Peterhof and Tsarskoye Selo: Two Residences

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.

The route

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.

Good to know

• We collect you from your hotel or apartment, and the car takes you between the residences and back.
• Entry tickets to the Catherine Palace and the Lower Park are included; meals are not.
• The Catherine Palace has timed entry and summer queues, and the fountains run on a schedule, so we agree the order of the day in advance.
• The fountains run from late April to mid-October. Outside that season the day focuses on the palaces and parks.
• The tour is private, for your party only.

Who it suits

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.