St. Petersburg is justly considered one of the most beautiful cities in the world and the most European of all Russian cities. Built by Peter the Great as ‘the window to Europe’ it has always been more Europe-oriented than any other Russian city, whether you take its weather, architecture, or lifestyles. Once made the capital of Russian Empire by Peter the Great St. Petersburg is still rivaling Moscow: it is often referred to as ‘the Northern Capital’ or the ‘Cultural Capital’ of Russia.

St. Petersburg seems to be enveloped in some poetic veil of enchantment; the city of white nights and drawbridges, splendid sights and museums, variety of elegant architectural styles of all epochs and grim close backyards, contradictory history and unpredictable weather, it attracts people from all over the world with its cultural gorgeousness.

If you are lucky to find yourself in St. Petersburg you face a really hard choice between all the places of interests: only museums amount to 170 in number here.

First of all you should find several days for exploring the realm of the Hermitage, one of the grandest museums in the world. The rich collections of the museum are exhibited in six magnificent palaces located on the embankment of Neva River. One can hardly observe in a short time all the three million exhibits presented in 400 rooms. Anyone can find something to one’s taste out of this cornucopia of arts.

If you are attracted to Russian arts the right choice will be certainly the State Russian Museum. Its collection has over 400 thousand exhibits, featuring all the major schools of Russian fine art, all of its types and genres from the 10th to the 20th century.

Walking around the downtown St.-Petersburg you will hardly overlook one of the biggest cathedrals in the world, the St. Isaac (Isaakievsky) Cathedral, formerly the major cathedral of Russia. It took its creators 40 years, 400 kilograms (881,85 pounds) of gold and 16 tons of malachite to build this impressive construction. Ten thousand people can fit inside it. Probably the most attractive possibility about visiting the Cathedral is that you can walk on top of its peak opening a bird's-eye view of the city.

When you are tired of walking take an excursion over the numerous channels of St. Petersburg. You will enjoy the beauty of the city and the pleasure of a voyage along the water labyrinths, reflecting the splendid buildings and bridges. The city mirrored in water might appear even more enchanting than the real one!

And to get to the full the taste of St. Petersburg luxury do not miss the chance of visiting miraculous open-air ensembles of parks and palaces, where Russian emperors and nobles used to enjoy their summertime. To name but a few, the Peterhof with its incomparable fountains and the Tsarskoe Selo glorified by Alexander Pushkin.

St. Petersburg will leave an unforgettable impression. It will definitely make you come back here once again.

Arriving

Many airlines fly straight to St. Petersburg. And of course you can choose to fly through Moscow, or fly over to Moscow and then go to St. Petersburg by train.

In St. Petersburg there is one airport with two terminals – for domestic and for foreign flights: Pulkovo, 1 and 2.

There are five railway terminals in St. Petersburg: Moscovsky, Baltiysky, Vitebsky, Finlandsky, and Ladozhsky terminals. Three of them are international: Vitebsky, Finlandsky, and Ladozhsky.

Travelling on a train is the most economic and safe way of travelling, but also it is the most lengthy one. And there is one other problem: in summer time Russian railway system is overloaded with passenger traffic. So it is better to buy tickets in advance: to and from St. Petersburg.

Weather

Climate in St. Petersburg is moderate warm damp in summer and moderate cold in winter. It is greatly affected by the proximity of the Finnish Bay.

Average annual temperature is 5,3 °C (41,5 °F)

Average temperature in July is 18,1 °C (64,6 °F)

Average temperature in January is –6,3 °C (20,7 °F)

The favourite time of year of all people living and visiting St. Peterasburg is the “White Nights” (25-26 of May – 16-17 of July) when the sun disappears only for a little while and nights are almost as bright as days.