An one- or two-hour horse drawn coach ride through captivating historic center of St. Petersburg is an absolutely unique way to explore the city. You will go along the streets, squares, embankments designed to be used by just the stuff you will be riding in. You are like traveling back in time.
Organizational Details And Prices
Pre-arranged only. To book, please write us at guidetopetersburg@gmail.com
Coach accommodates up to 4 persons (on photo).
Rates: one hour ride costs 17,000 rubles, two hour ride — 29,000 rubles. Price per carriage, not person. Excursion in English is included.
What You Will See
A year-round horse drawn carriage ride along streets of the center of St. Petersburg starts from the picturesque Isaac’s square. The pickup zone is at the feet of the magnificent Isaacs’ Cathedral, one of the city’s major landmarks.
The magnificent Isaacs’ Cathedral
The ride combines two different St. Petersburgs:
— the one with magnificent palaces and mansions of noblemen, that’s like a postcard image of the city;
— the other is an area slightly touched by modern times, often called «the St. Petersburg of Dostoevsky».
The «noble» part includes the English embankment with a great view of the Neva river, its shores adorned by classic building; Senate square and The Bronze Horseman, the monument to Emperor Peter the Great, the founder of St. Petersburg; the architectural ensemble of buildings, home to state bodies like the Constitutional Court of Russia and The President Library.
The Bronze Horseman
Then the coach rolls into an area which is dubbed «the St. Petersburg of Dostoevsky» as many characters of his novels lived (or live) here. It’s also the historic center with buildings dating back to the XIX and the early XX centuries. What make this district special is that it has been slightly impacted by time. It’s even dubbed «the real St. Petersburg» or «the honest St. Petersburg». That’s an area with a very low percentage of constructions built after the Russian (Bolshevik) Revolution 1917, maybe even the lowest in the city. Time seems to have stood still here.
You’ll be pleased to see much fewer people than in the tourist-crowded parts of the downtown, less traffic, less annoying advertising structures.
However, it doesn’t mean that the area is some deserted or lacks beauty and landmarks. Absolutely not. The leisurely ride will take you around embankments of picturesque Griboedov and Krykov canals, the island of New Holland with its old industrial complexes, now home to new urban facilities.
You will see the Mariinsky Theater and the Nikolsky Cathedral.
The Nikolsky Cathedral
You will stop at a unique site with a point from which seven bridges can be seen. Ask your guide to help you find this point and try to find all these bridges. That’s an amazing game which not all the city residents are capable to win.
And then back to lights and tourists crowds, pass the Yusupovsky palace, the place worldwide known to be a site of one of the most notorious murders in history. In late 1916, Grigory Rasputin was killed here, and who knows how it has impacted the course of history of Europe…