Entertainments

There are many interesting places for every taste in our city: exhibitions, museums, theaters, attractions, creative spaces, adventure games, cafes and restaurants. You will easily find entertainment to your liking among all this variety.

 

MUSEUMS

The Hermitage is one of the largest museums in the world. Its collections, of which only a small part is on permanent display, comprise over three million items including the largest collection of paintings in the world. The collections occupy a large complex of six historic buildings along Palace Embankment, including the Winter Palace, a former residence of Russian emperors. Of the six buildings in the main museum complex, five, namely the Winter Pa   are open to the public. (Admiralteyskaya metro station)

 

The State Russian Museum is the largest depository of Russian fine art in Saint Petersburg. the Museum numbers nearly 400.000 exhibits, and has a huge range of Russian art which rival that of the Tretiakov in Moscow. The exhibits date from ancient icons to the Avant-garde school of painting of the 20th century, and include many landmarks in the history of Russian art, such as Bruillov's 'The Last Day of Pompeii', and Repin's 'The Barge Haulers'. (Nevsky prospect metro station)

 

Saint Isaac's Cathedral is the largest Russian Orthodox cathedral (sobor) in the city. The cathedral's facades are decorated with sculptures and massive granite columns (made of single pieces of red granite), while the interior is adorned with incredibly detailed mosaic icons, paintings and columns made of malachite and lapis lazuli. A large, brightly colored stained glass window of the "Resurrected Christ" takes pride of place inside the main altar. The church, designed to accommodate 14,000 standing worshipers, was closed in the early 1930s and reopened as a museum. Today, church services are held here only on major ecclesiastical occasions. (Admiralteyskaya metro station, 4 Isaakievskaya Square)

 

Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood is an architectural landmark of central St.Petersburg, and a unique monument to Alexander II the Liberator. It features Russia’s largest collection of mosaics (over 7,000 sq.m.), Italian coloured marbles, decorative stones from the Urals and Altai region, as well as a collection of Russian heraldic mosaics. (Nevsky prospect metro station, 2b Griboedov channel embankment)

 

The State Museum of the History of St. Petersburg is one of the major museums of Russia. Its main subject is the historical and cultural reserve “The Peter and Paul Fortress” - and outstanding architectural monument of the 18th century. Located on the territory of the Fortress is the necropolis of the Romanov dynasty and the former tsarist political prison. The museum collection includes over 1 million exhibits. The nucleus of the collection was made by the collections of the Museum of Old St. Petersburg established in 1907 by the Society of architects and artists. (Gorkovskaya metro station, 3 Peter and Paul fortress)

 

The State Museum of Urban Sculpture was founded in 1932. The oldest cemetery in St. Petersburg - Lazarevskoye, now the 18th century Necropolis, a unique historical and artistic monument of the 18th - first half of the 19th centuries. Military leaders, scientists, statesmen, diplomats, writers, architects, industrialists and artists who exerted a considerable impact on the history and science, culture and literature of Russia, are buried here. In the early 1820s near Lazarevskoye cemetery there was founded another one - Tikhvinskoye, now it is the Necropolis of the Masters of Arts. In the course of the 19th - early 20th centuries it assumed the character of a unique pantheon of prominent personalities in the realm of Russian culture. Nikolai Karamzin, Ivan Krylov, Feodor Dostoyevsky, Mikhail Glinka, Modest Mousorgsky, Alexander Borodin, Piotr Chaikovsky are only some of names in the long list of writers, artists, actors and musicians buried here. (Ploschad Aleksandra Nevskogo metro station, 179 Nevsky Prospect)

 

Smolny Cathedral is undoubtedly one of the architectural masterpieces of the Italian architect Rastrelli. It is the central building of the Smolny monastery complex. Graceful bright blue building of the cathedral is decorated with lush snow-white open-work of stucco cornices, columns, pilasters and a number of other decorative items. The facades of the cathedral are abundantly decorated with gold giving the building rich elegant look. All this makes the Church a true masterpiece of Russian architecture in the style of Russian baroque. The height of the cathedral is 93.7 meters. Standing around the cathedral are four churches and blue-and-white structures. (Chernyshevskaya metro station, 3/1 Rastrelli Square)

 

Kunstkammer (The Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography). This museum is definitely not for the faint-hearted, young or pregnant! Deformed foetuses in jars are the most popular attraction, but the etymological exhibits with cultural artefacts from the Americas, Oceania, Asia and Africa aren’t to be missed. The museum's archives hold over a million ethnographic, anthropological and archaeological artifacts. (Admiralteyskay metro station, 3 Universitetskaya Embankment)

 

Central Naval Museum is one of the first museums in Russia and one of the world’s largest naval museums, with a large collection of artefacts, models and paintings reflecting the development of Russian naval traditions and the history of the Russian Navy. The museum’s permanent display includes such relics as the Botik of Peter the Great, Catherine II’s marine throne, trophies captured in sea battles, and the personal belongings of prominent Russian and Soviet naval commanders. The collection includes paintings by Ivan Aivazovsky, Alexey Bogolyubov, Lev Lagorio and other marine artists, ship sculpture, navigational instruments, naval equipment and machinery from the 17th to 20th centuries and numerous models of ships. (Admiralteyskay metro station, 5, Ploschad Truda)

 

Military Historical Museum of Artillery, Engineers and Signal Corps is displaying an enormous collection of arms and heavy artillery from the Middle Ages to the present day, this museum is located just across a narrow canal from the Peter and Paul Fortress. Inside themuseum displays a rather old-fashioned collection of military memorabilia, temporary exhibitions, a nice little shop stocked with models of weapons and miniature soldiers and a cafe. (Gorkovskaya metro station, 7 Aleksandrovsky Park)

 

The State Museum of the History of Religion charts the history of religious beliefs and practices throughout the world, from early paganism through to the major religions of the modern world, each of which gets its own section. The exhibits include art works, texts, and ritual items. There are also regular temporary exhibits at the museum examining particular aspects of religious belief. Unfortunately, there is little information in English at the museum, so visiting with a guide is advisable. (Admiralteyskaya metro station, 14 Pochtamtskaya Street)

 

The Cruiser Aurora Museum is the symbol of the Great Socialist Revolution of October 1917 and a prominent attribute of Russian navy history. (Gorkovskaya metro station, Petrovskaya Embankment)

 

The Cabin of Peter the Greatis the first construction to be built in St. Petersburg, s summer residence of the Tsar during 1703-1708. This small wooden house covers 60 square meters and was built by soldiers-carpenters in only three days near the Trinity square. (Gorkovskaya metro station, 6 Petrovskaia Embankment)

 

The State Museum of the Defense and Siege of Leningrad is the only cultural and educational establishment, which activity is completely devoted to history of the Leningrad fight during World War II. Documents and personal belongings of the times of Patriotic War are exposed there. They show courage and heroism of the residents who defended Leningrad. (Chernyshevskaya metro station, 9 Solyanoy Lane)

 

The Yusupov Palace on the Moika River is the family residence of the princes, the Museum of Noble Life, the Regional Teacher's House, the Saint Petersburg Palace of Culture for Educators, a world-famous historical and cultural palace complex. The building was the site of Grigori Rasputin's murder in the early morning of December 17, 1916. The modern museum offers guests the chance to explore the reception rooms and living quarters on the ground floor of the palace. (Admiralteyskaya metro station, 94 Moika river embankment)

 

The Zoological Museum. Its impressive zoological collection consists of over 17 million species, although only 500 thousand species can be displayed in the museum's current 19th century home. Exhibits range from enormous dinosaur, mammoths and whale skeletons to stuffed animals and birds and a unique collection of butterflies. Although the museum's exhibits are rather low-tech and old-fashioned, future funding projects hope to liven up the museum with more interactive displays and multimedia presentations. (Admiralteyskaya metro station, 1 Universitetskaya embankment)

 

Horrors of St Petersburg Interactive Museum is an interactive performance with shows, professional actors, mannequins, and robots among masterfully recreated streets of old St. Petersburg, the water flows and flames. There are ghosts and wandering shadows, an elevator trembling under the feet, and many other mysteries. The museum intended to show magnificence of the city full of legends, myths, tragic stories of life of the emperors and their courtiers, heroes of classical Russian literature outside the scope of works of art. At the same time, it is clear that the horrors are nothing more than tragic or dramatic events that occurred in the past or were created by imagination of writers in St. Petersburg. (Pushkinskaya metro station, 86 Marata Street)

 

Fabergé Museum is a privately-owned museum which was established by Viktor Vekselberg and his Link of Times foundation in order to repatriate lost cultural valuables to Russia. The museum's collection contains more than 4,000 works of decorative applied and fine arts, including gold and silver items, paintings, porcelain and bronze. A highlight of the museum's collection is the group of nine Imperial Easter eggs created by Fabergé for the last two Russian Tsars. (Gostiny Dvor metro station, 21 Fontanka river embankment)

 

The Grand Maket Rossiya Museum is a model layout covering an area of 8,600 sq ft. In this area, collective images of regions of the Russian Federation are represented. The model presents an image of everyday life in Russia, realized through models. These everyday situations represent different human activities, such as work, leisure, sports, studying, military service, country life, travel, mass celebrations and even an attempt to escape from prison. (Moskovskiye Vorota metro station, 16 Tsvetochnaya Street)

 

Upside Down House. This museum is exactly what is sounds like a house that is flipped upside down! It is a very popular site in St.Petersburg, for good reason. You walk into the house and feel very disoriented, and find that the entire museum is very impressive! Even things like towels look like they are hanging properly, and you feel like you are standing on the ceiling. One of the most fun parts is taking pictures and showing them to your friends later to confuse them. (Admiralteyskaya metro station, 5 Nevsky Prospect)

 

Tropical Paradise is a museum of live butterflies in the centre of Saint-Petersburg. Tropical butterflies from Africa, Central and South America, Asia are fluttering around visitors of the museum. It‘s possible to see more than 20 species of butterflies at once. There are 3 large halls, decorated with exotic plants that create an atmosphere of real tropics. Warm humid climate that allows rare butterflies to survive is generated inside the exhibition halls. In different seasons visitors could see different unique species of inhabitants of the museum. Among the rarest insects is a Saturniidae from Madagascar, the longest butterfly in the world. (Bukharestskaya metro station, 30 Bukharestskaya Street)

 

ENTERTAINMENT

Oceanarium is collection of exotic and tropical fish and other marine creatures. There are 33 aquariums in the display, containing nearly 150 species of fish, sea mammals, and other sea creatures. The attractively designed aquariums are divided into zones by environment (tropical, reef, etc.). There are also shows with seals (Tuesday to Sunday, 11.30am and 4pm) and sharks (Tuesday to Sunday, 7pm), and the chance to watch the animals being fed. There is also a diving school attached to the Oceanarium. (Zvenigorodskaya metro station, 86 Marata Street)

 

Dolphinarium. Marine show with dolphins, sealions, white whales, walrus. The show lasts about one hour. It is better to sit on a balcony, as you may see what is going on under water, besides splashes do not usually reach you. It is possible to swim with dolphins for extra fee. (Krestovsky Island metro station, 19 Konstantinovsky Prospect)

 

Leningrad zoo is a unique museum of wildlife in the heart of St. Petersburg. Today it houses more than 600 species of mammals, birds, fish, and invertebrates from various places on Earth. (Gorkovskaya metro station, 1 Aleksandrovsky Park)

 

St. Petersburg's Botanical Garden counts more than 80.000 species of plants. The museum has 5 collections: scatological, dendrological, anatomical, the collections of fossil plants and applied botany. The Garden Sections include herbarium collections: garden, Russian, regional and Japanese. Lastly, the biggest and unique herb collections are on display at the most famous botanists and explorers section; Fisher, Stephan, Schumacher and Ledebyr among others. (Petrogradskaya metro station, 2 Professor Popov Street)

 

Divo Island (Divo Ostrov) is amusement park which is divided into: extreme rides (roller coaster, rocket, catapult, shaker, etc.), family rides (Ferris wheel, shooting galleries, carousels, pedal boats) and children rides (karting, trampolines, trains, cars). (Krestovsky Island metro station)

 

Maza Park is the biggest in-door amusement park in Russia. It's the coolest place to spend time in a big company, playing different games together. There are more than 100 arcade machines, 2 football fields, 38 bowling lanes, rollerdrom, table tennis, shooting and so on. (30/32 Bukharestskaya Street; 14A Hoshimin Street)

 

KART RACINGS:

1) Karting Center (Moskovskaya metro station, 69 Krasnoputilovskaya Street)

2) Karting Club Bolshoy Priz (Akademicheskaya metro station, 5 Obruchevyh Street)

3) Karting Land (1/3 Kozhevennaya Line)

4) Pitshop Narvskaya (Narvskaya metro station, 6 Perekopskaya Street)

5) Pitshop Drive (1 Prospect Cultury, Mall Rodeo Drive)

 

AQUAPARKS:

1) Rodeo Drive: swimming pools, slides, saunas and other attractions, aqua aerobics

Classes. (1 Prospect Cultury, Mall Roveo Drive)

2) Piterland: slides, swimming pools, saunas, massage rooms, diving and surfing classes. (72 Primorsky Prospect, Mall Piterland)

3) Aqua Club VODA: a variety of water attractions, a restaurant on the water, comfortable SPA zone, saunas and exciting foam parties. For children, there are developed entertaining games with animators, a separate pool with hydro-massage and clockwork foam mini disco. (256A Primorskoye Highway)

4) Piterland-2: 2 large swimming pools, slides, underwater aquariums, saunas,

children playgrounds and much more. (Vasilyevsky Island, 14 Korablestroiteley Street)

 

ADVENTURE GAMES:

1) LOSTROOM (61 Nevsky Prospect)

• Alice in Wonderland
• Buried alive (game in the enclosed space of a black sarcophagus with leather upholstery)
• Lynching (murder investigation of a young girl, immersion in the mind of the murderer and the commission of justice)
• Cyberpunk (game in the room of the programmer, virtual reality and the

                     salvation of mankind)

2) Quest the Best (2 Konyushennaya Square)

• Syndrome (saving the patient from a split personality)
• Phantom Theater (cursed theater, which eats the souls of its viewers)

3) UNLOST are games where you have to get out of the closed room for a limited period of time. To do this, you need to search for keys, find codes, solve puzzles, find and open caches, look for non-standard ways in and out. (42A Zagorodny Prospect, the entry code is 1B)

 

CLIMBING WALLS:

1) Tramontana: halls of different levels of complexity, imitating the reliefs of rocks; zones for weightlifting and Iyengar Yoga; saunas and a minibar. (Tehnologicheskiy Institut metro station, 24 Bronnickaya Street, 2d floor)

2) Igels Live Club Sports Club: Climbing, acrobatics, trampolining, bouldering and parkour park (Narvskaya metro station, 134-136 Obvodny Channel embankment)

3) Oriyentir: The height of the climbing wall reaches 7 meters, the number of tracks is

more than 10. There is a gym, shower, room for warm-up. (Prospect Veteranov metro station, 16 Veteranov Prospect)

 

MASTER CLASSES:

1) Paint your Matryoshka (19 Bolshaya Morskaya Street)

2) Culinary Studio Taste Lab (37 Zanevsky Prospect, 4th floor)

3) Culinary Studio Zhivi vkusno (28/29 Soyuz Pechatnikov Street)

4) School of mosaic (92 Bolshoy Prospect of Vasilyevsky Island)

5) Pottery Studio Tvorec (30 Zastavskaya Street)

 

CIRCUSES:

1) Circus of Shapito in Avtovo (1A Avtovskaya Street)

2) Circus on the Fontanka River (Nevsky Prospect metro station, 3 Fontanka river

embankment)

 

BRIDGES. St. Petersburg is famous for its bridges. Each of them has its own history and age, but together they represent an architectural ensemble. There are 342 bridges within the city. Drawbridges are especially popular. The symbol of the city is the Palace Bridge, which combines technical features, simplicity and sophistication. At the beginning of summer, the sound show "Singing bridges" is holding on the Palace Bridge for residents and tourists, where popular classical music plays.

 

PARKS:

1)     Park of the 300th anniversary of St. Petersburg boasts shady paths, a spacious beach big enough to chill out or to play volley, kids sports playground, extreme zone and lanes for rollers and bikers all across the park. It will also have an aqua park soon. Here such festivities as the City Day, the Kids Day or the VE-day are held as well as social activities like anti-drug youth events. The park has free wi-fi all over the place, time is limited but the connection speed is 1 МB/sec. (Krestovsky Island metro station, 74 Primorsky Prospect)

 

2)     The Summer Garden is home to marble statues acquired from Europe especially for Russia's new capital, and also to rare flowers and plants, as well as fountains. (Gorkovskaya metro station, 2 Kutuzov embankment)

 

3)     Kirov Central Culture and Leisure Park. Park on Elagin Island is one of the most beautiful in St. Petersburg. On the territory of the island is one of the architectural masterpieces of Russia – the Palace and Park ensemble. Its jewel is considered Elaginoostrovsky Palace. Fine and light interiors rightly consider to be the best monuments of the era of Empire in Russia. The park takes pride of its mini-zoo with a raindeer, a Cameroon dwarf goat, a Siberian chipmunk and various birds. Central Park is a venue for the annual celebration of the Maslenitsa feast, street theater feast, flower, glass and ceramics festivals as well as music open airs. The palace interiors are decorated in the empire style and hold the fancy-dress balls, there is also a museum of artistic glass. (Krestovsky Island metro station, 4 Elagin Island)

 

4)     Petrovsky park is a monument of the history of the XIX century, one of the most scenic, well-maintained and well-kept parks of Kronstadt. (Kronstadt, Makarovskaya Street)

 

OPEN AIR MUSEUMS:

1)     Peterhof Museum Complex (paid) is one of the most popular museums not only in Russia, but in the whole world. The palace and park at Peterhof (also known as Petrodvorets) are often referred to as "the Russian Versailles", although many visitors conclude that the comparison does a disservice to the grandeur and scope of this majestic estate. The museum complex stretches across five hundred hectares of territory, embracing Strelna, Peterhof and Oranienbaum. Dotted with sparkling fountains, the Lower Park and Upper Gardens flow effortlessly into the shady and romantic glades of Alexandria, forming a unique fusion of regular and landscape parks. Every day, more than twenty museums — vastly different in their origins, ideas and contents — delight visitors with exciting new discoveries and the joy of their handsome treasures. (Petergof, 2 Razvodnaya Street)

 

2)     Tsarskoe Selo in Pushkin was the town containing a former Russian residence of the imperial family and visiting nobility. Now it is one of St. Petersburg's must-see attractions, and can easily occupy visitors for a full day. It forms one of the World Heritage Site Saint Petersburg and Related Groups of Monuments. On the territory of the ensemble there is the Catherine Palace, the Alexander Palace, A.S. Pushkin Museum Lyceum, the Catherine Park (paid entrance in summer) and the Alexander Park (free)

 

3)     Pavlovsk Park (paid) is one of the most charming and extensive green spaces in or around St. Petersburg, and one of the largest landscaped gardens in the world. It is a monument of Russian classicism of the late XVIII - early XIX centuries with the collections of Russian, Western European and ancient art. On the territory of the park there is the Pavlovsk Palace and the monument to Paul I. (Pavlovsk, 20 Sadovaya Street)

 

4)     Gatchina Palace Park (paid) is unique in that almost a quarter of its area is occupied by two lakes, White Lake and Silver Lake. On the territory of the park there are ancient buildings, palaces, small ponds, well-kept gardens and parks. (Gatchina, 2 Krasnoarmeysky Prospect)

 

5)     Park Monrepo is a rock landscape park, the only example of wooden architecture of classicism epoch in Leningrad Oblast’, preserved as a manor complex of buildings and structures. (Vyborg)

 

6)     Oranienbaum (free) is a monument of Russian culture and art of the XVIII century. The palace and park complex includes three ensembles: the ensemble of the Grand Palace, the ensemble of Peterstadt and the ensemble Own dacha with its main annexes - the Chinese Palace and the Pavilion of the Roller Coaster. (Lomonosov, 48 Dvortcovy Prospect)

 

RESTAURANTS OF NATIONAL CUISINE:

1) Chinese cuisine – Tan Zhen (48 Gorokhovaya Street)

2) Cuban cuisine – O! Cuba (36 Rubinstein Street)

3) Mexican cuisine – Tres Amigos (25 Rubinstein Street, 40 Prospect Slavy)

4) Scandinavian cuisine – Helsinkibar (31 Kadetskaya Line)

5) African cuisine – Congo (57 Zhukovsky Street)

6) Indonesian cuisine – Sukawati (8 Kazanskaya Street)

7) Indian cuisine – Jay Hind (17/19 Ryleev Street)

 

MARKETS:

1) Apraksin Dvor. It is a group of shops, storehouses, and offices built in the 18th and 19th centuries in the area belonging to the Counts Apraksin. In the market Apraksin Dvor (in the people - "Apraška"), you can buy not only things, but also dishes, perfumes, food and household, office and related products, most of which are sold at reasonable prices. ( 28/30 Sadovaya Street)

 

2) Sennoy Market. There are various groups of goods such as food and agricultural ones, household goods, clothing shoes, bed linens, bedspreads, blankets, pillows and other types of goods.

 

THEATERS:

1) Alexandrinsky Theatre. It was one of the many theatres of the Imperial troupe. Dramas, operas and ballets were on the stage. Only in the 1880s, the theatre has become dramatic and tragedy filled. The premières of numerous Russian plays have been performed at the stage of the Alexandrinsky, including plays by Alexandr Griboyedov, Alexander Ostrovsky, and Anton Chekhov. Famous directors who have staged work there include Vsevolod Meyerhold, Grigori Kozintsev, Georgy Tovstonogov, and Nikolay Akimov. (2 Ostrovskogo Square)

 

2) Mariinsky Theatre. It is a historic theatre of opera and ballet in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Opened in 1860, it became the preeminent music theatre of late 19th century Russia, where many of the stage masterpieces of Tchaikovsky, Mussorgsky, and Rimsky-Korsakov received their premieres. Through most of the Soviet era, it was known as the Kirov Theatre. Today, the Mariinsky Theatre is home to the Mariinsky Ballet, Mariinsky Opera and Mariinsky Orchestra. (1 Teatralnaya Square)

 

3) Tovstonogov Bolshoi Drama Theater. The Theatre's repertoire includes works of Russian and world classic literature, a comedy by a contemporary Russian author, and a contemporary foreign play. (65 Fontanka river embankment)

 

CINEMAS:

1) Pik (2 Sennaya Square)

2) Avrora (60 Nevsky prospect)

3) Khudozhestvenny (67 Nevsky prospect)

 

CLUBS & BARS:

1) Griboyedov Club (2A Voronezhskaya Street)

2) Clubs on Konyushennaya Street:

• L.U.X.
• Mosaique
• Stackenschneider
• MOD
• Circus
• Tantcploschadka

3) Clubs on Dumskaya Street:

• Morrison Bar
• Tchyort poberi!
• Bar Quarenghi
• Poison
• Fidel
• BarBara
• Lomonosov Bar