The most photographed bus stop in Saint Petersburg is not in any guidebook. It is an ordinary shelter on Miklukho-Maklaya Embankment, at the western edge of the reclaimed land on Vasilyevsky Island: a glass back wall, a railing with yellow markers behind it, and then nothing but the Gulf of Finland and the sky. The picture works because there is genuinely nothing behind the stop. Here is what the place is, how to get there and when to come for the light.
What it is
The "namyv" is a new district built on land reclaimed from the gulf west of the historic part of Vasilyevsky Island. Its streets are named after explorers: Kruzenshtern Avenue, Lisyansky, Chelyuskin and Chirikov streets, Golovnin Boulevard. The unnamed road along the water, from the Western High-Speed Diameter interchange to Chelyuskina Street, was named Miklukho-Maklaya Embankment in December 2021. It runs along the very edge of the reclaimed land, with the housing behind you, so from the pavement you see open water with no buildings in the frame.
The stop itself, "Naberezhnaya Miklukho-Maklaya", officially appeared on 1 November 2025, when the city transport authority extended two bus routes, 168 and 220, to the embankment and added four new stops along Kruzenshtern Avenue and Chirikova Street. The shelter faces the city with its glass wall towards the gulf, and within months it went viral as "the bus stop with a sea view". In autumn 2025 the embankment was still under construction and buses turned round at Chirikova Street, so older videos may show a different scene.
Getting there
The nearest metro is Primorskaya (green line), about three kilometres away as the crow flies, or roughly forty minutes on foot through the new blocks. The easy way is bus 168 from the Nalichnaya Ulitsa bus station next to Primorskaya metro to its terminus "Naberezhnaya Miklukho-Maklaya", via Kruzenshtern Avenue and Chirikova Street. From Krestovsky Island and the Petrograd Side, bus 220 ends at the same stop. The terminus is the stop in the photographs: step off, turn towards the water and you are in the frame. Timetables for both routes changed in May 2026, so check current intervals in a navigation app.
By taxi or transfer, give the driver "Miklukho-Maklaya Embankment, bus 168 terminus": there are no street addresses on the waterfront yet, and without a hint you will be dropped at the nearest building on Kruzenshtern Avenue. By car, take the Western High-Speed Diameter exit for the Vasilyevsky reclaimed land; parking is on the street along the embankment and scarce on weekend evenings.
When to shoot
The gulf lies to the west, so the light here is an evening light. An hour before sunset the sun drops straight into the water behind the glass and the shelter becomes a black frame around the sky; during the White Nights this stretches into two or three hours of soft light. Mornings are calm and empty, with no glare on the glass, which suits anyone who dislikes queues: on a fine evening people line up for the shot. An overcast day works too, when grey sky and grey water merge and the shelter hangs in a void. The one thing there is always plenty of is wind: the embankment is open to the gulf, bring a jacket even in summer.
Shoot from the far side of the pavement, crouching slightly so the horizon runs through the middle of the glass wall and the railing with its yellow markers sits in the lower third. A phone is enough; on a wide lens keep the verticals straight, because the frame is rectangular and any tilt shows.
