Travel guide – Saint Petersburg in winter
Three years ago, we decided that New Year’s Eve would be more fun abroad. On the one hand, you don’t feel obligated to compulsively organize any New Year’s parties. On the other hand, you can fall into bed shortly after midnight with a clear conscience because you are totally exhausted from the sightseeing program anyway. New Year’s Eve is actually just a day like any other for me. New Year’s resolutions and stuff? I don’t have that. After Helsinki and Edinburgh, St. Petersburg was chosen for the turn of the year 2015/2016. Amsterdam and Rotterdam were in the running, but then lost out in favor of arctic temperatures and a real winter feeling.
Traveled
With Swiss’ direct flight Zurich – Saint Petersburg, you can reach Russia’s second-largest city in no time. Or rather, the three-hour flight time can be easily bridged with an exciting book or browsing through the travel guide. Our departure time was delayed by an hour because, according to the captain’s announcement, the number of passengers on the plane did not match the number at the gate. This resulted in an amusing counting action, which resulted in everyone having to show their passport again on the plane.
St. Petersburg is two hours ahead of us. Just in time with the last rays of sunshine, we landed at Pulkovo airport around 3:00 pm. From the airport you can either take the bus and metro to the city centre, or take a taxi. We indulged in the latter. It is important that you only buy the taxi ticket from the official office. This is located directly behind the exit of the baggage claim area. Our trip to the Moika Canal just before the Hermitage Museum cost 1,600 rubles. On the way back, we booked the taxi through our hotel, but could not pay the mentioned price of 1,600 rubles in advance. This promptly ended at the airport in a discussion with the taxi driver, who claimed that a fixed price of 2,000 rubles had been agreed with the hotel. After a vehement exchange of words, he finally settled for the agreed price. So the numerous taxi stories about St. Petersburg have a kernel of truth.
Done
Feel the pulse of the city on Nevsky Prospekt |
At 4.5 dead straight kilometers, Nevsky Prospekt connects the Admiralty to the west and the Alexander Nevsky Monastery to the east of the city center of Saint Petersburg. The magnificent buildings and historic palaces are now home to clothing chains, hotels, museums, cinemas, restaurants, souvenir shops and all kinds of curiosities. Particularly impressive is the 18th-century building of the Gostiny Dwor department store. With a façade length of almost one kilometre, it is a huge building and one of the first department stores of its kind. Today, the retail space is divided into more than 200 retail stores, most of which are high-priced.
Capture the winter atmosphere at the Peter and Paul Fortress |
The Peter and Paul Fortress, located on Rabbit Island in the Neva River, forms the historic center of the city. From the Hermitage, the main tower of the Peter and Paul Cathedral immediately catches your eye. For a long time, this was the tallest building in the city – today the top is surmounted by the TV tower. By the way, when it comes to building height, strict regulations apply in St. Petersburg. A maximum of 100 m is allowed. I was impressed by the geometrically exact eaves height of the “Skyline”.
On the fortress island, it is worth taking a look at the cathedral and the prison, even if knowledge of Russian would be an advantage. In addition, the Museum of Rocket Making, the Coin Museum, changing photography exhibitions and the permanent exhibition on the city’s history offer enough material to fill the day. And in a freezing cold but sunny winter mood, I recommend a walk along the fortress walls.
Ride the Metro |
Okay, we did order cold. But how cold -20° effectively feels, I underestimated in the euphoria. If you visit St. Petersburg in winter, you will appreciate the warm-up hours in museums. As an alternative program, you can travel by metro and/or tram. Along metro line 1 are the most beautiful metro stations in the city. Some people give the impression that the builders were inspired by cathedrals. Get on the metro at the Finnish railway station, which is well worth seeing, and get off at Avtovo station. Since a metro follows every three minutes, you can easily get off for a short time, have a look at the station and then continue your journey. A one-way ticket costs 35 rubles (the 10-trip ticket costs 330 rubles). The pass-through system works with tokens and no one can get lost here. The wayfinding system is great.
If you prefer to travel above ground, simply take tram no. 16, which runs right through the city centre.
Museums to warm up |
A visit to the Hermitage is a must and is worthwhile simply because of the enormous rooms. I would have gotten mercilessly lost in here, but the friend somehow kept track of it. We also enjoyed the contemporary exhibition of works by Kandinsky & Co at the Russian Museum. But we skipped the famous Amber Room. In general, it is advisable to be at the respective museums before 11 a.m., as the number of visitors at this time is still limited.
Stroll along the canals |
Saint Petersburg owes its nickname to the numerous canals in the city centre (and shares it with Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Bruges, Stockholm…). The sub-zero temperatures shouldn’t stop you from taking a leisurely walk. The Kryukov Canal is particularly beautifully situated near the famous Mariinsky Theatre, where Nutcracker is traditionally performed over the turn of the year.
Marvel at churches |
St. Petersburg has no shortage of magnificent church buildings. They play a significant role in shaping the cityscape. The most “Russian” among them is the Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood, which was modelled on Moscow’s St. Basil’s Cathedral. It is located on the Griboyedov Canal within walking distance of Nevsky Prospekt. The domed structure of St. Isaac’s Cathedral is unmissable. For 150 rubles, you can enjoy a bird’s eye view of the city center from the dome. Admission to the two churches costs 250 rubles each. Also worth seeing is the Nicholas Navy Cathedral not far from the Mariinsky Theatre and the eye-catching pink Chesmensk Church near the Moskovskaya metro station (line 1).
Looking at backyards |
Equipped with enough warm layers of clothing, we explored some corners of the city on foot despite winter temperatures and took a look into the backyards. What appears desolate grey from the outside may be home to colourful street art works of art. You can find the whale on the Petrograd side in Michurinskaya Street. The Knight is hiding along Zhukovskogo Street, which you should head for anyway because some of the coziest cafes in the city are located along this street.
Eaten
The culinary variety knocked our socks off so much that I listed all the restaurant tips in a separate post. Here are my top tips. The Coffee Bar Bonch and the Sicaffé are ideally located to get fit for the art marathon through the Hermitage. For good Russian cuisine, I recommend the Severyanine. Fish lovers will be spoiled at RoseMary, and for a stylish nightcap, the terminal bar is the place to be.
Celebrated
New Year’s Eve in St. Petersburg is one of those things. The Russian population celebrates the turn of the year with their families in their own four walls or treats themselves to dinner in one of the city’s luxury hotels. If you want to secure a free restaurant seat somewhere for this evening, you should take care of it early. The same goes for the coveted Nutcracker tickets.
The public celebrations will take place on the Schlossplatz in front of the Winter Palace. Supposedly, the New Year is also welcomed here at midnight with fireworks. But the information on this contradicts each other. In some places, it says that the fireworks take place at the Peter and Paul Fortress or that they are only fired in the early hours of the morning. The fact is: there was a mini fireworks display on the Palace Square and there was a fireworks display on the Peter and Paul Fortress. If you want to have both in your field of vision, you can strategically place yourself in a waiting position on the Stock Exchange Square (Strelka) with a thermos flask of hot tea.
Slept
I booked our place to sleep in the Kempinski Hotel Moika 22. The decisive factors were the good location in the triangle between Castle Square, the Russian Museum and the Nevsky Prospekt as well as the fair price-performance ratio. The five nights cost us just under 700 CHF (without breakfast). In return, we were stocked up with champagne and appetizers for New Year’s Eve. There is a magnificent view over the city from the hotel’s rooftop terrace. This location is one of the trendy “roofing” spots.
Russia Visa – Good to Know
As a Swiss citizen, you need a visa to enter Russia. To do this, you have to trot twice to the embassy in Bern and organize an invitation letter from somewhere. If you book your trip via a tour operator, you usually have this with you. We booked the flight and hotel individually and would probably have received such an invitation via a request to the hotel. But since the time required for two trips to Bern was too big for me, we decided to apply for a visa service. Sibiriak was recommended to us by friends and it worked out perfectly for us. The tourist visa is available including the cost of the service at Siberiak from 170 CHF. In addition to the passport, there must be a confirmation from the health insurance company about certain insurance coverages. A bit cumbersome for a 5-day city trip, but in the end not as complicated as it seems at first.
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