St. Petersburg Travel: Eyewitness Travel Guide St. Petersburg, Russia

Legendary, beautiful, marvelous… This is Saint Petersburg – “the Northern Venice” of Russia – far and enchanting, attractive and fascinating. This is the city where you can find what you have desired for a long time, it is the place in this great World where your dreams come true!

St. Petersburg was founded on the Neva River by Tsar Peter the Great, on the 16th of May, 1703. Surely, the city is considered to be not a very old one, but it undoubtedly has a rich and powerful history, the study of which can help you to understand that a good deal of the greatest dates in the world and Russian history is connected with St. Petersburg.

They say, the city is the cultural capital of Russia, and anybody can hardly deny this fact. At a glimpse, one becomes aware that culture permeates through all the city, leaves its trace in all the spheres of St. Petersburg life. Firstly, the look of the city – its architectural grandeur, luxurious parks, inviting streets, avenues and lanes, plenty of rivers and canals, the view of the Gulf of Finland - gives us an estimate of the large scale and grandiosity of St. Petersburg. Secondly, the enormous number of cultural institutions - museums and art galleries, palaces of culture, theatres, concert and music halls, movie theatres, and so on and so forth – grant a lot of diverse positive impressions which give us an idea of the great potential ability of art to influence our life making it better, richer, brighter.

No matter if you come to St. Petersburg alone or with your family and friends, whether you on vocation or on business, you should certainly visit some of the greatest St. Petersburg places of note. Slip not the chance to stroll along the most famous avenue of the city – Nevskii Prospect -where you will see many historical and gorgeous buildings, the marvelous sculptures of the Anichkov Bridge, the picturesque Griboedov Canal… An autobus city tour will help you to see other avenues and streets with their beautiful sights. A night city tour will give you a chance to see all the beauty of the illuminated city, and to watch a very well-known and attractive eye-catcher - swinging open of the city bridges. If you are tired of roads and traffic jam, take a boat city tour on rivers and canals of St. Petersburg. It will allow you to enjoy the marvelous sights of the city being afloat.

After that, indubitably, you will wish to visit a celebrated place.

There is a wide range of famous museums in St. Petersburg, and the first ones to visit are: the Hermitage (or the Winter Palace) which is so huge that one can scarcely observe all the treasures kept there in even a several years’ time, the Russian Museum which is one of the greatest picture galleries in the World, the Peter and Paul Fortress situated on the Zayachiy Island which was erected for the purpose of defense and which is a historical museum at present.

Irrespective of your religion you should visit the splendid Orthodox cathedrals of St. Petersburg which present architectural and decoration masterpieces, beginning with the Kazansky Cathedral with its mighty semicircle of columns, the St. Isaac’s Cathedral which is one of the biggest dome buildings in the world and which has a colonnade permitting you to observe the city center, and the Spas-na-Krovi Cathedral with its unique outer décors.

And never miss the opportunity of going to the illustrious suburbs of St. Petersburg, such as Peterhof with its renowned fountain cascades located in front of the Great Peterhof Palace, the Pavlovsk Ensemble with its vast park where you can feed squirrels in summer, Pushkin where there is still the spirit of the great poet’s age.

In actual fact, it is impossible to enumerate all the values of this great magnetic city, it is much better to see everything with one’s own eyes. Saint Petersburg always greets any tourist with outstretched arms!

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Top 10 Things To Do and See

in St. Petersburg

State Hermitage Museum and Winter Palace, St. Petersburg
One of the most famous art museums in the world, this museum is

housed in the Winter Palace, and contains over 2.7 million exhibits

including some of the world's greatest works of art.
Attraction type: Architectural building; Museum complex; Art museum; Historic site

Church of Our Savior on Spilled Blood, St. Petersburg
Built to memorialize Alexander II following his assassination in 1881,

this magnificent church with Italian pink marble floors and numerous

mosaics was modeled after 16th and 17th century churches,

contrasting sharply with the prevailing architectural styles.
Attraction type: Architectural building; Historic site; Religious site

Peterhof Palace and Garden (Petrodvorets), St. Petersburg
Once a formal garden built for Peter the Great, this popular park still has

more than 80 of the original marble statues and sculptures and houses

Peter's Summer Palace, a simply designed two-story building that now

displays many of the ruler's own artifacts.
Attraction type: Fountain; Park; Architectural building; Museum complex; Garden; Geological formation; Historic site

St. Isaac's Cathedral, St. Petersburg
This gold-domed, ornate, 19th-century cathedral is the third largest domed

cathedral in the world, and offers visitors a 300-step climb to a

spectacular view of the city.
Attraction type: Architectural building; Observation deck/tower; Religious site; Museum

Nevsky Prospekt, St. Petersburg
This famous Russian street that cuts through the center of St. Petersburg is

a hub for shopping, nightlife and entertainment, and is lined with historic

and picturesque buildings and churches.
Attraction type: Battlefield; Street; Architectural building; Town center/square/plaza

State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg
Countless masterpieces, ranging from 12th-century icons to 20th-century

paintings, are displayed at this important art museum housed in the splendid

and historically significant Mikhailovsky Palace.
Attraction type: Art museum; Museum complex; History museum

Alexander Nevsky Lavra, St. Petersburg
This beautiful monastery complex contains cemeteries where many of

Russia's greatest literary and cultural figures are buried.
Attraction type: Architectural building; Cemetery; Historic site; Religious site

Catherine Palace and Park in Tsarskoye Selo, St. Petersburg
Filled with 18th-century paintings and ornate rooms, this white and gold

palace is surrounded by a 1400-acre park complete with fountains, bridges,

the Agate Pavilion bathhouse and the Great Pond. The Palace also has

a famous Amber Room, stolen by Nazi troops during WWII, but now

recreated by Russian craftsmen.
Attraction type: Castle; Landmark/point of interest;

Architectural building; Historic site; Historic walking area; Park; Garden

Engineer's Castle (Mikhailovsky Castle), St. Petersburg
Now a branch of the Russian Museum with portraits of Russian rulers

on display, this castle built for Paul I has a fascinating and mysterious

history, which includes Paul's assassination in his own bedroom.
Attraction type: Castle; Garden; Museum

Yusupov Palace, St. Petersburg
The horrific murder of Rasputin, the notorious "mad monk," took

place in this stately palace, which offers guided tours of the scene of the crime.
Attraction type: Historic home; Museum

- View all attractions and tours of St. Petersburg | by Trip Advisor