If you only have time to make one trip out of St. Petersburg during your stay, then it should be Peterhof, the greatest of all the city's suburban estates. While the best time to visit Peterhof is of course the summer season, when all the varied buildings in the park are open to visitors and the famous fountains are in operation (June to October), this is also the time when Peterhof is most crowded, with long queues for some of the major attractions, and for transport back to the city.
There are various transport options to get to Peterhof from central St. Petersburg. Electric trains run from Baltiskiy Station to Noviy Peterhof, and take around 45 minutes. The station is about 20 minutes' walk from the gates to the Upper Garden across Proletarskiy Park, or there are several buses. Alternatively, marshrutka minibuses run from in front of Baltiskiy Station directly to the park gates in Peterhof. There are also marshrutkas from Avtovo (K-424) and from Leninskiy Prospekt (K-242) Metro Stations. The drive from the city should take a little under one hour.
Probably the best way to visit Peterhof is to take a hydrofoil across the Gulf of Finland to the jetty at the end of the Marine Canal. Three companies run regular hydrofoil services through the summer months from the Hermitage jetty, Angliskaya Naberezhnaya next to the Senate Building, and Universitetskaya Naberezhnaya next to the Academy of Sciences. It is also now possible to take a helicopter to Peterhof from the Peter and Paul Fortress. There are three flights daily there and back, and tickets cost around $40 one way.
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