The Nightlife of St Petersburg

Forever a question on my mind: how do people look good while going out when it's -10 degrees outside?

In the first few weeks of exchange, I managed to go to almost all of these bars, and they've stayed on the go-to bars list ever since. From pub-crawls to impromptu late nights out with friends, these places have seen me in every mood and at every time of night. Some of them do deserve a bit of a mention, as an ode to the friendships and the crazy stories to which they have been the settings.

Honestly, I really enjoyed the nightlife of St P, it's very hip and trendy, and always involves staying up until the early morning sunrise.

So where it all started was Mishka Bar. A tiny basement bar with neon lights, weird alternative dance music and 2 for 1 deals on Mondays and Tuesdays.

On the first night of exchange festivities, we went as a group to see the bridges open. On the way was when I was introduced to Mishka Bar. When walking back from seeing the bridges came a huge downpour of rain, so we ran to hide under an arch of the Hermitage, before dashing to a bar until the rain stopped (this other bar was rock-themed, but unfortunately not executed very tastefully).

And that was the first night in St P.

Later on in the week, we went to the Friendly Bar which was exactly that, a friendly bar that had a welcoming atmosphere and very chatty bartenders.

Another mildly-remembered night I lost my scarf and earring on at a bar close to griboyedov canal, Daquiri Bar, which was such a shame because they also over-charged us bachelor-exchangers by 1/4 of our bill.

We'd always relocate to Mishka as soon as we could, or Dumskaya.

Dumskaya Street was a favourite destination for our whole exchange group. Duma Bar was theeee go-to. Although a risque concept we only found out later on in our visits for some reason, it served good drinks, and probably the best music in all of the St P bars.

In either Duma Bar or Mishka, you would be sure to bump into a fellow exchanger that you've met before. So for a while after the massive introduction week pub-crawl, you could find groups of us all around Duma Bar and Lomonosov (which was the location for a crazy Halloween Party).

Klyb Yashik was the location of an exchange Russian party, where we donned Putin masks, Russian hats, bublik necklaces and had many drinks of vodochka.

One night for a friend's birthday, the bachelor exchangers got together and went to a techno party. It was on the other side of the river. I have no clue what it's called, but it really was a hectic time. Loud rhythmic music, red laser lights and an empty warehouse with a built-in bar is a recipe for some crazy stories.

Due to it being on the other side of the river, we were stranded there until 5am due to the bridges over the river opening during the night. By around 2 or 3am, some of us had enough bopping to monotonous music, so we went hunting for open food places. Conveniently though, there were none.

Finally comes Akakao. Absolutely unassuming and sketchy looking on the outside, but it’s a split level, huge bar with two halls with different kinds of music and varying intensities of flashing lights and colours. Definitely worth checking out.

They do have weird entry charges sometimes though. Once, it was 'bring a pen and you go in for free'. When you get there they take your pen, put it in a bucket for them to keep for signing receipts or whatnot and you don't get it back. On the day, I inadvertently gave up my favourite pen. I was sad for a solid 2 minutes.

Most nights we would relocate from one bar to the other, then back just because we could. Whether it was a quick $4 taxi ride or a 20-minute walk in -6 degrees, everything was fun.