Saint Petersburg: 6-Day Itinerary

The Hermitage Museum alone contains around three million objects. If you spent one minute with each, you would need eight years to finish. That sense of impossible scale is the defining quality of Saint Petersburg: a city built in a swamp by decree of Peter the Great in 1703, intended from day one to be the greatest metropolis in the world, and which came surprisingly close. Six days here is enough to understand what the city is doing and why; it is not enough to exhaust it.

Before You Go

Saint Petersburg operates under the same travel realities as the rest of Russia in 2026. Western bank cards (Visa, Mastercard) have not worked since 2022; bring euros or US dollars to exchange, and arrange a Russian MIR card if you plan an extended stay. The Russian eVisa covers citizens of 64 countries (roughly 50 euros, four business days processing). US and UK government travel advisories remain at their highest warning levels; travellers from those countries should consult their government’s current guidance.

Foreign SIM cards provide limited data in Russia. Buy a Russian SIM card at Pulkovo Airport on arrival, or install a Russia-compatible eSIM before leaving home.

Getting In

Pulkovo Airport (LED) is roughly 17 kilometres south of the city centre. The budget option is bus 39Ex (express) from the airport to Moskovskaya Metro station, about 20 minutes, then the blue metro line into the centre. Total cost: a few hundred roubles. A taxi via Yandex Go (the app to use in Russia) runs 1,000 to 1,500 roubles and takes around 40 minutes outside rush hours.

The Podorozhnik transport card covers metro, bus, tram, and trolleybus. Buy one at any metro station and top it up as needed. Metro fares are low by European standards. Pickpocketing on metro carriages is the most consistent safety concern in the city; keep your bag in front of you during rush hours.

Day 1: City Centre and Nevsky Prospekt

Morning

St. Isaac’s Cathedral, built over 40 years between 1818 and 1858, is the dominant landmark of the historic centre. The colonnade around the dome requires a separate ticket and a fair number of stairs, but the 360-degree view over the city and the Neva River is unmatched. Inside, the cathedral functions as a museum; the decorative programme of malachite columns, gold mosaics, and painted ceilings was designed to demonstrate that the Russian Empire could match anything in Western Europe.

Walk east along Nevsky Prospekt, the main thoroughfare that Peter the Great originally planned as a road to the Novgorod Monastery. At roughly 5 kilometres, it passes through most of the city’s significant historic architecture. Kazan Cathedral, whose colonnade was modelled deliberately on St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, sits roughly halfway along.

Afternoon and Evening

Palace Square and the Winter Palace form the heart of the city. The Alexander Column at the centre of the square is the world’s tallest freestanding monument of its type, 47 metres high, held in place entirely by its own weight with no anchoring into its base. Walk along the Embankment of the Neva in the evening.

For breakfast and coffee, Cafe Pouchkino near Nevsky Prospekt is a reliable option. For dinner, the area around Nevsky has a wide range of restaurants at all price points; Zharovnya on Admiralteiskaya serves solid Russian food in a traditional setting.

Where to Stay

Luxury: Belmond Grand Hotel Europe, on Nevsky Prospekt, one of the historic grand hotels of Europe. Mid-range: Hotel Moskva, near Alexander Nevsky Monastery, well-connected and reasonably priced. Budget: hostel options cluster around the centre and on Vasilievsky Island.

Day 2: The Hermitage

Full Day

Devote a full day to the State Hermitage Museum. This is not an exaggeration: the main Winter Palace complex and the General Staff Building together contain around 1,500 rooms and over 350 halls open to visitors. Buy tickets online well in advance, particularly between June 11 and July 2 (White Nights season), when demand is highest. Ticket prices in 2025 are around 500 to 600 roubles for the main complex.

The museum holds one of the world’s most significant collections of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist painting, acquired largely by Sergei Shchukin and Ivan Morozov before the Revolution. The collection of Matisse and Picasso works on the third floor of the Winter Palace is genuinely exceptional. The Faberge Museum, housed in the Shuvalov Palace, has a separate collection of imperial Easter eggs and is worth an hour in the afternoon if you have energy after the Hermitage.

Day 3: Peter and Paul Fortress and Peterhof

Morning

Peter and Paul Fortress on Zayachy Island is where Saint Petersburg began. Peter the Great laid the foundation stone in 1703, and the fortress’s Peter and Paul Cathedral (identifiable by its 122-metre spire, the tallest in the city) contains the tombs of all Russian emperors from Peter I to Alexander III, plus Nicholas II and his family, reinterred there in 1998 after being found in a forest outside Yekaterinburg.

Afternoon

The hydrofoil to Peterhof departs from the Admiralty Pier near the Hermitage. The trip takes about 30 minutes and arrives at the Lower Park, which is the most useful entry point for the Grand Cascade. The Grand Cascade is a system of 64 fountains and 225 sculptures running from the Grand Palace down to the sea; it was designed to celebrate Russia’s naval victory over Sweden at Poltava in 1709. Entry to the Lower Park is charged separately from the palace interior. The hydrofoil is the correct way to approach Peterhof: by water, as Peter intended.

Return by hydrofoil or by train from Peterhof station.

Day 4: Catherine Palace and Tsarskoe Selo

Morning

Take a suburban train or tour minibus 25 kilometres south to Pushkin (the town of Tsarskoe Selo). The Catherine Palace, built for Empress Catherine I and expanded by Elizabeth I in the 1750s, is among the most extravagant Baroque interiors in Europe. Its most famous room, the Amber Room, was created using six tonnes of amber panels; the original was looted by Germany in 1941 and never recovered. The current Amber Room is a reconstruction completed in 2003, and it is spectacular despite being a copy.

Afternoon

The Alexander Palace nearby was the preferred residence of Nicholas II. It is more restrained than the Catherine Palace and gives a clearer picture of how the last Romanovs actually lived. The park between the two palaces is large and walkable.

Day 5: Canals, Churches, and Cruises

Morning and Afternoon

The Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood stands on the exact site where Tsar Alexander II was fatally wounded in 1881. Its exterior is modelled on St. Basil’s Cathedral in Moscow, an unusual choice given that the rest of Saint Petersburg’s architecture is systematically neoclassical; the effect is striking. The interior is covered entirely in mosaic, using 7,500 square metres of glass tiles.

The canal system around the Moika and Fontanka rivers is best understood from the water. Short canal boat tours depart from several points along the Fontanka and last one to two hours.

Evening

The Aurora, the cruiser that fired the blank shot signalling the start of the October Revolution in 1917, is moored permanently on the Neva near Nakhimov Naval Academy and functions as a museum. Evening walks along the Palace Embankment are particularly worthwhile during White Nights (late May to mid-July), when the sky never fully darkens and the city does not sleep in any normal sense. The drawbridges over the Neva open at roughly 1:20 am for river traffic, which is worth staying up for once.

For dinner, Oblomov on Karavannaya Ulitsa serves traditional Russian cuisine in a warm and slightly theatrical setting.

Day 6: Vasilievsky Island and Departure

Morning

Vasilievsky Island, directly across the Neva from the Hermitage, was Peter the Great’s original plan for the city centre before geography made it impractical. The Rostral Columns on the Spit (Strelka) were originally oil-burning lighthouse beacons; they are still lit on major state occasions. The Naval Museum and the Menshikov Palace (the first stone building constructed in the city) are both on Vasilievsky Island.

Practical note on departure

Allow 90 minutes from the city centre to Pulkovo Airport during morning rush hours. Yandex Go is the most reliable option; book in advance through the app.

Practical Notes

The White Nights period (roughly June 11 to July 2) is the most atmospheric time to visit and the most crowded. June is warm and the canals are beautiful; book accommodation and Hermitage tickets well ahead. The shoulder seasons of May and September are quieter and still very pleasant. Winter (December to March) is severe but the city’s Christmas and New Year celebrations are impressive, and the palaces are far less crowded.

Almost no English signage exists outside the main tourist sites. Download an offline Cyrillic translation tool before arrival. The metro station names in Cyrillic are essential for navigation.