Your first full day in Moscow you will have a guided tour of the major cultural and historical sites of the city. We visit Red Square and the Moscow State University on Lenin Hill, where there are outstanding views over Moscow. On the way down, we pass through the Memorial Complex at Poklonnaya Hill and Victory Park, where the impressive Triumphal Arch is located. Then it’s back to the city streets, taking in Kutuzov Avenue, New Arbat, Boulevard Ring and Pushkin Square, before ending up at Tverskaya Street.

Guided tour of Moscow’s Underground – explore one of the masterpieces of the Soviet era created in the Socialist Realism style. The Moscow Metro, with its stations decorated with marble, mosaics, stained-glass panels and bronze sculptures, looks more like a vast art museum. It was one of the proudest achievements of the Soviet era and it still beats many other European underground systems with its ultra-reliable service.

This morning you will visit Red Square, arguably one of the most famous squares in the world. It got its name from the Russian word for “red”, which many centuries ago meant “beautiful”. You will see the brightly-domed St Basil’s Cathedral, the world-renowned Lenin Mausoleum, the expansive facade of the GUM department store, Kazan Cathedral and the Kremlin towers. You will discover the interior of the Kremlin – the former residence of the Tsars and now the residence of the Russian President. You will also visit the Kremlin’s beautiful orthodox cathedrals. Cathedral Square still retains the aura of early Tsarist Russia, where the spirits of Ivan the Terrible, Boris Godunov and the early Romanovs loom large.

Next, you will explore the breathtaking collection of the Armoury Museum. It contains such notable exhibits as the chalice of Yuri Dolgorukiy, the helm and armour of Boris Godunov, a collection of over fifty Faberge eggs, golden and silver works of applied art by Russian, European and Oriental masters, invaluable weapons and other works made of precious metals and stones.

Later, you will be taken to the railway station, where you will take a train to St Petersburg.

Today will take you around the stunning “Venice of the North”, as St Petersburg is also known. You will see the Peter and Paul Fortress, St Isaac’s Cathedral and the Church of the Saviour on Spilled Blood. Then there’s the famous Aurora warship, the legendary ship whose canon-fire gave the signal, on the order of Lenin, for the beginning of the Great Socialist Revolution more than 90 years ago.

After breakfast, we head off to one of the greatest and most beautiful art museums in the world – the Hermitage State Museum. The collection of the Hermitage includes more than three million works of art and artefacts of world culture, including Da Vinci, Raphael, Rembrandt, Monet and Michelangelo. Among them are paintings, graphic works, sculptures and works of applied art, archaeological finds and numismatic material.

This morning you will be taken to Tsarskoye Selo to see the magnificent Catherine Palace and its legendary Amber Room. A gift by Peter the Great to his wife Catherine I, the Catherine Palace owes its awesome grandeur to their daughter, Empress Elizabeth, who chose Tsarskoe Selo as her chief summer residence.  The Palace is an astonishing example of Baroque architecture with its striking interiors that are incredibly spectacular. The Catherine Palace is known for its legendary, unique Amber Room that was looted during World War II, and completely and painstakingly recreated as recently as 2003 – a process that took over 20 years and cost more than $12 million.

Our representative will meet you in the lobby of your hotel to take you to the airport.