Every palace around St Petersburg that you have heard of was wrecked in the Second World War and rebuilt from drawings and photographs, every one except Oranienbaum. The front line held nearby, German troops never reached the palaces, and the interiors you see here are genuinely eighteenth-century, not reconstructions.
The car collects you from your hotel or apartment for a drive of about an hour along the Gulf of Finland.
The Great Menshikov Palace. Alexander Menshikov, the richest man in the empire after the tsar, had this U-shaped palace built between 1711 and 1727. It runs 210 metres along a natural rise facing the sea, and he fell from power before it was finished. You visit the state halls and private rooms, opened after restoration in 2011. Ask your guide about the facade colour, which the eighteenth century called “the thigh of a frightened nymph”.
The Lower Garden and the Upper Park. A formal garden running down to the sea canal, then a huge landscape park with ponds, bridges and views across the gulf.
Peterstadt. What remains of the toy fortress where the future Peter III drilled his soldiers: the Gate of Honour of 1757, Antonio Rinaldi’s first building in Russia, and Peter III’s small two-storey palace.
The Chinese Palace and the Sliding Hill Pavilion. Rinaldi’s Chinese Palace, built for Catherine II, is the only rococo building in Russia. It holds the Glass Bead Study, decorated with beads from Mikhail Lomonosov’s factory. Nearby, the 33-metre Sliding Hill Pavilion is all that survives of Catherine’s giant slide, the kind of “Russian mountain” that gave roller coasters their name in many languages.
Travellers who want to see authentic imperial interiors, return visitors who have already done Peterhof and Tsarskoye Selo, and anyone who enjoys long walks in quiet parkland by the sea.
By arrangement
| People | Price per person |
|---|---|
| 1 | $309 |
| 2 | $167 |
| 3 | $120 |
| 4 | $96 |
| 5 | $82 |
| 6 | $72 |
| 7 | $66 |
| 8 | $60 |
| People | Price per person |
|---|---|
| 9 | $56 |
| 10 | $53 |
| 11 | $51 |
| 12 | $49 |
| 13 | $47 |
| 14 | $45 |
| 15 | $44 |
| 16 | $43 |
| People | Free places | Price per person |
|---|---|---|
| 10–14 | +1 | $46 |
| 15–24 | +2 | $38 |
| 25–34 | +2 | $31 |
| 35–39 | +3 | $29 |
| 40+ | +4 | $28 |
Group rates apply from 10 people.
Skim across the Gulf of Finland by Meteor hydrofoil in forty minutes, then walk Peterhof's Lower Park with its 147 fountains. Boat and park tickets included.
A three-and-a-half-hour drive through the centre, ending on Hare Island where the city was founded in 1703, with entry to the Romanov burial cathedral.
A private two-hour walk through the Mikhailovsky Palace: a thousand years of Russian art, from medieval icons to The Ninth Wave and Repin's Barge Haulers.
Visit the Konstantinovsky Palace at Strelna, a working state residence that hosted the G8 and G20 summits, by car with a guide and entry arranged.