St Petersburg Small Group Tour of Tzarskoe Selo and Catherine Palace

Tsarskoe Selo is very close to airport, this tour is the best option to be combined with transfer to airport Pulkovo. Just take your luggage and we will drive you to airport in time soon after the tour. Leave your St Petersburg hotel and travel by air-conditioned vehicle to the town of Pushkin, just south of the city. Formerly known as Tsarskoe Selo, Pushkin is home to one Russia’s grandest royal estates — the Catherine Palace, built in the 1700s as a residence for Catherine I and once called the Palace of Tsarskoe Selo. Originally modest, the palace was remodelled by Catherine’s daughter, Empress Elizabeth, in the mid-1700s, who turned it into the extravagant baroque residence of today. On arrival, absorb the blue-and-white façade and take a guided tour inside. Marvel at the rococo state rooms and halls embellished with stucco, frescoes and marble, and visit the show-piece — the extraordinary Amber Room. Covered in amber panels that replicate the originals looted by the Nazis in World War II and subsequently lost, this spectacular room is a vision of shimmering amber work, gold leaf and mirrors. The original room was dubbed the ‘Eighth Wonder of the World’, and today’s replica was made using 13,000 pounds (6,000 kilograms) of amber.