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Hotel Class: 
3 Stars - 6 Opinions
115 Metallistov prospekt, St. Petersburg, North-West Russia, 195197, Russia
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of people enjoy staying here
6 Opinions
Peter the Great's tomb in Peter and Paul Cathedral
Looking at tables of souvenirs
catherine the great
Pretty as a caramel paper
Hi Everyone!
I have never used either of these guidebooks before, so I wanted to know people's opinions of them? I already have a Dk Eyewitness Guide so am looking for a companion guide. Thanks.
I like the DK Eyewitness Guides as the best.
Here is a companion guide suggestion: the Knopf Mapguide to St. Petersburg.
These pocket-sized maps plus guides are ideal for exploring the neighborhoods of the city they cover.
For each neighborhood tourist sights, restaurants, Metro locations and shops are highlighted on the map and short descriptions of each is given.
These map-guides are easy to use and very good for getting to know a city.
We visited St. Petersburg for White Nights; had a fabulous time. We were drawn to walk the city late into the night because it is so light at 9, 10, 11pm. Enjoy!
I much prefer the RG to the LP for any destination. The latter is always heavier (thicker, glossier paper), and I don't like its layout as much. RG streetmaps are excellent, its practical and historical info thorough and it often contains bits of 'off-the-beaten-path' info.
But I find the Eyewitness pages much too 'busy' for my taste, which may have a bearing on my preferences.
Hello from snowy Germany,
Like member leics I also very much prefer the Rough Guide to the Lonely Planet. I had both Lonely Planet and Rough Guide for Moscow and in my opinion the Rough Guide had much more background info, better maps, and more useful info for independent travels.
Another guide which I can highly recommend - especially as it can be downloaded free of charge from the web - is the "In Your Pocket Guide - St. Petersburg":
http://www.inyourpocket.com/russia/st-petersburg
I hope this helps,
HORSCHECK
I'm with Leics here - I much prefer the RG Guides. It's user-friendly. The maps are excellent. Whenever I have taken info from the LP I have found it not to be accurate. I do not like the DK guides - too busy (good description, Leics) and not a good shape for handbags or pockets and too heavy. Too difficult to use when in situ.
Well,
I suppose to read VT pages about StP are the best option :-)
Thank you all for your great responses. They are very helpful.
St. Petersburg is a wonderful city, but I suggest that you go there either with a group, or go on your own if you know Russian.
There are no English signs and it is really difficult to move around if you are on your own.
The alternative is to visit St. Petersburg and stay with your Russian friend.
This is the best.
Some of my funniest moments I had initially were trying to hurry along ice encrusted streets in reeboks when I wasn't used to those sort of conditions - trying to stay upright taught me to slow down in a real hurry, also getting lost in my hotel trying to get from reception to where they kept my passport and change money. The hotel I was in was huge and were two interconnecting buildings in a 'L' shape. It was moderately priced and comfortable.
The thin sheets and comforter only went to the edge of the mattress like a table runner and there was only one large feather pillow on the double bed. The towels were like tea towels, the shower (with no curtain) was a piece of antiquity which fortunately worked but hey, I got a cable channel in English on the t.v. which at the times I was looking, seemed to be mainly online shopping shows.
There was heating in my room but thank goodness I had been persuaded to take a friends 'hottie' on the trip with me. But I'm not complaining, I enjoyed the very different experience. While I found the people abrupt in manner, they were actually very nice when you got talking to them and they actually lead a pretty hard life. Helen was my local tour guide for a couple of days. A tall lady, dyed strawberry blonde hair and a little overdone with the makeup but very good with her English. This was the view from my hotel.
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While in St Petersburg we went to see a Folklorick show. This was truely stunning and I really enjoyed this. This show was done exclusively for the passengers on our ship but you can arrange to go as individual on other evenings. This show was traditional russian music and Dance and the costumes were truely stunning
Women should pack a scarf to cover their heads when entering any religious buildings. While this is not mandatory in most places, it is important to respect other cultures when travelling.
Comfortable shoes are always a good idea when site-seeing....we always seem to walk for hours, and wouldn't want a trip ruined by sore feet or blisters! There didn't appear to be a shortage of chemists or shops selling the basics, but there was the language issue to deal with....so I would recommend bringing everything you may need with you. Plus, nothing is cheap in Russia. St Petersburg is filled with amazing photo opportunities...so make sure you pack more films/cards/batteries than you think you will need....nothing worse than flat batteries at the wrong moment. Alex also packed his tripod, which is particularly good for those night shots of things like the Church on Spilled Blood. Ensure you pack a good Russian to English (or whatever your language) phrase book, which shows not only translations, but also the words in cyrillic letters. It can be slow going working out what things say in Russian...and helps if your husband is half Russian and can already read some of it
The Pushkin town Tsarskoye Selo is home to two palaces and lovely parks with small lakes.
The baroque Catherine's Palace is famous for the Amber Room which disappeared mysteriously during WWII when the palace was almost totally destroyed.
Directions:
Tsarskoye Selo is located about 25 km south of St. Petersburg. I went to Tsarskoye Selo with VT member yumyum by public transport.
We took a marshrutka from Moskovskaya Metro, from where several marshrutkas leave in this direction. Another option is to take a train from Vitebsky Station to Detskoe Selo Station.
Website: http://www.tzar.ru/
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