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Walking routes in Saint Petersburg

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      Yelagin: deer, goats and playgrounds

      ⏱ 4 h🚶 2.6 km🍽 1📍 5 stops
      🐢 A little — under 3 km

      A day on Yelagin Island: past the palace and ponds to the big playground and a mini zoo with deer, goats and a little donkey, ending with sunset on the Strelka.

      👶 With kids🌳 Parks and nature
      👶 under 3, 3–6 years · ✓ stroller-friendly

      Krestovsky Ostrov metro has no lift: take a taxi to the main entrance by the 1st Yelagin Bridge. The paths are paved; only near the Strelka are they dirt and damp after rain.

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      1. 1
        🖼 Yelagin Palace
        Елагин остров, 1
        🎟 ticket
        Rossi's white-and-yellow Empire palace with a semicircular facade on Yelagin Island.
        Admire the palace from outside — toddlers will prefer the ducks and squirrels around the ponds. Entry to the park is free on weekdays and ticketed on weekends.
        📖 More about the placeCollapse
        Yelagin Palace
        © Florstein · CC BY-SA 4.0
        Yelagin Palace
        © Ludvig14 · CC BY-SA 4.0
        Yelagin Palace
        © Александровы АГ · CC BY-SA 4.0
        • The first house for Ivan Yelagin, in the Palladian style, was built by an unknown architect — Quarenghi is suspected.
        • Alexander I bought the island for his mother Maria Feodorovna and in 1818 commissioned Carlo Rossi to rebuild it.
        • The palace was nicknamed the “palace of doors”: twenty-odd carved and gilded doors, and none repeats.
        • The white stucco in one of the rooms looks so much like porcelain that the room was named the Porcelain Cabinet.
        • In the early 20th century the palace served as a retreat for prime ministers — Witte and Stolypin stayed here.
        • In the war a shell hit a chimney and started a fire; by 1960 the interiors were restored from the surviving fragments.
        • Since 1987 the palace has housed the Museum of Russian Decorative and Applied Art and Interiors.
      2. 🚶 on foot
      3. 2
        ☕️ Ostrov café on Yelagin Island
        ЦПКиО, Елагин остров, 4, лит. Т
        ▮▮▯▯▯
        Snack halfway, before your child gets tired — there is no café again until the Strelka.
        🍴 The oldest café on Yelagin Island (since 2002), not far from the entrance by the 2nd Yelagin Bridge, with a terrace in summer. What to order: aubergine salad, draniki, chicken shashlik, khachapuri.
      4. 🚶 on foot
      5. 3
        🌳 Big Playground in the Central Park
        Елагин остров, ЦПКиО (западная часть)
        A big play area in the western part of Yelagin Island, among lawns and old trees.
        The park's biggest playground: slides, swings and sandpits for different ages, with benches for parents nearby.
        📖 More about the placeCollapse
        • The Central Park of Culture and Leisure on Yelagin Island was founded on 5 August 1932 and took Kirov's name after his assassination in 1934.
        • Since 1990 Yelagin Island has been on the UNESCO World Heritage list as part of the historic centre of Petersburg.
        • In 1818 Alexander I bought the island, and the Yelagin Palace became the residence of the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna.
      6. 🚶 on foot
      7. 4
        ✨ Mini Zoo in the Central Park on Yelagin Island
        Елагин остров, 4 (западная часть ЦПКиО)
        🎟 partly ticketed · park entry is free on weekdays; on weekends and holidays by ticket
        Enclosures with reindeer, Cameroon goats, a donkey, a fox, peacocks and pheasants; feed is carrots or a bag of vegetables from the park kiosk.
        Bring a carrot or buy a bag of vegetables at the kiosk — you can feed the deer and goats through the fence. Quietest on weekday mornings.
        📖 More about the placeCollapse
        • The palace ensemble of Yelagin Island was built by Carlo Rossi; it was completed by 1822 and is considered a model of Russian Empire style.
        • In 2010 the Museum of Art Glass opened in the park, based on the collection of the closed Leningrad Art Glass Factory.
        • A scene from the TV series "Gangster Petersburg" was filmed at the tip of Yelagin Island, at the "Shout-All-You-Like" spot.
      8. 🚶 on foot
      9. 5
        🌅 Yelagin Island Spit
        🎟 partly ticketed · On weekdays entry to the island is free, on weekends it is ticketed
        The best sunsets over the gulf
        The finale by the bay: lions on the parapet and open space to run around. Dress your child warmly — the wind off the water bites, especially in October.
        📖 More about the placeCollapse
        Yelagin Island Spit
        © Germash19 · CC BY-SA 4.0
        Yelagin Island Spit
        © Purpleabyss · CC BY-SA 4.0
        • The terrace on the western cape with a light pink granite parapet was built in the 1920s to a design by L. A. Ilyin.
        • The stone lions on the parapet were moved from the Stroganov dacha.
        • During the Crimean War an artillery battery stood on the spit.
        • The cape is man-made — one of the highest parts of the island, yet it rises only a little over 3 metres above the sea.

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      Data: © OpenStreetMap · DB-IP · weather — Open-Meteo
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