Cheap Car Rental St. Petersburg

The city of Saint Petersburg often leaves visitors amazed, and not without good reason. The Old Town is UNESCO world heritage protected. This area has been well preserved over the centuries and is one of the major attractions of the city. Due to the sheer numbers of bridges and canals St. Petersburg is known as the “Venice of the north”. It is the most northerly city in Europe with a population in excess of a million and was for two-hundred years the capital of Russia. This relatively young city was founded by Peter the Great and celebrated its 300th anniversary in 2003. It was for this reason that great effort was spent on restoring the city and has resulted in making it only more worth seeing. Today with a population of 4.7 million it is Russia’s second largest city.

The main street Nevsky Prospect is the most luxurious street in the country and is comparable to the Champs-Élysées in Paris. For 3 miles the exclusive boutiques and stores line the street, including the famous Russian concern Gostiny Dvor. The street is perhaps best experienced as the Russians do, driven along in your rental car. The buildings often border on pomposity in their grandeur, and are amongst the most recognisable examples of architecture in Europe. An afternoon spent here is not only worth the time, but puts you in the vicinity of numerous other sights of interest, such as the Kazan Cathedral.

This Russian Orthodox cathedral was erected at the beginning of the 19th Century, and strongly reminds one of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, in addition to belonging to the most impressive buildings in the city. A further point of interest in the area is the Russian Museum. The museum consists of several buildings and contains an outstanding collection of works by internationally renowned artists. In total more than 300,000 individual works of art are housed here, and it is therefore wise to set aside a wealth of time to explore the museum.

Not far from the Russian Museum is the largest religious edifice in the city, Isaac’s Cathedral. At 365 ft long, 330 ft wide and standing over 338 ft in height it is one of the largest religious buildings in the world, and impresses the visitor with its space for more than 10,000 worshippers.

Near the Cathedral is the world-famous Hermitage Museum, consisting of the old and new Hermitage, the little Hermitage, the Winter Palace and the Hermitage Theater. The dominating part of the complex is the Winter Palace once the seat of the Russian Tsar. Today the palace houses the museum’s important collection of western-European art.

Our final recommendation is the Peter and Paul Fortress, which lies on an island in the middle of the River Neva. The fortress is a central component of the UNESCO site. The fortress complex, dating from the early 18th century, is the heart of the city and is easily recognisable from the golden spire of the Peter and Paul Cathedral contained within its walls. The cathedral is the final resting place of both Russian royalty and gentry, the most important grave being perhaps that of Peter the Great, the city’s founder. The site is also popular with locals who come to hang out on the relaxing banks of the river.