Catherine the Great built the big, classical Kamennoostrovsky Palace for her son. Today it's a government building that remains closed to the public.
©Ksenia Elzes/Lonely Planet
Lonely Planet's must-see attractions
2.66 MILES
The Hermitage fully lives up to its sterling reputation. You can be absorbed by its treasures for days and still come out wanting more. The enormous…
15.3 MILES
The Grand Palace is an imposing building, although with just 30-something rooms, it is not nearly as large as your typical tsarist palace. From the start…
2.89 MILES
The east wing of this magnificent building, wrapping around the south of Dvortsovaya pl and designed by Carlo Rossi in the 1820s, marries restored…
15.43 MILES
One of the greatest attractions outside of St Petersburg is the jaw-dropping collection of gilded fountains, statue-lined lanes and picturesque canals…
3.54 MILES
This spectacular palace on the Moyka River has some of the best 19th-century interiors in the city, in addition to a fascinating and gruesome history. The…
18.51 MILES
The centrepiece of Tsarskoe Selo, created under Empresses Elizabeth and Catherine the Great between 1744 and 1796, is the vast baroque Catherine Palace,…
3.77 MILES
The Mariinsky Theatre has played a pivotal role in Russian ballet ever since it was built in 1859 and remains one of Russia's most loved and respected…
18.62 MILES
Around the Catherine Palace extends the lovely Catherine Park. The main entrance is on Sadovaya ul, next to the Palace Chapel. The park extends around the…
Nearby St Petersburg attractions
0.33 MILES
Century-old dacha (country cottages) and mansions, inhabited by very wealthy locals, line the wooded lanes that twist their way around Kamenny (Stone)…
0.39 MILES
Opera buffs will want to visit this house–museum where the great singer Fyodor Chaliapin (1873–1938) lived before fleeing the Soviet Union in 1922. The…
4. Petersburg Avant-garde Museum
0.68 MILES
Also known as the House of Matyushin, this small museum occupies a charming grey-painted wooden cottage dating from the mid-19th century that was once the…
0.73 MILES
This privately run museum presents its pan-Russian collection in three sections – folk toys, factory toys and artisanal toys. Examples of the last include…
0.85 MILES
According to legend Kamenny Island was the site where Peter the Great planted an oak tree, which stood proudly over many years. The old oak, however, died…
1.01 MILES
On eastern Aptekarsky (Apothecary) Island, this was once a garden of medicinal plants – founded by Peter the Great himself in 1714 – that gave the island…