8 days/ 7 nights
DAY 1 Arrival to St.Petersburg. Meeting with a Guide in Airport Arrival Area. Transfer to hotel. Accommodation. Dinner in Hotel.
DAY 2 AM: Panoramic city tour.
PM: Excursion to Hermitage - worldwide-recognized Museum, that occupies five historical
buildings, including Winter Palace – the residence of Russian tsars.
Dinner in hotel
DAY 3 AM: Excursion to Catherine Palace - suburb tsar residence with fascinating sample of gardening art of the XVII-XIX centuries. An official hall of Catherine’s Palace is the famous “Amber Room”(mysteriously disappeared during the WWII) and restored in 2003.
Lunch in restaurant Admitality (The restaurant is located on the bank of the Big pond in Caterina's park.
PM: Excursion to Pavlovsk Palace - outstanding ensemble of the end XVIII — the beginnings of XIX centuries, summer residence of emperor Pavel I and his family. One of the largest in Europe landscape parks — its area of 600 hectares. The ensemble of the Pavlovsk palace and park was created within fifty years on coast of the twisting river the Slav.
Formation of collections of the Pavlovsk palace is connected with travel of owners of Pavlovsk across Europe in 1781-1782 Visiting workshops of known masters, they got and ordered pictures, furniture, bronze products, silk fabrics, porcelain services, have brought a considerable quantity of an antique sculpture from Italy, and also have received gifts from royal court yard of Europe.
Dinner in Hotel.
DAY 4. Excursion to Oranienbaum. The Chinese Palace.
Oranienbaum is royal residence, located on the Gulf of Finnland west of St.Petersburg. The Palace ensemble and the city centre are UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
Chinese Palace is architectural monument (Rococo style), constructed in 1762-68 in the Upper Park of Oranienbaum by Italian architect A. Rinaldi). Rinaldi employed the finest craftsmen of the time to create luxuriously painted and gilded chinoiserie interiors. Unique features of the interior include the Beaded Salon, whose walls are covered in “bangle work” (thousands of tiny colored glass beads) arranged in complex images of floral and animal motifs. Unlike the majority of St. Petersburg’s country palaces that were destroyed during World War II, the Chinese Palace at Oranienbaum survived with its lavish interiors intact since Catherine’s reign.
Lunch in restaurant Summer Palace - The summer palace is constructed in 2009, but under the original project of the Italian architect Antonio Rinaldi. The project has been developed in second half of XVIII centuries for Arena construction in Gatchina and couldn't be realized in due time for the political reasons. In a palace interior original vases from "Waterslide" in Oranienbaum, a sconce from the Eagle Hall of the Gatchina palace are used. The plafond of the Picturesque hall represents a reproduction of artist Tiepolo from the Chinese palace constructed under the project of Rinaldi.
PM: Free time. Dinner in Hotel.
DAY 5 AM: Excursion to Yusupov Palace - unique historical landmark of federal importance showcasing architectural trends from the 18th through 20th centuries, has been rightfully acclaimed as the "encyclopedia" of St. Petersburg aristocratic interior design.
The Yusupov Palace is one of the few aristocratic mansions still in existence in St. Petersburg that have retained both their bold facade suites, and their less glamorous premises: an art gallery, private mini-theater, and luxurious private chambers of the Yusupovs, where the warmth and charm of their erstwhile owners still glows. The palace went down in Russian history as the place where the mysterious monk Grigory Rasputin was assassinated, a Siberian peasant who became the spiritual mentor and friend of Nicholas II and the Royal Family in the early 20th century. The tragedy took place the night of December 17, 1916 in the private annex of the young Prince Felix Yusupov, now housing a historical exhibit recreating the assassination scene.
Lunch in restaurant Backstage (not far from The Maryinsky Theater )
PM: Boat trip along rivers and canals – You can enjoy the city and its architecture, but from water.
Dinner in Hotel.
DAY 6 AM: Excursion to Petergof Palace and Park – is an internationally famous country residence of Russian Tsars on the Gulf of Finland coast. It is a city of Parks, palaces and fountains and outstanding sample of fascinating palace-and-park architecture with 11 museums. Upper Garden and Lower Park hold over 150 fountains and 4 magnificient cascades.
Lunch in restaurant Alex House.
PM: Excursion to Constantinovsky Palace – historical and cultural monument. Peter I planned to outshine the famous Versailles with this residence, which then became a grand-ducal estate.
DAY 7 AM: Excursion to Gatchina Palace and Park complex. It is one of the best samples of Russian Classicism. Decorated with local limestone, the palace looks like a medieval English castle. Unique “Birch Cabin” and “Pavillon of Venus” in the park. A symbol of Gatchina is the beaten-cob building of Priorate Palace.
Evening Farewell Dinner in Last Palace of prince Abamelek-Lazarev. It happened that Palace to be the last palace erected in St.Petersburg before 1917 Bolshevik Revolution. Only months later it became no more than a splendid reminder of Imperial Russia……!
