City Tour and the Church on Spilled Blood

This is the tour to take on your first day. In three and a half hours the car covers the ceremonial centre, the Neva embankments and the islands, stopping wherever the view is best, so you leave with a clear picture of how the city fits together. Then you get out and go inside one of its most striking buildings.

The route

The centre. Along Nevsky Prospect you pass Kazan Cathedral, whose curved colonnade echoes St Peter’s in Rome, then Gostiny Dvor, the old merchant arcade, and Arts Square with the Russian Museum and the Mikhailovsky Theatre. The Field of Mars, once a parade ground, holds the country’s first Eternal Flame.

The imperial heart. St Isaac’s Cathedral and Senate Square with the Bronze Horseman lead to Palace Square: the Winter Palace, the General Staff arch and the Alexander Column, which stands by its own weight with no fixings.

Across the river. From the Spit of Vasilyevsky Island, with its Rostral Columns, you get the classic panorama of the city on both banks. The cruiser Aurora, Trinity Bridge and the University Embankment with its sphinxes from Thebes complete the loop.

The Church on Spilled Blood. The church stands where Emperor Alexander II was mortally wounded on 1 March 1881. Built between 1883 and 1907 in deliberately Muscovite style, with bright onion domes, it looks nothing like the classical city around it. Inside, about 7,000 square metres of mosaic cover every wall and vault. Under a canopy is the stretch of original pavement where the attack happened; the church was built out over the canal to enclose it. After decades as a warehouse, it reopened as a museum in 1997.

Good to know

• The tour takes about 3.5 hours, with the start time agreed at booking.
• The car and the entry ticket to the church are included.
• Everything on the driving section is seen from outside, at stops and short walks. The church is the one interior.
• Meals are not included.
• The tour can be booked privately or as part of a group.

Who it suits

First-time visitors who want their bearings before exploring on their own, travellers with only a morning or afternoon free, and anyone who wants the main sights without a long day on foot.