Have you already visited St. Petersburg’s main street Nevsky Prospect, wandered around the shops and checked the lovely cafes around Dom Knigi? Now you can go for something a bit different! Like a market!
If you want to experience a more local type of shopping than the stores and the supermarkets on the big street, but at the same time you don’t have all the day off, you should drop by one of those St. Petersburg markets in the city centre where you may find food, souvenirs, clothes… The prices will be lower, the local sellers will yell to convince you that what they are selling is the best and you really need it. You may have to be careful about pickpockets, like in any other market around the world.
Сенной Рынок – Sennoy Market
Literature lovers will find this location familiar: it’s here that Raskolnikov confesses his sins in Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment. This is one of the oldest grocery markets in St. Petersburg, where you will find any kind of food for the lowest possible price. You will spot friendly vendors coming from multiple parts of Russia and the variety of food is impressive. As far as the indoor part is concerned, it is almost entirely about food and beverages: they sell fruits, meat and (for the tea lovers) numerous and mysterious types of tea which even I didn’t know. You can spot some locals here shopping with their own scale, because they don’t trust the vendors. As for the outdoor part, they sell cheap clothes, hats (shapki) and gloves. If you want to know more about this, make sure to check our previous post about Sennoy Market!
How to get there: take the metro to Sadovaya (purple line), Spasskaya (orange line) or Sennaya Ploschad (blue line), then you just have to follow Moskovsky Avenue until you find a Teremok. Right after it there is the entrance to the market. Open everyday from 8 am until 8 pm.
Троицкий Рынок – Trinity Market
Looking for cheap souvenirs as well as a cultural trip? This market is the right place for you! Trinity Market is not very big, but it has multiple shops selling typical as well as casual clothes and it is located right beside Troitsky Church. It has been recently restored and reopened in 2010 after a fire and now you can shop while admiring the Church’s cupolas!
How to get there: it’s a 5-minute walk from the metro Tehnologicheskiy Institut. Once you get out of the metro, cross the street and follow the First Krasnoarmeyskaya Ulitsa.
Bonus tip: Удельная рынок – Udelnaya Flea Market
This place is actually not in the city centre, but it is one of the most famous flea markets in St Petersburg. It is hard to tell what exactly they sell there because you can find almost anything. Young people usually look for second-hand clothes; you may also find old records, cutlery, plates, cups, decoration, games, statues, books and pins. Basically it is a nice place to wander around until you find by chance something that you actually need.
How to get there: take the blue metro line until Udelnaya and the flea market will be right outside the metro station.
Those are two nice markets located in the city centre and one flea market a bit outside the city, so if you are looking for souvenirs or having an half day-off in St. Petersburg, this could be the right occasion to check them out! Plus, no English is spoken here, so this is one of your best chances to train your Russian skills. If you need a vocabulary boost on how to bargain at flea markets, check out our article How to Bargain at Flea Markets and don’t forget to check our video!