Home > St. Petersburg > Tour of Pushkin (Tsarskoye Selo) and Catherine Palace
USD $86.00
Tour of Pushkin (Tsarskoye Selo) and Catherine Palace
St. Petersburg, Russian Federation
Visit the magnificent summer residence of the Russian Tsars. A comfortable chauffeured drive will take you to the town of Pushkin (Tsarskoye Selo), where you will find a jewel of Russian baroque- Catherine Palace with the Amber Room inside, which is considered to be one of the world's wonders. Numbers are limited to 9 people on this small-group tour, ensuring you'll receive personalized attention from your guide. For more Russian royal history, upgrade your tour to include Pavlovsk Palace.
A pleasant walk through the park will let you feel like you're an important guest in the Residence of an Empress.
The town of Pushkin, which was called Tsarskoye Selo until 1917, is 24 km (14.9 miles) south of St Petersburg. It was the residence of the Tsars from the beginning of 18th century onwards (from the mid-18th to the early 19th century palace and park complex were built, including the Catherine and Alexander Parks).
The Catherine's Palace is one of the best examples of Russian baroque. It’s also famous for housing the world famous Amber room, a complete chamber decoration of amber panels backed with gold leaf and mirrors. Due to its singular beauty, it was sometimes dubbed the "Eighth Wonder of the World". After several other 18th-century renovations, it is covered with more than 55 square meters and contained over six tonnes of amber.
Then stroll along the alleys of the Catherine Park, a wonderful work of the Russian art of gardening from the 18th and 19th centuries, which combines the masterpieces of architecture with the beauty of the transforming nature of the north.
You have the opportunity to include with your tour a visit to the magnificent Pavlovsk Palace, which was the summer residence of the great Paul I, which is only a 5 miles drive from Pushkin. The interiors have influences of many cultures, as there were several architects throughout the years. Inside the palace you'll see the Egyptian Vestibule, the Italian Hall, a Greek Hall with French furnishings and Paul's War Hall.
After visiting the Pavlovsk, you can relax in the beautiful palace gardens, where where Johann Strauss once performed with his orchestra. Have a seat in one of the many pavilions -- the Temple of Friendship, the Colonnade of Apollo, the Pavilion of the Three Graces, the Dairy Farm or the Rose Pavilion.
Our guide is very funny and introduce a lot of history stories to us. The driver also helpful and polite.
Review by: Leslie T, March 2018
Best guide, Mita! Highly recommend tour. Must see!
Review by: Wes P, March 2018
Amazing! Basically a personalised tour, with the guide being so knowledgeable in history of the city and palaces that we visited. So interesting to learn about the area's history, would definitely recommend.
Review by: Celine Chan, January 2018
Very nice and professional tour. Driven in a nice new and clean van. Guide was informative and pleasant.
Review by: Celine Chan, January 2018
Very nice and professional tour. Driven in a nice new and clean van. Guide was informative and pleasant.
Review by: Gwendolyn B, December 2017
Fabulous!!!!! Can't describe the beauty of the place. A dream spot.
Review by: dramarystella, October 2017
Amazing trip, excellent guide!
Review by: David F, October 2017
This is an incredible tour with a very knowledgeable and fun guide. Very professional. You go straight into the Palace skipping the long lines. A St. Petersburg must!
Review by: Rita, September 2017
Our guide was lovely and most knowledgable. _br/_ When booking this tour keep in mind whether the Hermitage and the Pavlovsk are open. We experienced long queues because it was a day when both were closed so everyone heads out to Pushkin, yet it was certainly a worthwhile tour._br/_ Even though it was a 4 - 5 hour tour we only had a chance for a coffee stop late morning and there was no real opportunity for a food stop, so bring some food with you.
Review by: Jane L W, September 2017
Well worth the trip out of Moscow. The palace was beautiful and the Amber Room unusual. Be sure to take the train, not a car. Moscow traffic can be awful.
Review by: Ana Maria H, September 2017
It was a very good tour. Fascinating place and a very knowledgeable guide. Highly recommended.
Review by: Sara F, September 2017
It was only 2 of us on the tour so we had the guide to ourselves. She was very knowledgeable and her English was very good. She answered many questions and made references to other sites we had already visited to link all the history together. The highlight of the tour is the ability to skip the long line outside the palace, it saves you so much time!
Review by: Tat, September 2017
The correct name of this tour should be Catherine Palace and Park because that's what the tour really included. Alexander Palace, Alexander Park, Pushkin Lyceum were not even mentioned. The transportation was well organized but the content of the tour and presentation were mediocre. The guide, I believe her name was Julia, was not exciting. Also, her accent was strong making it even harder to catch what she was saying. We'd have much preferred to go alone and use an audio guide at the museum so that we could have moved at our own pace.
Review by: Lori P, September 2017
Great experience. Highly recommend
Review by: Maria G, September 2017
It was OK. Our guide was really sweet but I like it when the guide tells us a lot about the history of the place or the people. Russia has such a rich history that I expected something else. Anyway, the palace is awesome, we had plenty of time to walk around the gardens which are really something and our guide answered everything we asked.
Review by: mario s, August 2017
Nice places, but very poor service. Highly disorganized tour. No time set aside for anything, not even lunch. We had a hurried munch, to be then kept waiting a long time for the tour operator to bring the entry tickets . This delay meant we had to rush through the rest of the tour to finish in time. Sometimes not even stopping for a photo. As said, sites were very nice, but seen in a hurry. The tour was supposed to be in English. But as some customers were locals, our guide did long explaining in Russian, very briefly in English. Very poor service. Not value for what was paid. Not recommended...,
Review by: Toppo P, August 2017
Reliable. We sent an enquiry before our arrival in Russian about the confirmation of pickup time and place. The tour operator was responsive.
Review by: Jeanette L, July 2017
Great from the driver, the car, to the tour guide Lidiya, who was very knowledgeable and enthusiastic all the way to the end of the tour. It was raining that day, but it did not dampen Lidiya's spirit, so much so that we enjoyed her company and information. The amber room was beautiful, however it is too bad, picture taking isn't allowed in that room. Overall, the rain did not stop us from having an excellent tour with Lidiya, of Marie Rose Tours. Thanks!
Review by: Raquel J, July 2017
Our guide Glenn was very professional, gave us good informations about the trip and Russian history in general
Review by: Mark A, July 2017
I liked our tour guide, Eugenia, and the two palaces we saw were magnificent, but in the Catherine Palace we felt very rushed and the place was mobbed with large groups of tourists that made it difficult at times to see or move from room to room. Between the two palace visits, I had wanted to stop and eat, because I am diabetic. I didn't get a chance, because it seemed we were on some sort of rushed schedule. The whole reason I had wanted a private tour was so that we could do things at our own pace, lingering where we wanted. The second palace, Pavlovsk, was more relaxed, but I didn't get to get anything to eat until the very end of the tour. Our driver did drive us around Saint Petersburg after so I could see some sites I wanted to, like the Battleship Aurora and the Peter and Paul Fortress. The guide herself, Eugenia, was very pleasant and informative, but I felt like the company that ran the tour put her on a tight schedule, which made me feel more like I was in a tour group, rather than seeing the sites with a private tour guide.
Review by: nigel r, July 2017
Tour was due to start at 10:00. At 1005 no guide had appeared so I rang agents to be told the tour had been rescheduled for 16:00. An email had been sent later found in junk folder but not backed up with a text message, so they never had any acknowledgement from me. Whole day then had to be rearranged. The reason for the change was that the queues would be too long in the morning. I queried this with the guide who said that a, he had never been given 10:00 as the start time, and b the queues were shorter in the morning. We spent 20 minutes in a souvenir shop prior to reaching the palace, and when I asked why the guide said he had been told to do so by the agents to fill in some time._br/_ The worst experience of a tour group I have ever had.
Review by: Peter M, June 2017
This tour exceed our expectations. The guide and driver we punctual, friendly and informative. The commentary provided by Alyona was superb. She never made us feel rushed and yet we saw everything on the itinerary and more. She was so knowledgable and taught us so much without feeling like we we being lectured. If you get Alyona as a guide consider yourself very fortunate. Peter and Connie Australia.
Review by: E. Lorraine S, June 2017
Our tour guide arrived on time with the driver and limousine. Our small group tour was actually just the two of us and the guide so we had her undivided attention! The tour of the Catherine Palace was very interesting. It had been my ambition for many years to see the Amber Room which was as beautiful and amazing as I had hoped. Our guide was friendly and very informative. An excellent tour.
Review by: Michael R, June 2017
Our booking was placed with MariaRose Tours and the guide was Irina Yuneva, who was very knowledgeable and responsive to our questions. A week before the tour we were told that Catherine Palace would be closed that day and we would visit Peterhof instead and Pavlovsk. This was fine for us and we visited Catherine Palace highly recommended on another day. We really enjoyed Peterhof and Pavlovsk. Both were beautiful, both inside the palaces and outside in the parks and gardens. They definitely matched the descriptions in guide books. Irina explained everything in a lively and interesting way. We had a nice lunch in the cafe at Pavlovsk and, this being our first day in Russia, Irina helped us choose what to eat, so we had some solyanka and pelmeni for instance._br/_ The trip was well organised. We were picked up from our hotel in a spacious vehicle and were in a very small group. There was a driver, so Irina was able to talk about buildings and places of interest on the way. We found Irina very pleasant and she told us a little about her family life, which also interesting. A great day out !
Review by: Steven S, May 2017
Our guide was very knowledgeable and personable. We cannot recommend her more highly.
Review by: vellizara, May 2017
It was a very exiting tour. Our guide Lida from MariaRose Tours, an intelligent young lady, was very kind and polite and told us everything about Russian history. There was enough time for photos and for jokes. We even learned some new Russian words!
Review by: Patrick O, May 2017
Best individual tour guide we could imagine as a Pushkin resident and very knowledgeable, personable and accomodating.
Review by: Tony H, May 2017
There was a mix up over the time for meeting our fellow visitors who had been told the tour started at 12.00 rather then 10. Not a great start as we had to hang around for 20 minutes while they got ready.. The transport to the Palaces was a luxury car and it took us right to the gates of the two palaces. Unfortunately our guide had a very quite voice and often started his talk before we had all gathered around him, by all in mean the four people on the tour. _br/_ We were though rushed around the first palace with no time to see the gardens. On arriving at the Catherine Palace there was another mix up as our guide had not been given our entry tickets, so yet more time wasted while we waited for him to get them. Once inside we were again rushed through the palace and we could not hear half of what he said because of his very quite voice. _br/_ This is a five hour tour, but apart from being taken to an expensive gift shop for a free coffe had no time to get anything to eat or drink. We had no warning of this so by the end of the tour we were all hungry and thirsty. _br/_ This could have been a fantastic tour as the palaces were magnificent, but we were left disappointed by bad organisation, being rushed through palaces, having no time for the gardens, lack of food and drink and a guide with a very quite voice. Needs to better organised.
Review by: Sarah M, April 2017
Very knowledgable guide.
Review by: Phillip A, April 2017
Amazing trip, the guide was truly magnificent. His knowledge was incredible. Thank you Roman you made our day.
Review by: Trudie M, March 2017
Great tour! our guide Lida Lydia picked us up at the hotel at 10, and as we were 6, we had the minibus to ourselves. On the way, our guide gave us information about what we were seeing, the history of St Petersburg, and more information on the Summer Palace. The tour of the palace itself was breathtaking and very informative, and she was very good at steering us through so that we saw everything without getting caught up with bigger groups. And she answered all the questions we threw at her!. Her English was excellent, and she really knew her subject. After a quick walk through the park in the snow, we were taken back to the hotel via some of the sites of the city. Not forgetting the driver - I wouldn't have wanted to be driving through the city traffic on snow, but he took it all in his stride. All in all, a lovely half day to remember, and we were all agreed that booking the tour had been the right decision. Thanks Lida!
Review by: Rebecca J, December 2016
It was a wonderful tour. Our guide Lida who great.
Review by: Ashley J, October 2016
Great tour!
Review by: Leane K, October 2016
The guide Lydia was knowledge, friendly and spoke amazing English. I could not have done these locations by myself - she was great. It was worth doing the 2 stops as they both had a different feel. The gardens were less attractive as it is going into winter, but the interiors were incredible.
Review by: Judith M, October 2016
Outstanding tour with Roman. An absolute must if you go to St Petersburg.
Review by: cassio.fonte, October 2016
We had a very pleasant experience with this tour. Our guide was Mr Roman who was very professional and knowledgeable. Recommended!
Review by: Geoff R, October 2016
We had an excellent guide for our visit who met us at our hotel. On the way to Pushkin we were given a full history of St Petersburg and it's development, from Peter the Great to the modern day most informative. Our driver dropped us close to the Palace and the guide took us through the Palace giving us a superb narrative on the way. There was time for pictures as well as to take more time over items we specifically wanted to see, for example the pictures in the Amber room. Our guide was incredibly well informed we could not have asked for better. The trip was tailored to what we wanted, where we wanted to go and what we wanted to do. We were taken back to the hotel and were left knowing that we would use Viator again to organise our trips!
Review by: Doylton D, September 2016
It was a very pleasant experience. This was my 3rd trip to St. Petersburg but my first trip to Catherine Palace. Our tour guide was an excellent English speaker and very knowledgeable.
Review by: T B, August 2016
Very beautiful Palace. Amber Room is quite unique. A lot of history behind the place and the Royals. We had a very good English guide. Gardens are photo-worth. Do recommend.
Review by: Vicki M, August 2016
Great trip and the local travel company and guide were great! There were lots of tourists though so would recommend going at a quieter time of the year we went in August.
Review by: Ricardo L, August 2016
Although we had a problem with the booking form (the hotel address and telephone number didn and #39;t store), Viator could find a good solution. Today we did the tour with the guide Elena. It was fantastic! The place is really nice, and Elena an excellent guide. Thank you!
Review by: Vladimir S, August 2016
Excellent experience. Especially with Lida as a guide. She was really good. Gave us a lot of details and history stories.
Review by: Juan P G, July 2016
It was absolutely wonderful. The tour guide was incredibly knowledgable. Would recommend to anyone who doesn't want to miss out on one of the most beautiful sights in Russia.
Review by: Dimitrios M, July 2016
Excellent!
Review by: g.cardoza.a, July 2016
Fortunately, we were only 6 people on the tour and everything was great. The palace is amazing and all went smoothly. It seems it's always very crowded, but our tour guide Lidia took the time to explain everything in detail and of course, we recommend this tour to everyone, because it's a must do in St. Petersburg.
Review by: Robert V, July 2016
Most practical way to visit the palaces!
Review by: Rodger G, May 2016
We found the tour to be good and very interesting. The guide was pleasant and knowledgeable. The driver drove safely and dropped us off at convenient locations. It would have been better to do Pavlovsk Palace last so more time was spent at the Catherine Palace.
Review by: Elizabeth H, May 2016
This experience lived up to our high hopes and Guide Lida was exceptional. No matter what we asked she was able to answer in an extraordinarily well informed way. Highly recommend this tour.
Review by: Joy B, May 2016
Excellent trip with a brilliant guide Lida-she was knowledgeable, interesting and funny!_br/_ The Catherine Palace is wonderful.
Review by: Fulvio B, May 2016
...it was a great experience and we were lucky to have our guide and not being in a large group. There were many tourists.
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