Maps Events Restaurants Cafés Nightlife Sightseeing Shopping Hotels St. Petersburg April - May 2014 Stepping out Enjoy the good weather by exploring Smolny Noble atmosphere History and style. Dining at the Palkin inyourpocket.com N°94 Contents Where to eat 21 ESSENTIAL Rubinshteina Street 36 CIT Y GUIDES Restaurants in Hotels 38 Nightlife 42 Foreword 4 What to see 46 In the News 5 The Essentials 46 Peterhof 50 Arrival & Getting Around 6 Where to stay 52 City Basics 8 Interview with consierge 54 Language 9 Shopping 56 Culture & Events 10 Expat & Lifestyle 58 Concerts, festivals and exhibitions 10 The Expat Experience 59 Sport news 15 Business 60 Features 16 Smolny District 16 Maps & Index Palkin. Historic dining 19 Metro map 61 Nevsky prospect 40 City map 62 Street register 64 www.facebook.com/StPetersburgYourPocket Moscow 65 www.facebook.com/StPetersburgInYourPocket April - May 2014 3 Foreword In the News Spring has sprung and St. Petersburg is getting a new look! After months of long, dark nights it’s lovely to feel some sun ECONOMIC FORUM BOLSHOI DRAMA THEATRE on your skin and enjoy warm days that are getting longer The St. Petersburg International Economic Forum will be and longer. It is a real pleasure going into the centre after held on 22-14 May this year. The forum is the main an- Tovstonogov Bolshoi Drama Theater on the Fontanka work, walking along the crowded Nevsky while it’s still light nual international economic and business forum convened Embankment will be reopened on May 27. The thea- St. Petersburg In YourESSENTIAL Pocket and seeing people enjoying late night dinners and drinks in Russia. It attracts about 4,000 people from around the tre was closed in 2011 for major reconstruction work. founded and publishedCI TbyY GUIDES on newly opened terraces. The city is waking up and it OOO Krasnaya Shapka/In Your Pocket. world and has seen the participation of high ranking gov- The original building was constructed in 1876-77 and becomes so lively. I just love this time! But not only St. Pe- Russia, 196084 St. Petersburg, Ul. Tsvetochnaya 25A, ernment officials and leading businesses. Unless you have has been the home of the Bolshoi Drama Theatre since tersburg is changing. If you are familiar with In Your Pocket tel: +7 (812) 448 88 65, fax: +7 (812) 448 88 64, [email protected], russia.inyourpocket.com a keen interest in business and want to participate in the fo- 1919. The programme for the theatre this year prom- guides you must have noticed that we just had a complete rum, it is a good time to avoid St. Petersburg, as the forum is ises to be particularly full with the theatre celebrating makeover using a brand new design. The guide is fresh and Publisher Bonnie van der Velde, [email protected] known for creating traffic congestion, detours, and closing its 95th anniversary. The theatre offers a range of clas- simple making it even nicer and easier to use. It’s beautiful! General director Tanya Skvortsova, [email protected] off tourist attractions for official visits. The forum also places sic plays including those on classic works by Russian I hope you like it as much as our team does! Director Sales&Strategy Jerke Verschoor, [email protected] Editor&PR Ksenia Elzes, [email protected] significant demand on hotels throughout the city leading authors including Dostoevsky, Pushkin, Chekhov and The famous White Nights have no official beginning date Editor Peter Campbell to extremely high prices. So unless you want to participate Odoevsky as well as some of the finest playwrights but start in early May. And the opening of the bridges Researcher Wabke Waaijer, [email protected] in the forum, plan your visit to St. Petersburg around the from world theatre. www.bdt.spb.ru which is a classic feature of the White Nights usually starts Design Malvina Markina, [email protected] forum! www.forumspb.com in April. This is something that makes our city very unique. Sales Managers Ilya Timshin, [email protected] And the last but not least - spring brings with it plenty of Peter Smirnov, [email protected] holidays. In April we have Cosmonauts’ Day (April 12) and Customer Service Manager NIGHT OF MUSEUMS Russian Orthodox Easter (April 20). In May Russians will Tanya Kharitonova, [email protected] To celebrate International Museum Day, St. Petersburg’s be getting time off work to mark Spring and Labour Day Copyright notice museum offer a range of excursions and programmes avail- (May 1) and Victory Day (May 9, the day when Russians Text and photos copyright OOO Krasnaya Shapka 2003-2014. All able at night on March 17/18. The don’t promise mummies celebrate the end of World War II). Spring is a wonderful rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any leaving their sarcophagi or dinosaurs chasing you down time to enjoy St. Petersburg. form, except brief extracts for the purpose of review, without written the corridors but they do offer concerts, special excursions, As always, we have chosen the very best St. Petersburg can permission from the publisher and copyright owner. The brand name In Your Pocket is used under license from UAB In Your Pocket. master classes and historical reconstructions (so you might offer. Put the guide in your pocket, put on your sunglasses just meet Catherine the Great or Lenin). This year the theme and have fun! Editor’s note of the night will be “light and colour”. Over 2000 museums Ksenia Elzes, Russia In Your Pocket The editorial content of In Your Pocket guides is independent from in 42 European countries will be participating in the night paid-for advertising. We welcome all readers‘ comments and sug- gestions. We have made every effort to ensure the accuracy of the of the museum with about 100 cultural establishments in COVER STORY information at the time of going to press and assume no responsibility St. Petersburg participating, so keep an eye on your favour- for changes and errors. ite museums and see what wonders will befall on the Night INDIGO HOTEL OPENING of the Museums. www.artnight.ru This spring Hotel Indigo is opening its first Eastern Euro- The lovely, historic interior of the Palkin. The historic res- © OOO Krasnaya Shapka/In Your Pocket taurant has seen and experienced it all. Find out about © Maps: J.J. van der Molen, www.jobvandermolen.nl pean boutique hotel in St. Petersburg. The Hotel Indigo St. the restaurant which first appeared in 1785 in our fea- Published 6 times per year with supplements, Petersburg – Tchaikovskogo, is located in a newly restored o ture story (page 19). N 94, 01.04.2014, 90,000 copies. 19th century building at Chaikovskogo 17 – named after For children aged 16 years and over. the famous Russian compose Petr Ilich Tchaikovsky. The hotel boasts a stunning interior and a wide range of ser- vices including some which are not offered elsewhere in St. ABOUT IYP Petersburg. The hotel includes 119 rooms, conference halls and a stylish restaurant for fine dinning. The seven story ho- It’s now 22 years since we published the first ESTONIA tel also includes bars, a fitness studio, a swimming pool and In Your Pocket guide - to Vilnius in Lithuania LATVIA RUSSIA saunas. The hotel is well located for taking full advantage of - in which time we have grown to become NORTHERN LITHUANIA the city’s cultural offerings being within comfortable walk- IRELAND the largest publisher of locally produced IRELAND BELARUS ing distance of several of the city’s largest museums, shop- NETHERLANDS city guides in Europe. We now cover more POLAND ping centres, theatres and cinemas. www.ihg.com GERMANY UKRAINE than 100 cities across the continent (with BELGIUM CZECH Gudauri, in Georgia, the latest city to be REPUBLIC pocketed) and the number of concise, witty, AUSTRIA HUNGARY SWITZERLAND ROMANIA GEORGIA well-written and downright indispensable SLOVENIACROATIA Санкт-Петербург ITALY In Your Pocket guides published each year is o BOSNIA SERBIA В Твоем Кармане Заказ N 59-10 BULGARIA approaching five million. We will be expand- Учредитель и издатель: Свидетельство о регистрации MONTENEGRO ООО «Красная Шапка» средства массовой информации FYR MACEDONIA ing even further this year, with the publica- ALBANIA Россия, 196084 Санкт-Петербург Пи No. 2-6849 от 17.10.03 GREECE tion of a guide to Johannesburg: our first Ул. Цветочная д. 25, лит. А. выдано Северо-Западным outside of Europe. тел. : + 7 (812) 448 88 65 региональным управлением факс: + 7(812) 448 88 64 комитета РФ по печати. Цена To keep up to date with all that’s new at In Главный редактор: Бонни ван свободная. SOUTH дер Велде Тираж 90 000 экз. No93. AFRICA Your Pocket, like us on Facebook (facebook. Отпечатано в ООО “МДМ- 01.02.2014 com/inyourpocket) or follow us on Twitter Печать”, Для детей старше 16 лет. 188640, Л.О., г. Вcеволожск, (twitter.com/inyourpocket). Всеволожский пр., 114 4 St. Petersburg In Your Pocket st-petersburg.inyourpocket.com www.facebook.com/StPetersburgInYourPocket April - May 2014 5 Arriving & Getting Around Arriving & Getting Around St. Petersburg has excellent public transport. The metro sys- The Traffic Police have stops when you enter a new zone of Departing St. Petersburg by train: If you’d just like to get tem is amazing - attractive and efficient, it is the fastest way jurisdiction. You are required to proceed slowly and there is out of the city for the day, local trains (electrichky) cheaply to get across town or into the central city. If you find Cyrillic a chance you might get pulled off.