Upper Park. Also known as the Upper Gardens. This area forms the land approach to the ensemble. Originally, the upper park was somewhat functional: vegetables were grown and ponds were stocked with fish. By the middle of the 18th century, however, it would become more like a formal garden. The paths of the upper park are decorated with statues and arbored trellises. The area was extensively damaged during the German occupation in the early 1940s. Visiting the upper park is free.
Lower Park. Also known as the Lower Gardens. Visitors arriving by hydrofoil from Saint Petersburg will arrive at a pier at the end of the sea channel and approach the great palace from the lower park. In the lower park is the centerpiece of the whole ensemble. A small ridge forms the southern boundary and the Gulf of Finland forms the northern boundary. The fundamental principle of the design is symmetry. In the middle is the great palace, great cascade, and sea channel going to the Gulf dividing the park into eastern and western sections. On the east side is the Monplaisir ensemble and on the west side is the Marly palace. Visitors to the lower park must pay admission. Russian visitors pay admission fees (200RUB) substantially less than non-Russian visitors. Open 9am-7pm daily. Almost everything is closed on the last Tuesday of each month.
The Most Frequently Asked Travel Questions about Peterhof
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Peterhof Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.
