It’s a beautiful palace. I recommend that you visit it during summer so you can roam around the yard. I visited in winter so I didn’t get to see the park at it was fully-covered with snow. I chose the earliest time which is 10am as I thought it was just around St. petersburg but it was 1 1/2 hr travel so I came late at 10:45. The automatic ticket gate won’t let me get in bit when I asked the Info counter, she asked me to go the 2nd entrance which is the gate for tours and I was granted entry on that gate.