The second largest city in Russia and Russia’s imperial capital, St Petersburg never fail to amaze visitors with its architectural gems like Winter Palace, Kazan Cathedral etc. I would recommend to spend at least three days in St Petersburg to fully appreciate what it has to offer.
Getting in:
There are many other ways to enter St Petersburg. You can consider entering St Petersburg by bus, train, cruise or flight. I arrived in St Petersburg by Allegro train from Helsinki. The journey took around 3.5 hours. Train fare is EUR 59 per adult but the price can be vary. Screening of the luggage is done at the train station before I boarded the train. You can bring as much luggage as you want and you don’t need to worry about luggage weight as long as you can find place to store your luggage once on board the train.
Malaysian tourist requires a visa to enter Russia. Please check your visa requirements before travelling to Russia. Before applying for a tourist visa, you’ll need a tourist invitation from a Russian travel agency, approved tour operator or hotel.
First the train conductor will check your train tickers. The best thing is the entire process of border-crossing formalities including filling in migration card and getting your passport stamped are completed on board the train which is a time saver. By the time the train arrives in St Petersburg, everything was done and you are good to go. You also save time from checking in your luggage and retrieving them as you normally would if you’re taking a flight. Therefore, I highly recommend entering St Petersburg by train.
On-board currency exchange is also available on the train. I regretted that I didn’t exchange some rubbles on the train before entering Russia as finding a money changer is hard especially when you don’t speak the language and don’t know the way around. There’s free wifi on board the train. I was planning to take a UBER taxi once arriving the Finlyandskiy train station. But once the train arrived, there is no more wifi connection as they don’t allow you to linger around the train station after getting down the train.
Getting around within the city:
Consider taking a Uber taxi to the hotel but be sure to have internet connection ready. I had to walk around the train station to get a free wifi signal before I was able to call a UBER taxi. Thankfully a café nearby has wifi connection. Only my second attempt to hail a UBER taxi succeeded and even then, the first UBER taxi which was a failed attempt still charged me for the trip! I had to file a report to Uber to refund that payment. The taxi fare to my hotel is around RUB 101. Good thing about Uber taxi is its cashless transaction and you don’t need to worry about language barrier as communicating with the driver is not necessary since the fare and destinations are all handled through the app.
I get around the city mostly on foot. Most of the major attraction is accessible on foot from the Palace Square. However, you need to travel out of the city for Peterhof and Catherine’s Palace.
Taking a metro in St Petersburg is cheap and convenient too. Fares are RUB35 per entry regardless of the distance traveled. For single ride, the ticket is in the form of a coin token to be inserted into the turnstile slot. If you travelled extensively using the metro, tram or bus, it’s worth to consider getting an electronic card instead. See metro map below for your easy reference.
Accommodation:
The hotel that I was staying in St Petersburg is Hotel 3 MostA, a 3 star hotel which is right in the heart of city. I can easily walk to Church of the Saviour on Spilled Blood, Winter Palace and other major attractions on foot. I booked through Agoda which gave me a very good rate.
I can even see Church of the Saviour on Spilled Blood from the roof.
A double room cost me RUB 11,970 for 2 nights excluding breakfast. Baby cot is provided for free upon request. The room is clean and comfortable.
The bar and souvenir area of Hotel 3MostA. The hotel will also take care of your registration with Russian federal migration service automatically upon your arrival but they will charge you for a fee to issue the tourist invitation (RUB 1,000 per passport). The hotel will provide you the proof of registration which is a separate piece of paper that you need to keep along with your migration card until you leave Russia.
Hotel 3MostA website: https://www.3mosta.com/index.php/en/
My travel itinerary in St Petersburg is as below (click on links below for further readings):
Day 1 – Arriving in St Petersburg
Day 2 – Winter Palace -> Peterhof
Day 3 - Church of the Saviour on Spilled Blood -> Our-Lady-of-Kazan Cathedral -> Saint Isaac's Cathedral -> Peter and Paul Fortress
1) Winter Palace
Entrance fee: RUB 400 per foreigner, additional RUB 200 for photograph
Opening time: 9am – 6pm, last admission is 5pm, closed on Monday
What to see: Everything (décor, antiques, art collections etc). Highlights include the State Rooms, Golden Drawing Room, Raphael Loggia, Peacock Clock, Michelangelo's “Crouching Boy” sculpture, Leonardo da Vinci’s “Madonna and Child with Flowers” painting.
Do: arrive early before it’s swamped with tourists, spend a little more and engage a private tour guide (the Hermitage is huge and finding your way inside is not easy), let your tour guide know what you want to see beforehand so that he can take you directly to them without wasting time, wait for a few minutes until the group tour tourists clear the room as they move on to the next spot pretty quickly and it makes a big difference to your photo (see the before and after photo below)
Don’t: take photo with flash, touch anything inside the Hermitage
2) Peterhof
Entrance fee: Visiting Upper park is free. The entrance fee to the Lower park costs RUB 750 per adult for foreigner. A separate entrance fee is required to visit the interior of the palace (RUB 700 per adult for foreigner).
Opening time: Lower park - 9am-6.45pm and the fountain operates from 11am-5pm
Getting there:
I get to Peterhof by hydrofoil. It is the easiest, but the most expensive way. A round trip cost me RUB 2,040 per adult. Boats depart from a small landing stage near the Winter Palace on the Neva river where the tickets are also sold. The journey from Saint-Petersburg takes about 35 minutes.
Take note that boats run during the warm season only (approximately from May to September) and they may not operate if there is a risk of a coast warning. The boat arrives and leaves from Lower park of Peterhof only. Visiting Upper park of Peterhof is not possible if you buy a round trip for hydrofoil as once you leave the Lower park, you can’t re-enter the Lower park with the same ticket.
What to see: numerous beautiful cascades and fountains in the Lower Park. The centerpiece is definitely the Grand Cascade which is directly below the palace. It is impossible to miss it.
Expect a long queue to enter Peterhof Palace as there are only two ticketing booths. I actually waited for an hour to buy the tickets. Is it worth it to see the interior of Peterhof Palace? Maybe. Its interior is not as grand as the Winter Palace plus taking photo inside Peterhof Palace is not allowed. If you have limited time, definitely head to the park instead of wasting time queuing up to enter Peterhof Palace.
Do: take your time and walk around the Lower park, try your luck with the trick fountain (it’s pure fun to guess which stone triggers the nozzle)
Don’t: bring a stroller to the park as it’s all pebble roads and plenty of steps, take photo or touch anything inside the palace
3) Church of the Saviour on Spilled Blood
Entrance fee: RUB 250 per adult, teenager under 18 will need to pay RUB 50, children under 7 enter for free. Audio guide can be rented at RUB 200.
Opening time: open daily except on Wednesdays from 10.30am to 6pm, last entry is 5.30pm. In the summer (1 May – 30 September), the church is also open in the evening from 6pm to 10.30pm and the fee is RUB 400.
What to see: The shrine which was built on the spot where Alexander II was fatally wounded.
Do: bring home a Faberge egg containing a mini Church of the Saviour on Spilled Blood inside (RUB 5,500) from the store inside the church if you can afford a splurge. Egg with similar design sold in reputable store in Moscow at is at least RUB 2,000 more expensive. Totally worth it for its quality. Credit card is accepted.
Don’t: ask a random stranger to take your photo in front of the church. Out of 8 photos taken, only one turns out barely acceptable, haha
4) Our-Lady-of-Kazan Cathedral
Free entry
What to see: The Impressive stone colonnade of the cathedral. Look for the victorious Napoleonic War field marshal Mikhail Kutuzov (whose remains are buried inside the cathedral) and his friend and aide Mikhail Barclay de Tolly.
5) Saint Isaac's Cathedral
Entrance fee: RUB 250 per adult, extra RUB 150 to reach observation deck for normal hours. Evening cathedral RUB 400 and evening colonnade RUB 300. Night colonnade RUB 400
Opening time: Both the cathedral and colonnade is open from 10.30am to 6pm, last entry is 5.30pm. The cathedral is closed on Wednesdays. During summer (1 May to 31 October), the cathedral is open in the evening from 6pm – 10pm and the colonnade is open in the evening from 6pm – 10pm. Night colonnade is open in the White Nights (1 June – 31 August) from 10.30pm-4am (except Wednesday).
What to see: Monument to Nicholas I on St Isaac Square, interior of the church
Do: climb to the colonnade as it offers one of the best views of the city
Don’t: lost sight of your child (my son slipped out through the entrance unnoticed. Thankfully, an employee quickly spotted him playing with the ticket machine outside the cathedral. It’s frightening how easily you can lost sight of a child among the crowd)
6) Peter and Paul Fortress
Entrance fee: entrance is free, but you need to buy tickets to enter the church and exhibitions. Single entrance ticket to Peter and Paul Cathedral and Grand Ducal Burial Vault is RUB 450 per adult, the prison and the commandant’s house – RUB 200 per adult, History of Peter and Paul Fortress – RUB 100 per adult and Museum of Space Exploration and Rocket Technology – RUB 150 per adult. You can get a combo ticket for RUB 600 per adult, or you can just enter the church. Some exhibition still requires an additional fee even with the combo ticket.
Opening time: All exhibitions are open daily, except Wednesdays, from 10am to 6.30pm.
Getting there: We were too tired walking so I took a UBER taxi from Saint Isaac's Cathedral to get there. It’s actually more expensive for the short ride (RUB 203) than my trip from the train station to my hotel. More common way to get there is to ride the metro to Gorkovskaya station and walk to the entrance to the fortress.
What to see: Definitely see the Peter and Paul Cathedral even if you skip other exhibitions. Also recommended is Trubetskoy Bastion Prison where you’ll have a glimpse of the prison life during Tsarist era.
Do: bring your own food to picnic on the grassy field in summer
7) St. Michael’s Castle
Opening time: All exhibitions are open daily, except Tuesday, from 10am to 6.00pm. Thursday from 1pm till 9pm.
Food:
Food wise, the meat pie I tried at a café near Palace Square is mediocre but suffice for a quick lunch.
Café near Peter and Paul Fortress has nice décor with fountains, small garden and all.
But the food didn’t meet my expectation considering the price I was paying (RUB 2,865 in total including my tour guide’s dinner). Try the beef stroganoff as the recipe was originated from St Petersburg.
I highly recommend a quirky Chinese restaurant, China Gramota, near 3 MostA Hotel and it’s not because I was craving for Chinese food. The restaurant website http://chinagramota.ru/spb/index.php/about?lang=en
The orange chicken and fried noodle has authentic Chinese food taste which didn’t end up being too sweet or salty. Food is good, price reasonable (RUB 1,370 in total), quiet and chic environment. What more can you ask for? Opening time is daily 12pm – 12am, kitchen closes 30 minutes before closing.
The private tour guide whom I engaged for two days is Igor. He can be contacted at Sputnik. His service totally justifies his fees which is about Euro 10 per hour. He is very knowledgeable in the history of Russia and willing to take us to the money changer and a phone shop to get a local sim card beyond his working hours without asking for more. He also taught us how to use the metro and even guide us all the way down to the metro platform on our last night in St Petersburg. It was also with Igor’s quick action and help to locate my missing son at the Saint Isaac's Cathedral that we managed to find him quickly. Don’t be intimidated by his stern look as he doesn’t smile except in photo, haha. I will not hesitate to recommend him to anyone visiting St Petersburg. He can be contacted through newletter@list.ru.
St Petersburg is a great city. It has so much to offer and I have fond memories of this city which I’ll remember for a long time.
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