FOLLOW US

World Travel Guide > Guides > Europe > Russia > St Petersburg

Local time St Petersburg

Currency

руб

St Petersburg Nightlife

St Petersburg has all the nightlife you would expect from a historic European capital. Depending on your tastes, you can dress up for the ballet, weep at the opera, get transported to imperial Russia in a Chekhov play, or dance until the early hours at a host of pumping bars, clubs and live music venues.

Tickets and programmes for concerts and shows are available directly from the venues, but you can buy discounted tickets from the theatre ticket kiosks or kassas located throughout the city (open 1000-1900). You’ll find lots of these along Nevsky Prospekt, around the junction with Mikhailovskaya ulitsa.

For upcoming events, check the weekly listings in the St Petersburg Times (www.sptimes.ru). St Petersburg is a popular stop for touring rock bands, so look out for posters around the city centre advertising upcoming gigs. Foreign visitors are officially charged higher rates than Russians and ticket collectors are reluctant to admit foreigners with Russian-price tickets.

Bars in St Petersburg

Bar 812

If you’re sick of having your vodka cold and straight, this stylish cocktail bar certainly shakes things up a little. It’s all about imaginative and inventive drinks devised in all manner of scientific ways. If you’re not sure what to plump for, just ask the bartender to go wild, and then sip back and enjoy.

Address: , ulitsa Zhukovskogo 11, St Petersburg, 191014
Telephone: +7 812 956 812 9.
Website: http://www.bar812.ru

Stirka 40°

Cold beers, DJs, beautiful people and… laundry? Welcome to Stirka 40°, part bar, part art-café and part laundrette. It's a pleasingly bohemian hangout, and the atmosphere is refreshingly uncontrived, despite the hipster setting. As well as DJ sets, there are occasional live acts, from rock bands to poetry. You can get your clothes washed while you bop.

Address: , Kazanskaya ulitsa 26, St Petersburg, 190000
Telephone: +7 812 314 5371.
Website: http://40gradusov.ru

Union Bar & Grill

St Petersburg hipsters groom carefully before putting their facial hair on display at this popular beer hall and cocktail bar. Serious cocktail mixology and craft beers keep the punters happy, and crowds mob the long wooden bar at weekends. Be warned though: this place gets super busy at the end of the week.

Address: , Liteyny prospekt 55, St Petersburg, 191014
Telephone: +7 812 644 5414.
Website: http://unionbar.ru/

Clubs in St Petersburg

Efir Club

An exponent of everything electronic, the Efir Club is home to St Petersburg’s best cutting edge DJs. It welcomes a host of international tastemakers too, spreading the love across two rooms. With innovative visuals and a throbbing dancefloor, expect to drag yourself out around 6am – if you’re cool enough to get past face control.

Address: , Malyy prospekt P.S. 54, St Petersburg,
Telephone: +7 812 940 0548.

Griboedov

The focal point for the Petersburg underground scene, Griboedov is renowned for its cheap drinks, loud music and spirit crowd. The stage hosts everything from rock and ska bands to hardcore techno and house nights, and energetic locals gather at weekends to rock out Russian style.

Address: , Voronezhsakaya ulitsa 2A, St Petersburg, 191119
Telephone: +7 812 764 4355.
Website: http://www.griboedovclub.ru

Jesus Club

It's house and techno all the way at this throbbing nightclub, which attracts big name DJs from across Russia and Europe. There are two dancefloors and plenty of beautiful people, but the dress code is strict, so you'll need to look at your very best to get past face control.

Address: , Ligovsky prospekt 50/13, St Petersburg, 191040
Telephone: +7 812 949 4995.
Website: http://vk.com/jesusklub

Live music in St Petersburg

Fish Fabrique

A bohemian crowd gathers at Fish Fabrique to listen to the latest up-and-coming St Petersburg rock bands, play table football, and enjoy loud nights out with friends, fuelled by plenty of beer and vodka. It's small and friendly, and a great place to plug into the alternative scene in St Petersburg.

Address: , Ligovsky prospekt 53, St Petersburg, 191040
Telephone: +7 812 764 4857.
Website: http://fishfabrique.ru

Jazz Philharmonic Hall

Founded by the legendary jazz violinist David Goloshchokin, this is Petersburg's leading venue for jazz and blues, hosting everything from Dixieland to ragtime and big band blues. Jazz-dancing nights fill the dancefloor and there are also special morning shows for children. Book a table near the front for the best views.

Address: , Zagorodny prospekt 27, St Petersburg, 191180
Telephone: +7 812 764 8565.
Website: http://www.jazz-hall.com

Money Honey

Bringing a taste of the 1950s and a hint of the Wild West to St Petersburg, Money Honey is the top spot to hear Russian rockabilly – perhaps Russia's most surreal music scene. To experience Money Honey at its best, come when the double-bass rhythms are pumping on Friday or Saturday.

Address: , Sadovaya ulitsa 28-30, St Petersburg, 191036
Telephone: +7 812 310 0549.
Website: http://www.money-honey.ru

Classical music in St Petersburg

Dance in St Petersburg

Theatres in St Petersburg

Music and Dance in St Petersburg

Culture in St Petersburg

A digital image at https://illuminoto.com

Book Accommodation

Featured Hotels

SEE MORE

Pushka Inn

Set in a stately 18th-century mansion overlooking the Moyka River, the Pushka offers tastefully decorated rooms at a reasonable price. A boutique atmosphere pervades, and rooms have wooden floors and fabrics and furnishings in subtle colours. Wi-Fi access is complementary and, unusually, a buffet breakfast is included in the room rates.

Corinthia Hotel St Petersburg

With an enviable location on Nevsky prospekt, the Corinthia offers sleek modernity in place of the usual historical flourishes. The hotel features a grand 19th-century frontage, but inside everything is stylish and contemporary, with designer furniture, LCD TVs and high-speed Wi-Fi. There’s even a Russian restaurant, a Viennese café and two bars.

Kempinski Hotel Moika 22

It would be hard to find grander facilities than at the Kempinski Hotel Moika 22. Minutes from the Hermitage, it combines 21st-century facilities with touches of imperial grandeur. Rooms have high-speed Wi-Fi, 24-hour room service, and goose-down pillows and duvets. The hotel also boasts two restaurants, a bar and lounge, an English-style tearoom and a famously well-stocked wine cellar.

Soul Kitchen Hostel

Budget hotels are thin on the ground in St Petersburg, but Soul Kitchen impressively fills the gap with boutique rooms, comfy dorms and communal areas you'll actually want to spend time in. The impressive list of perks includes free Wi-Fi, free phone calls and a shared kitchen. It also has a lovely canal-side location, a block from St Isaac's Cathedral.

Hotel Dostoevsky

This tidy, contemporary hotel has a great location, across from the Cathedral of Our Lady of Vladimir, in the bustling Vladimirskaya district.. The hotel offers in-room internet access, cable television, IDD phones, a fitness centre, plus the three must-haves for any Russian hotel – a restaurant, bar and sauna.

State Hermitage Museum Official Hotel

You can't actually stay at the Hermitage, but this grand baroque hotel, run by the owners of the State Museum, is the next best thing. Set in a gorgeously modernised mansion, it recreates the grandeur of Catherine's riverside palace, down to the arcades of Ionic columns and lavish ballroom. Rooms have sumptuous fabrics, stylish furnishings and high-speed internet.