As a rule, tourists coming to St. Petersburg begin their acquaintance with the city with the most famous historical sites. This list, in particular, includes the Alexander Column and Palace Square, the Winter Palace and the Hermitage, the Smolny and Bronze Horseman, Nevsky Prospekt, Mikhailovsky Castle, etc. Of course, travelers strive to see all these places and monuments first. After all, such sights are a kind of calling card of the Northern capital.
In the city you can find places that deserve no less attention and at the same time are unique, inimitable and attractive, especially for young people. Such objects are not included on maps of popular tourist routes, considering them to be of secondary importance. But they are all also quite interesting. So where should young people go in St. Petersburg to get a complete picture of their impressions of the city?
The oldest rock store in St. Petersburg
Ligovsky Prospekt, 47 (metro station Ploshchad Vosstaniya)
Photo: Vasilisa Tarunova
One of the moods of St. Petersburg is Russian rock. Therefore, it will be symbolic if the route begins at the legendary Castle Rock rock paraphernalia store, which has been operating opposite the Moskovsky Station for 19 years. Informal youth gathered here until the owner promised the locals peace and tranquility. Among the clients are Yuri Shevchuk, Boris Grebenshchikov, Sergei “Chizh” Chigrakov, Oleg Garkusha and other famous musicians. In addition to goods with appropriate rock paraphernalia, real artifacts are exhibited here: handprints, autographs, personal belongings of stars. For example, the cloak of Mikhail Gorshenev from the group “King and the Clown” and the concert costume of Ilya Chert from “Pilot”.
Circus
What objects of St. Petersburg are most popular among young people? One of those that is on their list is the circus that can be found on the Fontanka. This is one of the oldest establishments of this kind in Russia. It opened in 1877.
The St. Petersburg Circus on Fontanka, whose poster is very interesting and varied, is a popular place to visit not only for guests of the city, but also for its residents. In addition, here you have the opportunity to visit the museum, which was opened back in 1928. Its exhibits tell about the history of circus art. To date, 130 different objects have been collected here, which can tell visitors a lot of interesting things about this branch of culture.
Apartment House Baka
Kirochnaya street, 24 (metro Chernyshevskaya)
Photo: Vasilisa Tarunova
Not far from the pavilion of the Chernyshevskaya station there is an impressive house built in 1904-1905 for the publisher of the Rech newspaper Yulian Bak. This building has an “intricate” architecture, a richly decorated facade, open balconies, labyrinths of staircases and airy galleries that connect the wings to the main building on the second and fifth floors. Apartment numbering can drive even experienced couriers crazy. For example, after apartment No. 9, No. 34 suddenly appears. This is the result of numerous redevelopments of manor apartments into communal compartments, and then again into separate apartments. Enter the entrance on one street and try to exit on another.
Cities through the eyes of residents: unobvious places in St. Petersburg
Maria Sukhobskaya
Blog
Where to go in St. Petersburg? I’m sharing my favorite route for one day, put on your most comfortable shoes and hit the road. Let's take a walk from the Vladimirskaya metro station to Chernyshevskaya.
Front door in the mansion of V. S. Kanshin
Kuznechny lane, 6
And the first stop is the front door in the mansion of V.S. Kanshin, the main staircase of which is decorated with white statues and stucco moldings with gilded elements.
The front door of V. S. Kanshin’s mansion, photo from Maria’s blog
Walking along the front doors in search of the mysterious and hidden aesthetics of the city is a purely St. Petersburg story. A real hunt is open for interesting locations among local guides. To get to the right place, they buy universal keys for intercoms, call residents’ apartments, or simply stand at the door for hours, waiting for the right moment. The front door of V.S. Kanshin’s mansion is open to everyone : there are shops and offices in the house.
Shop "Subscription Editions"
Liteiny pr., 57
Our second landmark is the “Subscription Editions” store. There you should not only buy books and souvenirs, but also take atmospheric photographs.
Photo from the official website of the store
The best shots are obtained if you stand next to the sign that says “Love & read Books.” You can also climb the high stairs in the hall and pretend that you are choosing what to read. The third option is to sit at a table with a volume you like and a cup of coffee in your hands. The store has a cool coffee shop, and if all the seats are full, then go to Surf Coffee for coffee. Almost next door.
Liteiny pr., 59
Anna Akhmatova Museum
Liteiny pr., 53
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It is no coincidence that St. Petersburg is considered a city of museums; there are more than 200 of them. Of course, you already know about the Hermitage, the Russian Museum and the Kunstkamera without me. What about the Anna Akhmatova Museum? I recommend it to everyone who is partial to the poetess’s work. Even if you don’t want to go to the museum, still take a look under the arch: the garden of the Fountain House is a corner of silence a step away from the noisy avenue.
Garden "Saint Germain"
Liteiny pr., 46
Another cozy courtyard nearby is the Saint-Germain Garden. There you can relax in the silence of the trees and admire the pre-revolutionary fountain.
Afterwards we take coffee at the micro-coffee shop Rudyʼs Coffee to Go and move towards Fontanka. We walk along the embankment to Pestel Street. It's time to slow down.
corner of Liteiny pr., 47 and st. Belinsky, 13
Stieglitz Academy
Solyanoy lane, 13-15
The next point is the Stieglitz Academy (Solyanoy lane, 13-15), or in other words “Mukha”. This is one of the most beautiful buildings in St. Petersburg, be sure to visit it to personally appreciate the stunning interiors.
Stieglitz Academy, photo from Maria's blog
And also take photos in the grandiose exhibition hall. This place is no less significant for the city than the Hermitage or the Russian Museum. The easiest way to get to the Academy is with a tour; you can sign up in discussions in the group on VKontakte.
Yard of the Baka apartment building
Kirochnaya, 24
We end our walk with the courtyard of the Baka apartment building, famous for its unique hanging galleries that connect both parts of the building and run on the second and fifth floors.
Photo from Maria's blog
Tatiana Venkova
@tanya_stollen
Over its not very long history, St. Petersburg has accumulated so many legends and secrets that at a certain moment you involuntarily begin to admire and be proud of the fact that you live here, in the city on the Neva. But to truly know it, you need to learn to notice details, see the unusual in the simplest and constantly explore, look for new places. I suggest going to a place where you will discover the northern capital from a different side and be amazed at its versatility.
Kanonersky Island
An isolated world three kilometers from Sadovaya Street, almost in the very center of the city. It’s worth coming there for the best view of the bay, the sea canal and, of course, the sunsets.
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Publication from St. Petersburg | Your guide to St. Petersburg (@tanya_stollen) March 10, 2021 at 4:59 PDT
Since the 19th century, mainly workers of the gunnery ship repair yard lived there; in Soviet times, the island was actually closed until 1983, until the advent of the underwater automobile tunnel. Locals jokingly call this place “the Canaries”; now less than 5,000 people live on the island.
Galernaya street
A treasure for lovers of secret places. Historically, it turned out that all the backyards of the palaces that were built by the nobility and merchants on the front Promenade des Anglais overlook Galernaya.
Galernaya Street, photo from Tatyana’s Instagram
And the value of this street lies in the courtyards. I always go to the mansion of Wieneken, a member of the baronial family of Austrian origin, Russian general and hero of the First World War. There is a grand staircase with a red carpet. A real rarity! And in the courtyard of house No. 51 there is a wonderful fountain hidden.
Front door of the Apartment House of G. A. Bernstein
st. 2nd Sovetskaya, 10B
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The history of the construction of apartment buildings in St. Petersburg several years ago began to gain rapid popularity and began to attract more and more attention. In the front doors they arrange photo shoots and conduct excursions, looking for Metlakh tiles, openwork balusters and stucco. I suggest looking into the front door of the Apartment House of G. A. Bernstein to see the panel with white lilies and the frieze with water lilies on the ceramic lining of the lobby walls with turquoise glazed bricks.
Bar
st. Blokhina, 15
Near Viktor Tsoi Square there is a bar, which is informally called “Kamchatka”. Previously, a coal boiler house was located at this address, where Tsoi worked as a fireman from 1986 to 1988. And now his songs are played there. The place is popular and very atmospheric!
House of the Three Benois
Kamennoostrovsky Ave., 26–28
In the House of Three Benois (26–28 Kamennoostrovsky Ave.) everything happened: Kirov lived, Shostakovich lived, films were shot, and even four pairs of monolithic Doric columns made of red Gangut granite are there!
Interestingly, the courtyards are numbered, and the house itself is located at three addresses. Its main mystery is how many courtyards are there: nine, eleven or twenty-five?
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Publication from St. Petersburg | Your guide to St. Petersburg (@tanya_stollen) June 28, 2021 at 8:56 PDT
Anna Smagina
@porebrik.girl
Savings Museum
st. Dumskaya, 1
Admire St. Petersburg from above on a tour of the Savings Museum. Don't be surprised: the museum is located in the tower of the former City Duma on Nevsky Prospekt. As you rise higher and higher, you will hear interesting stories about the development of banking in Russia, see “come to life” exhibits and the structure of the ancient clock mechanism of the tower, and in the end you will find yourself in an open area with a wonderful view of the city center.
Botanical Garden
st. Professor Popova, 2
I recommend taking a break from the hustle and bustle in the blooming shade of the Botanical Garden. The Botanical Garden is far from the first place we go when arriving in another city, but you definitely won’t regret deciding to take a break there in your sightseeing run.
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Publication from Roman-newspaper about St. Petersburg (@porebrik.girl) July 14, 2020 at 10:20 PDT
From February to November everything blooms in the open air, despite the vagaries of St. Petersburg weather. And the greenhouses, where you will find the most exotic plants from around the world and purring furry keepers, are available all year round. By the way, you will see a cactus that is more than 150 years old.
Apraksin market
st. Sadovaya, 28/30
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You can have a colorful snack at a Chinese eatery at the Apraksin market. If you love Chinese food and aren't afraid of a little weird places, this is the place for you. “Chufalnya” on “Aprashka” is inexpensive, colorful and really tasty. You won't find tourists there, but it is full of Chinese, students, fashionable youth and the St. Petersburg intelligentsia. Large portions, noisy conversations, a “canteen” interior, the smell of Chinese food permeating everything around... The employees hardly speak Russian, and the brewed tea is poured into huge plastic cups. In short, great!
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Publication from Roman-newspaper about St. Petersburg (@porebrik.girl) Oct 23, 2018 at 10:28 PDT
7 unobvious but good green places in Moscow
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Publication from Roman-newspaper about St. Petersburg (@porebrik.girl) Sep 11, 2018 at 5:46 PDT
I also recommend getting to know the real St. Petersburg by walking through the historical districts. Be sure to find a day for a walk without plans, time restrictions and points on the map. Choose - Sands or Sementsy, Vasilyevsky Island or Petrogradskaya Side... Each place has its own character and its own secrets. Wander the streets, look into the courtyards, examine the facades, catch the opening doors of the front doors, buy shawarma from a stall where there is a queue of suffering locals (but be careful with this anyway). Believe me, many amazing discoveries and impressions await you. After all, this is how you get to know the city.
Marina Teplitskaya
@marina_teplitskaya
Anna Akhmatova Museum in the Fountain House
Liteiny pr., 53
The Anna Akhmatova Museum in the Fountain House enchants you even at the entrance: the walls are covered with poems, a red cat sleeps in the dressing room, and the sweetest caretakers will guide you through the building and tell you about everything interesting. And the apartment itself is literally imbued with the spirit of Anna Andreevna. Everything is thought out down to the details - from small notes stuck on the door to the coat on the hanger in the hallway. It seems that the poetess jumped out literally for a minute and will now return.
Museum of A. S. Pushkin
emb. Moika River, 12
Another place for literature lovers is the A. S. Pushkin Museum. The apartment in which the poet lived for only a few months contains interior items, children's toys, a lock of his hair and other unique things.
Photo from the museum website
The greatest impression is made by the office with books and a sofa, where Alexander Sergeevich spent his last hours. The excursion is a little sad, but if you want to feel the soul of the great Russian poet, it’s worth going.
Railway Museum
Library lane, 4, building 2, building 1
Few people know that St. Petersburg is home to one of the largest railway museums in Europe.
The Russian Railways Museum has antique steam locomotives, diesel locomotives, electric locomotives, carriages and 3 classes of Tsarist Russia, both postal and military. Thanks to modern interactive systems, you can select a period and listen to historical information about the state of railways in those days. This museum will be interesting for both children and adults.
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Publication from St. Petersburg in the lens (@marina_teplitskaya) February 24, 2020 at 9:03 PST
House Ruhl
Nevsky pr., 65
Both the front door and the façade of the Ruhl House are worthy of attention - look at the bay window, balconies, female statues and metal decor.
Now the premises house the Russian Post and a hotel, so feel free to open the door and go up to the top floor. You can also take atmospheric photographs. By the way, if you go into the courtyard, you will find yourself in a well courtyard.
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Publication from St. Petersburg in the lens (@marina_teplitskaya) June 1, 2020 at 1:12 PDT
Front door
B. Konyushennaya, 9
The front door at 9 Bolshaya Konyushennaya was renovated, but that didn’t make it any less beautiful. Nowadays there are beauty salons, a coffee shop and much more inside.
House of City Institutions
st. Sadovaya 55-57
The house of city institutions is interesting to many: there you can see the most Instagrammable courtyard-well and the facade of the building itself, decorated with Gothic motifs, chimeras, griffins, owls, etc.
Enter the courtyard and look into the front door on the left, and then go up to the top floor and look out the window - you will see a wonderful tower.
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Publication from St. Petersburg in the lens (@marina_teplitskaya) June 28, 2020 at 5:53 PDT
Italianskaya street, 29
Residents of 29 Italianskaya Street decided to decorate their yard and now there is graffiti in the form of an image of Rome.
The yard is very cozy, covered with ivy. Usually the gates are open, but if suddenly not, call the coffee shop and they will let you in.
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Publication from St. Petersburg in the lens (@marina_teplitskaya) June 20, 2020 at 11:52 PDT
Mirror courtyard
st. Pochtamtskaya, 3-5
And the mirrored courtyard is actually the office of Gazprom Neft PJSC, but its walls consist entirely of mirror panels, which on a sunny day fills the space with a lot of glare.
Smolny Cathedral
pl. Rastrelli, 1
Few tourists reach the Smolny Cathedral, but in vain. The incredibly beautiful temple of the famous architect Rastrelli is definitely worth a visit: there you can climb the bell tower and look at St. Petersburg from the observation deck.
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Publication from Petersburg in the lens (@marina_teplitskaya) February 25, 2020 at 12:16 PST
St. Anne's Evangelical Lutheran Church
st. Kirochnaya, 8V
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Another place worth visiting is the Evangelical Lutheran Church of St. Anne, or Annenkirche in German. It was built under Catherine II and has seen a lot in its lifetime: within its walls there was a nightclub and a rock bar. In the 2000s, the church suffered a fire, which is why the interior looks burnt out and shabby, but this only creates a very informal atmosphere.
St. Anne's Evangelical Lutheran Church, wikimedia
Evgeny Raskatov conducts a tour in Annenkirche, 2021,
Nowadays exhibitions, concerts and performances are held there. Annenkirche is also a popular place for photo shoots. The “picturesque ruins” produce unusual photographs that convey a gloomy and mysterious mood.
Park of the 300th anniversary of St. Petersburg
Primorsky Ave., 74
And finally, it’s worth taking a walk in the park of the 300th anniversary of St. Petersburg, located near the Begovaya metro station. There is the only well-maintained beach in the city, a view of the bay and Lakhta Center, an embankment, a new pedestrian Yacht Bridge, plus it’s just a pleasant place for a walk.
Katya Kotlyar
@kotlet
Kurlyandskaya street
Kurlyandskaya Street is a new place of power in St. Petersburg. It is located quite far from the center, in the very corner of the Admiralteysky district, but it already shows great promise. I'm sure there will be a lot of interesting things here soon. A couple of years ago, a bar with a party hall from the craft brewery AF brew opened on Kurlyandskaya, 48.
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Publication from About St. Petersburg and travel (@kotlet) June 12, 2021 at 5:03 PDT
Now there are already several bars there, a co-working space and the famous Solaris Lab cafe have recently opened. To get into it, you need to go through a kind of quest along the corridors, motorcycle workshops and private staircases. The reward for this will be a roof with an industrial view of the city. The most pleasant way to get to Kurlyandskaya Street from the center is by bicycle along the embankment of the Fontanka River. The bike path goes all the way to the end. The brewery has bicycle parking.
Stone Island
In good weather, picnics are usually organized in the Tauride Garden, Sevkabel Porto or New Holland.
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Publication from About St. Petersburg and travel (@kotlet) Oct 9, 2021 at 4:24 PDT
I love all three of these places, but sometimes I want to hide from people. Kamenny Island has its own atmosphere: there is a lot of water, and in the evening SUP surfers and kayakers gather. Landmark: sculpture of a woman with an oar.
"Third Cluster"
st. 8th Sovetskaya, 4
St. Petersburg courtyards are beautiful in summer. Not long ago the “Third Cluster” was renovated. You should come there for coffee from Civil, veggie burgers from Hood, and wine from the Innocent Bar.
Baka's front door
st. Kirochnaya, 24
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And I definitely take all my friends from other cities to the front door of the Baka House. This building has its own Instagram, group and even logo. But it is known, of course, for its air galleries, that is, the passages between the buildings. To get inside, you need to find the middle door and wait for one of the residents to come out or come in.
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Publication from About St. Petersburg and travel (@kotlet) November 26, 2021 at 1:17 PST
As a token of gratitude, you can leave a donation to a charity fund for the restoration of interiors; you will find a link to the site on the wall or in the group of the house. Be sure to visit the courtyard, which is similar to Escher's labyrinths.
Ekaterina Petrova
@katrishka_petrova
Mosaic courtyard
st. Tchaikovsky, 2/7
St. Petersburg is the cultural capital of Russia. We have art at every step and in every yard. The mosaic courtyard on the embankment of the Fontanka River is no exception. There is the Small Academy of Arts, whose teachers and students decided to decorate their place, making it more colorful. As a result, they lined the walls of the houses and the playground with multi-colored mosaics. You can spend hours looking at its details - admire such an extraordinary approach to landscaping the yard!
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Publication from Curious St. Petersburg woman
