Magnificent palace and gardens. The more you looked the more you saw. As in everything in this part of Russia was over the top in beauty.

Nice bridge in a beautiful garden especially if you’re fan of photography, all the nature surrounding mergers in a gorgeous landscape perfect for a walk

Surprising that a major tourist attraction such as this should provide no services or information whatsoever in English (except the audio-guide), and treat its visitors like dirt. Even before entering, we wasted a lot of time getting the run-around from different windows and getting bounced around to different entrances. My husband and I had purchased our tickets on line, but not our 11-year-old because the website said children are free, and did not provide that option in the drop-down menu. We discovered, to our cost, that children do still need a ticket, but none of the assistants at the windows would sell us one. We tried to explain this in English, but got a lot of exasperated eye rolling and raised voices in response, and futile gesticulation on both sides before we realized (no thanks to any of the staff) that we were supposed to line up in the 3-5 hour queue to get the free child ticket, which defeats the purpose of buying the adult tickets on line. After much arguing they let us into the main hall, where we had to buy a full-price ticket for our daughter. Once inside, we found to our great dismay that just under half of the palace is only open to certain visitors. Of course, there was no explanation for this at the palace, and when I went back to check the website after the fact out of curiosity, there was only the vaguest mention that one wing is not open for general admission, which does not alert prospective visitors to the fact that it's almost half the building, nor does it give any information about how to join a guided tour to that section. The closed-off area starts at the midway point in the ballroom. When we asked a couple of people on the other side of the rope how to access that part of the museum and where to buy additional tickets if required, we got roundly scolded by a man who was obviously a private tour guide, who told us in a very angry and annoyed tone and wagging his finger at us, "You don't come on this side. You're not allowed.", as if he thought we were going to jump over the cordon and make a run for it. He didn't give us an explanation of the set-up, and it was only when I inquired at the information desk in the park that I understood that to see that part of the palace, you have to book a guided tour with one of the agencies in St. P's in advance. We found this whole arrangement completely baffling and insulting. The State Museum should make the situation clearer for one thing, and for another I don't understand why they don't either include the entire building on the general admission ticket (even if it means increasing the price, which we would have paid) or selling add-on tickets on site. The palace rooms were absolutely swarming with tour group to the extent that room attendants limit the flow of people moving from room to room. We fumed all day, but it is impossible not to enjoy the astounding buildings and grounds. The park is vast, so the crowds are not a problem walking around outdoors. In short, Tsarskoe Selo is unmissable, but be prepared to do a fair amount of anger management. And speak Russian.