The Catherine palace is one of the main attractions of St Petersburg. It’s situated in a suburb called Tsarskoe Selo (also known as Pushkin) about 25 km from St Petersburg. Unfortunately the metro doesn’t go this far, so it’s not so easy to get to the Catherine palace if you are a tourist. The options include a minibus (marshrutka), a taxi or private transfer and a train.
Bus to the Catherine palace
The cheapest way to get to the Catherine palace from Saint-Petersburg is to take a commersial bus called marshrutka. The difference between marshrutka and an ordinary bus is that marshrutka is operated by private companies. Marshrutka also follows a specific route, but you need to tell the driver where you want to go out. Since the Catherine palace is very popular, the driver usually announces the stop, so it’s hard to miss it. All commersial buses have a letter “K” in front of the number of the route and those going to the Catherine palace have a mark “Tsarskoe Selo” and sometimes “Catherine palace”. In order to get to the Catherine palace you take a marshrutka from Moskovskaya metro station # K 342, K287 or K545, the stop is next to Moskovskaya ploshad. The main landmark of Moskovskaya ploshad is a monument to Lenin and a huge building (called the House of Soviets) behind it, marshrutkas stop in front of the building. This building is on the photo in the post. Also note that the historical name of the town where the Catherine palace is is Tsarskoe Selo, but the modern name that locals use is Pushkin. It’s confusing, but it’s the same place.
Train to Trarskoe Selo
Another way to get to the Catherine palace is to take a local train from Vitebsky train station (next to Pushkinskaya metro station) or from Kupchino metro station. The disadvantage of this option is that the train station is not very close to the palace and you will need to take a marshrutka to get there.
Once you are at Tsarskoe Selo train station, you can either walk or take buses 371 or 382 or commercial buses (called marshrutka in Russian) # № 371, 377, 382 that stop next to the park where the Catherine palace is.
Private transfer to the Catherine palace with an English-speaking driver
It’s a rather expensive, but a comfortable option. We are offering private transfers with English-speaking drivers to the Catherine palace. As a rule, a one-way drive to the Catherine palace takes from 45 min to an hour and a visit to the Catherine palace and the gardens takes 4-5 hours (together with the time you need to get there). In other words, you spend 2-3 hours in the Catherine palace. A price of a private transfer with English-speaking driver including up to 3 hours waiting time is 4800 rub per group of up to 4 people. A minivan can also be arranged upon agreement. If you interested, please e-mail us at stpetetrip@gmail.com
Good to know: The Catherine palace is extremely busy from May to October and during this period not guided visitors are allowed inside only during several hours a day, as a result standing in line to get the tickets to the catherine palace can take a lot of time. Guides can book tickets in advance.
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