There is no shortage of a place to dine in St Petersburg, no matter what your preference is - from traditional hearty Russian cuisine to International dishes. Even the ubiquitous fast food outlets such as KFC have a place here and some local ones which offer “blini” (pancakes) with sweet or savoury fillings. Be cautious of buying food and drink from street vendors and kiosks around metro stations, as hygiene standards are dubious.

Palace Square is the heart of St Petersburg, it houses the Winter Palace, the General Staff Building, the Building of the Ministries and is centred on the imposing Alexander Column made of a solitary piece of red granite and stands at 156ft. The Winter Palace once served as the tsarist residence and now currently belongs to the State Hermitage. It is the largest artistic, historical and cultural museum which showcases the paintings of Rubens, Rembrandt, Leonardo da Vinci, Titian and works of many other masters from around the world.

Isaac Square is named after the splendid St Isaac's Cathedral, situated in the center of the square. It is opulently decorated with huge columns, paintings, mosaics, sculptures, marble and semi-precious stones.

The Peter & Paul Fortress is the oldest building in St Petersburg, it was founded in 1703. It was used as a political prison until 1917 and renowned citizens such as Dostoevsky, Gorky, Trotsky and Lenin's older brother, Alexander were held there. The Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul is the oldest Church in the city and is the second tallest. It is closely related to both the history of the city and to the Romanov dynasty, as it is the resting place of almost all the rulers of Russia since Peter the Great.

The Yusupov Palace, where the prosperous and esteemed Yusupov family once resided was built in the early Russian Classical style by Vallin de la Mothe. It shows a unique blend of an architectural monument and a temple of art. It was here in December 1916 that the infamous Gregory Rasputin was murdered.

The Alexander Nevsky Monastery complex houses some of the oldest buildings in St Petersburg, and cemeteries which have the graves of some of the most illustrious figures in Russian culture, such as Tchaikovsky, Dostoevsky, and Glinka. The Lazarus Cemetery is the burial place of a number of the eminent architects who left their permanent mark on the city, including Starov, Quarenghi and Rossi.

The Admiralty was one of St Petersburg’s first structures built and it was here that the first ships of Russia's Baltic Fleet were constructed and it housed the Ministry of Naval Forces. The Admiralty is the architectural and compositional center of St Petersburg and the three major thoroughfares of the city meet here.

The Central Navy Museum is attached to the Admiralty and is one of the oldest in the city. The museum is dedicated to Russian naval history and has over 1500 exhibits including a variety of flags, historical documents, weapons and such.

The Cruiser Aurora has been made into a floating museum containing documents and photographs associated with the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917. It is legendary due to the fact that it fired the first shot in the revolution.

Decembrists Square is named after the first Russian revolutionaries who challenged the autocratic Government of Imperial Russia. A Monument of Peter the Great the founder of St Petersburg stands in the centre of the Square and is widely believed to be the first monument in Russia.

For culture lovers, the Arts Square which is named after its collection of museums and concert halls is not to be missed. The Russian Art Museum is the largest museum in the world and has almost 400,000 works. There is also the Ethnography Museum which signifies the ethnic cultures of the former USSR, the large Hall of the St Petersburg Philharmonia, where top classical concerts take place and the Maly Theatre which plays second fiddle only to the Mariinsky for opera and ballet. A statue of the Russian poet Pushkin stands in the centre of Arts Square.

The Marble Palace is a division of the Russian Museum, designed by Antonio Rinaldi the renowned Italian architect. The palace has a permanent exhibition of European artists of the 18th and half of the 19th centuries who lived and worked in Russia. International modern art is also exhibited.

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