Note - clubs, bars, restaurants and even sites are opening and closing constantly. Make Palace Square your point of reference and explore from there.
Over the river is Peter and Paul Fortress as well as several other museums. The canals spiral outward from the river and most canal-side streets intersect Nevskiy Prospect. The Winter Palace, which houses the Hermitage, is just east of Nevskiy Prospect, squeezed gently between the river and Palace Square, where the Bolshevik Revolution came to fruition over ninety years ago. Nevskiy Prospect - the city’s main avenue - extends from the river to the train station and is lined with shops, churches, monuments and people. Petersburg is situated along the River Neva. Petersburg - where life will never pass you by. Wander room after room of the Hermitage - the world’s largest art collection. Cruise down the river Neva to Peterhof - Russia’s Versailles. While still not as accepting as the rest of Europe, in St. As such, this remains Russia’s most gay-friendly city, with venues situated right on the street and not hidden down a back alley. Culture and nightlife are explosive yet there’s a sense that people aren’t in nearly as big a hurry. Petersburg is to Moscow what San Francisco is to New York. Petersburg managed to keep a lightness and an air about it that other parts of the country simply could not manage.
Tree-lined avenues, charming bridges, elegant architecture and a network of canals that rivals both Amsterdam and Venice make this the perfect walking city. Petersburg was built as Russia’s “window to the west” and it remains perhaps the most “European” part of this enormous nation.