Rundale Palace Museum (Rundales Pils)
Rundale Palace Museum (Rundales Pils)
Rundale Palace Museum (Rundales Pils)
4.5
10:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Monday
10:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Tuesday
10:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Wednesday
10:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Thursday
10:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Friday
10:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Saturday
10:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Sunday
10:00 AM - 5:00 PM
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Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.
Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as wait time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.
Popular mentions
4.5
581 reviews
Excellent
371
Very good
174
Average
31
Poor
4
Terrible
1
sally j
Chelmsford, UK1,862 contributions
Sep 2022
Rundale Palace is really beautiful, you really do see a lot inside the house, there are some lovely objects to admire. The gardens are amazing too, we visited in September, but there was still plenty of colour in the grounds. Definitely worth visiting
Written September 26, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
gregeog
Tynemouth, UK179 contributions
Feb 2023 • Family
Stunning palace on the outskirts of Riga with a fascinating history. Going at this time of year was fantastic, as albeit much of the garden was hidden away, we were the only tourists there! Grand designs, fantastic architecture, informative and interactive information screens. Was almost as impressive as Versailles.
Written February 28, 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
NorthEastMe999
North East England, UK700 contributions
Aug 2024 • Couples
The palace is a masterpiece! The rooms are so ornate and detailed it's hard to know where to look. The gardens are absolutely remarkable, they really are. Overall it's a beautiful place to visit. The food offerings aren't great, which is a pity, but otherwise I would give this six stars if I could
Written August 13, 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Middle_Aged_Guy
Fremont, CA359 contributions
Jan 2020
This is a top caliber European palace. As a comparison, It is not at the same level as Versailles in France but it is certainly just as nice, if not nicer, than Wilanow Palace in Poland. The rooms were impressively restored to reflect the Palaces' former glory. I think being shown sections of walls that were not restored and rooms that were not touched was part of what made the visit worth it. You get to understand why restoration took decades. Definitely worth a visit, especially if you are in the area.
Written February 1, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Elena B
Athens, Greece476 contributions
Jan 2019 • Friends
If u ever visit Latvia 🇱🇻 don’t be lazy to visit this palace. It really beautiful place with green huge parks , where u can walk a lot and spend some quality time with your friends
Written January 27, 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
malholme
Lewes, UK522 contributions
Oct 2014 • Couples
While Versailles is huge and crowded Rundale Palace is much smaller but with a similar elegance, and really beautiful gardens, immaculately maintained. The Palace was built by Baron Ernst Johann Biron between 1736 and 1740. The house is heated by 80 porcelain stoves ( six genuine).The rooms have different colour schemes, lovely ceilings, and beautiful stucco work and marquetry work and floors.
Designed by Italian architect Rastrelli (architect of the Winter Palace in St.Petersburg)
We were fortunate to see a lovely wedding , with staff dressed in period costume.
Designed by Italian architect Rastrelli (architect of the Winter Palace in St.Petersburg)
We were fortunate to see a lovely wedding , with staff dressed in period costume.
Written October 7, 2014
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Weedman_CL4
Bentonville, AR76 contributions
May 2011
We visited the Rundale Palace in May 2011. There are four things to keep in mind on a visit to this incredible piece of history.
1 – Style. If you are not interested in the architectural styles and presentation methods of St Petersburg it may not be as interesting to you.
2 – Grounds. The grounds are essentially a huge flower garden. We loved it as the tulips were absolutely perfect, but the greenery was just starting to fill in. Would have been amazing in the middle of June I imagine.
3 – Palace. The palace itself is in pretty good shape. You only get access to certain portions of it, as it appears they are opening more as they restore it. The paintings are not remarkable as a collection, but there are some great pieces individually.
4 – Food. We decided to have lunch on the property. There are two locations, a full restaurant and a cafe. We ate at the cafe and found it to be good quality of food and actually a good value as well. We were pleasantly surprised.
We enjoyed the sort of work in process experience there and would tell you it was certainly worth the effort to get there. As a point of clarity, we had our own car and we visited this location on our way to Vilnius from Riga. It was a convenient stop for us and was right on the way.
1 – Style. If you are not interested in the architectural styles and presentation methods of St Petersburg it may not be as interesting to you.
2 – Grounds. The grounds are essentially a huge flower garden. We loved it as the tulips were absolutely perfect, but the greenery was just starting to fill in. Would have been amazing in the middle of June I imagine.
3 – Palace. The palace itself is in pretty good shape. You only get access to certain portions of it, as it appears they are opening more as they restore it. The paintings are not remarkable as a collection, but there are some great pieces individually.
4 – Food. We decided to have lunch on the property. There are two locations, a full restaurant and a cafe. We ate at the cafe and found it to be good quality of food and actually a good value as well. We were pleasantly surprised.
We enjoyed the sort of work in process experience there and would tell you it was certainly worth the effort to get there. As a point of clarity, we had our own car and we visited this location on our way to Vilnius from Riga. It was a convenient stop for us and was right on the way.
Written May 30, 2011
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
THY_90
Taipei, Taiwan478 contributions
Jun 2015 • Friends
I was happy to find out about this place on TripAdvisor and on Lonely Planet. But it was definitely overrated.
People who described this place as Little Versailles or the best hidden gem or the highlight of the entire Baltics or better than Hermitage must have not been to many places themselves.
First of all, the place is really not that cheap for its size. It is small. Much smaller than Peterhof and Hermitage in Saint Petersburg. And smaller than many gardens actually. Peterhof can take you a good 3 hours walk to rush through everything in lower garden, this one takes less than one hour and has very little to offer.
Secondly, the details of the art cannot compare to Hermitage or other museum quality work.
Thirdly, they have recently increased their price if you check their website now. It is 4 euro for the garden or 7.5 euros with short route to the palace.
What made this place from average to poor is they charge summer price now (the garden used to be free in winter but now it is 1 euro, I forgot how much the ticket was for the garden, but it is now increased to 4 euros) but the garden is not ready. You see mostly just trees. There are some flowers but not as good as even an average city park in European countries. Not impressive at all. They heavily advertise their beautiful baroque garden, but they had no flowers and many sections were closed for budding or construction or I don't know what other reasons.
The worst part is the attitude from the staff. I didn't feel respected when I brought my complaint. They made me feel that I lied about their garden had almost no flowers, sections being closed and the recently increased price.
So yes, don't plant a day for this place. Spend it in Riga or other places in the Baltics, or even Saint Petersburg if you get a chance to go. You will be far more impressed and well treated there.
People who described this place as Little Versailles or the best hidden gem or the highlight of the entire Baltics or better than Hermitage must have not been to many places themselves.
First of all, the place is really not that cheap for its size. It is small. Much smaller than Peterhof and Hermitage in Saint Petersburg. And smaller than many gardens actually. Peterhof can take you a good 3 hours walk to rush through everything in lower garden, this one takes less than one hour and has very little to offer.
Secondly, the details of the art cannot compare to Hermitage or other museum quality work.
Thirdly, they have recently increased their price if you check their website now. It is 4 euro for the garden or 7.5 euros with short route to the palace.
What made this place from average to poor is they charge summer price now (the garden used to be free in winter but now it is 1 euro, I forgot how much the ticket was for the garden, but it is now increased to 4 euros) but the garden is not ready. You see mostly just trees. There are some flowers but not as good as even an average city park in European countries. Not impressive at all. They heavily advertise their beautiful baroque garden, but they had no flowers and many sections were closed for budding or construction or I don't know what other reasons.
The worst part is the attitude from the staff. I didn't feel respected when I brought my complaint. They made me feel that I lied about their garden had almost no flowers, sections being closed and the recently increased price.
So yes, don't plant a day for this place. Spend it in Riga or other places in the Baltics, or even Saint Petersburg if you get a chance to go. You will be far more impressed and well treated there.
Written June 13, 2015
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Andrey
Dublin, Ireland52 contributions
Jul 2018 • Family
A very beautiful palace with an interesting interior and fine, diverse gardens. It is an hour and a half away from Riga and the way goes through a beautiful but empty countryside until you see the palace. Would recommend to everyone visiting Latvia.
Written May 12, 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Douglas F
Stroud, UK578 contributions
Jun 2019 • Solo
You can either take an organised tour from Riga or use the local transport. There are frequent buses from Bauska which take about an hour and cost €3.50 or so. Those on to the Palace are rather less frequent but if there is not one available just take a taxi from the bus station. It was built by the Italian architect Rastrelli who also did the Winter Palace in St Petersburg. The buildings have all been beautifully restored and because you are left free to wander round at your leisure it is far easier to get a real idea of the lives of the grand nobility who inhabited it. If you have a bite to eat at the basement cafe you can also see where all those who looked after such nobility survived! Ensure that you have plenty of time to walk around the beautiful, formal gardens and particularly admire the copious rose bushes and the different views back to the Palace from the various avenues within the gardens.
Written July 20, 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Рундальский дворец красив и без услуг гида. Можно заранее нарыть информацию о его истории и ехать уже с пониманием того, куда ты едешь. Но с гидом, конечно, интереснее. Гид видит ситуацию изнутри. Услуги гида можно заказать на сайте дворца. Приятного посещения!
Written June 25, 2019
How long should a visit with the short route take? How about the long route? Trying to figure out how much time to reserve for our visit as we will be doing a lot of driving on the day we visit. Thanks.
Written May 18, 2017
You would need I think at least a couple of hours to take this whole place in.
There is lots of history with so much to see, inside and out
Written May 20, 2017
Manchestergroup
Manchester, United Kingdom
We are visiting on a Saturday in July. Do we need to book in advance (8 people)? Are there guided tours in English? Do we have to take a tour?
Written April 25, 2017
Comment se rendre à Rundale Castle début décembre depuis Riga?
Written October 18, 2016
How to get from Mezotnes pils to Rundales pils beginning of September We will not have a car
Do you have a bus shedule from Bauska to Rundales pils and back to Bauska. Thank you
Written June 20, 2016
I'm planning to visit at the end of August. Is it very busy in summer? Do you have to queue up to get in? (Eg. Palaces in St Petersburg often have 1 hour queues in the summer just to get in...)
Written June 16, 2016
We just left the palace, today is August 17. We walked right in and bought our tickets with no line, no queue, zero people in front of us. When we were in the palace there were two large groups of 15-20 people each but it was not crowded at all and was very pleasant.
Written August 17, 2016
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