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Walking routes in Saint Petersburg

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      Neva lights: from Troitsky Bridge to Palace Bridge

      ⏱ 3 h 45 min🚶 4.5 km🍽 1📍 7 stops
      🚶 Moderate — 3–7 km

      Sunset from Troitsky Bridge, dusk at the walls of Peter and Paul, dinner opposite the fortress and the evening Strelka — the Neva when the embankments light up.

      🌙 Evening🏛 History and architecture
      🗺 Open in Yandex Maps
      1. 1
        🌳 Field of Mars
        A huge field-square with lawns and lilacs, with a granite memorial to the Victims of the Revolution in the centre.
        Start half an hour before sunset (in October — around 17:00): head through Suvorovskaya Square to the Neva.
        📖 More about the placeCollapse
        Field of Mars
        © Godot13 · CC BY-SA 4.0
        Field of Mars
        © Комова Анастасия · CC BY-SA 4.0
        Field of Mars
        © Florstein · CC BY-SA 4.0
        • The square covers about 9 hectares — the second largest in the city after Moskovskaya Square.
        • Under Peter I parades were held here and “amusement fireworks” were set off; the meadow was called the Great one, under Elizabeth the Tsaritsyn, and the Field of Mars from 1805.
        • The monument to the Fighters of the Revolution, designed by Lev Rudnev, was unveiled on 7 November 1919; the inscriptions on the slabs were written by Lunacharsky.
        • On 6 November 1957 the USSR's first eternal flame was lit here — the torch was brought from an open-hearth furnace of the Kirov Plant.
        • In 1967 the flame at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Moscow was lit from the fire on the Field of Mars.
        • In the summer of 1942, during the siege, the whole field was given over to vegetable gardens.
      2. 🚶 on foot
      3. 2
        🌅 Trinity Bridge
        A drawbridge about 580 metres long with openwork lamps and views of the Peter and Paul Fortress.
        Stop in the middle of the bridge: the sun sets behind the Strelka and the Peter and Paul spire. At dark the lighting of the bridge and lamps comes on.
        📖 More about the placeCollapse
        Trinity Bridge
        © Александровы АГ · CC BY-SA 4.0
        Trinity Bridge
        © GAlexandrova · CC BY-SA 4.0
        • The bridge was laid on 12 August 1897 under Nicholas II and French President Félix Faure, in response to the laying of the Pont Alexandre III in Paris.
        • Gustave Eiffel's firm won the competition, but construction went to the French company Batignolles.
        • Until 1965, when the Alexander Nevsky Bridge opened, the Trinity Bridge, at 582 m, was the longest in the city.
        • The bridge is dedicated to the 25th wedding anniversary of Alexander III and Maria Feodorovna — the plaques on the obelisks say so.
        • In 1918–1934 it was called the Equality Bridge, and in 1934–1991 the Kirov Bridge.
        • The Pulkovo meridian crosses the northern part of the bridge.
        • Since 2005 the raised span of the Trinity Bridge has been one of the symbols of the Scarlet Sails graduates' festival.
      4. 🚶 on foot
      5. 3
        🏛 Peter and Paul Fortress
        🎟 partly ticketed · The grounds are free; the cathedral and museums are ticketed
        The noon cannon shot — at 12:00
        Over Ioannovsky Bridge into the fortress, the grounds are open until 21:00. Walk to the Nevsky Gate: on the far bank Palace Embankment lights up.
        📖 More about the placeCollapse
        Peter and Paul Fortress
        © Andrey Korzun · CC BY-SA 4.0
        Peter and Paul Fortress
        © Godot13 · CC BY-SA 4.0
        • The fortress was founded on 16 (27) May 1703 — this day is considered the founding day of Petersburg.
        • The fortress never took part in military action.
        • From 1706 the earthen ramparts began to be replaced with brick ones; the bastions are named after Peter's associates — Menshikov, Naryshkin, Trubetskoy.
        • The Peter and Paul Cathedral was built in 1712–1733 to a design by Trezzini; the bell tower is 122.5 m high, and inside is the Romanov burial vault.
        • The Peter Gate is dedicated to the victories over Sweden; Trezzini designed its Baroque facade in 1708.
        • Until the early 1920s the Trubetskoy Bastion held a prison for political prisoners; Maxim Gorky was held there in 1905.
        • In 1991 a monument to Peter I by Mikhail Shemyakin was placed on the central alley.
      6. 🚶 on foot
      7. 4
        🍽 Alye Parusa Restaurant
        Кронверкская наб., 3, корп. 2
        ▮▮▮▯▯
        Leave via Kronverksky Bridge — the restaurant is right opposite the fortress, and its windows show the walls and the lit cathedral spire. Open until 23:00.
        🍴 A family restaurant on Kronverkskaya Embankment with a view of the Peter and Paul Fortress, a summer veranda and its own beer. What to order: borscht, assorted shashliks, lyulya kebab, beef stroganoff with mash.
      8. 🚶 on foot
      9. 5
        🌅 Strelka of Vasilyevsky Island (the Spit)
        The Rostral Columns and a view of the Neva
        Along the Kronverksky Strait and over Birzhevoy Bridge to the Strelka. The Rostral Columns are lit in the evening, and the fire on them is lit only on holidays.
        📖 More about the placeCollapse
        Strelka of Vasilyevsky Island (the Spit)
        © A.Savin · FAL 1.3
        Strelka of Vasilyevsky Island (the Spit)
        © Kora27 · CC BY-SA 3.0
        • Until 1885 Petersburg's seaport worked on the Spit, then it was moved to Gutuevsky Island.
        • The 32-metre Rostral Columns were put up by Thomas de Thomon in 1805–1810; until 1885 they served as lighthouses.
        • The columns' name comes from the Latin rostrum, “ship's prow”: they are decorated with metal ship prows and anchors.
        • The version that the figures at the base of the columns are the Volkhov, Neva, Dnieper and Volga is recent and not confirmed by documents.
        • The Exchange building, shaped like an ancient temple, opened in 1816; since 2013 it has been handed over to the Hermitage.
        • From 1937 to 1989 the square on the Spit was called Pushkin Square.
      10. 🚶 on foot
      11. 6
        🌅 Palace Bridge
        Raised during the navigation season (April–November) at about 1:10
        The bridge in lights, with the Winter Palace and Admiralty visible from it. Until the end of November it opens around 1:10 a.m., so this route won't catch the bridge opening.
        📖 More about the placeCollapse
        Palace Bridge
        © Vyacheslav Bukharov · CC BY-SA 4.0
        Palace Bridge
        © Александровы АГ · CC BY-SA 4.0
        Palace Bridge
        © Safa.daneshvar · CC BY 4.0
        • The permanent bridge opened on 23 December 1916 unfinished, with “temporary” wooden railings.
        • The cast-iron railings replaced the wooden ones only in 1939.
        • The design by engineer Andrzej Pshenitsky of the Kolomna Works Society was chosen for construction.
        • Before opening, the bridge was tested by driving 34 loaded trucks onto all its spans at once.
        • From 1918 to 1944 the bridge was called the Republican Bridge.
        • The earlier floating Palace Bridge, moved to Senate Square, burned down in 1916 from a spark from a passing tug.
        • The tram tracks were removed from the bridge in 1997.
      12. 🚶 on foot
      13. 7
        🏛 Palace Square
        The city's main square between the Winter Palace and the arc of the General Staff Building with the Triumphal Arch.
        The finale at the Alexander Column: the Winter Palace and General Staff in lights. To Admiralteyskaya is 5 minutes.
        📖 More about the placeCollapse
        Palace Square
        © Mikhey77777 · CC BY-SA 4.0
        • From 1918 to 1944 the square was called Uritsky Square, after the head of the Petrograd Cheka, killed by the General Staff Building.
        • On 16 June 1766 Catherine II held a Carousel here — an equestrian festival-tournament with Rinaldi's wooden amphitheater seating several thousand.
        • The granite monolith of the Alexander Column is not fixed in any way and stays on its pedestal under its own weight alone.
        • In 1924 it was decided to replace the angel on the column with a figure of Lenin, but after a year of discussion the project was dropped.
        • The east side of the square is closed off by the Guards Corps headquarters, built by Alexander Bryullov in 1837–1843.
        • In 1932 the square's cobblestones were paved over with asphalt, and the diabase-cobble paving was restored only in 1977.
        • In autumn 1941 they seriously discussed making an airfield for fighters on the square by moving the column, but dropped the idea.

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