Built 300 years ago from scratch by Peter the Great, St. Petersburg was to represent the wealth and power of Russian empire. It has adopted the features of Europe’s best cities, like canals from Venice, palaces of Paris, churches of Rome. It has become the living museum of Russian history and one of the most important cities in the world for world-politics and commerce, art and culture. Each year, St. Petersburg sees 10 mln travelers making it one of the top 10 travel destinations on our planet.

St. Petersburg authorities have been so keen on preserving the city’s unique style that they put restriction on the size of hotels that could be built in the city. As a result, St. Petersburg developed an extensive network of smaller hotels, scattered throughout the entire city. There are large hotels too, of course, but they are not so widespread and tend to be located away from the city center (with exception of 5 star hotels).

The peak travel season to St. Petersburg is during summer and the best places to stay are usually within a 2 miles from Palace Square.