Saint Petersburg

Where to stay

Hostels cluster along Ligovsky Prospekt and in the side streets just off Nevsky Prospekt, where you're on the metro grid without paying for a Palace Square address. The Vladimirskaya and Sennaya Ploshchad stops anchor most of the budget options and put the Hermitage within a reasonable walk or one short ride.

Getting around

• The metro is fast, cheap, and covers nearly every sight worth seeing. Use it for anything more than a few blocks. Taxis hailed near the Hermitage or Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood will quote you tourist prices without hesitation.
• Ulitsa Rubinshteyna, a short walk from Vladimirskaya metro, has a stretch of small restaurants where the clientele is mostly local. Prices drop noticeably the moment you step off Nevsky Prospekt.
• The Hermitage is bigger than most people expect. Book a timed entry slot before you arrive, pick one or two sections to actually focus on, and get there when it opens to beat the group tours that clog the main halls by mid-morning.

When to go

White Nights in June and July fill hostels weeks in advance and push nightly rates to their annual peak. November through February is the quietest stretch, with the lowest prices and almost no competition for beds.