St. Petersburg Catherine Palace Excursion Reviews

A beautiful rebuilt palace and a real mystery about the amber room. It still seems extravagant to rebuild all these palaces when the people of Russia still have such needs.

Provider: Independent Operator

Had a private two day tour for three of us which allowed us to visit pretty much every main destination and a few others besides. i would recommend SPB Tours highly.

Provider: Independent Operator

Magnificent

Provider: Independent Operator

Opulant

Provider: Independent Operator

Wonderful building, fascinating history (and the Scottish architect who designed the pavilion to one side of the palace) - grounds especially magical on a sunny autumn day.

Provider: AmaWaterways

Catherine's Palace has to be seen to appreciate how over the top it is. Not only huge and lavished with gold leaf (11 kg in one room) but to think it was built for one woman you can easily see why they had a revolution!

Provider: Independent Operator

Beautiful interior. But an exhibition really only of architecture and interior design, little to show how the Palace was used unlike in the Peterhoff which has staged rooms.

Provider: Cruise & Maritime Voyages

I took a picture of our tour group's feet when they were wearing the booties. I told them to be sure and smile. The Amber Room is something I had read about and to actually see it gave me shivers.

Provider: Independent Operator

The Catherine Palace is in Pushkin (aka The Tzars' Village) in the south-west suburbs of St Petersburg. From the lovely gardens the blue and white facade with golden turrets and details is just sublime. And inside, as you enter room after room of rooms lavishly adorned with mirrors and gold and chandeliers you just keep saying WOW and WOW and WOW. Gradually the rooms change from simple gold and mirrors to walls with crimson or green, etc. About halfway through the tour of the palace we entered the Amber Room, the one room where it is not permitted to take photos. The walls are completely decorated in amber with the most intricate designs.

Provider: Independent Operator

I did the palaces at Tsarskoye selo, the guide was the complete opposite of the previous one and showed us what we wanted to see, including time for gifts. This is where the second problem with the advice from the ship was not reflected on the ground. The advice from the ship was Rubles are not needed - true if you went to the recommended Celebrity shops but no good for a coffee or carriage ride. Overall though would recommend the last Romanov tour.

Provider: Celebrity Cruises

An unbelievable experience thanks to the great excursion arranged by the ship!! The palace (like all three that we saw) was so beautiful and so unbelievably detailed (even the floors and ceilings were as detailed as the walls and furnishings), plus we were treated to almost a private tour, with multiple types of entertainment and dinner. This was the highlight of our entire cruise!!!

Provider: Oceania Cruises

More exotic than Hermitage. Another must see. Do not be confused. Catherine's palace,Pushkin, and Summer palace are the same place.Note-they charge you $4 to take photos. Your guide collects it. However, no one seems to be enforcing it. I just took all that I wanted to and no one said a thing. Tip-the best way to get inside pictures of both Catherine's and Hermitage to to google it when you get home.--Much better and the crowds are not in them.

Provider: Norwegian Cruise Line

Magnificent. Not to be missed.

Provider: Viking Cruises

Great palace and gardens, with the bonus of being able to take photographs inside the rooms.

Provider: Royal Caribbean International

This is another palace where the ornate mosaic tiles cover the roof and walls.

Provider: Independent Operator

The history and architecture should not be missed.

Provider: Regent Seven Seas Cruises

Impressive, rich, had to keep moving which was ok. Crowded but we didn't wait in lines. One recurrent thought for all of the St. P sites: the royalty had all the money, the peasants had next to nothing, and the royalty didn't seem to care. That's just the way it was. Reading later about the wives of the tsars and the Romanovs it appears that some of them did make an effort to encourage women's education and welfare. But prob. only for their class.

Provider: Independent Operator

In need of maintenance, but great tour.

Provider: Princess Cruises

Provider: Oceania Cruises

My wife and I found the Catharine Palace to be the jewel in our trip. We highly recommend it. The ability to get around is quite good even with the many stairs. Guide usually pause at landings to explain features allowing one to rest while climbing. My wife walks with a cane and with her difficulties had little problems. The stairs were the only obstacle and after that it was normal walking. We were not rushed.

Provider: Princess Cruises

Catherine Palace was stunning. It was very interesting to see the photos and drawing of the Palace after the Nazi devastation on the way out. I am so glad that they were able to return he Palace to such a place of beauty. *While we waited for our tickets to the Palace, our driver took us to his family church, Feodorovsky Cathedral also in Pushkin. It was Saturday morning so the Orthodox service was in session. We put our scarfs on our heads and went inside. It was a beautiful and special experience.

Provider: Independent Operator

Glad I saw it; don't need to see it again.

Provider: Holland America Line

Beautiful peaceful grounds. Gradually being restored. Very opulent, with a lot of gilt. Rooms are decorated as they were originally.

Provider: Independent Operator

This was part of our 2-day independently booked small group tour. The palace was very impressive to see and a definite "don't miss". However, it took a lot of patience to get through it. Our private tour did not have any privilege of fast or early entrance and the site was quite crowded. Guards at the gates to the grounds were limiting entrance in order to control crowd size within the palace. Several Chinese tour groups managed to push their way to the front and gain entrance ahead of other groups waiting in line. This generated much dissatisfaction and shouting amongst the crowd. Even with the gate restrictions, followed by restrictions at the palace doors, the crowd inside was still rather large, even for such a large building. It sometimes made it difficult for our guide to find a spot where we could see and she could explain what we were seeing.

Provider: Independent Operator

About an hour and saw much; great

Provider: Independent Operator

Aside from the 2 hour traffic jam getting there, we had the palace to ourselves, about 50 in our group. We were greeted by a band, there was a harpsichordist, a flutist, and a string quartet playing. We had champagne and were visited by Queen Catherine herself. There was dancing, a carriage, a tour of the amber room (I think it's there....I know we saw it), a tour of the carriage house, and then we had dinner walking distance away. More than made up for the frustrations of Peterhof earlier in the day.

Provider: Independent Operator

Another mind boggling experience.

Provider: Independent Operator

Magnificent palace, but due to the recent popularity, was horribly overcrowded. Our private group of 16 had to literally push through the crowd that was waiting on line. The tour guide said that it was becoming so unmanageable, they were thinking of dropping it from their itinerary. But, it was truly beautiful, especially the Amber Room, and I am glad we got to see it, even with the crowds.

Provider: Independent Operator

Well worth a visit and our guide was excellent. She got us there early, took us through the main rooms before the rush and into the gardens. All the time explaining the histroy and building.

Provider: P&O Cruises

Beautiful, ornate, priceless.

Provider: Independent Operator

It just floors me that people, even royalty, could live in such style. There's more gold on the wall than in many country's national treasury. Again, miles (literally) of art, particularly art related to Russian history.

Provider: Independent Operator

A superb palace with unbelievable gold decorations and paintings. Quite a spectacular ride out to the palace which is some way due south of the city. You pay 5 Euro to take photos here. We also had lunch on this tour. Salad, cream soup, beef Stroganov, raspberry tart and coffee. A choice of Vodka, Champagne or water with the meal. Well recommended.

Provider: Thomson Cruises

How this has been restored since the war is unbelievable. How they have recreated some of the treasures and restored the interior is beyond belief.

Provider: Thomson Cruises

I missed the evening at Catherine Palace due to sickness but my husband came back raving about the experience. He saw the main rooms, Amber room, coach collection and experienced classical music, traditinal Russian and dramatic presentations plus a formal dinner.

Provider: Princess Cruises

Truly amazing. I thought it was better than Versailles.

Provider: Independent Operator

Very long line-up again. Lots of gold and Baroque decor. It's too bad that no photos were allowed in the amber room.

Provider: Holland America Line

Beautiful!!!

Provider: Independent Operator

Catherine the Great was no great beauty, but she certainly had an eye for beauty as she decorated (over-decorated") her magnificent palace. From WW II ruins to eye-popping extravagance, this alone is worth a trip to Russia. Photos? No problem. Got three bucks for a camera sticker? Check it out on YouTube: http://youtu.be/jPckUiVeIA4

Provider: Norwegian Cruise Line

Good day since the museum was closed to the public. The guide pointed out the area is called "Push" kin for a reason. Can be very busy in the summer suggest spring tour. We where there in April so flowers were not yet out. About 3 weeks later would have been good. Still very good.

Provider: Norwegian Cruise Line

Beautiful and overwhelming palace. Great to see how it was rebuilt from near-total destruction by the Germans in World War II. I was very surprised to be serenaded with "America" when we got off the bus. Imagine that, right in the heart of Russia. Russian singers serenaded us in several places during this tour. It was a really nice touch and made us feel welcome.

Provider: Royal Caribbean International

loved Catherine's magnificant Palace---outside is so impressive and very opulent inside---inlaid wooden floors are gorgeous and the palace is quite ostentatious---not to be missed if you want to see a palace!! One of the best

Provider: Independent Operator