The gardens of Peterhof Palace outside St. Petersburg, Russia were one of the most family-friendly spots that we visited on our Baltic cruise.
One of the most spectacular, and certainly the most kid-friendly, sites that we visited in St. Petersburg, Russia was the gardens of Peterhof Palace (nicknamed the “Russian Versailles”) located just outside of the city of St. Petersburg on the shores of the Gulf of Finland. The palace and it’s grounds have been named UNESCO World Heritage Sites and are among the most popular tourist attractions in St. Petersburg.
The palace and the French-style gardens were initially designed by Peter the Great and subsequent generations have added additional fountains to the grounds. One of the most interesting facts about the elaborate display of fountains is that they are operated without pumps. Water from natural springs is collected in reservoirs on the upper level and the force of gravity creates the pressure necessary to operate the fountains on the lower level.
We restricted our visit to the grounds of Peterhof rather than trying to tour the palace as well. It was a warm, sunny day when we visited and the kids loved spending the afternoon outside in the gardens admiring the many fountains and playing on the garden paths. The fountains are beautiful as well as entertaining as there are some fountains that are rigged to spray unsuspecting passers-by. So many of the attractions of St. Petersburg are grand indoor places that it provides a nice balance to include a spot like Peterhof where kids are able to spend a casual afternoon outdoors even if it is amidst grand surroundings.
Here are a few of our favourite photos from the gardens.
View of Grand Cascade from Palace level
The Grand Cascade
The Grand Cascade
Fountains of Peterhof
Children’s Fountain
The Canal runs from the Palace to the Gulf of Finland
View of Palace, the Grand Cascade and the Samson Fountain
Our family at Peterhof – Fountain Alley in background
Katie in front of Chess Mountain
Peterhof Gardens
Related Links
St. Petersburg, Russia Trip Report
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Twokidsandamap
Beautiful pictures! I love the view of the palace down the canal. It looks crowded though!
Lisa Goodmurphy
Thanks!! It was definitely crowded but nowhere near as crowded as Catherine’s Palace or the Hermitage. We were there in August and everything was crazy busy!
Steve
That’s amazing that they can do all that without pumps. Sometimes I think that the people who designed these things centuries ago were a lot smarter than most of us today. Present company excluded of course.
Lucia
That is truly a magnificent garden! And those fountains!!! Wow! Thanks for sharing this and thanks for your recent blog comment….have fun during your upcoming trip to Paris. Be sure to get the Paris Pastry app. That really turned our trip into a series of delicious adventures and even though our kids were a bit disappointed by Mona Lisa they loved all of the fabulous parks, pastries, and even riding the metro. Happy Travels!
SophieR
Really nice photos! I’ve only seen St Petersburg during a cold, bleak, Soviet winter ages ago. My 10-year-old has been asking to go to Russia lately. Don’t know why… but then again, why not? Peterhof does indeed look nice for a bit of tumbling about – so important when travelling with kids, isn’t it…
Lisa Goodmurphy
@Sophie – it’s funny how kids decide where they want to go, isn’t it? Emma started telling us when she was 3 that she wanted to go to Russia and China. She’s crossed Russia off her list and now she’s waiting for China…
Shanna Schultz
These photos are beautiful (it was raining the day that we visited Peterhoff)…
Russia is a place that I am looking forward to going back to someday (we were only there for two days on a stop on a cruise this summer…)
Lisa Goodmurphy
Thanks, Shanna! We were only there for 2 days on a cruise stop too but we really lucked out with the weather! There’s so much to see and do in St. Petersburg though that you really can’t do it justice in a couple of days – which means a good excuse to return some day!