Dacha

Running off Nevsky Prospekt next to Bolshoy Gostiny Dvor, Dumskaya Ulitsa has become legendary in St. Petersburg's recent history for the scores of low-cost all night DJ bars and clubs in the area, attracting a bohemian crowd of students, expats and foreign visitors, local musicians and other creative types.

Dacha

Dacha, a tiny two-room bar in the arcades of the crumbling 18th century Maly Gostiny Dvor, was the start of this phenomenon, founded nearly a decade ago by a Hamburg native who missed the friendly, "democratic" nightspots of her home city. The formula for the bar's success - eclectic party music, cheap alcohol, quirky but durable decor, friendly staff and a discreet but effective door policy that keeps drunken trouble to a minimum - has been imitated by many but rarely bettered. In the early evenings, Dacha is cool and laid-back, but by two in the morning its invariably jam packed, and the dancing and drinking go on until dawn.