Russia · Sankt-Peterburg
Where to Stay in Pushkin, Sankt-Peterburg
Pushkin is a palace town south of Saint Petersburg, Russia, the old imperial estate of Tsarskoye Selo with its great blue-and-gold palace.
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Where to stay in Pushkin
Each area has its own feel; here's who each one suits.
Where you stay in Pushkin turns on the parks. Near the palace gates, guesthouses put the Catherine Palace, the Amber Room, and the great parks within a walk, and staying by the gardens suits anyone here for the imperial town. The parks empty and hush after closing.
Rooms cluster in the old streets by the gates. Out toward the station and the edges, the town spreads into quieter, greener streets. A room away from the palaces trades the crowds for calm, gardens, and an easy trip back to Saint Petersburg.
The woods run deep past the parks. If you want the palaces at the gate, stay by the park; if you want the quiet, take a room toward the station. Either way, the golden palace is close at hand.
About Pushkin
What is Pushkin known for?
Pushkin is famous as Tsarskoye Selo, the Tsar's Village. The dazzling blue-and-gold Catherine Palace stands here in its vast park, holding the fabled Amber Room, and grand gardens spread around the imperial residences. The poet Pushkin studied at the school here and gave the town its modern name.
Palaces and poetry mark the place.
What are the main landmarks in Pushkin?
The Catherine Palace is the glory of Pushkin. Its long blue-and-gold Baroque front and gilded halls draw visitors from across the world, the great sight of the town, above the wide Catherine Park. The Amber Room glows within.
The reconstructed chamber of amber and gold is the palace's wonder, while the Alexander Palace and the Grand Orangery stand among the trees of Tsarskoye Selo.
What is the history of Pushkin?
Pushkin began as a country estate of the tsars. Peter the Great gave the land to his wife, and the empresses who followed turned Tsarskoye Selo into a summer paradise of palaces and parks. Elizabeth built the great palace.
She raised the vast blue-and-gold Catherine Palace in the Baroque style, its halls dripping with gold, and later rulers added the amber-panelled chamber that became the wonder of the age. A school here shaped the nation's poet. The young Alexander Pushkin studied at the imperial lyceum in the town, and long after, the Soviet state renamed Tsarskoye Selo in his honour.
War nearly destroyed the palaces. The Germans looted and burned them and stripped the famous Amber Room away, and it has never been found, but the Russians rebuilt the halls and remade the amber from old photographs. The palaces and parks draw crowds once more.
Pushkin keeps the splendour of the tsars alive south of the city.
Where is Pushkin?
Pushkin lies on the low hills south of Saint Petersburg. The town sits among parks and ponds some twenty-five kilometres from the city, on the gentle rise where the tsars built their summer retreats. Woods and gardens fill the whole town.
The parks run green from palace to palace.
What is the climate of Pushkin?
Pushkin shares the cool, damp climate of the north. Long, snowy winters wrap the palaces and the parks in white, and the short summers stay mild and grey, when the gardens fill with visitors. Frost silvers the statues through the winter.
The parks sleep under snow for months.
How do you get to Pushkin?
Pushkin lies just south of Saint Petersburg. Suburban trains and buses run out from the city in half an hour, and roads cross the parkland from the capital of the north. Paths wind between the palaces and ponds.
Most arrive by rail for the palaces and parks.
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Updated August 2026