It is hard to become the best, and even harder to sustain such a premium status. Fascinating news is that St Petersburg manages to do that, becoming the best world’s travel destination and getting internationally awarded accordingly.

Recently, Saint Petersburg was chosen the World’s Leading Cultural City Destination as well the Europe’s Leading City Destination of 2019 and 2020 by the World Tourism Awards (WTA) known as the Oscars of the tourism industry. Overcoming such awesome cities as London, Paris, Barcelona, Moscow, Amsterdam and others, St Petersburg has been recognized as a destination with great potential of overall international tourism growth.

Every year many cultural and business occasions take place in the Northern capital of Russia, generating positive feedback from locals and foreign visitors on overall city infrastructure and hospitality. Receiving such a prestigious award in tourism proves the high interest and appreciation of Saint Petersburg, and allows stating the city to be worth visiting from people all over the world. Of course, once the pandemic situation gets better.

In general, St Petersburg has been one of the most famous and popular cities worldwide, and apart from city-scale award recognition, some of its separated units have received acknowledgement.

For instance, international Pulkovo Airport has been named the best in Europe at the  Airport Service Quality (ASQ) Award. Based on overall satisfaction of passengers on provided airport services and infrastructure, Pulkovo left behind 32 other European airports as Airports Council International confirmed.

Pulkovo Airport Main Terminal

Another significant award was given to already a business and leisure center of St Petersburg – 462-meter-high Lakhta Centre. Being Europe’s tallest skyscraper and architectural masterpiece of design and novation, Lakhta Center has officially become a five-time winner of  CTBUH Awards. In particular, it was given the Awards of Excellence for Best Tall Building 400 meters and above, Structural Engineering, Facade Engineering, Construction, and Geotechnical Engineering. Moreover, the building has become the winner of 2019 of the grandiose Emporis Skyscraper Award.

But awards are awards, and they are definitely precious to have. Luckily, apart from them, St Petersburg has its historical city center as a part of UNESCO Heritage, a vast majority of its modern attractions and entertainments and, most importantly, people’s love. So if you think whether it is a city worth visiting, it is. And there are truly many reasons for that!

Learn more on St Petersburg sights from these pages and contact me in case of any questions or guided tour enquiries. Stay safe!