Grand Peterhof Palace, Northwestern District, Russia

5CAPerth 5:00 PM May 25, 2020

Another fantastic palace
We visited Peterhof with our private guide Nina from Tzarina Tours, who arranged the early entry, although there was still a little queuing. We went by car and stopped at the Narva Triumphal Arch on the way and then returned via the Naval Cathedral of Saint Nicholas in Kronstadt before returning to our apartment in SPB. We also stopped for a few photos at the Lakhta Center, an 87-story skyscraper recently built in SPB, on the return journey - the advantages of a private guide. The palace is as opulent as ever and meets all expectations but if you visit all of the available palaces (we only did the three main ones in SPB) there is a bit of a sameness about them other than colour schemes. As we had plenty of time, we also visited an amazing little baroque church (the Court Church I think) which forms part of the palace complex, but is additional (500 RUB per person I think) to the standard entry ticket. This church is only a couple of rooms but is absolutely covered in gold leaf. And probably due to the extra cost, there were very few other visitors there so plenty of photo opportunities. We also had an extended tour of the gardens but apart from the main fountains, these are not so great.

4MikesWorld1111 5:00 PM Aug 22, 2022

Great day trip on a sunny day
We took the fast boat from Saint-Petersburg which got us there in about 30 minutes. Fast lane to pay for the entry in the park but long line to buy tickets for the palace (we couldn't fine a way to pre-buy online). We gave up after waiting 30 minutes in a line which was moving very slowly. We opted to see a small wing of the palace (to the Right of the main entrance) which had no line and gave us a good idea of what the palace looked like inside.