Off the Beaten Path St. Petersburg

Our Local Expert Says:

Come here on a weekend morning in the summer for free concerts by local musicians, military bands and chamber orchestras.

Description:

This is the place to rest on a bench after a day of visiting museums, or to escape from the crush of city sidewalks -- or to imagine how Peter the Great spent his summer afternoons. The lush greenery (at least for a few months of the year) almost makes you forget that these gardens were entirely planned, designed for Peter's pleasure walks and adhering to the city's rules of classicism. Peter brought in marble Renaissance-era statues from Italy to give the park a more European feel. He and his successors threw grand receptions here with dancing, drinking, and fireworks under the endless sun of the White Nights. The statues and fountains serve as landmarks in case you get disoriented. The shrubbery was once carefully trimmed but now its groomers allow trees to take on more abundant forms. The Summer Palace is open to visitors, its rooms re-created as they would have been in Peter's time. The small two-story building was not heated, so it was a summer treat. Glance inside the Coffee House and the Tea House, too. The park closes for a few weeks in spring, usually in April, for a "drying out" period as the slush melts.

Description:

Fast food style restaurant with delicious blinis, Teremok is a local favorite. Blinis are served fast and hot -- this is a great choice for a quick breakfast or lunch.

Description:

The Edmond J Safra Grand Choral Synagogue is the second largest and second most architecturally elegant synagogue in Europe, its cupola reaching a height of some 47 meters. It was built in Arabesque-Mauritanian style between 1880 and 1883 under Professor I.I. Shaposhnikov and architect Viktor Aleksandrovich Shreter and consecrated in 1893. The synagogue was shelled during WWII but not seriously damaged. The main prayer hall holds 1200 and has women's galleries on three sides. There are also smaller halls.

Our Local Expert Says:

People watching at its best! No visit to St. Petersburg is complete without a stroll down Nevsky Prospekt.

Description:

On a map of the city center, this grand-scale thoroughfare forms a spine with the many canals appearing as spindly but graceful ribs. On the ground "Nevskii" is the city's vital artery, heaving with people from well before dawn until well after dusk. The street's western end lies at The Admiralty, and from there it runs three miles all the way to the Alexander Nevskii Monastery. The street is a dizzying and sometimes exhausting mix of hectic traffic, street poverty, high fashion and eye-turning architecture.

Description:

This restaurant has hosted a few prestigious guests, including former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl and former US Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright. There are more than 200 soups, salads, main meals and desserts on offer. wcities particularly recommends the chicken fillet stuffed with apricots. Don't worry if you're not a meat-eater - vegetarian meals are available. The restaurant can be booked out for special occasions. In such cases, the cafe will work beyond normal opening hours.

Description:

Tourists can't ask for better accommodations in this magnificent historical city. Located in the heart of St. Petersburg, this charming hotel is walking distance from the Hermitage and Palace Square. All the rooms have an old world charm, but at the same time are equipped with modern amenities such as LCD screens and Wi-fi. If you want to surprise that special someone, make sure you book the room with hand-made furniture and a balcony offering spectacular view of the Moyka river. Pushka Inn Restaurant and Bar serves authentic Russian delicacies and a buffet breakfast. In addition, the hotel offers a guide service and air and railway ticket bookings.

Description:

This is one of the lesser known of the former tsarist resorts. It is situated 41 kilometers from St. Petersburg on the Finnish Sea Gulf. Sitting on a hill and overlooking the sea gulf, the main palace looks impressive. The vast park is dotted with smaller palaces and pavilions that can be visited. The most beautiful sight of Oranienbaum is the Kitaiskii Dvorets (Chinese Palace) in the south-west of the park. The Chinese Palace is closed from October to the end of April. Entrance to the park is free. You have to pay for each palace or pavilion separately: Chinese Palace; Palace of Peter the III; Katal'naia Gorka, Grand Palace, Kitaiskaia Kukhnia (Pavilion), Kamennoe Zalo

Description:

Tourists can't ask for better accommodations in this magnificent historical city. Located in the heart of St. Petersburg, this charming hotel is walking distance from the Hermitage and Palace Square. All the rooms have an old world charm, but at the same time are equipped with modern amenities such as LCD screens and Wi-fi. If you want to surprise that special someone, make sure you book the room with hand-made furniture and a balcony offering spectacular view of the Moyka river. Pushka Inn Restaurant and Bar serves authentic Russian delicacies and a buffet breakfast. In addition, the hotel offers a guide service and air and railway ticket bookings.

Description:

Though initially you enter this museum via the royal ostentation of its magnificent marble hall, the rest of your wanderings will give you an intriguing glimpse of less opulent ways, as you tour exhibits modeling peasant lifestyles from across the huge former Soviet Union, just as they were at the turn of the twentieth century. Kazakhs thickly clad in goat-hair look rugged compared to the neat Georgians with their swish pantaloons and trim beards. Also on display are scaly Caucasian toys and ornaments of upright Tuvans on horseback. Many people may have presumed Russia was an ethnically homogeneous region during the Cold War period, but this museum startles with its revelation of the sheer diversity of the peoples of the Soviet Union.

Description:

The history of the cruiser Aurora is firmly intertwined with the 20th Century story of St. Petersburg. During the Communist period it was proudly revered as the ship that (allegedly) fired the shot that (allegedly) signaled the start of the October Revolution. The 7600-ton ship has been a museum since 1956, moored before the Nakhimov Naval Academy on a tributary just to the north of the Neva itself. Inside there is a reasonably interesting selection of photos, maps and uniforms as well as information about the ship's history. Admission is free.

Description:

The pandemonium of smells, color and sound of this central market will enthrall the intrepid traveler. Here you will find fruit and vegetable vendors from all over the former Soviet Union loudly offering you their goods. Fresh food, cheese and caviar are popular purchases at this large, newly restored indoor market in the heart of the city.

Description:

What better way to fight off the evil sub-zero chill of the Russian winter than consuming copious amounts of spicy food? This is St. Petersburg's best-known Indian restaurants, situated a short stroll from St Isaac's Cathedral. Kitted out in the usual Indian fashion with Hindu figurines and such it is a pretty low-key affair. Prices are mid-range.

Description:

Tourists can't ask for better accommodations in this magnificent historical city. Located in the heart of St. Petersburg, this charming hotel is walking distance from the Hermitage and Palace Square. All the rooms have an old world charm, but at the same time are equipped with modern amenities such as LCD screens and Wi-fi. If you want to surprise that special someone, make sure you book the room with hand-made furniture and a balcony offering spectacular view of the Moyka river. Pushka Inn Restaurant and Bar serves authentic Russian delicacies and a buffet breakfast. In addition, the hotel offers a guide service and air and railway ticket bookings.

Description:

Founded at the Botanical Institute, on Petrogradskaia Storona, the Garden is open to the general public. A park laid out in the open air presents hundreds of plant species from various corners of the world; from Northern America to China. Three big hothouses host rare collections of tropical plants: orchids, cactuses, palm trees and many more. It is the oldest and largest collection in St. Petersburg. You can also buy some of the exotic plants for home decoration.

Description:

The town is situated near Tsarskoe Selo roughly 25 kilometers from St. Petersburg. The central attraction is the Great Palace. It was a royal residence given by Catherine II as a present to her son Pavel. The palace grounds have a natural, rolling geography which makes it very attractive. The beauty of the landscape combines with some interesting architectural constructions: columns, pavilions and bridges. You can find about 200 marble and bronze sculptures made by famous masters of the past. Excursions around the park take place daily from May to October and last for two and a half hours. Closed first Monday of each month

Description:

Next to the infamous Kunstkammerand not far from the Twelve Colleges building lies this very stylish restaurant. Noted style-man Andrei Dmitriev was responsible for the interior - the pale, undecorated walls, metallic toilet doors decorated with pictograms of Mars and Venus, and the 'high-tech' toilets. The strange combination of sparse old Russia with modernist touches takes a bit of getting used to, but it's ultimately quite appealing. The food is a similar mix of old and new: fairly traditional Russian cuisine but spun with refreshingly new twists: pelmeny (basically Russian ravioli) with Turkey inside for example. Fish dishes are a speciality.

Description:

Tourists can't ask for better accommodations in this magnificent historical city. Located in the heart of St. Petersburg, this charming hotel is walking distance from the Hermitage and Palace Square. All the rooms have an old world charm, but at the same time are equipped with modern amenities such as LCD screens and Wi-fi. If you want to surprise that special someone, make sure you book the room with hand-made furniture and a balcony offering spectacular view of the Moyka river. Pushka Inn Restaurant and Bar serves authentic Russian delicacies and a buffet breakfast. In addition, the hotel offers a guide service and air and railway ticket bookings.

Description:

This cemetery is situated in the north part of the city. It is a very important place for the people of the city, being the burial place (in mass graves) of those who died during World War II. The cemetery is a harrowing reminder of the horrors of that era. A wide alley runs between the common graves; too many people died for individual burial to be possible. The only identification provided is by granite blocks inscribed with the year of death. At the far end of the cemetery stands a memorial to the Motherland including a statue of Mother Russia. Admission is free.

Our Local Expert Says:

Sit upstairs in to enjoy your quick meal in the wonderfully restored high-ceiling palace. Nowhere else can you have a cheap fast meal in such glorious surroundings -- 24 hours a day!

Description:

This is a hectic, around-the-clock bistro cafe, very conveniently-located, with a reliable menu consisting of familiar but high-quality Russian food. Living up to the title bistro, you shouldn't have to wait longer than ten minutes for your main course. The decor is bright with small high round tables and lower rectangular tables. This place has two tiers with more seating and a large video screen on the upper-tier. This is an excellent place to fill up if your sight-seeing itinerary is in danger of getting the better of you.

Our Local Expert Says:

Stop in at the Park Restaurant at the corner of Mars Field and Griboedova Canal for pizza and capuccino to refuel before walking towards the Church on Silled Blood.

Description:

The land included under the name of Marsovo Pole includes the Summer Gardens, Mikhailovskii Gardens and the grounds of the Marble Palace among others. The heart of the ensemble is The Field of Mars itself, named after the Roman god of war. It got this name because military parades and training exercises were held there in Peter the Great's time. Marsovo Pole covers an area of 25 acres and is a popular summer hang-out. An eternal flame dedicated to the revolution still burns in the middle of the park.

Description:

Tourists can't ask for better accommodations in this magnificent historical city. Located in the heart of St. Petersburg, this charming hotel is walking distance from the Hermitage and Palace Square. All the rooms have an old world charm, but at the same time are equipped with modern amenities such as LCD screens and Wi-fi. If you want to surprise that special someone, make sure you book the room with hand-made furniture and a balcony offering spectacular view of the Moyka river. Pushka Inn Restaurant and Bar serves authentic Russian delicacies and a buffet breakfast. In addition, the hotel offers a guide service and air and railway ticket bookings.