Two UNESCO-listed residences, each with the one thing everybody comes for: the state rooms and Amber Room of the Catherine Palace, and the working fountains of Peterhof’s Lower Park. The car and your guide handle the transfers, so there are no suburban trains or minibus queues, and the entry tickets are already included.
The pairing also tells a story. Tsarskoye Selo is about court luxury and the taste of three empresses; Peterhof is about a naval victory and remarkable engineering. Seeing them on the same day makes the contrast clear.
Tsarskoye Selo. The Catherine Palace was built and rebuilt over nearly two centuries, from Rastrelli’s lavish baroque to the cooler classicism of Cameron and Quarenghi. Its blue-and-gold facade stretches about 300 metres, and under Empress Elizabeth the ornament really was gilded. Inside are the mirrored Great Hall and the enfilade of state rooms. The Amber Room, a gift from the King of Prussia to Peter I, was removed in 1941 and never found; the room you see was recreated by St Petersburg restorers and opened in 2003.
The Catherine Park. A walk from the formal Old Garden to the landscape park around the Great Pond, past the Cameron Gallery, the Grotto and the Hermitage pavilion, with stories of Catherine II’s daily life along the way.
Peterhof. Peter I planned Peterhof from 1712 to rival Versailles. The Lower Park has about 150 working fountains, all fed by gravity through an eighteenth-century system of 40 kilometres of channels, 18 ponds and 22 sluices. At its centre is the Grand Cascade, with more than 200 gilded bronze figures and Samson, whose jet rises 20 metres. Further on are the dragons of the Chessboard Hill, the Pyramid with its 505 jets, the Favourite with its little dog chasing ducks, and the trick fountains Peter installed to soak his guests.
Visitors with limited time who want both great residences in one go, families who prefer to leave tickets and transport to someone else, and anyone curious about how two very different imperial ideas compare.
By arrangement
| People | Price per person |
|---|---|
| 1 | $350 |
| 2 | $208 |
| 3 | $161 |
| 4 | $137 |
| 5 | $123 |
| 6 | $113 |
| 7 | $106 |
| 8 | $101 |
| People | Price per person |
|---|---|
| 9 | $97 |
| 10 | $94 |
| 11 | $92 |
| 12 | $89 |
| 13 | $88 |
| 14 | $86 |
| 15 | $85 |
| 16 | $84 |
| People | Free places | Price per person |
|---|---|---|
| 10–14 | +1 | $82 |
| 15–24 | +2 | $73 |
| 25–34 | +2 | $67 |
| 35–39 | +3 | $64 |
| 40+ | +4 | $63 |
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.