Product Description

Your holiday starts the moment you open the guide … "The best guide available. Packed to the brim with colour photos, maps and essential information." Reader review Capture the essence of St Petersburg. From the stunning Menshikov Palace to the Alexander Column. Photos, illustrations, unique 3D models and birds-eye-view maps of all the major sites ensure you don't miss a thing. Clue up on the basics, from the most comfortable places to stay (whatever your budget) to the best bars and restaurants. Discover where the locals go, enjoy relaxing entertainment, amazing sites and retail therapy, exciting sports, scenic walks or drives, thematic tours and colourful festivals. All you need for an unforgettable trip. Winner of the Guardian & Observer ‘Best Guide Books' and Wanderlust Magazine Silver Award for 'Top Guidebook'.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #23307 in Books
• Published on: 2007-02-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 264 pages

Customer Reviews

Excellent photos in clear and easy to use guide
I first picked up a DK Eyewitness to Paris and was amazed at how well ordered it was, with lavish photos and good maps and descriptions. The St. Petersburg guide is no exception, and as someone who knows the city well, I can wholly recommend this guide. Each of the main regions are broken down and discussed in detail, and there's a practical section at the back with hotel and restaurant details as well as useful information about St. Petersburg and Russia.

The only people this may not be of use to is the budget traveller - although you may wish to take this with you anyway for its history section and clear referencing. Buy!

A pleasing and informative guide
As the most beautiful city I have ever visited (indeed, perhaps the most beautiful city in the world), many guidebooks do not do St. Petersburg justice. Instead they choose to focus on a country in economic and political turmoil and a city with decaying buildings from a former era. Whether you believe these judgements or not (personally, I think the buildings in central St. Petersburg are in excellent condition), they do not exactly fill you with excitement about seeing the city's wonders (of which there are many) and make you feel like it was worth shelling out all that money to come on holiday here.

This guide, however, is different. It refrains from this gloomy picture of the city and instead paints a St. Petersburg that is full of history, culture and wonder (which I believe to be true and which surely the average holidaymaker would rather hear). Detailed pictures and photographs of monuments and buildings are accompanied by fascinating historical facts. The pictures and photographs mean that it is easier to look sights up (unlike in other guidebooks where you may have to pore over blocks of text and maps first).

The book is divided into handy sections of what to see in various parts of the city. All the main sights are accounted for and it also details what to see in particular if you have limited time (such as which sections of The Hermitage to visit). It also has sections about the various out-of-town palaces that are worth a look, as well as a section on Novgorod. What it does not do well, however, is include an adequate section about nightlife, Internet cafes etc in the city (although the tourist could rely on the free newspaper The St. Petersburg Times for this, particular as these things are always changing in a rapidly developing city such as St. Petersburg). Also the map in the back of the book is far too small (although the main tourist sights are on it, it does not, for example, include the whole of Vasilevskii Island) and is in English (which is not particularly helpful when asking directions). The book also fails to account for the pleasures of taking a local suburban train into the countryside and enjoying a swim and picnic Russian-style. Nevertheless, I thoroughly recommend this guide.

The best value guide to St Petersburg
Have just returned from a long weekend in St Petersburg and this book was constantly by our side. We chose it over the Lonely Planet and Rough Guide books, given their poor reviews, and were not disappointed. The map is helpful, it is well arranged by area and there are some interesting bits about the history of St Petersburg.

The best bit about the book were the restaurant recommendations, which were excellent, especially for the cheaper Georgian/Azeri/Armenian restaurants.

One minor criticism is the tram/bus/trolleybus map on the back cover. We used this a lot (a great way to get around the city) but it was out of date and only covered the centre of the city.

But otherwise a great guide: highly recommended.