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St Petersburg has a number of English-language publications of varying quality. The best-known and most widely available is the twice-weekly St Petersburg Times which, like its Moscow sister paper, combines local, international and business news with comment and a very good arts section. While somewhat amateur in comparison to the Moscow edition, The St. Petersburg Times is still of remarkably high quality for an expat publication. It's easy to find the paper in the lobbies of big hotels and in restaurants and bars catering to the tourist trade, and it's probably the best way to find out what's going on in the city during your stay. You can also see the paper on the internet at www.sptimes.ru. The Times appears on Tuesdays and Fridays, and the Friday edition has the arts and culture section.
Another publication worth taking a look at is Pulse, a monthly arts and culture magazine that appears in English and Russian, and is also available free in bars and cafes. It is not very substantial, but has good reviews and previews of arts and cultural events from an intelligent local perspective. The quality of translation varies hugely according to who is working on the paper at any given time. You can also see it on the web at www.pulse.ru.
The In Your Pocket series of monthly guides to European cities also does a St Petersburg edition. Although it isn't as entertaining as some of their other titles, the guide provides reliable and regularly updated advice on dining out and clubbing, written by experienced local expats. It also has several pages of concise and accurate travel tips, all presented in a usefully compact format. In Your Pockets are available free in some hotels, restaurants and bookshops. You can see all their guides at www.inyourpocket.com.
Where? St. Petersburg is a recently introduced bilingual monthly that follows the format of this glossy US-based series of city guides. Featuring a lot more style than substance, the magazine does have some entertaining features, and is also a good place to look for shopping tips, but not if you're on a budget. It is available in many hotels and some restaurants.
The most extraordinary English-language publication is also one of the oldest. The Neva News has been running since 1992, mostly as an advertising vehicle for some dubious-sounding business ventures. Amongst the broken-English gems, it has a "Girl of the Month" competition and constant "Letters to the editor" full of extremely lavish praise for the publication. It's something of a St Petersburg institution, and definitely worth a look for giggle. Sadly, it's a little bit harder to find than its rivals, but there's also an internet version: www.nevanews.com.
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