Saint Petersburg has significant historical and cultural heritage and is thus a highly attractive filming destination

Why Saint Petersburg is so attractive to film crews? First of all the city has a great 18th and 19th century architectural ensemble that was kept unchanged. As a result – any filming that has to deal with the late XVIII or XIX century can find great locations for this particular period. The outlook of the historical centre of the city is the key advantage for this filming location.

Best filming locations in SAint Petersburg

Saint Petersburg is inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage list. It has 36 historical architectural complexes, and around 4000 outstanding individual monuments of architecture. Thus over 300 international movies were filmed in Saint Petersburg. Under different names this city always was highly attractive for tourists from all over the world – St Petersburg, Leningrad, Petrograd. Nowadays St Petersburg has two times more tourists than Moscow. The river Neva divedes the city into multiple islands. Many bridges that link these islands open suring the naviagation season. At nighttime the open bridges together with multiple bars and clubs are the main tourist attractions.

The Hermitage. One of the most popular museums in Europe. Thus getting a film permit there takes time.

Catherine palace in Pushkin, particulary the Amber Room. Because of the quantity of tourists filming there is limited, but possible.

The cental part of Saint Petersburg – Griboyedova channel. Places to film stories about Dostoevsky.

Filming facilities and tips for TV production in Saint Petersburg

The recommended time frame for filming with good weather is from late April till late September. Nevertheless winter filmings are possible from mid-November will late March. In May and June St Petersburg is a great location for any TV production as it has the world-known white nights period. On the other hand in December and January you hardly have 5 hours of daylight.

Pulkovo international airport connects the city with most european capitals. Customs procedures for carnet ATA are easy to undertake here. High-quality broadcast facilities and sound studios are available in Saint Petersburg. FilmspbTV can provide you Spanish, English, Arabic, French and Chinese speaking fixers in Russia.

The filming production facilities include two big companies that own filming pavilions of all sizes. Many minor companies provide high class equipment rental services. Local english speaking film crews are world-class and highly professional. All kinds of special transport is available for rental in the city – camera vans, lights and grip trucks, make up vagons, generators, etc. It’s quite easy to find a great camera crew in St Petersburg.

Things to know for Video Production and filming in St Petersburg

City name and airport code: Saint Petersburg, LED.

Main filming locations: Winter Palace (The Hermitage), Catherine Palace, Amber room, Peterhof, Mariinsky theatre, Cathedral on Spilled Blood, St. Isaac Cathedral.

Video production, filming facilities and equipment rental available in Saint Petersburg. Multiple high class facilities.

Equipment rental: Arri cameras, Red cameras, Sony, Canon, etc.

Filming permits complexity: Depends on the exact palace or museum. The processing time required – 1-3 weeks. Some permits are quite expensive.

We recommend taking a hotel that is not in the central part of the city – it will spare you lots of time in the traffic.

Drone usage: The city center has multiple restrictions. Some places in the city are OK to be filmed from a drone. Permit processing time – over 10 days.

Local Time: Moscow, St. Petersburg: +3 (GMT + 3:00)

You can find the information about visas and customs procedures required for filming in Russia here.