Must-see attractions in St Petersburg

  • Kirov Museum

    St Petersburg

    Leningrad party boss Sergei Kirov was one of the most powerful men in Russia in the early 1930s. His decidedly un-proletarian apartment is now a…

  • Railing detail of Summer Garden.

    Summer Garden

    St Petersburg

    The city's oldest park, these leafy, shady gardens can be entered either at the northern Neva or southern Moyka end. Early-18th-century architects…

  • Smolny Institute

    St Petersburg

    Built by Giacomo Quarenghi between 1806 and 1808 as a school for aristocratic girls, the Smolny Institute was thrust into the limelight in 1917 when it…

  • Smolny Cathedral at dawn

    Smolny Cathedral

    St Petersburg

    If baroque is your thing, then look no further than the sky-blue Smolny Cathedral, an unrivalled masterpiece of the genre that ranks among Bartolomeo…

  • Choral Synagogue.

    Grand Choral Synagogue

    St Petersburg

    Designed by Vasily Stasov, the striking Grand Choral Synagogue opened in 1893 to provide a central place of worship for St Petersburg’s growing Jewish…

  • Tauride Palace & Gardens

    St Petersburg

    Catherine the Great had this baroque palace built in 1783 for Grigory Potemkin, a famed general and her companion for many years. Today it is home to the…

  • Engineers' Castle (St Michael's)

    Mikhailovsky Castle

    St Petersburg

    A branch of the Russian Museum, the castle is worth visiting for its temporary exhibits as well as a few finely restored state rooms, including the lavish…

  • Annunciation Church

    St Petersburg

    Between the cemeteries and the main church, you'll pass a ticket kiosk with a separate admission to the old Annunciation church, aka the…

  • Rumyantsev Mansion

    St Petersburg

    History buffs should not miss this oft-overlooked but superb local museum. Part of the State Museum of the History of St Petersburg, the mansion contains…

  • Buddhist Temple

    St Petersburg

    Another in the city's collection of grand religious buildings is this beautiful functioning datsan (temple) where respectful visitors are welcome. The…

  • Nabokov Museum

    St Petersburg

    This 19th-century townhouse was the suitably grand childhood home of Vladimir Nabokov, infamous author of Lolita and arguably the most versatile of 20th…

  • Sheremetyev Palace

    St Petersburg

    Splendid wrought-iron gates facing the Fontanka River guard the entrance to the Sheremetyev Palace (built 1750–55), now a branch of the State Museum of…

  • Museum of the Imperial Porcelain Factory

    St Petersburg

    Run as an outpost of the Hermitage, this superb museum has a stellar display of the various designs the factory has produced over the centuries and will…

  • Kazan Cathedral.

    Kazan Cathedral

    St Petersburg

    This neoclassical cathedral, partly modelled on St Peter’s in Rome, was commissioned by Tsar Paul shortly before he was murdered in a coup. Its 111m-long…

  • Kamenny Island

    St Petersburg

    Century-old dacha (country cottages) and mansions, inhabited by very wealthy locals, line the wooded lanes that twist their way around Kamenny (Stone)…

  • Peter’s Cabin

    St Petersburg

    This charming log cottage, protected within a stone building, is St Petersburg’s oldest surviving structure. The wooden cabin itself was supposedly built…

  • House of Music

    St Petersburg

    This fabulous and fully restored mansion on the Moyka River belonged to Grand Duke Alexey, the son of Alexander II. The wrought-iron-and-stone fence is…

  • Twelve Colleges

    St Petersburg

    Completed in 1744 and marked by a statue of scientist-poet Mikhail Lomonosov (1711–65), the 400m-long Twelve Colleges is one of St Petersburg’s oldest…

  • Admiralty

    St Petersburg

    The gilded spire of the Admiralty is a prime St Petersburg landmark, visible from Gorokhovaya ul, Voznesensky pr and Nevsky pr, as all of these roads…

  • Vladimirsky Cathedral

    St Petersburg

    This fantastic, five-domed cathedral, ascribed to Domenico Trezzini, is the namesake of this neighbourhood. Incorporating both baroque and neoclassical…

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    Sampsonievsky Cathedral

    St Petersburg

    This light-blue baroque cathedral dates from 1740, and having been repainted and restored to its original glory both inside and out, glistens like a pearl…

  • Rimsky-Korsakov Flat-Museum

    St Petersburg

    Home of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov for the last 15 years of his life (1893–1908), this is where he composed 11 of his 15 operas, including the Fairy Tale of…

  • Nikolsky Cathedral.

    Nikolsky Cathedral

    St Petersburg

    Surrounded on two sides by canals, this ice-blue cathedral is one of the most picture-perfect in the city, beloved by locals for its baroque spires and…

  • Marble Palace

    St Petersburg

    This branch of the Russian Museum features temporary exhibitions of contemporary art and a permanent display from Cologne's Ludwig Museum that includes…

  • Museum of the Arctic & Antarctic

    St Petersburg

    This museum is devoted to polar expeditions, wildlife, cultures and history. The enormous collection includes scientific equipment, maps, taxidermy,…

  • Piskaryovskoe Cemetery

    St Petersburg

    The main burial place for the victims of the Nazi blockade in WWII is a stark and poignant memorial to the tragedy. Some half a million people were laid…

  • Icebreaker Krasin

    St Petersburg

    The Krasin, built in 1917, has a history almost as volatile as the 20th century itself. The Arctic icebreaker was decommissioned in 1971, and can now be…

  • Ploshchad Ostrovskogo

    St Petersburg

    Created by Carlo Rossi in the 1820s and 1830s, this square is named for Alexander Ostrovsky (1823–86), a celebrated 19th-century playwright. An enormous…

  • Ploshchad Lomonosova

    St Petersburg

    Named after the great scientist Mikhail Lomonosov, this small square forms the southwestern end of the Carlo Rossi–designed ensemble and is the best spot…

  • Museum of Soviet Arcade Machines

    St Petersburg

    Giving new meaning to 'back in the USSR', this 'museum' is sure to be one of the most entertaining ones you will visit in St Petersburg. Admission…

  • Winter Palace, State Hermitage.

    Winter Palace of Peter I

    St Petersburg

    Excavations beneath the Hermitage Theatre in the late 1970s revealed remains of the principal residence of Peter the Great, including a large fragment of…

  • Yelizarov Museum

    St Petersburg

    Lenin’s wife’s family lived in this apartment-turned-museum and VIadimir Ilyich himself laid low here before the revolution while organising the workers…

  • Trubetskoy Bastion

    St Petersburg

    Evocative use of the original cells for displays about the former political prisoners of Trubetskoy Bastion – who included the likes of Maxim Gorky, Leon…

  • Finland Station

    St Petersburg

    Rebuilt in the 1970s in rectilinear Soviet style, the Finland Station (Finlyandsky vokzal) endures as a place of historical significance, where Lenin…

  • Russian Musseum.

    Russian Museum of Ethnography

    St Petersburg

    This excellent museum displays the traditional crafts, customs and beliefs of more than 150 cultures that make up Russia’s fragile ethnic mosaic. It’s a…

  • Folk Art shop inside Stroganov Palace - traditional Russian scarves.

    Stroganov Palace

    St Petersburg

    One of the city’s loveliest baroque exteriors, the salmon-pink Stroganov Palace was designed by court favourite Bartolomeo Rastrelli in 1753 for one of…

  • Derzhavin House-Museum

    St Petersburg

    This grand old Petersburg residence was the home to court poet Gabriel Derzhavin (1743–1816), one of Russia's greatest early writers, who recognised the…

  • Visitors on cruiser Aurora.

    Cruiser Aurora

    St Petersburg

    Moored on the Bolshaya Nevka, the Aurora had a walk-on part in the communist revolution. On the night of 25 October 1917, its crew fired a blank round…

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