In one day you will see the two most famous suburbs of St Petersburg — and in each, the thing people go there for: the state rooms of the Catherine Palace at Tsarskoye Selo, and the working fountains of the Lower Park at Peterhof. Both ensembles are on the UNESCO World Heritage list. Transfers are by car with your guide, with no suburban trains and no queueing for a minibus.
The residence was built over nearly two centuries, and you can read the changing tastes off it: the exuberant baroque of Francesco Rastrelli, the severe classicism of Charles Cameron and Giacomo Quarenghi. The blue and gold facade runs for 300 metres — under Empress Elizabeth the detailing really was gilded, and we will work out where that gold went over time.
Inside are the Great Hall, or Throne Room, with its mirrors and a ceiling painting running its whole length, an enfilade of state rooms, and the residence’s central legend: the Amber Room. A gift from the Prussian king to Peter I, removed by the Germans in 1941 and vanished without trace — what you will see was recreated by St Petersburg restorers and opened in 2003.
After the palace comes a walk through the Catherine Park: the formal Old Garden, the landscape section with the Great Pond, the Cameron Gallery, the Grotto and the Hermitage. This is also where the stories of Catherine II’s daily life belong — what time she rose, where she talked with her grandchildren, and where she mourned her dogs.
Peter I conceived Peterhof in 1712 as an answer to Versailles — and where fountains are concerned, he surpassed it. The Lower Park has around 150 working fountains, and no pump drives any of them: the water comes by gravity along an eighteenth-century conduit of 40 kilometres of channels, 18 ponds and 22 sluices. This is a case where the engineering impresses quite as much as the sculpture.
The centre of the ensemble is the Grand Cascade: terraces, balustrades, more than 200 gilded bronze figures, and Samson Tearing Open the Lion’s Jaws, whose jet reaches 20 metres. It is a monument to victory in the Northern War, and the lion is the heraldic emblem of a defeated Sweden.
Further into the park are the Chessboard Hill cascade with its dragons, the paired Roman fountains, the Pyramid with its 505 jets, the Lion Cascade, the Favourite with its little dog chasing ducks, and of course the trick fountains Peter installed in order to soak his guests. The occupation of 1941 left almost nothing here intact: the park reopened in 1945 and the fountains were restarted in 1946.
Two residences in a day is a tight itinerary, and everything depends on how it is put together. The Catherine Palace admits visitors in timed slots and there is a queue in summer, Peterhof’s fountains are switched on and off to a schedule, and the two suburbs are an hour and a half apart around the city. A guide and driver arrange the order so that you reach both in good time and do not spend the day travelling and waiting.
The second thing is the point of the comparison. Tsarskoye Selo and Peterhof were built by different people for different purposes: one ensemble is about court luxury and the taste of three empresses, the other about a naval victory and engineering. Your guide explains how they differ and why they are worth seeing as a pair: how fashions in residences changed, where the gold went from Rastrelli’s facade, how the water reaches Peterhof by gravity, and what happened to both ensembles under occupation — the Amber Room disappeared without trace, and so did Samson, though he was recreated as early as 1947.
The tour takes about 7 hours and runs by comfortable car — sedan, minivan or minibus, according to the size of your party. We collect you from your hotel or apartment and take care of the transfers between the residences and back into the city. Entrance tickets to the Catherine Palace and the Lower Park are already included in the price.
The Peterhof fountains run from late April to mid-October — outside that season the route is built around the palaces and parks. The Catherine Palace is visited in timed slots, so we agree the exact order of the two residences in advance.
By arrangement
| People | Price per person |
|---|---|
| 1 | $540 |
| 2 | $269 |
| 3 | $186 |
| 4 | $147 |
| 5 | $125 |
| 6 | $110 |
| 7 | $100 |
| 8 | $93 |
| People | Price per person |
|---|---|
| 9 | $87 |
| 10 | $83 |
| 11 | $79 |
| 12 | $76 |
| 13 | $74 |
| 14 | $72 |
| 15 | $70 |
| 16 | $68 |
The essentials of St Petersburg in three hours: Palace and Senate squares, the Summer Garden and the Field of Mars, the Spit of Vasilyevsky Island and the place the city began — told through stories rather than dates.
An hour along the rivers and canals with your own guide: the Venice of the North from the water, the bridges and their superstitions, Chizhik-Pyzhik, and the floods that reshaped the city.
Jewish St Petersburg: the Grand Choral Synagogue in the Moorish style, the history of the community in the imperial capital, its bankers and philanthropists — and how it lives today.
On foot through the imperial capital: Palace Square, Nevsky Prospect and Gostiny Dvor, the well-yards behind the grand facades, and doughnuts in a historic cafe — two hours through the heart of St Petersburg.
