St Petersburg is packed with world-class museums, imperial palaces, and monuments at every turn. The Hermitage dominates — and the modernist galleries in the General Staff Building across Palace Square hold its Impressionists — but the city's other essentials are scattered widely. The Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood is the photograph everyone knows; St Isaac's Cathedral and the Peter and Paul Fortress anchor the two great river views. The Russian Museum, the Faberge Museum, the Yusupov Palace, and the curiosity-strewn Kunstkamera each warrant a half-day. Allow at least one day, ideally two, for the great imperial parks at Peterhof and Tsarskoye Selo outside the city.