St Petersburg

Russia's cultural capital, St.Petersburg was founded by Czar Peter the Great in 1703. Now the country's second largest city, it is often described as the most Western city in Russia, and is the northernmost city in the world with a population of over a million.

St.Petersburg can be reached in just three and half hours from Heathrow airport, and is also easily accessed by high speed train from Moscow or even Helsinki.

Perhaps the city's most famous monument is the Hermitage, the Baroque Winter Palace of the Czars which now houses one of the world's greatest art collections. In the city you can visit the island in the delta of the river Neva where Peter the Great founded the city and built the Peter and Paul fortress, and outside the city you can visit the summer palaces and gardens of Russia's 18th and 19th century rulers.

The world famous Mariinski Theatre is a must, and Scott Dunn can arrange your ballet opera, or classical music tickets or even a backstage tour.

Once you have had your fill of Czars and Palaces, you can shop like an oligarch in the city's designer stores or enjoy an ice cold premium vodka in a trendy bar or nightclub, or some blinis with caviar in the vodka bar of the Grand Hotel Europe or the Hotel Angleterre.

Or for a more off the beaten track experience why not let us arrange a visit to the market and cookery class with a real Russian family, or a visit to a vodka museum!