Boat trips are the first thing visitors book in St Petersburg and the first thing that quietly disappears in autumn. The confusion comes from a simple fact: the city has more than one closing date, and the canals and the Neva do not follow the same calendar.

Two calendars, one waterfront

The Fontanka, the Moika, the Griboedov Canal, the Winter Canal and the Kronverk Canal are city waterways. The St Petersburg Transport Committee opens and closes them by decree. Until that decree is issued, small boats keep running; once it is out, they stop, sunshine or not.

The Neva works differently. It is a working shipping route, and the night bridge openings follow requests from the Volgo-Balt waterway administration. The city bridge authority, Mostotrest, publishes the navigation period in its official schedule: bridges over the Neva, the Bolshaya Neva and the Malaya Neva open from 10 April to 30 November. Three bridges over the Bolshaya Nevka — Sampsonievsky, Grenadersky and Kantemirovsky — serve navigation only from 20 April to 15 November, and only on request filed two days ahead.

The exact date changes every year

There is no fixed «15 November» rule. In 2024 the city closed its waterways at 00:00 on 15 November, by decree of the Transport Committee. In 2025 the season ended earlier, on 5 November. In spring 2026 the waterways reopened at 8 a.m. on 15 April. The rules say plainly that dates depend on climate conditions and planned works, so any website promising cruises «until 20 November» is guessing.

Ice is not the reason

Openings are cancelled long before the river freezes. Mostotrest lists the conditions: no bridge openings during sustained sub-zero temperatures, strong wind or a serious rise in the water level. A westerly storm surge stops shipping faster than frost does.

There is also a trap in the schedule. On Russian public holidays the bridges stay down: in the 2026 season that means the nights of 1–2 May, 9–10 May, 12–13 June and 4–5 November — exactly the long weekend when most people look for a night cruise. Book the night of 3 or 6 November instead.

If you already hold a ticket

If the operator cancels, you are entitled to a full refund, though they will first offer a new date or a voucher. If you change your mind, the operator may keep documented costs under its published rules. If you booked through an agency, that agency refunds you on its own terms, so keep the receipt.

In November, treat the boat as a bonus rather than the backbone of your trip. Check the live bridge status in the «Bridges of St Petersburg» app and phone the operator on the day: the call is made an hour or two before departure, by the wind.

Photo: Andrey Korzun / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0