The Catherine Palace at Tsarskoye Selo — Pushkin since 1937 — is the rococo imperial summer residence about 25 kilometres south of St Petersburg. The blue and white facade by Bartolomeo Rastrelli runs for more than 300 metres, the longest enfilade in Europe, and behind it stretches an ornate landscape of formal gardens, lakes, follies, and an English landscape park dotted with neoclassical pavilions.
The interior tour walks through the Great Hall, the gilded enfilade, and the famously reconstructed Amber Room. Lines can be brutal in summer — buy timed tickets ahead online if possible. Most visitors combine Tsarskoye Selo with Pavlovsk, a more restrained classical palace and a magnificent landscape park nearby, into a single long day trip. Suburban trains from Vitebsky Station, or organised buses from the city centre, are the easiest way to get there.