Few cities were designed to be seen from the water, and St. Petersburg is one of them. Founded by Peter the Great on the marshes of the Neva to give Russia a window on Europe, the former imperial capital spreads its palaces, canals and golden domes across a checkerboard of riverbanks and islands. Ocean liners dock at the Marine Façade terminal, built on land reclaimed from the Gulf of Finland at the tip of Vasilyevsky Island. From there, a short ride by taxi or motorcoach is all it takes to dive into the historic centre, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The Hermitage, an ocean of art

On Palace Square, the almond green of the Winter Palace signals the sheer scale to come: the Hermitage ranks among the largest museums in the world, with collections ranging from antiquities to canvases by Rembrandt and Matisse. A port call only allows you to see a fraction of it, and that's perfectly fine. Focus on a few rooms — the Jordan Staircase, the gallery of Flemish painters, the state rooms — and save time to admire the inlaid parquet floors and the chandeliers, works of art in their own right. Booking your admission or going with an excursion avoids the long lines; the main building, the former official residence of the tsars, is in any case worth as much as its collections.

Domes and mosaics

Two churches alone sum up the city's architectural soul. The Church of the Saviour on Spilled Blood, bristling with multicoloured onion domes, seems to have stepped out of a Moscow fairy tale; its interior, covered in mosaics from floor to vaults, leaves visitors at a loss for words. A few streets away, St. Isaac's Cathedral plays an entirely different score: monumental granite columns and a golden dome visible for kilometres. The most energetic climb to its colonnade to take in, at a single glance, the rooftops, the Neva and the spires of the Peter and Paul Fortress.

Nevsky Prospekt

The legendary artery of Russian literature, Nevsky Prospekt crosses the centre for several kilometres, lined with palaces, shopping arcades and historic cafés. Walk even just one stretch of it, between the Anichkov Bridge, guarded by its equestrian statues, and the curved colonnade of Our Lady of Kazan Cathedral: vintage signs, historic bookshops and the flow of passersby give you the pulse of the city. A break is a must in one of the period cafés to enjoy a piping-hot tea with a pastry, as tradition has dictated since the days of the great novelists.

The city from the canals

St. Petersburg is sometimes nicknamed the Venice of the North, and a boat ride on the Moika or the Fontanka justifies the comparison. Along the water, Baroque and neoclassical façades file past in shades of yellow, turquoise and pink, punctuated by bridges, some of which open at night to let cargo ships through. It's the most relaxing way to appreciate the architectural unity the tsars intended, and to understand why Russian writers so loved describing these granite quays.

Peterhof, if time allows

Two-day port calls, common here, open the door to the great imperial estates in the surrounding area. The most spectacular remains Peterhof, on the shore of the gulf: its terraced gardens line up dozens of gilded fountains that operate without any pumps, by gravity alone. The Grand Cascade, facing the sea, is worth the hydrofoil trip on its own.

In the last light

As the ship pulls away from the Marine Façade, the domes catch the last rays — and during the White Nights of June, this light seems never to want to fade. You leave with your head full of images, aware of having only leafed through one of the thickest volumes of European history. You'll have to come back to read the missing chapters.