ARRIVAL
20.00 Arrive at Pulkovo Airport (www.pulkovoairport.ru/eng) on your S7 Airlines flight from Moscow (www.s7.ru/en; return business class flights from US$800) for the best connections to and from the Russian capital. Take in the awe-inspiring views of St. Petersburg at night from the comfort of a BMW 7-Series limo as you drive through the majestic granite and marble-clad embankments of Fontanka River and past countless palaces and palatial mansions.
21.00 Arrive at the 130-year-old Grand Hotel Europe (www.grandhoteleurope.com; +7 812 329 6000) whose famed former guests include Tchaikovsky, Dostoevsky, Rasputin and the Romanovs. Let the Orient Express staff take care of everything else as they whisk you up to your room. Check into a Historical Suite on the Belle Époque floor. The Fabergé suite is a tribute to legendary House of Fabergé, founded in St. Petersburg in 1842 by French goldsmith Gustav Fabergé.
22.00 Treat yourself to dinner at the Caviar Bar and Restaurant (+7 812 329 6651) for fine Russian cuisine, exquisite caviar, traditional entertainment and the city’s only vodka sommelier. Begin with a low-calorie Russian zakuski pickled in its own juice, followed by Russian blini with red salmon caviar or black beluga caviar. For the main course, the baked sturgeon osetrina is divine, and forest cep mushrooms are the meal’s crowning glory. If you fancy something fizzy, then a glass of the sweet Russian Shampanskoye champagne will give any French import a run for its money.
00.30 St. Petersburg is a city best enjoyed on foot, so take a stroll towards Kazansky Cathedral along the Nevsky Prospect and enjoy the rotund colonnade of the opulent Orthodox Cathedral on the Griboedova Channel. Turn to the riverbank and head towards the Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood, the place where Tsar Alexander II was assassinated in 1881. St. Petersburg never sleeps but you must, so linger in the chilly evening air for a while before returning to the hotel.
DAY ONE
08.00 Wake early to take in the spectacular sights and sounds of St. Petersburg in the daylight. Walk across Arts Square, which overlooks the Philharmonic Conservatory, the Russian Museum and the Mikhailovsky Opera and Ballet Theatre.
10.00 Take a tour of the Russian Museum (www.rusmuseum.ru/eng); home to more than 400,000 exhibits that document the history of Russian art from the 10th century onwards. It was opened in 1898 by decree of Tsar Nicholas II, but it wasn’t until 1976 that it became the cultural behemoth that it is today. During the October Revolution of 1917, the private collections of wealthy Russians became property of the state and were turned over to the museum, swelling the galleries and exhibition halls with untold works of art.
13.30 On the northern side of the square stands the picturesque Winter Palace, a sprawling baroque palace built between 1754-62 that is now part of the Hermitage Museum (www.hermitagemuseum.org). Resist the temptation to go in – there will be plenty of time for that tomorrow. In the middle of the square stands the Alexander Column, a monument to the Russian victory over Napoleon in the 19th century. The face of the angel on top of the 155-foot statue is modelled on the face of Emperor Alexander I. The monument is particularly impressive on a sunny evening shortly before dusk, when the last beams of sunlight are reflected off the polished red granite of the column.
14.00 Skip lunch and have a glass of champagne at the lobby lounge of the Rocco Forte Hotel Astoria (www.thehotelastoria.com; +7 812 494 5757) and catch a glimpse of the majestic golden dome of St. Isaac’s Cathedral, a 101-metre work by Auguste de Montferrand. Walk back to the Nevsky Prospect and head to The Triumphal Arch that opens to the breathtaking panorama of stone-clad Palace Square, or Dvortsovaya Ploshad, which is home to a trio of architectural styles.
18.30 Put on your best dress and walk across Arts Square to the nearby Mikhailovsky Theatre (www.mikhailovsky.ru; premium Dress Circle seats start from US$90), named after Grand Duke Mikhail, the brother of Emperor Nicolas I. Book in for the evening performance of The Nutcracker – a ballet in two acts by Pyotr Tchaikovsky and the core of St Petersburg’s end of year festivities. The Nutcracker performed by the Mikhailovsky Ballet is an experience that will stay with you forever.
23.30 Book a table at Palkin (www.palkin.ru), one of the oldest restaurants in St. Petersburg, which opened in 1874 with a billiard room, private suites and a grand staircase. Try the Sterlet sturgeon baked in white wine with gherkins and cep mushrooms in crayfish sauce.
DAY TWO
09.30 Head back to the Hermitage Museum (www.hermitagemuseum.org), a complex of six buildings including the magnificent Winter Palace, former home of the Russian Tsars and still the most impressive building in the city. The Hermitage’s collections include works by Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael, Rembrandt, Rubens, Renoir, Cezanne, Manet, Monet, Van Gogh, Matisse and Gaugin, just to name a few. You could easily spend a week walking through the hallowed halls of the museum and admiring its countless exhibits, but if you only have one morning, save time by deciding in advance what you want to see.
14.00 Grab a quick lunch at miX at W St. Petersburg (www.wstpetersburg.com; +7 812 610 6161) near Palace Square, where an Alain Ducasse-inspired menu meets the W brand’s typically eccentric design.
18.00 No trip to St. Petersburg is complete without a visit to the cradle of Russian ballet, the Mariinsky Theatre (www.mariinsky.ru/en), formerly the Imperial Bolshoi Kamenny Theatre and the flagship ballet and opera theatre of Russia’s Imperial Theatre Company.
22.15 If your classical appetite is sated, head straight to The Noble Nest for a truly aristocratic dining experience. Located in the former Garden Pavilion of the Yusupov Palace, just a short walk from the Mariinsky theatre, The Noble Nest is regarded as one of the city’s most refined establishments, where you will dine surrounded by portraits
of Russian emperors.
00.00 Time to say goodbye. Savour a quick glass of champagne in the sophisticated lobby bar at the Grand Hotel Europe, and watch wealthy locals and international jet-setters rub shoulders with captains of industry and fashion leaders. You might just meet Giorgio Armani, who was checking in as I was checking out, surrounded by an entourage of a dozen handsome men. As my limo heads back to the airport I’m lost in a reverie while I contemplate days gone by and past empires. I’ll be back.
STAY
Grand Hotel Europe
+7 812 329 6000
www.grandhoteleurope.com
Hotel Astoria
+7 812 494 5757
www.thehotelastoria.com
W St. Petersburg
+7 812 610 6161
www.wstpetersburg.com
