10 of the best things to do in St Petersburg
The Hermitage museum: 20/21 project
Founded in 1754 by Catherine the Great, the Hermitage is one of the world’s oldest museums and has the largest collection of paintings in the world, as well as classical antiquities and decorative art. It came screaming into the 21st century when the new contemporary art wing, in the beautifully arched General Staff Building, was completed in 2014. The big staircase, flooded with light from the glass ceiling, is an attraction in itself, and the exhibition programme, curated by Dmitry Ozerkov to showcase 21st-century art, has featured the likes of Antony Gormley, Chapman Brothers, Chuck Close and the most prominent contemporary artists from Britain, the US and France.
8 Dvortsovaya Square, hermitagemuseum.org

Co-op Garage
Photograph: Calvert 22 Foundation
In one building is a bar complete with pool table, in another a boxing-themed bar complete with its own ring. The summer terrace is an attraction in itself, and the environment is welcoming to all. At Co-op Garage, a variety of pizzas with unusual combinations and a range of meat dishes are served on aluminium platters.
47 Gorokhovaya Street, on Facebook
Pif Paf
Burger and salad at Pif Paf. Photograph: Calvert 22 Foundation
What? More burgers? Yes, but, honestly, this is a little different: the team at Pif Paf (also responsible for Stockholm-chic bar Sever) have thumbed their noses at convention – and Russia’s nitpicking business-registration rules – by combining a hairdressers, bar and burger joint. The patties are great, too, and vegetarians will rejoice at the paneer and seaweed number. Pif Paf stays open late and attracts big crowds at the weekend. The pepper lemonade, made with sweet paprika, is highly recommended.
31 Griboyedov Canal Embankment
Podpisnie Izdaniya
Photograph: Elena Yulieva/Calvert 22 Foundation
St Petersburg has a long tradition of independent bookshops that double up as meeting places for the city’s intellectuals, and Podpisnie Izdaniya (it means Subscription Publications) is a good example. Its shelves are stacked with everything from philosophy to photography, as well as ’zines and obscure foreign titles. Sit back with a cup of coffee, provided by the excellent Bolshe coffee company, while you ponder which book to buy.
57 Liteyniy Avenue, podpisnie.ru
Slam City
Photograph: Calvert 22 Foundation
A DIY music scene has emerged in St Petersburg that mixes American-inspired garage rock … with old-school cassettes. Slam City is a new club run by Saint-Brooklynsburg, a cassette-focused label winning Russian teens over with raw recordings and a carefree attitude. The label founders, Valja Krutikov and Sarah Persephona, featured in I-D, Vice and Wired as Angelic Milk, have now got their own platform to host live performances and encourage young local musicians. Tiles and tinsel on walls, a bar made of plywood and plastic, neon lights, sticker art and a mint-coloured sofa from the grungy interior. Among the guests are students in extravagant outfits and pioneers of the city’s alternative scene. Definitely the best way to hear the underground sound of the city on a Friday night.
13-15 Grazhdanskaya Street, on Instagram
Ogonek
Photograph: Yevgeniy Zorna/Calvert 22 Foundation
Just below street level, Ogonek is a tobacco store and cacao spot, it’s also alcohol-free. Two local bakers sell white-chocolate brownies, banana and nut pies and other offerings, from 100 roubles (£1.40), and in summer, homemade lemonade for about £2 per pitcher. In the evenings, locals with DIY tattoos and impressive beards, yoga trainers and street artists all congregate here – even an Armenian backgammon champion is a friend of the bar. The store has an impressive collection of rare editions of the Ogoniok newspaper, a fixture on the Soviet literary scene and an intelligentsia staple. A great place for chance encounters, hot chocolate (£1.40) and mixing with the many musicians who visit.
8 Rubinshteyna Street, on Instagram
New Holland
Photograph: Calvert 22 Foundation
The area of New Holland (a manmade island) was transformed into a public park in September 2016 and it’s home to all kinds of activities, including public art, open studios for children, sport events and concerts. Visit the Garage Pavilion to see the work of contemporary Russian artists, check out the local farm, watch the seagulls on the Neva river and walk along the frozen canal (or on it if you’re feeling lucky) as snowflakes mix with mulled wine in your thermos.
Pulkovo Observatory
Photograph: Daria Piskareva/Calvert 22 Foundation
One hour from the city is the almost-futuristic world of the semi-abandoned scientific observatory at Pulkovo Hills. From time to time steel refractors and radio telescopes burst into view, disrupting the serene landscape and inspiring a sense of awe. On the grounds are several Stalin-era residential houses decorated with Zodiac signs, and Zhiguli cars dotted around – the area seemingly stuck in the past. A shimmering light pink underpass leads to the observatory when leaving the bus at Pulkovo Highway. It’s the perfect place for watching the planes taking off at Pulkovo airport while enjoying the strange, eerie allure of the abandoned observatory.
Udelka: the flea market with everything
Photograph: Calvert 22 Foundation
Everybody in St Petersburg owns something from Udelka, the city’s main flea market and one of the most authentic in the country. Part of the site is now taken up by indoor shops selling Turkish wares, but further down the railway tracks the old-fashioned Udelka lives on, with its precious trinkets from Leningrad living rooms, some of the greatest outfits and accessories from the days of the USSR, leftfield costumes and ridiculous T-shirts from the 90s, ragdolls dangling from strings, vintage leather suitcases and wing mirrors for Zhigulis – classic Soviet-era cars.
39 Fermskoye Highway, Udelnaya station
Kanonerskiy island
Photograph: Daria Piskareva/Calvert 22 Foundation
Kanonerskiy is an island with an industrial and almost-reclusive past: formerly home to an artillery range, and still involved in shipbuilding. Until 2009 its streets didn’t have names and it was only reached by ferry or road tunnel. Now, an enormous toll bridge is being built to link the mainland to Kanonerskiy and Vasilyevsky islands (the latter home to a stadium for next year’s World Cup). One side of Kanonersky island gives way to the crane-filled landscape of the Admiralty shipyard and heaps of concrete where a section of the road is still under construction. To the other is a watery expanse up to the horizon. When enormous cruise ships set off from the port the sea disappears behind them for a few seconds, giving a surreal sense of having swollen the world whole.
London’s Royal Academy exhibition, Revolution: Russian Art 1917–1932, explores the momentous events (until 17 April)
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