The northern shore of the Gulf of Finland, west of Saint Petersburg, was for centuries the summer playground of the capital, and Zelenogorsk, which the Finns called Terijoki, was the best known of its resort towns.
Terijoki belonged to Finland between 1917 and 1940, when the border lay only a little further east, and the Finnish years left a mark in the wooden villas, the tidy gardens and the sandy beaches. Many of the houses that survive date from the early twentieth century, when Petersburg's artists and writers rented dachas here, and the resort had a casino and a train line. At the start of the Winter War, in late 1939, the Soviet Union announced a puppet government in Terijoki, and the town was ceded after the war. Sestroretsk, a little way east, has its own story. The town was founded by Peter the Great as an arms factory, and nearby, at Razliv, Lenin hid in a hut and a haystack in the summer of 1917 to escape arrest.
The Maritime Channel, mentioned on your ride, is the long dredged waterway that carries ships from the open gulf to the port of Saint Petersburg, and Kronstadt, on its island, was the main base of the Russian Baltic Fleet. The fort-island has a grim and fascinating history, with a naval cathedral, rows of old forts and the memory of the mutiny of 1921.
As a ride, the coast road is flat and mostly straight, passing through pines and over sand, and it is best on a weekday when the traffic is light. Weekend traffic to the beaches is heavy in July. Mosquitoes and ticks are a nuisance, the water is shallow and the sea cold, and in winter the gulf freezes, sometimes far out. The lovely season is late spring and early summer, when the lilac and bird-cherry blossom and the evenings stay light, and September is good for the colour.
Zelenogorsk has services, and the nearest bigger settlements, Sestroretsk and Kronstadt, have fuel stations and cafes, though access to Kronstadt has been restricted at times, so check. The area is a pleasant place for a swim in warm weather, a plate of smoked fish at a stall, and a walk along the dunes. Conditions for foreign visitors in Russia change, so look into the latest rules before you plan a ride here.