The main squares of the Northern capital
Start
Palace Square
Travel time
about 1 hour (at a calm pace, without visiting museums)
Length
3 km
Finish
St. Isaac's Square
sightseeing routes
What is this route?
Is this your first time in St. Petersburg or are you hosting guests who have not been to our city before? Then it makes sense to get acquainted with the most famous sights of the Northern capital, located on its main squares.
On this route, you will be able to finally see with your own eyes what you saw many times on postcards. That is why millions of tourists come to St. Petersburg every year.
What will you see?
Palaces and ensembles
The ensemble of the Palace Square
Monuments
Alexandrovskaya Column
Art museums
Main Headquarters (General Staff)
Famous buildings
Arch of the General Staff
Palaces and ensembles
The Winter Palace
Parks and gardens
Winter Palace Garden
Parks and gardens
Alexander Garden
Monuments
Four monuments in the center of the Alexandrovsky Garden
Monuments
Monument to N.M. Przewalski
Palaces and ensembles
Admiralty
Причалы
Palace pier (Descent with lions)
Embankments
Admiralty Embankment
Palaces and ensembles
The Malo-Mikhailovsky Palace
Embankments
English Embankment
Palaces and ensembles
The ensemble of the Senate Square
Monuments
Bronze Horseman («Medniy vsadnik»)
Famous buildings
Presidential Library named after B.N. Yeltsin
Historical Museums
St. Isaac's Cathedral and the Colonnade
Famous buildings
House of Lobanov-Rostovsky
Monuments
Monument to Nicholas I
Palaces and ensembles
The Mariinsky Palace
What can you expect?
The route begins with the most famous location in St. Petersburg - Palace Square. Take a walk along the Winter Palace, look into the Arch of the General Staff Building and inspect the Alexander Column, about which some guides claim that "a life-size angel is installed on top".
The next stop is the Alexander Garden: take a break at the fountain, look at the monument to the famous traveler Przhevalsky (they say he is very similar to Stalin) and four busts: Gogol, Lermontov, Glinka and Gorchakov.
Bypassing the Admiralty building, you will find yourself on the Admiralty Embankment. Here, on the Palace Pier, the tranquility of the Neva coast is guarded by famous lions, and each building is a monument of the era.
Where the Admiralteyskaya embankment passes into English embankment, the Senate Square will open in front of you, and on it the Bronze Horseman is installed, which has become the brand of St. Petersburg. The buildings of the Senate and the Synod also deserve your attention.
Our route is completed by St. Isaac's Square, where one of the most magnificent cathedrals in the world, St. Isaac's Cathedral, stands. If you have the time and the weather permits, we advise you to climb its colonnade and enjoy a bird's-eye view of St. Petersburg.
In front of the cathedral stands an equestrian statue of Emperor Nicholas I. Behind him - the Mariinsky Palace - the place where the fate of the country was decided in 1917 and 1991, and now there is the St. Petersburg Legislative Assembly.
By the way, these two monuments - the Bronze Horseman and Nicholas I - are amiably beaten in the St. Petersburg folk riddle: "The stupid catches up with a clever, but Isaac interferes."