SAINT PETERSBURG, RUSSIA
St Petersburg, the "cultural capital" of Russia, was founded by Peter the Great, and has undergone extensive renovations for the 300th city anniversary celebrations in 2003. There are dozens of palaces and theaters in the city, and literally over a hundred museums, including the world-famous Hermitage Museum. Outside of the city are summer palaces of csars, such as the Catherine Palace in Pushkin, or the Grand Palace in Peterdvorets which boasts a spectacular park of fountains that operate in the summer.
St Petersburg is noted for its "white nights," taking place between the middle of May through the middle of July, when the nights are never completely dark, the sky kept dimly aglow by the bending light of the sun even as it dips below the horizon.
SERVICES
Transfer from airport: $40 (8-23 hrs)
Transfer from train station: $30 (8-23 hrs)
City Tour (3.5-4 hours, car and guide): $90
Hermitage Museum tour (2 hours, transfer, guide, entrance): $100 1st person $12 additional
Peterdvorets (6 hours, car, guide, entrance fees), $140 1st person, $40 additional
Puskin (6 hours, car, guide, entrance VIP fees), $140 1st person, $30 additional
Homestay: $30/night single, $50/night double (breakfast)
Ballet or opera tickets, Mariinsky Theater: from $80-$200 (depending on seats, performance)
HOTELS (Partial listing)
Hotel Moskva, ***, off of Nevsky Prospekt, next to a monastery.
Hotel Oktyabrskaya, ***, off of Nevsky Prospekt, next to Moscow Train Station.
Hotel St Petersburg, ***, wonderful views of the Neva River
Hotel Sovietskaya, ***, high-rise building (3 km from center)
Hotel Pulkvoskaya ****, south end of city
Hotel Pribaltiskaya ****, next to Gulf of Finland
TRANSPORT (train tickets)
Night train
St Petersburg - Moscow : $80 2nd class, $155 1st class
Bullet train
St Petersburg - Moscow (4.5 hours) : $126 seat
St Petersburg - Helsinki (2 day trains daily): $93 2nd class $136 1st class
St Petersburg - Riga : $145 2nd class $214 1st class
St Petersburg - Vilnius : $107 2nd class $182 1st class
St Petersburg - Warsaw : $149 2nd class $281 1st class
You can see more pictures of Saint-Petersburg on our photo exhibition
