St Petersburg - a few tips... (St. Petersburg)

Member Name: cezzybunny

Product:	St. Petersburg
Date:	24/08/09 (22 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Beautiful city, lots of culture

Disadvantages: None really - not as cheap as you may imagine...

As with some of my other travel reviews, I will stick to writing about the highlights of my trip to St Petersburg.

1) The Hermitage. We arrived at about 9am and still queued for 2 hours before getting in. People arriving later had waits of up to 4 hours. Either get there first thing (it opens at 10.30am and there were queues when we arrived) or better still, book tickets online and bypass the queue.

2) Student cards. There are a few good discounts for students - the Hermitage was free and we got a discount at St Isaacs cathedral. You don't need to have an ISIC, you can just have your university membership card.

3) Go to the ballet. Kind of goes without saying. We went to the Mikhailovsky and brought tickets the day before, just make sure you buy them at the ticket office and not off touts.

4) The double decker tour bus was fun but not great value for money. Equally the metro was pretty sketchy and there can be long distances between stations. Pack good walking shoes or try and figure out the buses...

5) Try and take a decent map with you. There weren't loads of road name signs, and there is only one tourist information office (official). If you can find it...

6) Take maps in the Lonely Planet trans-siberian guide with a pinch of salt - it often shows restaurants etc... as being in the wrong location.

7) If you go in June / early July, take an eye mask - it doesn't get dark until late and can really upset your sleeping pattern!

8) Try and learn a few words of Russian, and learn the Cyrillic alphabet - it will make life an awful lot easier!

Summary: A great city