The best place to get acquainted with St. Petersburg is the elegant Palace Square. Its scale alone can hardly fail to impress—the square's great the Winter Palace was constructed to clearly out Versailles. The Palace is home to the best reason to come to St. Petersburg - the Hermitage. Renowned as one of the world's leading picture galleries, it also served as a residence of the Russian Imperial family, and now hosts some of the greatest old Western master paintings in the world.

• distance 5.3 KM/3.9MI
  4 metro stops + 15 minutes walk

The Church was built on the spot where on 1 March 1881 Tsar Alexander II was assasinated. Almost 7000 sq.m of colourful mosaics, and elaborate stone carving are the main features of the church's exterior , which emulates traditional 17th-century Russian. Inside, more than 20 types of minerals, including jasper, phodonite, porphyry and Italian marble are lavished on the mosaics of the iconostasis, icon cases, canopy and floor.

• distance 5.5 KM/4MI
  4 metro stops + 3 minutes walk

The Museum is housed in the Mikhaylovskiy Palace, one of finest Neo-Classical creations built in 1825. The Museum hold one of the worlds's greatest collections of Russian Art.

• distance 5.5 KM/4MI
  4 metro stops + 3 minutes walk

The magnificent golden dome of the Cathedral is visible all across city. 100 kg (220 lb) of gold leaf were needed to cover the dome's surface. It's one of the world's largest cathedrals opened in 1858. It's filled with hundreds of impressive 19th-century works of art. From the Dome there are panoramic views over the city which include the Admiralty and the Hermitage.

• distance 5.1 KM/3.7MI
  4 metro stops + 15 minutes walk

The Mariinskiy is better known for its ballet company and the name of the it's director Valeriy Gergiev, it is also one of the country's leading opera houses. Neo-Renaissance facade, the pale blue and gold auditorium, where so many world famous dancers have made their debut, creates a dazzling impression. Its architectural decoration of twisted columns, atlantes, cherubs and cameo medallions, emperial eagles in the Royal box has remained unchanged since the theatre completion in 1896

• distance 4.7 KM/3.3MI
  15 minutes drive by taxi