Saint Petersburg

Where the city began

That fortress is the Peter and Paul Fortress (Петропавловская крепость) on Hare Island (Заячий остров). It was founded on May 27, 1703, and the cathedral inside is the resting place of Russia's emperors from Peter I to Nicholas II, all except Peter II and Ivan VI. Cross the river and head south, and Nevsky Prospekt (Невский проспект) begins. A road cut across the wetlands in the 1710s was finished as a grand avenue by 1719, and today it runs more than 4 km from Palace Square (Дворцовая площадь) to Alexander Nevsky Square. On the wall of No. 14, a warning to residents from the siege of Leningrad (1941–1944) is still written: “Citizens! During shelling, this side of the street is the most dangerous!” Come across that line between the shop windows and your pace slows on its own.

Palace Square and the Hermitage

The green building on Palace Square is the Winter Palace (Зимний дворец). Commissioned by Empress Elizabeth and built by the architect Rastrelli in 1754–1762, it became a museum in November 1917. Today it's the heart of the Hermitage (Эрмитаж). Rather than spending a whole day in one building, split your visit between the main building and the General Staff Building. Across the square, on the fourth floor of the General Staff Building (Главный штаб), the Shchukin and Morozov Brothers memorial rooms show French painting from the second half of the 19th century, Impressionists included, and rooms of work by Matisse and Picasso follow. It faces the main building, so you can take one in the morning and the other in the afternoon. Walk around to Millionnaya Street (Миллионная улица) and you'll find ten grey granite Atlantes holding up the porch of the New Hermitage (Новый Эрмитаж). The figures went up in 1848, and this porch was the Hermitage's main entrance until the 1930s.

Gilded domes and mosaics

St Isaac's Cathedral (Исаакиевский собор) took 40 years to build, from 1818 to 1858. It's 101.5 m tall, designed by Montferrand, with a dome clad in gilded copper sheets. Climb to the colonnade around the dome and, from 43 m up, the rooftops and waterways of the center open out below you. From May to September it also opens in the evening, from 6 to 10:30 pm, so it's a good climb on a long summer night. The Church of the Savior on Blood (Спас на Крови), on the Griboyedov Canal (канал Грибоедова), was built on the exact spot where Alexander II was fatally wounded on March 1, 1881. Step inside and the walls and ceilings are covered in more than 7,000 m² of mosaic. The icons that look painted are all pieced together from tiny fragments, and you'll find yourself looking up for a long time. Both cathedrals are closed on Wednesdays.

White nights and rising bridges

Dostoevsky wrote White Nights while living in a house on St Isaac's Square in 1848–1849. The highlight of the white nights season is Scarlet Sails (Алые паруса), a festival for school graduates held on Palace Square and the Neva; in 2026 it fell on June 27. A light and fireworks show plays out over the river, and the festival ends as a sailing ship comes in. The thing to remember on a night walk is the bridges. While ships are running, from April 10 to November 30, the big bridges lift in the small hours every night. On the 2026 schedule, Palace Bridge (Дворцовый мост) goes up twice, from 1:10 to 2:50 am and from 3:10 to 4:55 am, and no cars can cross while it's raised. On some nights the second lift is cancelled. If you're staying on the other side of the river, cross before the bridges go up.

The fountain gardens of Peterhof

Set aside a day for Peterhof (Петергоф) on the Gulf of Finland. Take a suburban train from Baltiysky station (Балтийский вокзал) to Novy Petergof (Новый Петергоф), then it's about 10 minutes by bus. The Lower Park (Нижний парк) covers 102.5 hectares and has about 150 fountains. The Grand Cascade (Большой каскад) in front of the palace alone has 225 sculptures, and at its center the Samson fountain sends a column of water 20 m into the air. The fountain was first installed in 1735 to mark the 25th anniversary of the Battle of Poltava. Its statue was lost in World War II, and today's Samson was remade from prewar photographs and old images and put in place in 1947. Trick fountains that suddenly spray passers-by are dotted all over, so if you've got kids with you, pack a change of clothes. The fountains stop in winter, and the dates they run shift a little each year.

A plate of doughnuts, a spring fish

Pyshechnaya (Пышечная), at 25 Bolshaya Konyushennaya Street (Большая Конюшенная улица), has been frying pyshki (пышки) since 1958. The recipes for the doughnuts and coffee, and the menu, reportedly haven't changed in decades, and the coffee's poured from a big urn. The interior, the way you order and even the prices still feel Soviet, which makes it an easy stop on a walk along Nevsky. In spring, look out for koryushka (корюшка). It's a small fish caught in the Gulf of Finland, one of the city's anglers' favorite catches, and it gets its own festival in May.

A 3-night, 4-day plan

Day 1 — Peter and Paul Fortress → Nevsky Prospekt → Pyshechnaya → Palace Bridge at 1:10 am Day 2 — Winter Palace (Hermitage main building) → Impressionist rooms at the General Staff Building → St Isaac's colonnade (evening in summer) Day 3 — A full day at Peterhof Day 4 — Church of the Savior on Blood → walk along the Griboyedov Canal → departure

What to eat

• Pyshki (doughnuts and coffee at Pyshechnaya)
• Koryushka (the smelt with its own May festival)
• Borscht (beetroot soup)
• Blini (thin pancakes)

Handy tips

• South Korea's foreign ministry has issued a special travel advisory for all of Russia outside the North Caucasus and the Ukraine border areas (levels 3 and 4). St Petersburg is covered, and the guidance is to act as you would under level 2 (avoid travel) to level 3 (leave the country). Don't film military sites or infrastructure, or even shopping malls and warehouses, and the ministry also advises deleting any photos or videos that could be misread from your phone before you enter.
• With a South Korean passport you can stay visa-free for up to 60 days at a time, and up to 90 days in total within 180 days of your first entry. The white paper migration card you get on arrival is required for hotel check-in and for leaving the country, so keep it tucked in your passport.
• Visa cards issued outside Russia haven't worked inside the country since March 2022. Assume other foreign-issued cards will be hard to use too, and bring the money for your stay in cash. If you're taking more than $10,000 in foreign currency out when you leave, you need to declare it in advance.