Saint Petersburg
Russia · 3 m
Description
Saint Petersburg (Санкт-Петербург) was founded by Peter the Great on Baltic marshland and built as a European capital facing away from old Russia, a city of granite embankments, canals and long straight prospects. The Winter Palace holds the Hermitage, whose collection runs from Scythian gold to Matisse across a thousand rooms. Along the canal behind it stands the Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood, its exterior a mass of coloured domes and its interior lined entirely with mosaic. The imperial summer palaces at Peterhof and Tsarskoye Selo lie half an hour out. In midsummer the sky never fully darkens.
Length of stay
Recommended length of stay: 3 to 7 days (optimal 4 days)
Travel season
Best time to visit: May – September
- Jan
- Feb
- Mar
- Apr
- May
- Jun
- Jul
- Aug
- Sep
- Oct
- Nov
- Dec
Highlights
- Peterhof and the Grand Cascade fountains (May - October)(Day trip)
- State Hermitage Museum in the Winter Palace
- Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood
- Historic centre of Saint Petersburg (UNESCO World Heritage)
- Catherine Palace and the Amber Room at Tsarskoye Selo(Day trip)
- Saint Isaac's Cathedral and its colonnade
- Nevsky Prospekt
- Peter and Paul Fortress
- Kazan Cathedral
- Russian Museum
- White nights and the raised drawbridges (June - July)
- Bronze Horseman on Senate Square
- Cruiser Aurora at its permanent mooring
- Mariinsky Theatre
- Yusupov Palace and the Rasputin rooms
- Faberge Museum in the Shuvalov Palace
- Canal boat trip through the Griboyedov and Moyka
- Spit of Vasilyevsky Island and the rostral columns
- Kunstkamera
- Alexander Nevsky Lavra and the Tikhvin Cemetery
- Summer Garden
- Smolny Cathedral and its bell tower view
- New Holland Island
- Pavlovsk Park(Day trip)
- Gatchina Palace and its park(Day trip)
- Naval Cathedral at Kronstadt(Day trip)
- Oranienbaum palace and park at Lomonosov(Day trip)
- Erarta Museum of Contemporary Art
- Pyshki counters and the Soviet-era canteens
Getting there
- Airports:
- LED
- Train stations:
- Moskovsky, Ladozhsky, Finlyandsky
- Seaport:
- Reachable by ship or ferry