1 2 “Art-Travel” DMC successfully operates on a travel market from 2003. Our Company is a member of an Advisory Committee in the National Agency of tourism in Italy, club “Hungary”, organized by the Office of the Adviser for tourism of Hungary in Russia and “Malta” club. “Art-Travel” is a participant of the road show in India “Welcome to St. Petersburg” of Russian Committee for Tourism and Russian Travel Industry Union. Also we are active member of international exhi- bitions including WTM in London and ITB in Berlin. Our staff understands the various mentality about and preferences of guests from different countries, and pro- vides in accordance with every need the wide range of services for any kind of trips, cruises and events: • Accommodation at hotels of all categories • High qualified guides and interpreter’s services, including a rare languages for Russia area (as Serbian, Dutch, Croatian, Estonian) • Transportation by coaches and minivans of standard/business/deluxe class: o For excursions o For transfers o Car with driver/for rent • Tours all over Russia: o Around Golden Ring, Baikal Lake and Siberia, Kazan, river cruises with stops in the most ancient Russian towns, Sochi, Karelia and other good-known places. o Full-days excursions from Moscow and St. Petersburg for Pskov, Novgorod, Sergiev Posad, etc. • Comfort services for VIP-tours and Business-class tours in St. Petersburg and Moscow • MICE: o Organizations of theme events, corporate training and team-building, corporate receptions, parties o Conference venues, facilities and equipment for workshops, conferences, seminars • Unique variety of tours and original excursions for groups and individual travelers • Rail and airway tickets services • Visa Support We are the friendly team of professionals and like our work and people, so are pleased to offer the best decision for any kind of inquiries. Regardless of the number of guests or their financial capacity and age, we provide quality, punctually and especial service to every person requested to “Art-Travel” Travel Company. Among our clients are a lot of travel companies, individual travellers and corporate customers all over the world as St. Andrew the First-Called Foundation for example. Thanks for the choice of Art-Travel Company to our current and future client! The contents: ST.PETERSBURG GOLDEN RING St. Petersburg , general information ...............................4 Golden Ring, general information ...............................18 Tours to St. Petersburg...............................................................6 Tours around Golden Ring.................................................20 Cruises..................................................................................................8 Visa Free tours ...............................................................................9 TOURS ALL OVER RUSSIA Kazan, general information.................................................22 VIP & MICE Tour to St. Petersburg & Moscow & Kazan .............23 VIP services ...................................................................................11 River Cruises, general information ................................24 Wedding & Honeymoons tours ......................................12 Trans-Siberian Railway, general information .........26 MICE................................................................................................... 13 Tour along Trans-Siberian Railway ...............................27 Baikal Lake, general information ..................................30 MOSCOW Tour to Baikal by air................................................................32 Moscow, general information ..........................................14 Cruise around Baikal Lake................................................33 Tours to Moscow .......................................................................16 Tout to Sochi ..............................................................................34 SPORT Tourism .........................................................................35 3 ST. PETERSBURG Travelling to Russia St. Petersburg is a “must” place to visit. St. Petersburg is the second largest city of the Russian Feder- ation after Moscow. It counts over five million inhabitants and is an important port of the Baltic Sea. The city was founded in 1703 on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland by the tsar Peter the Great. In 1914 the name of the city was changed from St. Petersburg to Petrograd, then in 1924 to Leningrad, till 1991 when the city has got its original name of St. Petersburg. From the very beginning St. Petersburg was conceived to be the impe- rial capital of Russia, and it maintained its status till 1918, when after the Great Revolution the state government bodies moved to Moscow. Saint Petersburg is the most Westernized city of Russia, as well as its cultural capital. The Historic Centre of Saint Petersburg and Related Groups of Monuments constitute a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Saint Petersburg is home to The Hermitage, one of the largest art museums in the world. A large number of foreign consulates, international corporations, banks, and businesses have offices in Saint Petersburg. Unlike in Moscow, Saint Petersburg has a linear layout, crossed by the River Neva and other smaller rivers and canals, and the historic architecture of the city centre, mostly consisting of Baroque and neoclassical buildings of the 18th and 19th cen- turies, has been largely preserved. Since 1991 the Historic Centre of Saint Petersburg and Related Groups of Monuments in Saint Petersburg and surrounding Leningrad Oblast have been listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. The dominant monument and one of the city symbols is the ensemble of Peter and Paul Fortress with the tall Peter and Paul Cathedral on Zayachy Island along the right bank of the River Neva. Every day at noon a cannon fires a blank shot from the for- tress wall. Nearby in the same district there is the Saint Petersburg Mosque, that used to be the largest mosque in Europe. Another characteristic place is the Spit of Vasilievsky Island, which splits the river into two largest armlets, the Bolshaya Neva and Malaya Neva, with the dominant building of the Former Saint Petersburg Stock Exchange (now hosting the Naval museum) and Rostral Columns, on tops of which on festive occasions there are flames lit. Across the bridge, on the left bank of the Neva there are the Admiralty building with a weathercock shaped like a small ship on top of its golden spire, the famous equestrian monument “the Bronze horseman” dedicated to Peter the Great. The vast Her- mitage museum complex is lined along the Palace Embankment, the most famous among the Hermitage buildings is the Winter Palace – former official residence of Russian tsars, which faces on the other side the huge Palace Square, the city’s main square with Alexander’s Column on it. 4 Walking along the main avenue of the city, called Nevsky prospect, also situated on the left bank of the Neva, it is possi- ble to admire marvellous historic palaces, churches and bridg- es, among them the Kazan Cathedral, styled in a similar way to St. Peter’s Cathedral in Rome, and the colourful Church of the Savior on Blood. St. Petersburg is the city able to delight you at any time, in every corner of its central part and even at any season and weather conditions. Anyways, the most romantic and popular period to trav- el to St. Petersburg is summer, as it is time of the so-called “White nights” when it almost doesn’t get dark, even at night. Besides, every night during the navigation period (from April to November), many bridges across the Neva and main canals are drawn up to let ships pass in and out of the Baltic Sea. The bridges opening, although it causes some difficulties to get around the city at night, represents an important tourist attraction and it will surely make the most romantic people fall desperately in love with St. Petersburg, often called Venice of the North because its location on various smaller and big- ger islands among the numerous rivers and canals. During the navigation period when the rivers are free from ice it is possi- ble to set out on boat tours around St. Petersburg. Besides the city itself, its suburbs are also worth of being visited. Among them the most notable are the summer resi- dences of Russian emperors Petergof with majestic parks full of unique fountains, Tsarskoe Selo, with the baroque Cather- ine’s Palace and the neoclassical Alexander Palace, and Pavlov- sk, which contains a domed palace of Emperor Paul and one of the largest English-style parks in Europe. Some other resi- dences situated nearby and making part of the world heritage site, including a castle and park in Gatchina, actually belong to Leningrad Oblast rather than Saint Petersburg. Another nota- ble suburb is Kronstadt with its 19th-century fortifications and naval monuments, occupying the Kotlin Island in the Gulf of Finland. As for the cultural life, Saint Petersburg is home to more than two hundred museums. The largest one is the Hermitage Museum, featuring interiors of the former imperial residence and a vast collection of art. The Russian Museum is a large mu- seum devoted specifically to Russian fine art. The city features lots of theatres (among them the world-famous Mariinsky opera and ballet theatre), concert halls, a permanent circus, many sports and entertainment facilities. If you come once on tour to St. Petersburg, you’ll leave your heart among these granite embankments, iron