St Petersburg

Established three centuries ago on the orders of Peter the Great, Russia's one-time capital was its window to the West, and is still its most European city.

Originally named St Petersburg, then Petrograd, Leningrad, and St Petersburg again, the city has also been proclaimed 'the Venice of the North' and 'Russia's cultural capital'. Extravagant accolades, you might think. However, as first-timers will discover, its dazzling arrangement of palaces, cathedrals, monuments and museums around a network of serpentine waterways makes it worthy of them all.

Imposing Peter and Paul Fortress, on Zayachy Island near the north bank of the River Neva, was the city's first building, and the gilded spire of its cathedral remains a prominent landmark.

To its west lie the museums and grand buildings of eastern Vasilevsky Island, but it's directly across the water to the south that the fairytale heart of St Petersburg awaits.

Here stands the magical Winter Palace, once the residence of tsars and tsarinas, and the superlative art collection in its Hermitage. Equally impressive but often overlooked is the Russian Museum, housing the largest Russian art collection in the world.

Outdoors, merge with the throngs on Nevsky Prospect, lined with splendid sights as it traverses rivers and canals all the way across the centre, or amble around Summer Garden, the city's oldest and most beautiful park.

Always a prize destination for lovers of classical music, opera and ballet, St Petersburg has more recently also become Russia's trendiest city. Nightclubs, bars and live music venues all jostle for your rubles, and the restaurant scene has grown staggeringly diverse.