The saying goes that in a major city, you're never more than six feet from a rat. In St. Petersburg, you could say the same of bridges. The city has 342 of them in total and while many are beautiful technological masterpieces, they can cause confusion for non-savvy tourists and visitors.
Problems arise in the summer months when ships need to navigate the Neva River. The drawbridges on 13 of the city's bridges rise in the middle of the night to allow for this passage of traffic.
Which can lead to an obvious problem: Head out for dinner which turns into drinks which turns into a night out on Dumskaya and before you know it, it's 3 a.m., you are looking forward to sleeping and you suddenly realize your bed is on the other side of a large expanse of water.
To ensure you're not caught out, check the city's bridge timetable at razvodka-mostov.ru. Bridges begin to rise at 1:25 a.m., with most closing again at around 5 a.m. in the morning. There are several bridges that close for 30 minutes or so midway through this period. Plan ahead. Otherwise if you stay out past 1:30 a.m., you're going to need to go hard. Because you can't actually go home.
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