St. Petersburg for me is the most beautiful city in Russia, the place where I have lived for two wonderful years, a place where wonderful architecture and pleasant parks delight the eye at any time of the year. In this article I will tell you about the most interesting places in St. Petersburg that are worth visiting for tourists - from popular to little-known and informal.
Palace Square
Once this place was a construction site, parade ground, storage, pasture, meadow for folk festivals and God knows what else. And now the Winter Palace, the General Staff Building and the Alexander Column proudly flaunt on the square paved with paving stones. I especially love it when the lights and lights come on. In the evening, come to the Palace Embankment and admire the beautifully illuminated bridge! Do not forget to cross the square and walk along Millionnaya Street to the New Hermitage - to where Atlanta hold the sky on stone hands. It is convenient to start walking around the center of St. Petersburg from Palace Square - you can build many interesting routes from here. The easiest way is to walk along Nevsky Prospekt.
Learn about the best sightseeing tours in St. Petersburg.
Hermitage
The Winter Palace and the General Staff building are occupied with expositions of the immense The Hermitage... In total, the museum owns more than 3 million exhibits - just think! Someone even calculated that it would take 11 years to inspect the entire collection, even if it takes just a minute for each exhibit.
I advise you to come to the museum with a specific purpose - for example, to see the Impressionists or the art of Ancient Egypt, otherwise everything will pass in a fog and by the end you will be terribly tired. Plan your route in advance on the official website and buy tickets online, because in the summer you can get old in the queues to the Hermitage. If you want to see and understand the masterpieces, but do not want to plan anything, it is better to take a guided tour with an art critic.
Petersburg roofs
Previously, it was difficult for a third person to get on the roof safely. Now it is much easier to look at Peter from a height - just book an excursion with a roofer and enjoy the views completely legally. You can even opt for a rooftop photo shoot. Another option is to come to the panoramic restaurant "Sunrises / Sunsets" or to the observation deck "Roof", which is located at a height of 27 meters.
Well courtyards
On our last trip to St. Petersburg, we got carried away with the search and photographing of courtyards-wells - a real quest! I love these closed courtyards with a special atmosphere of isolation from the whole world, I lived in one on Vaska. And the labyrinth of gangsters' yards, like in Benoit's house or on Rubinstein Street, where Dovlatov lived, is generally a separate pleasure.
If you are also interested in this topic, I advise you to look at the wonderful map of the courtyards-wells of St. Petersburg - the author tried very hard! There are many photos and all the addresses. It is a pity that some of the courtyards are no longer accessible to tourists - for example, with the Griffin Tower. Some courtyards are closed, but you can get in with the residents. This is how we got into the Angelic courtyard and the courtyard of Buck's house. If you are embarrassed to ask the residents to let you in or want to know the history of the courtyards, and at the same time see the chic front doors that miraculously escaped the Soviet overhaul, go on a tour.
Kazan Cathedral
I love this cathedral for its magnificent semicircular colonnade! It is unusually harmonious, despite its size, in contrast to the bulky St. Isaac's Cathedral. Be sure to walk along the columns and go inside during the service - I guarantee you will be impressed by the temple. In winter, when an elegant Christmas tree is placed in front of the cathedral and fluffy snow falls quietly at dusk, the cathedral looks especially wonderful.
Don't miss a good view from the Griboyedov Canal: on the left - Kazan Cathedral with the burial of Admiral Kutuzov, on the right - the Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood, built on the site of the assassination attempt on Tsar Alexander II.
University Embankment and Strelka V.O.
Many interesting places in St. Petersburg are concentrated on Universitetskaya embankment and the Spit of Vasilyevsky Island. And it's just nice to walk here, just dress warmer - almost always a cold wind blows.
Arrow Vasilievsky Island is the place where the Neva River divides into Malaya and Bolshaya. The arrow is very popular with tourists! From here you can clearly see the Peter and Paul Fortress, the Admiralty, St. Isaac's Cathedral and the Winter Palace. On the Strelka there is the building of the Stock Exchange (Naval Museum), customs, the famous Rostral columns, classical-style houses and other historical buildings.
Be sure to check out Kunstkamera, especially if you are with children - the museum was founded by Peter I, and it has an amazing collection of exhibits from all over the world. You can spend the whole day there! A little further there are beautiful Menshikov's palace - a gift from the sovereign to his assistant, the Academy of Arts, the building of the Twelve Collegia, and much more. In the 19th century, the embankment was decorated with sphinxes from Thebes. Find a griffin with a polished golden nose nearby: rubbing its nose for good luck is a student tradition.
All of the above places are a postcard, ceremonial island. Learn about the mysterious places of Vasilievsky Island on a guided tour. I will tell about one of them - Repin Street - below.
Repin street
Favorite street in St. Petersburg is Repin street. A street where the bustling city suddenly falls silent and time stops. The street, where after the rain in the light of the lanterns the pavement mysteriously gleams - and it seems that you are about to hear the clatter of hooves and the clatter of a chaise.
Repin Street is special, not fancy. This is the narrowest street in the city, its width is only 5.6 meters. During the Great Patriotic War, there was a morgue here, and now urban legends are associated with the street - supposedly ghosts were met here and as if it was "hiding" from the residents. I have only positive memories connected with Repin: when we lived on Vaska, in the evenings we wandered for a long time along this cozy and charming street. And it's easy to find it - from V.O. one block after St. Michael's Cathedral, dive into a dark and narrow corridor. This is Repin Street.
Raising bridges
Before moving to St. Petersburg, I thought that bridging was a common attraction for tourists. It turned out to be wrong. I have observed many times how the giant doors slowly open - it is always beautiful, there is something solemn and magical in this movement, like in the automatons of the 18-19 centuries. Sometimes it was tragic - when I did not have time to cross the river and had to wander around waiting for the bridges to be pulled down again. But the most romantic action takes place on the white nights! I advise you to definitely look at the bridges in St. Petersburg - just take a position in advance with a view of the Palace, Kunstkamera and Rostral Columns, as in the photo below.
Check out the best nightlife tours of St. Petersburg.
Five corners
Five corners is the famous intersection of Zagorodny Prospekt and Rubinstein, Lomonosov and Razyezzha streets, described by Dostoevsky. There is an interesting architectural development on the square, it is simply impossible to pass by! Life is in full swing here, we advise you to settle in one of the many cafes and enjoy.
Address: Zagorodny prospect, 11. Get off at the station "Vladimirskaya" or "Dostoevskaya".
Peter-Pavel's Fortress
For some reason, the Peter and Paul Fortress attracts many tourists, but I didn't like it. Probably, in order for the history of this place to come to life, you need to come with a guide - enter the secret tunnels, go to the roof and hear old legends. Briefly from what I know: the citadel was a prison for political prisoners, the son of Peter I Alexei, the Decembrists and other prominent figures were imprisoned here. All the Romanov emperors, from Peter I to Nicholas II, are buried in the grand ducal tomb of the cathedral.
Now there are several museums on the territory: the prison of the Trubetskoy bastion, the commandant's house and the Mint.All museums are paid, but the entrance to the fortress itself is free. Come before 12:00 and hear the daily midday signal cannon shot from the Naryshkin Bastion.
Street art museum
I breathe unevenly towards street art and industrial buildings. If you are too, be sure to look at the graffiti and art objects in St. Petersburg at the street art museum, which was opened on the site of the former factory - this is a combo! Find out on the official website of the museum what exhibitions and events are held.
Smolensk Lutheran cemetery
A picturesque cemetery with beautiful gloomy Madonnas and bright angels is a quiet place in a bustling city. The graves overgrown with mosses and ferns act soothingly and cry: memento mori.
Semimost
An unusual view opens on the embankment of the Griboyedov Canal near house 131. This interesting place in St. Petersburg is called Semimost, from here you can see seven bridges at once. It is believed that the wish made here will certainly come true. By the way, not all tourists know about it. For example, we admired the view alone.
Gorokhovaya street
Gorokhovaya Street, once the most popular in the city, should be given special attention. There are beautiful apartment buildings with a touch of mysticism. For example, Grigory Rasputin lived in house number 64, house number 57 - the so-called Rotunda - a legendary place with amazing acoustics. However, tourists write that after the renovation, the Rotunda is no longer the same. A beautiful department store Au Pont Rouge, which is located in a house from 1907.
Buddhist datsan
Look at the exotic in St. Petersburg - the Buddhist datsan. It is not as impressive as in Elista, but I liked it better. It's warm and quiet inside. Twirl the red drums and try the poses (buuzes) in the modest dining room at the datsan, they are tasty, hearty and inexpensive. Be careful - the poses contain hot broth that needs to be drunk. I have been there for a long time, but I am sure that they still cook delicious food in the datsan. Interested in Buddhism? Go to the datsan with a guide.
Address: Primorsky prospect, 91, metro station "Staraya Derevnya".
I have long wanted to get to the Russian Museum, and on the last trip I succeeded. The museum is wonderful! If you want to see all those pictures that you looked at in history and cultural studies textbooks, then you are here. There are many interesting things, but I went first of all because of Aivazovsky, Bryullov and Vasnetsov. In the Benois corps there are Kandinsky, Malevich and Rodchenko. A complex ticket for 1 day to the Russian Museum costs 550 rubles.
Address: Summer Garden, Liter A. Metro: "Nevsky Prospect", "Gostiny Dvor", "Chernyshevskaya".
Do you like interesting sculptures and monuments? There are a lot of such places in St. Petersburg. You can arrange a quest and find all the unusual monuments, but we will give only a few:
There are so many non-trivial monuments in St. Petersburg that there are even author's excursions around them.
A piece of ancient Samarkand in St. Petersburg is the turquoise Cathedral Mosque. It is one of the largest in Europe! Admire the stunning beauty of the majolica on the portal of the mosque. Non-Muslims can get inside only with a guided tour.
