Tourists reviews of vacations in Karelia - Page 2

The trip impressed me with its rich cultural, historical, and natural diversity, as well as the excellent service and the professionalism of the guides.

Good evening, Julia!!! I am absolutely thrilled with the tour!!! It was simply amazing!!! Our guide, Anastasia, is a true professional, everything she shared was fascinating!!! A huge thank you to everyone for organizing such a fantastic trip!!!!! I feel so lucky to have found you online!!! The entire experience was wonderful!!!!!! I really hope to travel with you again!! Thank you so much 💕

An amazing tour with a well-organized and informative itinerary! Comfortable buses pick you up directly from the hotel and take you to the excursion sites. During the ride, the guide continuously shares interesting facts about the landmarks we pass. I really enjoyed the routes and locations we visited. The boat trip on the Neva River was slightly spoiled by heavy rain, but it was still a great experience. As for the Hermitage, it’s definitely a place for true art lovers. After two hours of wandering through its grand halls, you start to lose track of where you are and where you're going. In contrast, the Yusupov Palace offers a fantastic glimpse into the opulence and customs of the past. Personally, I would have preferred to swap the Hermitage visit for a trip to St. Isaac’s Cathedral, including access to its observation deck. For those with a deep spiritual interest, a visit to Valaam is best planned as a two-day trip or longer. A five-hour excursion only allows you to see a small part of it, without fully experiencing the essence of the place. Overall, the tour left me with only positive emotions and unforgettable impressions. I completely fell in love with St. Petersburg!

I really enjoyed everything, and we were lucky with the weather. The excursions were fascinating and full of interesting details. I was especially impressed by Denis, our guide in Vyborg, he spoke with humor and had excellent knowledge of the subject. The transport was great, and our tour leader Elena was wonderful as well. I will definitely recommend these tours to others.

I really enjoyed the tour to Karelia (July 12, 2024). From the train, where we were looked after by the charming and attentive Elena (train 928, carriage 32), to the extraordinary guide Denis in Vyborg, everything was wonderful. Denis truly made us fall in love with Vyborg!!!! Everything was excellent from start to finish. Many thanks to all the train staff, bus drivers, and guides!!!

I really enjoyed the tour! It was rich in experiences, beautiful, well organized, and the guide presented everything in an engaging way!

Many thanks to the tour team !! The trip was amazing! We explored both St. Petersburg and Karelia. It was just a week of vacation, but it felt like a whole month of unforgettable experiences with my daughter

Good afternoon! Thank you, I really enjoyed everything, the program was rich and varied, it felt almost like a private tour👍

The tour was wonderful! We got to see and learn all the most important things. It’s just a pity that everything went by so quickly, so there wasn’t much time to really enjoy it. I’d love to come back again, take a leisurely walk, unwind from the hustle and bustle, and fully admire the beauty of Karelia!

Thank you for the chance to truly relax and forget about all the hassles of organizing a vacation yourself. I’ll definitely recommend you to others

I really enjoyed everything about this trip. We were always on time, and all the excursions listed in the program went exactly as planned. Our guide, Galina, was simply wonderful, attentive, caring, and a true professional. She showed us the most beautiful places, recommended great cafés, and helped us check into the best hotels in Petrozavodsk. The only thing I would suggest to the tour providers is to inform travelers in advance about the option to take the retro train to Ruskeala. It was mentioned in the program, along with a note that tickets should be purchased individually, but I wish there had been some guidance or help with booking BEFORE the trip. Since this was our first time in Karelia, we wanted to experience as much as possible but when we arrived, we found out that the train is so popular that tickets sell out a month in advance! Of course, it’s understandable that all the details were in the program and everyone is responsible for arranging their own tickets. Still, if the providers had been just a bit more proactive in helping with this, we would have had the chance to enjoy this wonderful train ride. Out of our group of 44 people, only two were lucky enough to get seats because someone had told them in advance how to do it. Please don’t take this as a complaint, I’m genuinely grateful for the rich itinerary and the excellent organization. I was just a little disappointed about missing the train. If someone had provided a bit more information like the train’s name, schedule, and a reminder to book early or even sent an email asking whether we’d like to include the retro train in our tour, that would have made everything absolutely perfect Thank you very much! I wholeheartedly recommend Big Country and the local tour partners and one piece of advice: book your Ruskeala Express tickets early! =D

The nature was absolutely stunning, with breathtaking views and excellent excursions, our guide Irina was wonderful, she told the stories of the region, both historical and modern, with great enthusiasm, sharing legends and national traditions. Many thanks to her and to our driver Igor. Ruskeala Park is a truly unique place, and we’d love to come back for one of its events. It’s a pity that tickets for the underground part of the park can’t be purchased in advance, please take this into consideration. The walk along the skerries was fantastic! Quite an adventure, really, we got plenty of exercise. As for the excursion to Valaam, it would be nice to have an indoor waiting area for tourists on the shore, we were quite cold while waiting for the bus. The visit to the Karelian village was great, it’s wonderful that they preserve local traditions. However, the wiring in the houses seemed unsafe; it would be nice to invest in some renovation and perhaps offer drinks and pastries to lift the visitors’ spirits. Regarding the hotel, the water was turned off without warning, and we weren’t informed that dinner wouldn’t be available. We had to take a taxi into town in the evening, even though the restaurant there wasn’t great. The same thing happened the next day, so we moved to another hotel, White Nights. It was less comfortable, no fridge, safe, or air conditioning, but the restaurant there was much better. Everything in Petrozavodsk and Kizhi was wonderful, overall, I really enjoyed the trip, thank you so much! :D

We really enjoyed the trip. We came back tired but full of impressions and emotions. In the village of Kindasovo, we would have liked to spend some time walking around the village itself. And during the boat trip on the lakes in Solovki, there was no commentary. We were just taken around slowly for about 1,5 hour.

There was so much interesting information that it never got boring! Lots of great impressions and positive emotions!

Amazing tour! Interesting. Rich. Well-balanced. The itinerary is perfectly packed. In just a short time, you get to see the main landmarks and highlights. And of course, the stunning nature of Karelia - an incredible blend of water, forests, and open spaces! A lifetime wouldn’t be enough to truly discover the Russian North, but the Holy Triangle tour is a perfect place to start :)

The tour took place from June 27 to July 2, 2024. Since I live in the Central Federal District, I was truly impressed by the landscapes and nature of Northwestern Russia, Karelia and parts of the Arkhangelsk region. I’ll remember these places for a long time; they’re so different from where I live. I really liked Petrozavodsk, it’s a cozy, compact, and clean city with many interesting historic buildings and a beautiful promenade along Lake Onega. The excursion to Kizhi Island was not particularly impressive: it was hot, there were swarms of gadflies, and our guide scared us a bit at the beginning with warnings about vipers. Still, the huge 22-domed wooden Church of the Transfiguration was truly awe-inspiring. I skipped the ethnographic exhibition in the peasant house because I was too tired. The rest of the trip: visits to Ruskeala Mountain Park, Valaam Island, and especially the Solovetsky Archipelago, I absolutely loved. I hope to come back and spend more time there someday. The Kivach Nature Reserve and its waterfall, however, didn’t impress me much, there are plenty of similar sights in other regions. Our guide Alexandr from Medvezhyegorsk, who led the tour about the construction of the White Sea–Baltic Canal, stood out for his passion and genuine love of local history. I’d also like to highlight Maria, our guide on the Solovetsky Monastery tour, she was fantastic. She always waited patiently for everyone to gather, spoke clearly and knowledgeably about historical and religious topics, and answered all our questions. Her tour was both informative and engaging! Wonderful work ! I also really enjoyed the optional walking tour “The History of Solovki Prison Camp”, it was fascinating.

A wonderful sightseeing tour that covered the most beautiful spots.Perfectly timed and well organized. I enjoyed every moment.

Great. Without issues.

Everything was fantastic

I really enjoyed the tour! it was rich in experiences, beautiful, well-organized, and presented in a very engaging way by our guide!