Things to do in St Petersburg
And where to stay, the best time to visit, what a day costs, and the traps to skip.
Best time to visit St Petersburg
• a note or something on ✦ an occasion worth the trip
White Nights: sky never fully darkens, fountains run, festivals peak; June is priciest and most booked out.
Connoisseur's season: crowds thin, September brings golden parks, open theatre seasons and prices down a tier.
The trough: fountains off, rain and collapsing daylight, but empty Hermitage, lowest hotel prices and cosy cafe culture.
Winter city: snow, skating and Nutcracker season, but minus 5 to minus 15, ice pavements and six hours of December daylight.
What's on
- Stars of the White Nights festival late May to July
Mariinsky flagship season of ballet and opera premieres and galas.
- Scarlet Sails Saturday nearest the solstice, usually late June
Tall ship with scarlet sails, fireworks and a Neva show drawing over a million people to the embankments.
- City Day 27 May
Concerts and fireworks for the city's birthday.
- White Nights Marathon early July
A night race through the lit centre.
- Peterhof spring fountain festival mid-May
Ceremonial opening of the Peterhof fountains for the season.
- Navy Day last Sunday of July
Neva naval parade and huge crowds; spectacular with a vantage point, disruptive without one.
- Alexandrinsky Festival September to October
Theatre festival as the seasons open in September.
- Peterhof autumn fountain festival September
Ceremonial highlight closing the fountain season, which runs until mid October.
- Message to Man film festival October
Film festival in the autumn trough.
- New Year and Orthodox Christmas 31 Dec to 7 Jan
The year's biggest and priciest domestic holiday period.
Best things to do in St Petersburg
State Hermitage Museum
One of the world's greatest museums in the Winter Palace, with state rooms, Rembrandt, Leonardo and the Peacock Clock.
Church of the Savior on the Spilled Blood
Candy striped onion domes outside and more than 7,000 square metres of mosaics covering the interior.
Mariinsky Theatre
Historic ballet and opera house where Swan Lake and The Nutcracker took canonical form; choose ballet first time.
Fabergé Museum
The largest Faberge collection, including nine Imperial Easter eggs, done superbly in 60 to 90 minutes.
State Russian Museum
The greatest Russian art collection anywhere, from Rublev icons to Malevich, in a neoclassical palace.
Peter and Paul Fortress
The city's 1703 birthplace, with Romanov tombs in the cathedral and the classic view back to the Hermitage.
St Isaac's Cathedral
Huge gilded cathedral interior, and the colonnade climb gives the single best panoramic view in the city.
New Holland Island
Restored naval island turned park and culture quarter with lawns, stage, cafes and a winter rink.
Where to stay in St Petersburg
The Golden Triangle / Admiralteysky
first trip, all-round base
Hermitage, St Isaac's, Mariinsky and Kazan are walkable, with the highest restaurant density and best lit embankments.
Liteyny / Tchaikovskogo and the Fontanka east of Nevsky
quieter residential centre, repeat and food-led trips
Ten to fifteen minutes from the Hermitage with a locals feel, Duoband restaurants and prices a tier lower.
The Petrograd Side
best value and locals' St Petersburg
Art Nouveau blocks, Bolshoy Prospekt cafes, Harvest and Probka, and the islands, for less than the centre.
Moskovsky Prospekt / the southern centre
train travellers and budget chains
Cluster of reliable mid range chains and aparthotels near Moskovsky Station and the Pulkovo route, metro served.
Think twice about
- Vasilevsky Island west of the university quarter
Cut off when the Palace and Blagoveshchensky bridges rise at night in navigation season, with long empty walks further west.
- Far Soviet-era sleeping districts (Kupchino, Murino/Devyatkino, Rybatskoye, deep south-west and north-east)
Ordinary and safe residential areas, but few good hotels or restaurants and a 45 to 70 minute metro ride each way.
- Moskovsky Station / Ploshchad Vosstaniya forecourt and Ligovsky Prospekt station strip
The city's most congested, pickpocket flagged few blocks, with the noisiest hotel stock on the strip itself.
- Pulkovo airport area
No rail link; a highway hotel zone for layovers only. Stay there only for a pre-dawn departure.
Best restaurants in St Petersburg
Birch
The city's most decorated modern restaurant; tasting menus that are the Russian fine dining reference point.
Bourgeois Bohemians
Chef's counter room where five sections combine into sets of three to nine dishes; book the set ahead.
Palkin
Historic Nevsky dining room serving the imperial canon, sterlet and Stroganoff, at full ceremony.
Tartarbar
Duoband original for tartares and crudos; dish for rouble, arguably the best value serious meal in the city.
Duo Gastrobar
Blinov's first room and gastrobar template: short menu, small plates and the cabbage with truffle dish.
Harvest
Duoband flagship, vegetable led open kitchen treated by Russian critics as a top five city restaurant.
Probka on Dobrolyubova
Mnatsakanov's Italian institution: house pasta, wood oven pizza and a celebrated zucchini linguine.
Teplo
Beloved homey all rounder near St Isaac's serving Russian home cooking raised a level, children welcome.
Outdoor things to do in St Petersburg
Peterhof Lower Park
150 plus gravity fed fountains including the Grand Cascade; arrive for the 11:00 ceremonial switch on.
Catherine Palace
Versailles scale palace with the recreated Amber Room, plus a 600 hectare park that needs a full day.
Pavlovsk Park
Europe scale landscaped park for cycling, rowing and long walks, and the best suburban winter day out.
Naval Cathedral of Saint Nicholas in Kronstadt
Restored neo Byzantine naval cathedral in Peter's fortress town, with dockyards, forts and Gulf boat trips.
Gorki Golf & Resort
Championship 18 hole inland links style course; June allows a 21:00 tee time in White Nights daylight.
Peterhof Golf Club
Convenient 18 hole course near Peterhof with range and water in play; pair with an afternoon in the Lower Park.
Yelagin Island
Vehicle free island park with palace, gardens, boat and cycle hire, skating and ski loops in winter.
Krestovsky Island
Island park with Victory Park, Gulf facing embankments, beach edges and bike and scooter hire.
Best hotels in St Petersburg
Wawelberg Hotel
Bank building conversion on Nevsky by the Admiralty, the newest feeling of the city's palace hotels.
Four Seasons Hotel Lion Palace St. Petersburg
House with Lions by St Isaac's: palatial public rooms, a serious spa and the square five minutes away.
Astoria Hotel
1912 grande dame facing St Isaac's Cathedral; book a cathedral view category or not at all.
Belmond Grand Hotel Europe
Nevsky institution from 1875 by Arts Square, the most central luxury address for a museum first trip.
Domina St. Petersburg
Mid tier benchmark on the Moyka by St Isaac's, praised for beds, breakfast and walking distance.
Hotel Indigo St. Petersburg - Tchaikovskogo
Boutique feeling hotel by the Summer Garden with a small pool, sauna and a rooftop panorama restaurant.
Pushka Inn
Small well run inn steps from the Hermitage on the Moyka, the location per rouble overachiever.
Helvetia Hotel
Swiss run character hotel with courtyard calm near Moskovsky Station, the station side equivalent pick.
Is St Petersburg expensive? What a day costs
| Budget | RUB 5,000 a person |
|---|---|
| Classic | RUB 11,000 a person |
| Splurge | RUB 30,000 a person |
A day of food, drink, sights and getting around, before the room
What to book ahead
- State Hermitage Museum: weeks ahead
- Mariinsky Theatre: weeks ahead
- Fabergé Museum: a few days ahead
- Peterhof Lower Park: a few days ahead
- Catherine Palace: weeks ahead
- Pushka Inn: weeks ahead
- Soul Kitchen Hostel: a few days ahead
- Birch: weeks ahead
- Visa months ahead; US, UK, Canadian, Australian and NZ citizens need a consular sticker visa, not the e-visa.
- Mariinsky tickets the day the monthly schedule drops, especially May to July.
- Catherine Palace timed tickets the moment dates open in season; Birch a month out, BoBo ahead too.
- Hermitage timed tickets days to weeks ahead in season; White Nights hotels weeks to months ahead.
Is St Petersburg safe?
- Limited consular help, detention and legal risks; check current advice before any trip.
- Pickpocketing on Nevsky, in peak metro, Gostiny Dvor and stations.
- Never photograph military sites, transport infrastructure, official buildings or personnel, and never fly a drone.
- Winter pavements, ice and falling icicles in thaws are a top real injury risk; walk away from the facade line.
St Petersburg travel tips: tourist traps to skip
- Foreign Visa, Mastercard and Amex cards do not work in Russia; bring new euros or dollars to change to roubles and confirm payment routes in advance.
- Third party visa support and ticket resellers charging multiples over official face value.
- Combining Peterhof and Catherine Palace in one day; souvenir markets by the Saviour; any restaurant with a tout outside.
- Costumed photo characters around Palace Square run a per pose hustle; agree a total price first or walk past.
Getting around St Petersburg: public transport and more
- Walk the centre, a 3 km web of sights. Metro is fast, deep, cheap and runs roughly 05:30 to 00:30.
- Yandex Go is the taxi app that matters; never take unmarked cars touting at stations.
- Pulkovo has no train: bus to Moskovskaya metro or a taxi of 30 to 60 minutes. Suburban trains leave from different stations, check each time.
- Download Yandex Maps and 2GIS before you go; Google's Russia transit and business data is stale.
Who St Petersburg suits
| Solo travellers | Good |
|---|---|
| Groups of friends | OK |
| Couples | Great |
| Bachelor parties | OK |
| Families | Good |
| Bachelorette parties | OK |
Make St Petersburg your trip
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