Photo: sergejf (CC BY 2.0)
Culture and heritage · Russia
The White Nights of Saint Petersburg
In early summer the sky over Saint Petersburg never fully darkens, and the Neva's bridges rise at midnight. Ballet evenings, boats on the river and a city that stays awake.
Saint Petersburg · Russia
The experience
Saint Petersburg lies so far north that in summer its sky does not grow fully dark for a month. In June and early July a silver twilight holds until dawn, and the city comes out onto the banks of the Neva and its canals for the season it calls the White Nights.
The finest moment is the raising of the bridges. From April to November the great bridges over the Neva open in the small hours to let ships pass between the Baltic and the inland waterways. We book a private boat that leaves near midnight, so you watch the Palace Bridge rise in front of the Winter Palace and are back at your hotel before the bridges close.
In the evening, the Mariinsky, which opened in 1860, has held its annual Stars of the White Nights festival since 1993, with ballet, opera and concerts. We reserve the best seats and arrange a late dinner afterwards at a restaurant chosen for you.
This is also the season of Scarlet Sails, when the city celebrates the end of the school year with a red-sailed ship on the Neva and fireworks. It draws very large crowds, so we either find you a quiet vantage point or plan your days around it.
By day the city is yours: the Hermitage in the first hours before the crowds, Peterhof by hydrofoil, then a long rest before a night that never quite ends.
Where to stay
Stays close by
City
Saint Petersburg
Grand Hotel Moika 22
An aristocratic mansion of 1853 opposite Palace Square and the Hermitage, with 200 rooms, 29 of them suites, furnished with antiques and European paintings. From Bellevue on the ninth floor the city opens up through 360 degrees.
Price on requestExplore
City
Saint Petersburg
Helvetia Hotel
An independent hotel in a 19th-century mansion in the centre of St Petersburg, run in the spirit of a European family hotel. 85 warm, elegant rooms and two restaurants, one open around the clock.
Price on requestExplore
City
Saint Petersburg
Hotel Astoria, St Petersburg
A grand hotel on St Isaac's Square in the centre of St Petersburg, with a stately facade and an intimate, elegant interior. For more than a century it has witnessed the city's history and hosted its royals, writers and stars.
Price on requestExplore
Russia
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