Morning taxi to Pulkovo: when to leave to make your flight
Before 6:30 the drive takes half an hour, after 7:30 it is an hour in traffic. How to time your departure for a morning flight from Saint Petersburg.
Arriving at Pulkovo at night when the bridges are up: how to reach your hotel
Pulkovo sits on the southern bank, so for most addresses the raised bridges are no obstacle. For Vasilyevsky Island and the Petrogradskaya side there are two routes that never open — the WHSD and Betancourt Bridge.
Three Hermitage exhibitions this autumn: Gerasimov, Dialogue of the Arts and the permanent collection — a route
The Hermitage has a dense autumn schedule: a temporary show by the restorer Evgeny Gerasimov, an evening concert «Dialogue of the Arts» on 30 October, and the permanent collection — the main reason for a first visit. How to shape a single trip and see everything without wearing out your feet. Checked against hermitagemuseum.org on 22 October 2026.
St Petersburg's symbols in one walk: the angel, the Bronze Horseman, the golden ship, sphinxes and griffins
What counts as a symbol of St Petersburg and where each came from: the angel on the Peter and Paul spire, the Rostral Columns, the sphinxes from Thebes, the Bronze Horseman, the Admiralty ship, the Bank Bridge griffins and the coat of arms with two anchors. All on one walk from Gorkovskaya metro to Nevsky. Checked on 19 October 2026.
Pulkovo Heights: the observatory, the siege-line memorial and the view over the city — half a day on the way to the airport
The Pulkovo Heights are a ridge on the city's southern edge from which all of St Petersburg is visible: the Pulkovo Observatory with its meridian stands here, the front line of the siege of Leningrad ran here, and the Pulkovo Line memorial of the Green Belt of Glory is here. Here is how to get into the observatory, what to see on the hill, where the memorials are and how to fit it in with a flight.
The Popov Museum of Communications: stamps, telegraphs and the halls of the Bezborodko Palace — tickets, hours and what is nearby
The Popov Central Museum of Communications occupies the Bezborodko Palace at 7 Pochtamtskaya Street: from post boxes and telephone switchboards to a satellite dish in the atrium and a vault of the rarest stamps. What to see, ticket prices, how to get into the Treasury and how to combine it with St Isaac's. Checked on 19 October 2026.
Dovlatov at 23 Rubinshteyna Street: the monument, the house he lived in and a two-hour walk through his Leningrad
Sergei Dovlatov lived at 23 Rubinshteyna Street for almost thirty years — he left for the army from here, came back here, wrote his first stories here. In 2016 a monument went up beside the house, and the address became the starting point of every Dovlatov walk in the city. Here is what there is on Rubinshteyna, where to go next — Five Corners, Razyezzhaya, the Fontanka — and how to fit it into two hours.
Boat on the Fontanka: how to hire and where to sail
Several operators hire electric boats on the Fontanka, Moyka and canals in St Petersburg. How to rent without a licence, prices and October routes.
Pastry shops in St Petersburg: 6 tested spots
Sever-Metropol, Pyshechnaya, Lavka Bakery, Zotman Konditer, Volkonsky, Bushe — where the St Petersburg desserts live, what to order and when.
The St Petersburg Capella: Russia's oldest choir in concert
The St Petersburg Academic Capella is Russia's oldest professional choir, dating from the 15th century. How to book, what to expect from the Moyka 20 hall, and when to arrive.
The Fontanka: a walking route from the Laundry Bridge to the Kalinkin Bridge
The Fontanka embankment runs 6 kilometres across the old centre, from the Field of Mars to the Kalinkin Bridge. Main palaces, bridges, museums and where to turn off.
The Russian Museum of Ethnography in St Petersburg: the Marble Hall, the halls of Russia's peoples, tickets and free days
A marble hall with a crystal ceiling and a 96-metre frieze, a peasant house and the costumes of peoples from the Arctic to Central Asia, the Emir of Bukhara's gifts in the Special Storeroom and the Peoples of Crimea exhibition. Opening hours, prices, free days and whether the museum is open on 4 November, per the museum's website as of 19 October 2026.