City Tour and the Peter and Paul Fortress

Start with the grand avenues and finish where it all began. This tour drives you through the historic centre and along the Neva, then crosses to the small island where St Petersburg was founded, so the city’s story runs in the right order.

The route

The centre by car. Nevsky Prospect, Kazan Cathedral and Arts Square; the Field of Mars and its Eternal Flame; St Isaac’s Cathedral and the Bronze Horseman on Senate Square; Palace Square with the Winter Palace and the Alexander Column. You stop for photographs and short walks wherever the view is best.

The river and the islands. The Spit of Vasilyevsky Island with its Rostral Columns, the cruiser Aurora, Trinity Bridge and the University Embankment give you the broad Neva panoramas the city is known for.

Hare Island. You enter the Peter and Paul Fortress the traditional way, over the Ioannovsky Bridge and through Peter’s Gate, and walk along the walls between its six bastions. The fortress was laid down in May 1703 to guard the mouth of the Neva during the war with Sweden. It never saw battle and spent most of its life as a political prison, holding Tsarevich Alexei, the Decembrists, the young Dostoevsky and many others.

The Peter and Paul Cathedral. Domenico Trezzini began with the bell tower so the new capital would have a landmark at once. The gilded spire with its angel reaches 122.5 metres. Inside lie almost all the Russian emperors from Peter I to Alexander III, and since 1998 Nicholas II and his family. If the timing works, you will hear the noon gun fired from the Naryshkin Bastion.

Good to know

• The tour lasts about 3.5 hours, with the start time agreed at booking.
• The car and the entry ticket to the Peter and Paul Cathedral are included.
• The fortress walk is on level ground and easy with children.
• The driving section is seen from outside, at stops; the cathedral is the main interior.
• Meals are not included. The tour can be private or part of a group.

Who it suits

Visitors who want to understand why the city stands where it does, history lovers interested in the Romanovs, and families looking for a half-day that mixes driving with an easy walk.