Where to go out during White Nights in St. Petersburg, Russia
Jun 17, 2011
The midnight sun in St. Petersburg is eerie, low and murky. The summer evenings have an icy snap. Visiting Russia's northern capital during white Nights sounds sexy, but the reality has always freaked us out a bit. There's a classical music festival and plentiful tourist attractions, but we choose to hide from the cataract sky, preferably in a series of basement bars, drinking with the students and adulterous businessmen and all the other Raskolnikovs who give the city its chilly, neurotic, debased glamour.
Pir O.G.I
We can’t find any confirmation online that this place exists—welcome to St. Petersburg—but if it does, it’s a branch of a scummy, notorious and at times dangerous Moscow dive bar, and is located in the same building as Bar Mishka.
Fontanka 40
Bar Mishka
A bonafide hipster bar in St. Petersburg, with live music and DJs at night, near the corner of Nevsky Prospect.
Nab. Reky Fontanka 40; (+7) 921 751 54 93
Stirka 40 degrees
A German girl’s art project that turned into a viable business, Stirka 40 Degrees is a functioning laundromat that’s also a café and bar. It draws an indie crowd and has rotating art exhibitions on the walls.
26 Kazanskaya St; +7 812 314 5371
Ulitka
This newish club and underground-music venue isn’t afraid of genres like "psychedelic doom stoner metal." It’s located on the second and third floors of the Maly Gostiny Dvor building, which has several other bars and clubs and tends to attract students and a young crowd.
9 Dumskaya St
Druzhba
Two Russia things: Every bar serves food, and most good bars are in basements. Druzhba is located underneath one of the city’s best independent galleries for contemporary art, 100 Svoih, and serves refined versions of Russian comfort food.
39 Ligovsky Prospect
tel. (+7) 812 719 95 17
The Idiot
Named after a classic novel by St Petersburg writer Fydor Dostoevsky, this multi-room, granny-kitsch space is one of the most obvious tourist bars in the city. As such it has great hook-up potential and plentiful English speakers. The waitresses will help you figure out how many grams of vodka to order, too.
nab. reky Moiky 82; tel: +7 (812) 3151675
