24 Hours in St. Petersburg – What to Do and See
St. Petersburg, with its numerous museums, palaces, parks, cathedrals, and historical buildings, is a great place for a cultural vacation. With the new means of transportation, including sea ferries and high-speed trains, traveling to the city to spend just one day has become much easier and faster.
This Russian city is a glistening, westernized metropolis located on the Gulf of Finland, with the Neva River as its Venice-like “main street.” St. Petersburg is full of historical sites and is also the basis for excellent writing authors like Gogol and music composers like Shostakovich.
Closer to Helsinki than Moscow, St. Petersburg is a popular travel destination for those who are attracted by history, design, and legend. Keep on reading to find out how you can plan a short stay in this city.
This post is in partnership with e-Visa.
Do foreign travelers need a visa to Russia?
A visa to Russia is an obligatory travel document that all foreigners willing to visit the Russian Federation must obtain before their trip. An introduction of electronic visas has made it easier to travel to Russia, since now eligible countries can obtain a visa completely online.
Holders of e-Visa can stay in Russia for a maximum of 8 days and they may enter the country only once for either tourism or business purposes. An e-Visa to Russia is valid for 1 month from the date of its issue
The average processing time for Russian e-Visa is 72 business hours, while an application should be submitted 5 business days in advance! For more information check https://russian-visa-application.com/ and apply within minutes from home. The approved document will be delivered straight to your email inbox.
What to do in St. Petersburg in 24 hours
Below, we present five of the most worth-visiting places to enjoy in St. Petersburg, Russia when spending only one day in this marvellous city.
Organise Your Own Party at Second Courtyard
The Second Courtyard serves two purposes depending on the time of day. It functions as a facility during the day, which includes a steam room and Finnish sauna. In the evening, it turns into an entirely different place.
You can book the Second Courtyard, organise your own event there, and invite up to eight people for a party. This is one of the exciting evening activities in St Petersburg.
The Hermitage
The Hermitage is one of the biggest collections of artworks, buildings, and parks in one place. The spectacular Winter Palace is located here, and going inside the Hermitage is like stepping into a fairy tale. Pavilion Hall holds the elaborate gold peacock clock that was made for Catherine II.
The Hermitage is also the location where you’ll see carved wooden doors, palatial carpeted staircases, and stunning hallways and rooms. The buildings that comprise the Hermitage are also captivating, with decorations and details that are hard to describe sufficiently. You could comfortably spend a week at the Hermitage and not exhaust its possibilities.
The Church of the Savior
The Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood is a memorial that was erected on the exact spot where Emperor Alexander II was mortally wounded by a grenade in 1881. Ironically, the architecture is more “old Russian” than many of the St. Petersburg buildings constructed in previous centuries.
This is commonplace for brides and grooms to visit on their wedding day, though it was never formally a real church. The interior is detailed in mosaics in bright colours, and the exteriors of its five onion domes are covered in jeweller’s enamel.
St. Isaac’s Cathedral
St. Isaac’s Cathedral is another big church building in St. Petersburg that isn’t technically a church. What makes it so unique are the sculptures on the outside four corners of the building.
These are carved cherubs, each of which holds up a gaslight torch. It is also a gallery in a church, and when it’s dark, you cannot miss this stunning view. In such a massive metropolis, there is a wide range of transportation methods for moving around in St. Petersburg.
For tourists, kicking down the street is a good idea for discovering new places, while it is best to cover large distances by using communal transport. While traveling around this city, your options may include a mass transit system, bus, cab, tram, and even a subway.
The pier
No matter what time of day it is, the pier is the social center of St Petersburg – or St Pete’s, as it is known locally. It is home to a lively shopping center, which is amazingly shaped like an inverted pyramid, where you’ll find some restaurants that allow you to dine with the water directly beneath you.
On the other hand, head all the way to the end of the pier to the fishing platform, where you’ll be able to enjoy a marvelous view of the sunset. In this way you can end your visit to St. Petersburg.
Final Thoughts
Saint Petersburg always welcomes tourist with open arms! Never miss the opportunity of going to the renowned suburbs of St. Petersburg, such as Peterhof with its famous fountain cascades located in front of the Great Peterhof Palace or the Pavlovsk Ensemble with its huge park where you can feed squirrels in the summer.
In fact, it is impossible to enumerate all the values of this wonderful city. It is much better to see everything with your own eyes. To make it possible, don’t forget to obtain your e-Visa to Russia applying 5 business days in advance!