If You're NearbyVeliky Novgorod
About 103 miles away
One of Russia's oldest cities, with its kremlin.
Guide Coming Soon
Peter and Paul Fortress
The island fortress where the city was founded, with the golden spire of the tsars' burial cathedral.
US travel advisory: Level 4, Do Not Travel · checked 2026-11-03- Open
- The grounds every day; the cathedral and museums keep their own hours
- Price
- Free; paid for the cathedral and museums
- Time Needed
- 2 hours
- Address
- Peter and Paul Fortress, Zayachy Island, St. PetersburgDirections
- Getting There
- Gorkovskaya metro station, then over the wooden footbridge.
Why Go
Peter the Great founded the fortress on Hare Island in May 1703, the birth of St. Petersburg. Inside the walls, the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul holds the tombs of almost every tsar from Peter onward, among them Nicholas II and his family, reburied here in 1998. The fortress later held political prisoners, and a cannon fires from its walls every day at noon.
Nearby in St. Petersburg
Go Next
1–3 of 6
Something wrong or out of date?
Traveler Reviews
Sign in and mark Peter and Paul Fortress as visited to write a review.