St Petersburg
Branch of the well-designed and run Friends hostel chain. The colourful private rooms are quite small (you'll have to climb across the bed to open the window), but still come with a desk, and can be excellent value for the location.
Despite the name, the hostel doesn't feel all that welcoming, and there isn't much of a traveller vibe here. The extras are nice though: guest kitchen, on-site washing machine, a lounge (with table football) and bikes for rent (R150/R300 for one/three hours).
1.66 MILES
The Hermitage fully lives up to its sterling reputation. You can be absorbed by its treasures for days and still come out wanting more. The enormous…
16.1 MILES
The Grand Palace is an imposing building, although with just 30-something rooms, it is not nearly as large as your typical tsarist palace. From the start…
1.5 MILES
The east wing of this magnificent building, wrapping around the south of Dvortsovaya pl and designed by Carlo Rossi in the 1820s, marries restored…
16.29 MILES
One of the greatest attractions outside of St Petersburg is the jaw-dropping collection of gilded fountains, statue-lined lanes and picturesque canals…
2.21 MILES
This spectacular palace on the Moyka River has some of the best 19th-century interiors in the city, in addition to a fascinating and gruesome history. The…
15.1 MILES
The centrepiece of Tsarskoe Selo, created under Empresses Elizabeth and Catherine the Great between 1744 and 1796, is the vast baroque Catherine Palace,…
2.31 MILES
The Mariinsky Theatre has played a pivotal role in Russian ballet ever since it was built in 1859 and remains one of Russia's most loved and respected…
15.2 MILES
Around the Catherine Palace extends the lovely Catherine Park. The main entrance is on Sadovaya ul, next to the Palace Chapel. The park extends around the…
0.2 MILES
Marking the division of Nevsky pr and Stary (old) Nevsky pr is pl Vosstaniya, whose landmarks are the giant granite pillar with the communist star, and…
0.3 MILES
This now legendary locale is a former apartment block – affectionately called by its street address despite the fact that the public entrance is actually…
3. Anna Akhmatova Museum at the Fountain House
0.5 MILES
Housed in the south wing of the Sheremetyev Palace, this touching and fascinating literary museum celebrates the life and work of Anna Akhmatova, St…
4. Museum of the Arctic & Antarctic
0.51 MILES
This museum is devoted to polar expeditions, wildlife, cultures and history. The enormous collection includes scientific equipment, maps, taxidermy,…
0.56 MILES
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…
6. Beloselsky-Belozersky Palace
0.56 MILES
The photogenic salmon-pink backdrop to the Anichkov is provided by the 1840s rococo Beloselsky-Belozersky Palace. Check the posters outside for details of…
0.56 MILES
Fyodor Dostoevsky lived in flats all over the city (mostly in Sennaya), but his final residence is this ‘memorial flat’ where he lived from 1878 until he…
0.56 MILES
This fantastic, five-domed cathedral, ascribed to Domenico Trezzini, is the namesake of this neighbourhood. Incorporating both baroque and neoclassical…