White Nights Festival & Scarlet Sails Show

What:  The white nights fes­ti­val is a cel­e­bra­tion of the nat­ur­al phe­nom­e­non of the ‘mid­night sun’ in which in extreme lat­i­tude regions the sun does not ful­ly set and stays vis­i­ble all day long on the sum­mer sol­stice. To mark this phe­nom­e­non, Rus­sia and in par­tic­u­lar­ly the city of St Peters­burg hosts a two-month cel­e­bra­tion of the best of Russ­ian clas­si­cal lit­er­a­ture, music, arts and cul­ture, with a series of bal­let, opera, re-enact­ments, art dis­plays and sym­pho­ny per­for­mances, that show­cas­es both inter­na­tion­al and local artists, at the famous and beau­ti­ful Mari­in­sky The­atre.

The main event of the fes­ti­val is the Scar­let Sails show, which has its ori­gins in and still cel­e­brates the end­ing of the school year and the grad­u­a­tion of high school stu­dents, which draws mil­lions of peo­ple each year to come and watch a mid­night fire­works and open air con­cert along­side a spec­tac­u­lar water, light and pyrotech­nic show, while an illu­mi­nat­ed boat with vast red sails glides across the Neva riv­er to wish both grad­u­ates and atten­dees a smooth voy­age in their future.

When: The dates of the sum­mer sol­stice and the mid­night sun and sub­se­quent­ly the Scar­let Sails Show vary each year based on the mov­ing of the plan­ets, how­ev­er expect the fes­ti­val to begin in mid-march and last until late June, with the scar­let sail show like­ly to take place in mid-June.

Where: The white nights fes­ti­val takes place in St Peters­burg, with the arts and shows tak­ing place in the Mari­in­sky The­atre, with a num­ber of free shows and exhibits also tak­ing place in the Palace Square and over the city. For the scar­let sail show the per­for­mance takes place across the Neva bridge, with mul­ti­ple view­ing spots on the banks avail­able, for the best view we would rec­om­mend secur­ing a spot at the palace bridge.

Dura­tion: The fes­ti­val lasts for around two months, with the exact dates and thus the length vary­ing based on the sun’s move­ments. For the day of the scar­let sail show, the con­cert begins at 10pm and the sail­ing of the boat and the accom­pa­ny­ing fire­work show and LED per­for­mance kicks of at mid­night and last till around 1am.

Tick­ets: Tick­ets for the per­for­mances at the Mari­in­sky The­atre are required and avail­able at https://www.mariinsky-theatre.com/playbill/ with tick­et prices vary­ing between $100 — $200 for an indi­vid­ual show and often pur­chased months before the shows begin. For the shows in the palace square and for the view­ing of the scar­let sail show there is no cost, with it being rec­om­mend­ed to arrive at around 10:30pm if view­ing from the palace bridge.

More Infor­ma­tion: For the exact dates of the scar­let sails show and infor­ma­tion on the scar­let show per­for­mance vis­it https://mostpetersburg.com/scarlet-sails (be warned the site will try and flog you a tour) and for infor­ma­tion and the pur­chas­ing of tick­ets at the Mari­in­sky The­atre vis­it [https://www.mariinsky-theatre.com/playbill/].