Museum "Tsarskoye Selo" — Attraction in Pushkin

Horrible experience! Over THREE hours queueing outside! And the nightmare wasn't over yet! When you get inside, another portion of chaos is expecting you. Disorganised crowds, people aren't told where to go and what to do. You are supposed to be attached to a guide who speaks in a microphone that transmits the sound into your personal headphones. However, at the entrance you are not asked what language you want, you aren't told which guide to stick to, you just follow the endless flow of people. As a result, we found ourselves upstairs without a guide or earphones, and when I went back downstairs to ask for the headphones for me and for the two elderly foreign women who I was accompanying, I was told we had to wait for another group. So we ended up walking through on our own which isn't very valuable either as there are no signs or notices telling you where you are and what's around you. I was ashamed in front of my foreign friends and recommend all the guests to just enjoy the surroundings and pop into other smaller places. The palace is ...just a palace with lots of gold, mirrors, porcelain and other luxury stuff, and is certainly NOT worth a 3 (or even 2 or 1!) hour queue for the sake of a 30minute wander through in chaos. Well, unless you are a passionate palaces...

One of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been to. It is a must if you visit Russia. HOWEVER the facility management is deplorable. We waited for about 4-5 hours to get in (even though we bought “skip the line” tickets from a travelling agency & we actually got to skip the line at Petergof the next day). The waiting itself wouldn’t have been that bad if we didn’t have to wait outside with nothing to cover us (we stood in the sun for about 3 hours and in the rain durning the time that remained). We also couldn’t leave the line to go to the toilet or to buy some water because they’re surrounded by rails on both sides. This is a terrible, especially considering the fact that there are many children and elderly. There were a few benches too, but definitely not enough... The staff don’t speak English, which wasn’t a problem in the case of the ladies who worked in the cloakrooms because they were very kind. The other staff however have been very rude and impatient. Also, you get pushed through the rooms giving you very little time to look around. So all-in-all the place is gorgeous, but the way they operate Tsarskoye Selo makes the experience...

Very disappointing. Very nice building, but a very short trip inside. The amber room is cool. Apart from that there is a huge amount of tourists, lots of queues organizational chaos, and in general the visit is frustrating if anything. Go to the Ermitage the second time instead of here. Too expensive for what you see.

In short: 1h of waiting, the ticket was 1000 roubles (700 for Hermitage which is 100x better), it was very crowded, very short, very stop-and-go. If you like standing in 3 queues (building, ticket office, museaum entry) before entering, then being walked around like a bunch of children not being able to go where you want. Then waiting for other groups to pass every 2 minutes once you are inside, and still have the visit take about 15 minutes. Then go ahead.

Otherwise just see the park, it is nice, and paying 150 for that is fair.

In winter it is apparently better to go inside because there is fewer tourists. The garden is nice in the summer, but probably not before May as the trees will still be bare...