accommodation in the hotel is possible only in a separate room (without check-in). An extra bed in the room is a euro—bed, there are no full-fledged three and four beds in one room in hotels within the framework of combined tours. 

  • Four-bed guaranteed: Theater Square 4*, Hotel on Rimsky-Korsakov 3*. 
  • Quadruple on request: Connections in 4* and 5* Suites and semi—suites in 4* and 5* hotels - the response time for price and availability is 24 hours or more, depending on the season. 

Therefore, we recommend that you immediately offer your guests to choose two double rooms. If guests arrive in the afternoon and lose the day of sightseeing, then we recommend booking an additional night for the tour.

On the day of arrival, the tourist arrives at the hotel on his own (except in cases when a transfer is ordered), checks in on his own, leaves his belongings in the luggage room and meets with the guide at the address indicated in the program, a sign for a meeting with the name of the tour. In most tours, the meeting with the guide takes place in the lobby of the hotel (if the base hotel was purchased). 

When staying in some hotels, it is necessary to approach the neighboring hotel on an excursion. Check-in at the hotel is carried out after the program (except in cases where check-in was ordered earlier).

On the day of departure, the tourist independently checks out of the room and, depending on the tour: either hands over things to the luggage room of the hotel and then returns for them, or hands over things at the Moscow railway station to the luggage room at his own expense, or leaves things on the bus until the end of the program (the procedure is specified in each program). 

We recommend laying a time reserve when buying return tickets due to the unpredictable transport situation in the city and suburbs.

Meals:

On regular tours to St. Petersburg, we offer breakfast-based meals in hotels. Most of the combined tours do not have organized hot meals. We recommend that guests bring a snack or buy light snacks at the food court or at the street food kiosk. All tours to Vyborg have organized hot lunches.

Transportation:

When servicing regular tours, transportation is provided every day (with the exception of a walking tour). When traveling on a country trip, the end of the transport operation is usually near the Moskovsky railway station. On museum day, transportation is provided to the last museum.

The tour service is in Russian. 

  • If a foreign Russian-speaking guest wants to purchase a tour or excursion, the operator will charge an additional fee for the difference in entrance tickets (check the cost with the operator). 
  • If the foreign guest does not speak Russian, we recommend that you purchase an individual tour.

Persons over the age of 18 who plan to stay in accommodation facilities in St. Petersburg for more than 24 hours are required to pay a resort fee at check-in in the amount of 100 rubles per day per person. 21 (twenty-one) preferential categories are exempt from payment. For questions about the resort fee, you can contact the tourist Contact center.

The age for tourists and tourists is from 5 years old.

It is possible for minors to visit excursions and the tour in general only if accompanied by adults. If the accompanying adult is not the parent of the child, then a power of attorney from the parents is required when checking into the hotel.

It is not possible to visit excursions with animals, but you can check into a pet friendly hotel, the list can be obtained from the operator.

It is possible to order a comfort-class passenger car for an individual transfer in advance (from 1800 rubles, depending on the time of day and delivery).

If a transfer is ordered, please provide the meeting details in advance (time, station, train, carriage, terminal and arrival time, flight number, mobile phone of tourists). In case of failure to provide information about the meeting (in less than 3 working days), the transfer will not be provided.

In a large number of tours (not all) there is a free morning group transfer service to hotels, which is ordered in advance: a fixed meeting time is indicated in the tour program.

Additional excursions are purchased and paid for on the spot by the guide, excursions will take place subject to the recruitment of a group and favorable weather conditions.

The time and place of completion of the program is indicated in the tour program every day. It can be a basic hotel or a city center: as a rule, it is the metro station "Ploshchad Vosstaniya" near the Moscow railway station or the metro station "Gostiny Dvor".

If tourists want to buy theater tickets, we recommend laying a time reserve. In the updated tour program, the time of visiting the sites may vary depending on what time the museums have confirmed.

Are there any possible changes in the program?
What are the discounts on the tour?
What is the check-out time at the hotel?
Is insurance included in the price of the tour?
Are plane tickets included in the price of the tour?

Reviews Leave a review

  • SC
    Sebastian Constantin Egerer
    about provider
    28 Apr, 2026
    6 more photos
    I greatly appreciate that it was possible to visit the Russian Federation in these turbulent times.
  • T
    Tatiana
    about provider
    10 Apr, 2026
    I enjoyed the trip!
  • I
    Irina
    about provider
    2 Mar, 2026
    Overall, the tour went very well, and all the scheduled excursions took place as planned.