Saint Petersburg Flights:
Flights to Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is one of Russia’s best known cities and it’s the second largest city in the country. Formerly known as both Petrograd and Leningrad, Saint Petersburg is a beautiful city that has many attractions for the visiting tourist.
There are several small airports serving the city, but international flights to Saint Petersburg typically arrive at the Pulkovo International Airport (airport code: LED), about 20 kilometres away from downtown. There are shuttles and public bus services between the two. South African Airlines and Lufthansa both have the same flight to Saint Petersburg, from South Africa with one connection in Frankfurt. Swiss Air goes through Zurich, and British Airways makes their transfer stop in London. Average flights to Saint Petersburg are around 16 to 17 hours long.
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The Tourist Attractions of Saint Petersburg:
Saint Petersburg is full of beautiful and impressive architecture and is one of the only cities of this size in the world not to feature an abundance of skyscrapers, meaning the cityscape looks very much like it did hundreds of years ago. The historic centre of Saint Petersburg has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and rightly so when you see just what it has to offer.
The Hermitage Museum and Winter Palace
Saint Petersburg’s best known and most visited attraction is the Hermitage Museum and it’s the largest of more than two hundred museums in Saint Petersburg, as well as being one of the largest and one of the oldest museums in the world. The museum is so large that it occupies six historic buildings including the beautiful Winter Palace, all along the Palace Embankment. Only a small portion of this enormous collection can be displayed at any one time, because the collection spans about 3 million items and includes the largest collection of paintings in the world with works by Rembrandt, Da Vinci, Reubens and more.
Aside from the Hermitage Museum there are countless other museums and places of interest. Here are just some of the few things you can see and do in Saint Petersburg.
Peter and Paul Fortress
There are many forts and fortresses within the city of Saint Petersburg and the Peter and Paul Fortress is just one. It was founded by Peter the Great in 1703 and built between 1706 and 1740 as the original citadel of Saint Petersburg. This large fortress is centred around several different buildings including Peter and Paul Cathedral.
The cathedral is the oldest landmark in Saint Petersburg as building began in 1713 and ended in 1733. It features the world’s tallest orthodox bell tower and is the tallest building in the city, with only the Saint Petersburg TV Tower standing taller.
Saint Isaac’s Cathedral
Another major landmark of the city is Saint Isaac’s Cathedral. This large and foreboding cathedral has a beautiful interior and was built in 1818. For an additional entrance fee visitors are allowed to climb the 400 steps up to the observation deck that offers probably the best views of Saint Petersburg.
When Should You Visit?:
Saint Petersburg has a humid continental climate giving the city warm, but humid and short summers, and long, cold winters. Though wetter, summer is the better time to visit Saint Petersburg when average highs are in the region of 20 to 22C. From December to March snowfall is common and if you visit in January, the coldest month of the year, you can expect average highs of just -3.6C and average lows of -8.8C.