St. Petersburg is one of the most popular tourist destinations and is full of must-have attractions such as the Hermitage, Tsarskoye Selo and Petrodvorets and a boat cruise on the rivers and channels. Here is an example of such a classical tour.
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But if you can spend more than 2 days in St. Petersburg we would recommend to do the following:
| ♦ | Go away from Nevsky prospect and take a walk in one of the central districts to feel the real atmosphere of the city. Petrogradskaya Side located on one of the biggest island in St. Petersburg. Almost uninhabited up to the middle of 19th century due to dirtiness and marshy soil it got its present appearance in the late 19th- early 20th centuries with the golden age of such architectural styles as modern, northern modern, eclecticism and neoclassicism. The dressed-up center of the city was almost built up by that time and the architects fulfilled their create ideas on this empty island. The Bolshoy and Kamenoostrovsky prospects are the most beautiful streets of the island. |
| ♦ | Vasilievsky island has a certain charm of straight lines instead of streets and boulevard Bolshoy prospect. Originally the island should be a small copy of Venice with the channels but the northern climate didn’t allow to make this ideas be true. Nowadays the island has historical parts like the Spit with Rostral Columns which is one of the symbols of St. Petersburg and the State University area; parts that were built up during the Soviet time with quite depressive architecture to be honest and highly developing part with new sky-scrapping apartment complexes. |
| ♦ | Visit a local market. Visit an ordinary church – besides the masterpieces of architecture that you will see during your city tour there is a number of churches that are not museums and where ordinary people go for service and they are worth seeing. Use public transportation – the buses and trolleybuses going along Nevsky prospect is a nice option to get from Moskovsky Railway station to the Hermitage. The underground stations are maybe not so pompous as in Moscow but also beautiful and impressive. Try to feel yourself local. |