Saint Petersburg

Peter the Great founded Saint Petersburg on 27 May 1703 where the Neva meets the Gulf of Finland, and it was Russia's capital from 1712 until 1918. Its canals and bridges earned it the name "Venice of the North", and its classical architecture makes it one of Europe's most beautiful cities. UNESCO listed its historic centre in 1990.

At its heart is the Winter Palace, once the residence of the tsars and now part of the Hermitage, founded by Catherine the Great in 1764. The museum holds more than 3 million objects across six historic buildings on the river. Close by are the gilded dome of Saint Isaac's Cathedral, the Church of the Saviour on Spilled Blood on the Griboyedov Canal, and the Peter and Paul Fortress across the water.

Beyond the city lie the summer palaces: Peterhof, about 30 km west, with its gilded fountains above the sea, and the Catherine Palace in Pushkin, home of the Amber Room. In the evening there is the Mariinsky, which opened in 1860.

The city is at its finest in early summer, when the sky never fully darkens during the White Nights and the bridges over the Neva rise at night to let ships through. The Saint Petersburg Mosque, opened in 1913 and modelled on the Gur-e-Amir in Samarkand, stands opposite the Peter and Paul Fortress, though halal restaurants are fewer here than in Moscow or Kazan.