Top Travel Destinations in Saint Petersburg: Best 2 Days Saint Petersburg Itinerary

Day 1 | Morning

Winter Palace

Opening Hours: Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, Sunday 10:30-18:00, Wednesday, Friday 10:30-21:00

Ticket Price: 300 RUB

Recommended Length of Stay: 3-4 Hours

Location: Palace Embankment, 32, St Petersburg, 190000

The gorgeous Winter Palace was once the private museum of Empress Catherine II, and now it is one of the four largest museums in the world along with the British Museum in London, the Louvre in Paris and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. There are more than 3 million collections in the museum, all of which are works of art from home and abroad, such as oil paintings, statues, carpets, furniture and handicrafts. There are 400 exhibition halls and showrooms, including ancient Greek bottle painting art, ancient Roman art The three-part collection of sculpture art and Western European art is well-known in the world collection circle. The Winter Palace was built in 1754, covering an area of 90,000 square meters and a total of 1,057 rooms. It is a very distinctive Russian Baroque building in St. Petersburg. Here, the gorgeous grand palace with green walls and white columns decorated with golden reliefs unfolds in a row, magnificent yet calm. The exhibition is divided into 7 parts: primitive cultural history, ancient Greek and Roman culture and art, oriental national culture and art, Russian culture, Western European art history, coins, and crafts. It is 30 kilometers long, so it is known as the longest art gallery in the world. Not to be missed: The Mummy of Egypt (Room 100), The Peacock Clock (Room 204), Leonardo da Vinci's "Portrait of the Virgin" (Room 214), Rembrandt's "The Return of the Prodigal Son" (Room 254), Rubens' Perseus and Andromeda (Hall 246), Raphael Promenade (Hall 227). Halls 333-350 on the second floor contain many art treasures from the late 19th and early 20th centuries, including masterpieces by Matisse and Picasso, which are worth a visit.

Reviews from Real Guests:

Trip.com User: Outstanding beautiflly looked after with massive number of historical interesting and superb collections. To do the Hermitage and all the associated buildings properly you need two days. Tour guides will falsly claim you get in quicker you do not as everyone goes on tour and no one goes without tour.....quicker without tour.Also book via internet and you have even quicker entrance with no queues . This magnificient Palace is a reason to visit St Petersburg alone and nothing else.Do not use taxi unless Russian local books and aranges fare. Eat before you go in.

Trip.com User: The main Imperial residence and the second-largest art museum in the world! Impossible to imagine the quantity of unique art objects there. We were lucky and the queue wasn’t huge. We spent at around 1 hour in a line. Its possible to buy electronic tickets by the entrance (700 rub) and go inside directly. But if you want to go on excurcion with the guide - you need to wait and buy tickets in the ticket office. General excursion price - 250 rub + 700 rub for entrance. Its hard to dectribe all that beauty!! Must see place!!

Day 1 | Afternoon

Having the chance to enjoy the charming Winter Palace, Peterhof Palace next to it is another great place that you will never want to miss!

Peterhof Palace

Opening Hours: Open on Mon-Thu,Sun,9:00am-7:00pm;Open on Fri,9:00am-10:00pm

Ticket Price: 1000 RUB

Recommended Length of Stay: 2-3 Hours

Location: Razvodnaya Ulitsa, 2, St Petersburg

The magnificent summer palace is located in the quiet forest on the southern bank of the Gulf of Finland. It was built by order of Peter the Great in 1714, so it is also called Peterhof. Because of its luxurious and magnificent architectural style, the Summer Palace is also known as the "Russian Versailles". The Summer Palace is an early building in St. Petersburg. In the early 18th century, many large-scale balls, court celebrations and other activities were held here. Peter the Great would come here every summer before his death. The best way to visit the Summer Palace is to take a bus to the entrance of the Upper Garden, visit the Upper Garden, then visit the Lower Garden, and then leave by boat, while enjoying the beauty of the Gulf of Finland along the way. The Summer Palace consists of a French-style upper garden, a lower garden with more than 200 fountains, and many ingeniously designed fountains in the garden, with the Grand Palace in between. There is no need to buy a ticket to enter the upper garden, so tourists who come from land can enjoy the upper garden and buy a ticket to enter the lower garden. There are large grass gardens and sculptures in the upper garden. There are some small fountains here are sculptures depicting fairy tales. When the weather is good, you can see many locals strolling here, children playing, and newcomers shooting wedding dresses here. According to. At the end of the upper garden, you can see the great palace of Peter the Great. In front of the palace is the more striking golden waterfall fountain of the Summer Palace. Although the fountain is only open from May to October every year, no matter what Season, the exterior of these gilded sculptures looks so glorious and beautiful. The famous main fountain is called "Samson Fighting the Lion". In this golden sculpture with a height of 5 meters and a weight of 3 tons, Samson forcibly opened the mouth of a male lion, and its forceful gesture can be described as lifelike. . Behind the waterfall fountain is the grand palace of the Summer Palace. The interior and exterior are very ornately decorated, with gilded domes on both wings. The palace has a celebration hall, a banquet hall and a palace room. At that time, Peter the Great lived on the first floor, and Empress Catherine lived on the second floor. The second floor was luxuriously decorated. The upstairs was very ornately decorated. The columns of the ballroom were decorated with Venetian mirrors. Photography is not allowed in the palace. The overall size is much smaller than that of the Ekaterina Palace and the Winter Palace, and the decoration style is very similar. In addition, additional fees are charged, so many group tourists do not enter the inside to visit, but spend more time. in the lower garden. After coming out of the Grand Palace, we entered the Lower Garden, which spreads out in a fan shape towards the Gulf of Finland by the Grand Palace. Going down from the Grand Palace is a square. The lawn on the ground of the square is trimmed like a fine carpet. Gold-plated sculpture, glittering and lifelike. In the middle of the square is a river, and on both sides of the river are forests with towering trees. About one kilometer down the river is the vast Gulf of Finland. There are men and women in medieval costumes posing in many of the attractions in the lower garden, and you can choose to pay some money to take pictures with them as a souvenir. In addition, there is also the Marry Palace by the seaside of the lower garden, which is the private living place of the tsar.

Reviews from Real Guests:

Trip.com User: We choose to go there by boat. In advance we booked tickets online. Everything is quick and easy. Its better to buy round trip tickets at once: cheaper and more comfortable, a lot of people go outside in the evening, so its better to have tickets in advance to avoid the queue. 10:00 - first boat, go back at 17:30. Enough time to see everything. 11:00 - Fontain ceremony. 12:00- ticket office starts to sell tickets inside the palace. Number of entrance tickets is limited. Highly recommend to go inside.

Trip.com User: Like the name, the summer palace. Beautiful gardens, macroscopic palaces, and fountains like decorations. Very suitable for visiting and taking pictures. The sun was shining on the day and the blue sky and white clouds. The photos taken are also very good

Day 1 | Evening

Don’t forget to book Hotel Samson in advance, because all the tourists head to Peterhof Palace love staying at it.

Hotel Samson

Located in the centre of Peterhof and opposite the entrance to Peterhof Park is this 3-star hotel that offers travellers comfortable accommodation in a beautiful location. Rooms at Samson Hotel are air-conditioned, comfortably furnished and most have separate seating areas. Staff at Samson Hotel provides airport shuttle, 24 hour desk front service, ironing, shoe shine, room service as well as assistance with visa procedures. Wi-Fi internet access is available throughout the hotel. For explorations, hiking, tours and excursions to Saint Petersburg can be arranged for guests. The hotel is close to several well known fountains, palaces and parks such as The Grand Cascade, Lower Gardens, and Samson Fountain. After a busy day exploring, you can return to Samson Hotel and enjoy warm Russian and European cuisine while enjoying live jazz and classical music.

Day 2 | Morning

Savior on the Spilled Blood

Opening Hours: 10:30-18:00 (not working on Wednesday)

Ticket Price: 350 RUB

Recommended Length of Stay: 1-2 Hours

Location: Griboyedov Canal Embankment, 2b, letter A

The Cathedral of Spilled Blood is located by the Griboyedov Canal, adjacent to the Mikhailovsky Garden and the Russian Museum. It is a rare authentic Russian architecture in St. Petersburg. In 1811, Tsar Alexander II was killed by members of the "will of the people" due to the failure of the revolution. Between 1883 and 1907, the Cathedral on Spilled Blood was built on the site of the Tsar's death, hence the name. The design of the Cathedral on Spilled Blood draws on the style of the Cathedral of St. Basil's Ascension. The colorful "onion head" roof is very eye-catching. The height of the chapel is about 81 meters high, which is quite majestic. The chapel is also elegant in outline and richly decorated, inlaid with intricate and vividly coloured image patterns, accompanied by richly coloured patterned tiles and enamel bronze panels. Among them, the gilded onion heads are famous all over the world. The whole church can be photographed from the other side of the Riboyetov Canal. The interior of the Cathedral of Spilled Blood is decorated with more than 7,000 square meters of exquisite mosaics, mainly depicting scenes and characters from the stories of the Bible. These mosaics are exquisitely processed from Italian-made marbles of different colors and Russian-made gems. Nearly 30 artists participated in the production, which can be regarded as artistic masterpieces. A marble bust of Shatrov stands where the Tsar was killed, as a memorial to Alexander II. There is a small market next to the Cathedral of Spilled Blood, where there are many souvenirs about the Cathedral and Russian characteristics. Near the church is the entrance to the Mikhailovsky Garden, which also leads to the Russian State Museum. If you have enough time, you can visit.

Reviews from Real Guests:

Trip.com User: This Church is in centre of St Petersburg and easy access via netro and bus. An entrance fee of 350 rub and no waiting to enter and short wait fir ticket isue.Historical site where Nicholas 11 was attacked and survived in Church itself hence the now name of Silled Blood. Wonderful icons and Church is annactual working church . A must to visit .

Trip.com User: One of the best location around saints petersburg center it's the center of the city very busy and have alot of places to visit.

Day 2 | Afternoon

Catherine Palace nearby is the top choice before you leave Savior on the Spilled Blood and hit the road.

Catherine Palace

Opening Hours: Open on Mon-Fri,Sun,10:00am-6:00pm

Ticket Price: 700 RUB

Recommended Length of Stay: 2-3 Hours

Location: Garden St, 7, Pushkin, Sankt-Peterburg

Catherine Palace, also known as Catherine Palace, is located about 25 kilometers south of St. Petersburg. It was the wife of Peter I in 1717, and his daughters Queen Elizabeth, Catherine II, Alexander I and Nicholas. The second favorite suburban palace. In order to show its identity, the area where the palace is located (including the Alexander Palace and the White Tower viewing platform, etc.) was called Tsar Village or Imperial Village after it was built. In 1937, it was renamed "Pushkin Village" to commemorate Pushkin's childhood. "Blonde" Appearance Ekaterina Palace is a two-story palace with a facade of more than 300 meters. It is mainly composed of blue, white and yellow. It is said that these represent the blue eyes of the hostess, White skin and blond hair. The architects added the palace church and the wing for administration, and the top was covered with five splendid and characteristic onion-shaped domes. The radiant interior is different from the fresh temperament outside the palace. The interior of the palace can be described as radiant and shrouded in golden light. From the entrance, go through the promenade on the first floor of the Yekaterina Palace to the main staircase leading to the second floor. The main staircase is more distinctive, with two-way lighting, and the decoration is a bit Rococo style. Marble sculptures "Sleeping Eros" and "Awakening Eros". There are also two exhibition halls at the entrance on the right side of the second floor, where various cultural exhibitions are often held. The magnificent reception hall is in the palace, and the splendid halls are one after another, forming a "golden corridor". Each room is named "Red Column Hall" and "Green Column Hall" according to different colors. The grandiose room in the palace was this spacious reception hall on the right hand side of the main staircase, where Elizabeth received her guests. There are large double-row windows on both sides of the hall, giant mirrors are set between the windows and on the walls on both sides of the hall, all decorations in the hall are gilded, and oil paintings are painted on the huge dome. Such designs are meant to confuse people's senses to cement Elizabeth's godlike status. This is not only her reception hall, but also her game room.

Reviews from Real Guests:

Trip.com User: A must on any visit to St Petersburg. A superbly maintained historical beautiful Palace that is visited by umpteen thousands each day . Be prepared for some hours in queues even on a tour . Tour guides will tell you you get in quicker with them .... you don’t .The Amber room ( no photos under any circumstances ) is worth the visit alone.Get local transport cards for bus trolly bus and metro ( 5 days 431rub=46cny) and save a fortune.Do both of the Palace but one tour is still great.

Trip.com User: Must see place in Saint Petersburg. 5 hours in a queue, but it is worth every second. Real monument of Imperial glory. Famous amber room is the eighth wonder of the world!!!

* All reviews in the blog are machine-translated.