Tours, Things To Do & Day Trips

Italy is famous for its outdoor fountains and sculpture. Paris, too, has its Arc de Triomphe and dozens more. But St. Petersburg, Russia is no slouch when it comes to monuments. Tourists flock to this ‘Venice of the North’ in part because it has dozens of noteworthy sights for those who love to stroll around [...]

St. Petersburg is sometimes called the ‘Venice of the North’ for all its canals. But canals would be a great inconvenience without bridges to walk across them. Luckily this city of 101 islands has over 500, and many are stunning.

Nevsky Prospekt may sound like a great title for a spy movie, but translated it really just means Neva Avenue. Sounds ordinary, doesn’t it? But, like the Champs Elysées in Paris or Broadway in New York, this road in St. Petersburg is anything but common.

One of Russia’s premier religious sites, the monastery named for Prince Alexander of Novgorod is among the most popular tourist destinations in St. Petersburg. Like many attractions, the site isn’t visited so often solely because of its religious significance. For most visitors, it’s because it has so many architectural and artistic elements to view.

St. Petersburg has beautiful gardens. Not to be missed by any visitor. These gardens have history as well as beauty.

By far one of the most popular attractions in St. Petersburg, the Winter Palace (which houses The Hermitage art museum), deserves the crowds it attracts. It is an outstanding series of structures as well as one of the world’s finest art museums.

St. Petersburg is a fascinating mixture of old-style Russia and Gilded Age Europe. St. Petersburg can be considered the Venice of the north.

One of the big challenges on any vacation to a foreign city is how to find things to do that will be fun for the whole family. Younger children don’t usually have much interest in museums or fine restaurants. But child-oriented science museums or playgrounds aren’t what the adults traveled so far to see.

Helsinki has been the capital of Finland for about 200 years. Yet, Finland is an ancient land. Some of that history is well-captured in Porvoo, about 30 minutes outside the city.

Hietaniemi Cemetery in Helsinki is unusual on many counts. Few large, modern cities have a cemetery in the central part of town at all. Fewer still become tourist meccas. But Hietaniemi Cemetery has earned that role by being a continuing source of beauty and stillness in an often bustling metropolis.

Temppeliaukio (Rock) Church in Helsinki is an architectural marvel, unlike anything you’ve ever seen. Carved from solid rock in a setting that looks like the surface of the moon, it is both a functioning place of worship and a tourist delight.

At Market Square, known locally in Helsinki as Kauppatori, visitors and natives alike can get everything from fresh salmon steak to reindeer meat. But there’s much more than just great food.