Catherine Palace is situated in the town of Pushkin - a little suburb of St. Petersburg. The other name of the place is Tsarskoye Selo, which is translated into English like Tsar's village. The palace was constructed in the 18^th century for the Russian Empress Elisabeth I, the daughter of Peter the Great, as her Summer residence. Elisabeth liked luxury more than anyone, and the palace indeed answers her taste. It is constructed in the style of Russian baroque, richly decorated with gilded carvings. 30 kilos of gold was used for the interior decoration only.

During the tour of the Palace you will walk through a magnificent gallery of gala rooms where balls, receptions, and official dinners took place, see a very interesting collection of furniture and peaces of applied art, which belonged to the Royal family. But the main point of interest is of course the world famous Amber Room. A room, where the whole surface of the walls is covered with natural amber. This interior is unique. Nowhere in the world one can see anything like that. After visiting the Palace we can also have a walk around the beautiful gardens.

Usually the tour to Catherine Palace takes about 4 hours, as it is 24 kilometers from St. Petersburg. If you have a possibility to spend the whole day in the country, we recommend you to take a combined tour of Catherine Palace and Pavlovsk. Pavlovsk is a former residence of Emperor Paul I, the son of Catherine the Great. It is located 10 minutes drive from Catherine Palace. In this case the tour will take 5-6 hours.

More detailed information about Catherin Palace you can find on the official cite of the museum.

We also recommend you to see:

Alexander's Palace - a palace which was used by the last Russian Tsar Nickolas II and his family as their private home. You can see a number of exquisite Modern style interiors designed for the last Royal family and a very interesting exhibition devoted to the story of their life and martyrdom. It is located in Pushkin, 5 minutes walk from Catherine Palace. The tour will take about an hour.
The monument to the defenders of Leningrad - a monument which is devoted to the siege of St. Petersburg (at that time Leningrad) during the World War II. It also has a small but very impressive museum of the siege telling the story of the most tragic page of the history of the city. The monument is situated on the way from Pushkin to St. Petersburg. The stop will take about 40 minutes.

Send request

From our clients' reviews:

Catherine palace tour

...It was an amazing place to visit and was just like having a member of the family take you through the palace and gardens. Our guide was very knowledgable and put no pressure on us to get around the rooms and gardens. (Mick Nelson, Swindon)

Catherine palace with the amber room guided tour

...In St. Petersburg, Russia, I visited so many beautiful sites one of the most impressive and beautiful was Catherine's Palace and the Amber Room. The palace was so large and so ornate. I was never rushed through rooms, and I was given tons of excellent background info. The tour of the palace was spectacular and our guide went at a good pace, allowing me to take photos and ask questions, no rushing. (Anthony, London, United Kingdom)

Catherine palace skip the line tour

...If you ever get to St Petersburg this must be on your bucket list. The beauty,the ornatness of this palace is breathtaking, from floor to ceiling from room to room the history is priceless, don't miss this one! The ticket system at all of the summer palaces is skewed towards large tour groups-making it almost impossible for solo or small group ticket purchasers to avoid hours in the line specifically for Palace tickets. The only way to avoid that is with the "skip the line" tours, and I do feel that my money was well spent. (Katya N, Melbourne, Australia)

How to get to Catherine palace St Petersburg quickly

...Catherine’s Palace is an absolutely wonderful way to spend a half day. We easily bypassed the lines of other tourists who were in large groups, since we were such a small group. Our guide Maria knew just where to go inside the Palace and the garden, which was so much more time efficient than if we were trying to tour the site by ourselves. This was certainly one of our favorite days in our trip to St. Petersburg. (Ben Symp, San Antonio, Texas)