Cruiser Aurora and St Petersburg's ship-museums: a day on three decks for the school holidays

For the autumn school holidays St Petersburg has a route almost no other Russian city can match: three ship-museums from three different eras, all walkable in a day. Cruiser Aurora, icebreaker Krasin and submarine S-189 — a late-imperial warship, a Soviet polar workhorse and a Cold-War diesel submarine. One ticket per hull, three very different stories.

⚓ Cruiser Aurora: the beginning of the day

Start with the Aurora. She has been moored at the Petrograd Embankment opposite the Nakhimov Naval School since 1948. The ship became a museum in 1956 and belongs to the Central Naval Museum. The main deck is free to walk; the paid part is below — six halls that trace Aurora's history from Tsushima through 1917 to today's cadet training ship. Hours: 11:00 to 18:00, closed Monday and Tuesday. For children up to seven the ticket is free; from seven to sixteen there is a reduced rate.

Allow about ninety minutes. Children like the signal flags, the officers' wardroom and the cannons on the forecastle.

🧊 Icebreaker Krasin: a different century

From Aurora walk thirty minutes along the embankment, cross Blagoveshchensky Bridge and come out at Lieutenant Schmidt Embankment, where the icebreaker Krasin is moored opposite the mining institute. Krasin is a 1917 British-built ship, famous for rescuing the Italian airship Italia crew in 1928 and for Arctic convoys during the war. The ship is a branch of the Museum of the World Ocean (Kaliningrad). Hours: 11:00 to 18:00, closed Monday–Wednesday — check the schedule before you go. Tours only, in groups of ten; no walk-ins.

The lower decks on Krasin are warmer than Aurora: boiler rooms, the engine telegraph, the captain's cabin with original furniture. Ninety minutes.

🛥 Submarine S-189: the tight finish

From Krasin walk fifteen minutes down the Neva embankment to Hay Harbour (Bolshoy Prospekt side), where the diesel submarine S-189 is moored. The S-189 served in the Baltic Fleet in 1954–1990 and became a museum in 2010 — privately owned, one of the few museum submarines in Russia you can walk end-to-end. Tours only, every forty minutes, group of ten. Not recommended for strollers or claustrophobic travellers. One hour.

🚕 Logistics for a day with children

Between Aurora and Krasin the quickest option is a taxi — twelve minutes along the embankment versus the full walk across two bridges. Book a transfer in Saint Petersburg via RideClu if you want a car on standby for the whole day; it works out cheaper than three taxi rides. For a longer trip up the Neva by water in October, short river cruises on the Neva — GetBoat still run until the first frost.

For an overnight stay with children, the Petrogradsky Side is the practical choice — Aurora is a ten-minute walk, the metro is close, and families staying for school holidays find short-term flats in Saint Petersburg on Tutkakdoma in that radius a week before the holidays start.

Cover photo: Sailor of Imperial Russian Navy, Public domain, Викисклад