Product Description

Now in its fifth edition, The Rough Guide to St. Petersburg is the most comprehensive and detailed guide on the market and a necessity for anyone who hopes to travel to this stunning, historically rich and vibrant city. From the imposing imperial palaces to the prison fortress of Shlisselburg; from the Kronstadt, Vyborg and Karelian Isthmus to the Medieval city of Novgorod – this guide has it all. The guide is packed with all the practical details you have come to relie on Rough Guides for as well as the low-down on the city''s history, the rich culture and the ever-changing but forever fascinating and enticing St. Petersburg society.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #596521 in Books
• Published on: 2004-10-18
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 496 pages

From Library Journal
A leisurely guide to the main sights of interest, this guide also provides listings for more active pursuits such as nightlife and sports. A chapter of recommended visits within easy reach of the city, such as the Imperial Palaces and the medieval city of Novgorod, rounds out the volume.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
WHEN TO GO
St Petersburg lies on the same latitude as the Shetland Islands and Anchorage, Alaska, but its climate is less harsh than you’d imagine, being moderated by warm air blowing in from the Atlantic Ocean. Summers are hot and while winters may be cold by Western European standards, they rarely compare with the ferocious cold of winter in Moscow, let alone Siberia.

The most popular time to go is summer, lasting from the beginning of June to early September, when the city celebrates the famous "White Nights" (mid-June to mid-July) with a special festival and weeks of partying. Days are baking hot and nights sultry with the occasional downpour providing relief from the humidity. In August, everyone who can afford to leaves the city, if only to stay in a dacha (cottage) in the surrounding countryside. Although tourism is at its height in the summer, ballet fans should bear in mind that the Mariinskiy is closed in August. By mid-September autumn is under way, with cloudy skies and falling temperatures. October sees the first frosts (and sometimes snowfalls), though it’s not unknown for there to be warm and sunny days, when the city looks especially beautiful in the soft northern light.

Subzero temperatures and snow can set in weeks before winter officially begins in December. The canals and rivers soon freeze over and a blanket of snow creates enchanting vistas that almost make you forget the cold. The secular New Year occasions shopping and merrymaking, much as Christmas in the West, though you need to stick around a while longer to catch the traditional Russian Orthodox Church celebrations of both holidays, in early January. While temperatures rarely fall below -15°C, the snow soon loses its charm as it compacts into black ice which lingers on until March, by which time everyone is longing for spring. Like winter, its arrival is somewhat unpredictable – the fabulous sight of the Neva ice floes breaking up and flowing through the heart of the city may not occur until April, or even early May.

CHANGES IN THE NEW RUSSIA
Inevitably, the speed of change in Russian society means that certain sections of this book are going to be out of date by the time you read them, not to mention the more humdrum but frequent changes to opening times, phone numbers, and suchlike. More positively, the prospect of political uncertainty has receded for the time being, and the apocalyptic scenarios of civil war that were popular in the media a few years ago now look ridiculous.

Customer Reviews

Rough Guide: St. Petersburg.
This book gives ou a nice overview of the region, and incredible specific tips for visiting St. Petersburg.

A great guidebook -- up-to-date and informative
This book was basically the only guidebook that I used for my two week trip to St. Petersburg. It was extremely up-to-date, with only one restaurant we tried out of business (and a friend had eaten there a week before, so it was a recent development), and provided great descriptions for all of the places that we visited, with many details and interesting tidbits. It has a chapter each for the Hermitage and the Russian Museum, with descriptions of what could be found in each room, which greatly assisted in deciding where to devote our time and then to navigate these huge museums. We even found some wonderful, cheap restaurants in the book that our friends living in St. Petersburg had not found. By the end of our trip, we were all speaking of this book in reverential tones and I would highly recommend this book to anyone as their primary guide to St. Petersburg.

The book has a language section, with the cyrillic aphabet, a pronunciation guide, common words and phrases, and terms for foods. This was extremely useful for learning to read cyrillic and to get around. However, I would recommend getting a separate phrase book or dictionary, as even though many of the basics were covered, the language section is just too short to contain everything you're likely going to need to communicate.

One of three guidebooks I used while living in St Pete's
While in St Petersburg for several months I stocked up on three guidebooks. The Rough Guide was an excellent way to get to know the city. The amount of information is so dense that it actually becomes a drawback at times. I used the Rough Guide in conjuction with the Lonely Planet guide to St Pete. Together they were a great combination.

If you want one book that will fill you in on the background of St Pete's and delves in depth into its subject matter this is the guide for you. Or, if you are going on an extended stay- as I was- I can recommend this guide.

If you're going on a shorter trip you may try the very good (and shorter) Lonely Planet guide.