Urban Historian
Author and journalist at Piter Pass. Shares travel tips, attraction guides, and insider knowledge about Saint Petersburg to help visitors make the most of their trip.
Falling ill in Saint Petersburg with an OMS policy from another region: where to go and what is free
A Russian compulsory medical insurance policy issued anywhere in the country works in Saint Petersburg. What is covered, the waiting times you are owed, how to register with a clinic and who to call if refused.
Pumpkin Spice Latte in Saint Petersburg: Where to Find It and How to Order
The season opens in September. What is actually in the cup, where to look for it in the city, how to ask for a less sweet version and how long it stays on menus.
Saint Petersburg Parks Without Tourists: Where Locals Actually Walk
Sosnovka, Udelny, Piskaryovsky, Murinsky, Polyustrovsky, the 300th Anniversary Park and Shuvalovsky: seven city parks that never make the guidebooks. Addresses, how far from the metro, and what to expect in autumn.
Saint Petersburg in the Rain: Where to Go When It Pours
Rain here is a steady drizzle that lasts half a day. Covered museums with hours, the free waiting halls of Vitebsky station, arcades on Nevsky, a central route that keeps you indoors, and what the rain actually cancels.
The Museum Is Closed and You Are Already There: Sanitary Days, Unscheduled Closures and Refunds
The Kunstkamera closes on Mondays and the last Tuesday of the month, the Peterhof fountains stop on 18 October, and any museum can shut without warning. What happens to your ticket, how refunds work and where to go instead.
Vanishing Detail: What Saint Petersburg Is Losing and Rebuilding Right Now
Six addresses where the argument is happening today: windows reshaped on the Sysoev mansion, chimneys removed on Chernyshevsky Avenue, a concrete shell the city cannot demolish. What is changing, how to check a building's protected status, and what to see before it changes.
Petersburg Beyond the Postcards: Seven Places Few Visitors Reach
Seven checked addresses: a concrete ship-church in Pontonny (Kolpino district, not the centre), the 1935 District Soviet listed in 2025, Velten's Chesme Church, a manor where two rivers meet, Irene Adler's dacha, a Lutheran cemetery and the Benois farm.
Houses on Legs in Saint Petersburg: Towers on Columns at the Edge of Vasilyevsky Island
Four towers on Novosmolenskaya Embankment stand on concrete legs three storeys high, 380 metres from Primorskaya metro. Who designed them, where the pilotis idea came from, and how to photograph them without bothering residents.
Food Poisoning in St Petersburg: Where to Go and How to Get Your Money Back
Emergency care in Russia cannot be refused, whatever your paperwork. How to call an ambulance, what travel insurance covers, what to keep as evidence against the restaurant and how to claim compensation.
Fines Visitors Get in Saint Petersburg: Smoking, Alcohol, Swimming and Drones
A cigarette at a bus stop costs 500-1,500 roubles, a beer on the embankment the same, swimming in the Neva up to 1,000, a drone up to 50,000. What counts as an offence, the city's quiet hours, and why there is no 50 % discount on these fines.
Lost or Broken Podorozhnik Card in Saint Petersburg: What Can Be Recovered
A lost Podorozhnik cannot be blocked and its balance is not refunded — it is a bearer card, and the 90-rouble price is not a deposit. A damaged card is different: the balance is transferred to a new one.
The Most Photogenic Bus Stop in Saint Petersburg: the Glass Shelter on Vasilyevsky's Reclaimed Land with a Gulf View
A glass bus shelter on Miklukho-Maklaya Embankment with nothing behind it but the Gulf of Finland. How to get there by bus 168 from Primorskaya metro or bus 220 from Krestovsky Island, when the light is best, and how not to get stranded by the bridges.