One Day St. Petersburg ( Intro to St. Petersburg )

A comprehensive full day tour gives you a unique chance to admire the most splendid palace and park ensembles of the 18th century, former summer residences of the Russian tsars that are considered to be exquisite monuments of Russian art with a worldwide reputation, The Palaces of Catherine & Peterhof Park

WHAT YOU VISIT

Catherine Palace - Designed by Rastrelli, the ornate Baroque Palace is over 1,000 feet long and features an ornate blue facade. Gold onion domes crown the palace's north end, the site of the chapel. A gallery of Greek and Roman heroic busts decorates a covered walkway designed for Catherine the Great. Surrounding the palace are 1,400 acres of manicured gardens and parkland. Your tour visits the White Vestibule, Grand Hall, the Amber Room, the Portrait Hall, the Crimson Pilaster Room and more.
The Palace of Paul will replace Catherine’s Palace if your travel date is on a Tuesday or the last Monday of the month. The Palace of Paul has one of the largest landscape parks in Europe, you will get to admire the elegant rooms of Emperor Paul I as well as the great art collections.

Peterhof Park -Travel to another former summer Imperial residence. Set in magnificent gardens, Peterhof is reminiscent of Versailles. It was almost completely destroyed by the Nazis in World War II but has been restored to its full splendor. The gardens are dotted with countless fountains, charming pavilions and summer houses. Particularly impressive is the fact that the landscapers and garden designers who worked on the estate managed to overcome the unfavorable weather conditions of the Northern climate to create a lovely land of flowers and greenery. The fountains of Peterhof are one of the most famous tourist attractions in the region. The diversity of fountains in the park is surprising. From monumental ensembles like the Samson Cascade to the ever popular Joke Fountains, including one which sprays anyone who steps on a particular paving stone. When you see them remember this is all done without pumps. You will explore the Palace grounds and Gardens as we will not have enough time to tour the inside.

Your return to St Petersburg, (weather permitting) will be by Hydrofoil and takes about 30 minutes as you travel by water between Perhalf and St Petersburg. If the Hydrofoil is not running we will return via the same route use to get to the Peterholf.


For Lunch this will include a packed lunch

The Hermitage - The Tsar's former Winter Palace and four other buildings that house one of the world's premier art collections. Your three to three and half hour guided tour visits the display of rooms, which contain over three million art works, including paintings by Da Vinci, Rafael, Monet, Rembrandt, Renoir to name a few. Designed by Rastrelli, the Baroque Winter Palace boasts patterned parquet floors, ornate staircases, molded and decorated ceilings and gold gilded appointments. The building inside and out is one not to be missed..

Church of the Savior on the Spilled Blood - This recently restored church sports an ornate and exaggerated "Russian-style" exterior and is built on the site where Tsar Alexander II was assassinated Time to walk the exterior for some good photos.

Nevsky Avenue - This is the main street in the city of St. Petersburg, Russia. Planned by Peter the Great as beginning of the road to Novgorod and Moscow, the avenue runs from the Admiralty to the Moscow Railway Station and, after making a turn at Vosstaniya Square, to the Alexander Nevsky Lavra.

The chief sights include the Rastrelliesque Stroganov Palace, the huge neoclassical Kazan Cathedral, the Art Nouveau Bookhouse, Elisseeff Emporium, half a dozen 18th-century churches, a monument to Catherine the Great, an enormous 18th-century shopping mall, a mid-19th-century department store, the Russian National Library, and the Anichkov Bridge with its horse statues.

The Nevsky today functions as the main thoroughfare in Saint Petersburg. The majority of the city's shopping and nightlife, as well as the most expensive apartments, are located on or right off of the Nevsky Prospekt


PLEASE NOTE: Catherine's Palace is closed on the last Monday of the month and Palace of Paul will be substituted.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION:

You will be required to provide your passport to complete this booking so we can process your tour visa.

Departures (Local Time)

7:30 AM (Hours: 12)

8:30 AM (Hours: 12)