Saint Petersburg 3-Day Itinerary: Palaces, Islands and Imperial Estates

Three full days in Saint Petersburg allow travellers to experience the city's imperial mainland core, its historic islands across the Neva River, and at least one of its world-famous suburban palace estates without rushing between districts. Each day below groups sights by river bank and canal corridor to minimise transit time.

Day 1: Palace Square, the State Hermitage, Nevsky Prospekt and the Cathedrals

• Morning (Palace Square and the State Hermitage): Start in the morning on Palace Square beneath the 47.5-metre Alexander Column and Carlo Rossi's General Staff Arch. Enter the Winter Palace with a pre-booked timed ticket to tour the Jordan Staircase, the Pavilion Hall Peacock Clock, and the Italian Renaissance and Dutch Old Master rooms, followed by the Impressionist and Matisse galleries in the General Staff Building.
• Midday (Moika River to Savior on Spilled Blood): Walk east along the Moika River past Pushkin's Apartment to the Griboyedov Canal and tour more than 7,000 square metres of mosaics inside the 1907 Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood. Stop for hot sugar-dusted pyshki on Bolshaya Konyushennaya Street or blini at Singer Café on Nevsky Prospekt.
• Afternoon and Evening (Kazan Cathedral to Saint Isaac's): Cross Nevsky Prospekt into Andrey Voronikhin's 1811 Kazan Cathedral, walk south to photograph the gilded griffins on Bank Bridge, and head west past the Admiralty Building and the Bronze Horseman on Senate Square to climb the spiral staircase up the colonnade of Saint Isaac's Cathedral before sunset.

Day 2: Hare Island, Vasilyevsky Island, Russian Museum and a Canal Cruise

• Morning (Peter and Paul Fortress and the Strelka): Walk north across Trinity Bridge and the Ioannovsky Bridge to Hare Island to visit the 1703 Peter and Paul Fortress and the Romanov imperial tombs inside Domenico Trezzini's 122.5-metre Saints Peter and Paul Cathedral, staying for the noon cannon salute from the Naryshkin Bastion. Walk west across Birzhevoy Bridge to the Strelka of Vasilyevsky Island to see the 1810 Old Stock Exchange, the red Rostral Columns, the 1718 Kunstkamera, and the 1710 Menshikov Palace.
• Afternoon (Summer Garden, Russian Museum and Fabergé Museum): Recross the Neva to stroll through Peter the Great's 1704 Summer Garden and past Saint Michael's Castle to Arts Square for two hours among the Repin, Aivazovsky, and avant-garde galleries of the State Russian Museum, or tour the nine Imperial Easter Eggs at the Fabergé Museum on the Fontanka River.
• Evening (Canal Boat and Mariinsky Theatre): Take a one-hour early evening boat tour along the Fontanka and Moika canals, then attend a ballet or opera performance at the Mariinsky Theatre or walk over to New Holland Island.

Day 3: Peterhof Fountains and Tsarskoye Selo (Catherine Palace)

• Morning (Peterhof Grand Cascade and Lower Gardens): Between May and October, board an early morning Meteor hydrofoil from the Hermitage pier across the Gulf of Finland (or take a year-round suburban train from Baltiysky Station) to Peterhof. Watch the morning fountain turn-on ceremony at the 64-fountain Grand Cascade and Samson Fountain, tour the Grand Palace, and walk along the Sea Canal to Peter the Great's coastal villa Monplaisir.
• Afternoon (Catherine Palace and the Amber Room in Pushkin): Travel south to Pushkin (Tsarskoye Selo) to tour Bartolomeo Rastrelli's 300-metre blue-and-white Catherine Palace, the gilded Great Hall, and the reconstructed Amber Room, followed by a walk along Charles Cameron's 1787 Cameron Gallery and Catherine Park before returning by suburban train to Vitebsky Railway Terminal.