We are thinking of doing a 2 night Moscow / 3 night St. Petersburg trip from the US.

I really don't like crowded sights.

Is it silly to wait until November (which is the next time we can go)?

I know we will not get as much daylight or warm weather but will this be outweighed by the reduced crowds at popular sights?

Moscow is always crowded but in november it will also get cold and dark - not good for sightseeing :D
Go now.

Go now, you really wouldn't want to be in Moscow in November, a depressing sight if ever there was one. The weather was great in both cities when I was there 2 weeks ago, and it will only get better...and the (tourist? coz MOW is a huge city that is buzzing with people at all times) crowds are not at all big, we're not talking about Versailles or Eiffel Tower-type queues here.

Well in Spb in this period of the year they've the so called "white nights" which means they've 23 hours of daylight per day. This makes Spb full of tourists and prices go up even more than usual crazy Russian prices. If you could have another opportunity I wouldn't suggest you to go in this period...much better beginning of May or September...
At the end of the day I don't find anything intresting in these "white nights"...ok...i know how the sun light looks like!:-) I can't even take a picture of it:-)

FYI -- Beware of SPB July 15-17 as the G8 summit will be there!

FYI -- Beware of SPB July 15-17 as the G8 summit will be there!
It is going to be difficult to visit St Pete during those days even if the desire is there :).

For example, LED is scheduled to be closed between 2000 UTC 14 July and 2000 UTC 17 July, except for governmental flights.

LED is scheduled to be closed between 2000 UTC 14 July and 2000 UTC 17 July, except for governmental flights.I only realised the G8 was there after we had already scheduled our trip. Fortunately we'll be there the week before :D

I only realised the G8 was there after we had already scheduled our trip. Fortunately we'll be there the week before :D
A stroke of good fortune indeed, and I think that the City of Peter will be very clean and newly-painted a week before the G8. :cool:

We're here in St Pete at the moment, came for a family wedding. Weather is lovely. The key places like Petergof Palace seemed busy on Sunday, but most are just locals out enjoying things. St Pete does have quite a shortage of hotels, which restricts things. The queue for the Hermitage looked no longer than the last time I went there, which was in January.

Yes things have been tarted up for the G8. The whole of Moscow Prospect in from the airport to the city has been resurfaced, and sundry other works done as well. They're actually going to a place outside the city, on the Petergof road. Goodness knows why they feel they have to close the airport for the duration.

I will be in St. Petersburg the end of next week. Best time of year.

I too was just in St. Petersburg, 1 July through 7 July. Our Russian tour guide said she'd never seen the city that crowded. It seems to be the new popular destination for American and European tourists on the baltic cruises. At Catherine Palace and Peterhoff, we had an organized, scheduled tour and still had to wait in line for over an hour to get in.

It was quite clean, and there were some new fountains installed on Moskovsky Prospekt (at the Lenin statue...) and on the Neva just on the Petrograd Side.

You can definitely get away from the crowds. I went to a few small museums that had next to nobody in them, like the Dostoyevsky House-Museum (highly recommended - get the audio tour), and the Rimsky-Korsakov Flat-Museum. You can see my pictures if you care at http://www.flickr.com/photos/sqfreak/tags/stpetersburg/

At Catherine Palace and Peterhoff, we had an organized, scheduled tour and still had to wait in line for over an hour to get in.
That's normal any time I am afraid. We took over 2 hours to get into the Winter Palace in January ! Seems to be a function of their organisation rather than the crowds overall. Once inside we got a table in the cafe to get revitalised without problem.

I was in St Petersburg for my wife's nephew's races...he races mini F1 cars and we spent a week there last summer in late June/early July...The weather was beautiful...the white nights were great...overall it was a very relaxing time...we stayed in an apartment we had rented from a family friend...it was great...there are a couple of decent hotels in St Petersburg, but we loved the apartment we stayed in...I dont know if I would want to be in st petersburg during the winter...but June, July, and August are absolutely beautiful in St Petersburg...We did all of the sights and never felt crowded and I dont remember ever waiting in line for anything...If you go, go Mid June through Mid August

Well in Spb in this period of the year they've the so called "white nights" which means they've 23 hours of daylight per day. This makes Spb full of tourists and prices go up even more than usual crazy Russian prices. If you could have another opportunity I wouldn't suggest you to go in this period...much better beginning of May or September...
At the end of the day I don't find anything intresting in these "white nights"...ok...i know how the sun light looks like!:-) I can't even take a picture of it:-)

If you don't find anything interesting in the "White Nights", then, I guess you are incapable of appreciating ballet, opera, and classical music, as the "Whtie Nights" Festival takes place during that time period. :rolleyes: