# Tsaritsyno Park and Palace, Moscow > Tsaritsyno is Catherine the Great’s unfinished country palace in south Moscow — red-brick “Gothic” buildings by Bazhenov and Kazakov set around ponds in a huge landscaped park. The park is free and open daily 6:00–24:00. The Grand Palace (with the Bread House) costs 900 ₽; museums open Tuesday to Sunday. Allow 2–3 hours, half a day with the museums. Metro: Tsaritsyno or Orekhovo. Web page: https://yesgo.io/russia/moscow/tsaritsyno - City: [Moscow](https://yesgo.io/russia/moscow), Russia - YesGo score: 26/100 (Yes, if nearby) - Time on site: 2 h - Entry: Park free, palace 900 ₽ - Opening hours: Park daily 6:00–24:00; museums Tue–Thu & Sun 10:00–18:00, Fri–Sat 10:00–20:00, closed Mondays; greenhouses closed Mon–Tue - With kids: Fine with kids - Park entry: Free - Park hours: Daily 6:00–24:00 - Museum hours: Tue–Thu & Sun 10:00–18:00, Fri–Sat 10:00–20:00; closed Mondays - Greenhouses: Wed–Thu & Sun 10:00–18:00, Fri–Sat 10:00–20:00; closed Mon–Tue - Grand Palace + Bread House: 900 ₽; reduced 540 ₽, students 630 ₽ - Combined ticket, 6 buildings: 1,220 ₽, reduced 610 ₽; valid one month, one visit per building - Under 7: Free - Musical fountain: 1 May – 30 September, 9:00–24:00, lights from 21:00 - Dogs: Not allowed in the park, except guide dogs - Bikes and scooters: Only around the Lower Tsaritsyno Pond - Metro: Tsaritsyno, exit 2 (Central Gates) or Orekhovo, exit 2 (Park Gates) — green line 2 - Address: 1 Dolskaya St, Moscow - Coordinates: 55.61540, 37.68220 - Facts checked: 29.10.2026 ## Key facts - **1775** — Catherine the Great bought the Chernaya Gryaz estate from the Cantemir family and renamed it Tsaritsyno (source: Official website of the Tsaritsyno Museum-Reserve; English Wikipedia, “Tsaritsyno Palace”; Advantour guide) - **Bazhenov & Kazakov** — Vasily Bazhenov began building in 1776; Matvey Kazakov replaced his main palace with the Grand Palace (source: Official website of the Tsaritsyno Museum-Reserve; English Wikipedia, “Tsaritsyno Palace”) - **200+ years** — the Grand Palace stood roofless and unfinished until its completion in 2007 (source: English Wikipedia, “Tsaritsyno Palace”; official museum-reserve website) - **1785** — Catherine inspected Bazhenov’s palace, disliked it and ordered it pulled down (source: Official website of the Tsaritsyno Museum-Reserve; English Wikipedia, “Tsaritsyno Palace”) - **“Gothic taste”** — Catherine’s brief — hence the turrets, pointed arches and red brick with white stone (source: Official website of the Tsaritsyno Museum-Reserve; English Wikipedia, “Tsaritsyno Palace”) - **1797** — Paul I halted construction after his mother’s death (source: English Wikipedia, “Tsaritsyno Palace”; Advantour guide) - **2 Sep 2007** — official reopening after the rebuilding of the park and the Grand Palace (source: Official website of the Tsaritsyno Museum-Reserve; English Wikipedia, “Tsaritsyno Palace”) - **1984** — the present museum was founded; it became the Tsaritsyno Museum-Reserve in 1992 (source: Russian Wikipedia, “Tsaritsyno (museum-reserve)”; Wikidata Q4503224) > **Museums are closed on Mondays** The park is open every day, 6:00 to midnight, but the Grand Palace, the Bread House, the Opera House and the Cavalry Building all close on Mondays — and the greenhouses close on Tuesdays too. If you want to go inside, come Wednesday to Sunday. On Fridays and Saturdays the museums stay open until 20:00. ## Tsaritsyno tickets: what’s free and what you pay for **The park is free**, every day from 6:00 to 24:00 — you can walk the ponds, bridges and the outside of every palace without a ticket. You pay only to go into the museum buildings, and you don’t need to book ahead for the park. The main ticket is the **Grand Palace plus the Bread House for 900 ₽** (reduced 540 ₽ for children aged 7–18 and pensioners, 630 ₽ for students); there is no palace-only ticket. Separately, the Opera House is 150 ₽, the Third Cavalry Building 180 ₽ and the greenhouses 250 ₽. A **combined ticket for all six buildings is 1,220 ₽**, valid for a month. Children under 7 go free. Paying: Visa and Mastercard cards issued outside Russia have not worked in the country since March 2022, and the online ticket shop needs a Russian card. Bring roubles in cash for the ticket desk and the cafés. The museum has a free week each month, but its free tickets are issued through the Moscow city portal mos.ru, which is hard to use without a Russian account. ## Is Tsaritsyno worth visiting? Yes — if you have three days or more in Moscow. Nothing else in the city looks like it: Catherine asked for a palace “in the Gothic taste”, and Bazhenov answered with red brick, white-stone lace, pointed arches and turrets. Add big ponds, a dam with a classic palace view and a landscaped park, and you get a calm half-day away from central crowds. Be honest with yourself about time, though. It is 30–40 minutes each way from the centre, so on a one- or two-day trip YesGo would skip it. And know what you are seeing: the Grand Palace was never finished in Catherine’s day and stood as a roofless shell for two centuries. Its roofs and halls date from the 2007 rebuild — if you want authentic 18th-century interiors, [Kuskovo](https://yesgo.io/russia/moscow/kuskovo) is the better pick. It works well with kids: open lawns, squirrels, ducks on the ponds and warm greenhouses in winter. ## What to see at Tsaritsyno - **The Grand Palace** by Kazakov — the turreted building on every postcard, with halls and exhibitions on the estate and Catherine the Great. - **The Bread House** — Bazhenov’s palace kitchen, now an exhibition building, on the same ticket as the Grand Palace. - **The Opera House (Middle Palace)** — a small Bazhenov palace used for concerts and exhibitions. - **The Figured Bridge and the Grape Gates** — Bazhenov’s carved white-stone Gothic at its best. - **The ponds and the dam** — the classic view of the palace across the water; the musical fountain is on the Middle Pond. - **The greenhouses** — three glasshouses of tropical plants, the place to warm up on a cold day. - **The landscape park** — the Milovida pavilion above the Upper Pond, the Ruined Tower, grottoes, little bridges and lots of squirrels. ## How to get to Tsaritsyno by metro 1. From Red Square, walk to **Teatralnaya** station and take the green Zamoskvoretskaya line (line 2) towards Alma-Atinskaya. 2. Ride 8 stops, about 20 minutes, to **Tsaritsyno** (Царицыно). Station names are shown in Latin letters too. 3. Take **exit 2**, turn right and walk under the railway bridges to the Central Gates (entrance 1) — roughly 10 minutes. 4. From the Central Gates the path crosses the dam between the ponds; the Grand Palace is another 10 minutes — the most scenic way in. 5. Alternatively, get off one stop later at **Orekhovo** (Орехово), exit 2, for the Park Gates (entrance 8) — a shady route past pavilions and the Ruined Tower. Arriving at Tsaritsyno and leaving from Orekhovo means you cross the whole park without doubling back. 6. A single metro ride is paid by tapping a contactless card at the turnstile — a foreign card won’t work, so buy a Troika card with cash at any station ticket office. ## How long do you need at Tsaritsyno? Allow **1.5–2 hours** for a loop of the park with the palaces from outside, **2.5–3 hours** with the Grand Palace and the Bread House, and half a day if you add the greenhouses, the Opera House and lunch. Count another 30–40 minutes each way from central Moscow. You can eat on site: there are cafés in the Grand Palace and the Small Palace, in the Milovida pavilion and near the Central Gates, plus snack kiosks at summer weekends. Picnics are not allowed in the park, so plan on a café rather than packing lunch. > **No dogs, and bikes only by the Lower Pond** Museum-reserve rules ban animals from both the museums and the historic park — guide dogs are the only exception. Bikes, scooters and rollerblades are allowed only around the Lower Tsaritsyno Pond (pre-school children are exempt). Swimming in the ponds, picnics and drinks in glass bottles are banned too, and large bags and umbrellas go to the cloakroom before the palace halls. ## The musical fountain The light-and-music fountain on the Middle Pond runs **from 1 May to 30 September**, daily 9:00–24:00, with lights from 21:00. It is tested in late April and covered with an air dome for the cold months, and the schedule can change during maintenance. Visiting between October and April? No fountain — but autumn is one of the prettiest times here, with maples turning gold against the red brick. On a summer evening, arrive by 20:00, see the palaces in daylight and walk to the fountain once the lights come on. ## Before you go: checklist - [ ] It isn’t Monday, if you want the museums (or Tuesday, for the greenhouses) - [ ] Roubles in cash or a Russian bank card — foreign Visa and Mastercard don’t work - [ ] Troika card for the metro - [ ] Student card or ID for a reduced ticket - [ ] Comfortable shoes — a loop of the park is 4–5 km - [ ] No dog with you — it won’t be let in - [ ] May–September: stay for the fountain lights after 21:00 ## Tsaritsyno vs Kolomenskoye vs Kuskovo | | Tsaritsyno | Kolomenskoye | Kuskovo | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | What it is | Catherine the Great’s Gothic palaces, ponds, landscape park | Royal estate above the Moskva river | Sheremetev family estate with palace and formal garden | | Highlight | Bazhenov and Kazakov’s red-brick architecture | UNESCO-listed Church of the Ascension, wooden palace | Original 18th-century interiors | | Park entry | Free, 6:00–24:00 | Free | Estate by ticket | | Metro | Tsaritsyno, Orekhovo | Kolomenskaya | Ryazansky Prospekt, Vykhino | | Time needed | 2–3 h, half a day with museums | 2–3 h | 1.5–2 h | Tsaritsyno and [Kolomenskoye](https://yesgo.io/russia/moscow/kolomenskoye) are three stops apart on the same green line, so they make an easy day together: Tsaritsyno for the architecture and ponds, Kolomenskoye for old Russia and river views. ## Moscow palaces and estates compared Every palace and estate in Moscow rated by YesGo. - [Moscow Metro](https://yesgo.io/russia/moscow/moscow-metro) — YesGo score 70/100 (Yes, go) · 1 h 30 min · 75 ₽ on Troika - [Kremlin Armoury](https://yesgo.io/russia/moscow/kremlin-armoury) — YesGo score 44/100 (Yes, if nearby) · 1 h 30 min · 1,400 ₽ - [Kolomenskoye](https://yesgo.io/russia/moscow/kolomenskoye) — YesGo score 38/100 (Yes, if nearby) · 2 h · Park free, palace ≈ 700 ₽ - [Kuskovo Estate](https://yesgo.io/russia/moscow/kuskovo) — YesGo score 29/100 (Yes, if nearby) · 1 h 30 min · Park 100 ₽, palace 500 ₽ - [Tsaritsyno](https://yesgo.io/russia/moscow/tsaritsyno) — YesGo score 26/100 (Yes, if nearby) · 2 h · Park free, palace 900 ₽ ## South Moscow in a day: Tsaritsyno and Kolomenskoye Morning at Tsaritsyno — ponds, the Grand Palace, the greenhouses. After lunch ride three stops up the green line to Kolomenskoye and walk to the Church of the Ascension above the river. End the day in Gorky Park. 1. [Tsaritsyno](https://yesgo.io/russia/moscow/tsaritsyno) — YesGo score 26/100 (Yes, if nearby) · 2 h · Park free, palace 900 ₽ 2. [Kolomenskoye](https://yesgo.io/russia/moscow/kolomenskoye) — YesGo score 38/100 (Yes, if nearby) · 2 h · Park free, palace ≈ 700 ₽ 3. [Gorky Park](https://yesgo.io/russia/moscow/gorky-park) — YesGo score 51/100 (Yes, go) · 1 h 30 min · Free > **The best photo is from the dam** The classic Tsaritsyno shot is from the dam between the Middle and Upper ponds, just past the Central Gates: the whole Grand Palace with its reflection. Come on a weekday morning for an empty frame. ## Good to know You will also see the spelling Tsaritsino. Don’t confuse Tsaritsyno with Tsaritsyn — the old name (until 1925) of the city of Volgograd on the Volga, a long way from Moscow. ## Tips - Arrive at Tsaritsyno station, leave from Orekhovo — you’ll cross the park end to end without retracing your steps. - Free in 2 hours: Central Gates → dam and ponds → Grand Palace from outside → Figured Bridge → Milovida → Ruined Tower → Orekhovo. - Going into three or more buildings? The combined ticket is cheaper than single ones. - Pair it with Kolomenskoye, three metro stops away on the same line. - Palace labels are mostly in Russian — a guided tour makes the story of the demolished first palace much easier to follow. - In autumn come on a sunny day and before 15:00 — the park is gorgeous, but it gets dark early. ## Questions ### Is Tsaritsyno Park free? Yes. The park is free and open every day from 6:00 to midnight. You pay only for the museums: 900 ₽ for the Grand Palace with the Bread House, or 1,220 ₽ for all six buildings. ### What are Tsaritsyno’s opening hours? The park is open daily 6:00–24:00. Museums open Tuesday–Thursday and Sunday 10:00–18:00, Friday–Saturday 10:00–20:00, and close on Mondays. The greenhouses also close on Tuesdays. ### How do I get to Tsaritsyno from central Moscow? Take the green metro line 2 from Teatralnaya towards Alma-Atinskaya to Tsaritsyno station — 8 stops, about 20 minutes. Use exit 2 and walk about 10 minutes to the Central Gates. ### Which metro station is closest to Tsaritsyno? Tsaritsyno station (exit 2) for the Central Gates and the ponds, or Orekhovo (exit 2) for the Park Gates. Both are on green line 2. ### How much is the Grand Palace ticket? 900 ₽, which also covers the Bread House. Reduced tickets are 540 ₽, students pay 630 ₽, and children under 7 go free. ### Is Tsaritsyno open on Monday? The park is. All museum buildings are closed on Mondays, and the greenhouses are closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. ### When does the Tsaritsyno fountain work? From 1 May to 30 September, daily 9:00–24:00, with lights from 21:00. It is switched off from October to April. ### Can I bring my dog to Tsaritsyno? No — animals aren’t allowed in the museums or the historic park, except guide dogs. ### Tsaritsyno or Kolomenskoye — which is better? Tsaritsyno for Gothic-style palaces and ponds, Kolomenskoye for the UNESCO-listed Church of the Ascension and river views. They are three metro stops apart, so you can do both in one day. ## How we checked Hours, prices, concessions, rules, metro exits, parking and the fountain season come from the official museum-reserve website, checked 29.10.2026. The site sells no palace-only ticket — the Grand Palace comes with the Bread House. The museum gives 405 ha for its whole territory, while guides quote “over 100 ha” for the palace and park ensemble, so we leave area out of the facts. Sources differ on the founding of the museum: Russian Wikipedia gives 1984 for the present museum, English Wikipedia 1927 for an earlier museum on the estate. Kazakov’s working dates also differ between sources (1786–1796 or 1787–1793), so we don’t give them. Metro and walking times are our estimates from the map. ## Sources - Official website of the Tsaritsyno Museum-Reserve: opening hours, prices and concessions, visitor rules, FAQ, palace history, 29.10.2026 - English Wikipedia: Tsaritsyno Palace - Russian Wikipedia: Tsaritsyno (museum-reserve); Wikidata Q4503224 - Advantour guide: Tsaritsyno estate - Visa and Mastercard statements on suspending operations in Russia, March 2022 --- This is the Markdown version of a YesGo page for AI assistants. Quote the web page link above, not this file.