BEWARE OF CITY DISCOVERY TOURS, ST. PETERSBURG

City Tour + The Peter & Paul Fortress is a TERRIBLE program.

They left my 75 year-old grandmother in the hot sun on the side of the road in St. Petersburg despite the fact that the tour claims to "return to the hotel lobby" and despite her telling them that she didn't know how to get back from there.

The guide showed up 30 minutes late, without calling ahead of time. They did not pull the car up for my grandmother who can't walk well; she had to walk a block up the road. I gave the guide my number "in case ANYTHING happened" and confirmed that she would bring my grandmother back to the hotel, which is in a small courtyard off a back alley. I found out later that they had booked a French couple on the same tour (no mention of shared tours online) and that the guide was speaking French to them as much as possible, despite the fact that we paid for an "English Tour." At the end of the tour, they told my grandmother to "get out here" a number of blocks from our hotel, and DID NOT call me or wait for her to call me to make sure she could get back. My grandmother tried to protest and said she thought they would take her home, she didn't know how to get back, but they told her "the tour ends here." She got out in bewilderment and immediately got turned around, leading to a hysterical and panic-filled afternoon for both of us.

Later that day, I called in and talked to the management in Russian (Alexandra Lyubov) in Russian. She said that it was because traffic was so bad (obviously the tour did not officially end at some random point on the street though she admitted that the guide had said that.) She refused to return my money or apologize. Her whole attitude was -what kind of idiot could get lost so close to the hotel.- She refused to acknowledge that the guide should have called me and said that she was usually a great guide. (Who cares?) She agreed that the written confirmation said my grandmother would be brought home but claimed that my grandmother didn't refuse to get out of the car or put up enough of a fight. This is a company that deals with tourists and foreigners! Also, my grandmother said that the French couple (older than her) was also left a distance from their hotel, also after they said they weren't sure where they were.

So PLEASE don't book the City Tour & Peter and Paul Fortress tour with this company. There is a reason that they are cheaper than everyone else!!!!!!