Peter the Great Botanical Garden on Aptekarsky Island: greenhouses, palms under glass and the arboretum — how to visit and when to come

The Botanical Garden on Aptekarsky Island is where Petersburgers go in winter: when it is minus twenty outside, it is plus twenty-five in the Palm House, bananas are growing and orchids are in flower. The garden was founded in 1714 as Peter the Great's Apothecary Garden and is the oldest botanical garden in the country. Today it is an arboretum and a greenhouse complex about a kilometre long, one of the largest in Europe.

The entrance on Professora Popova Street. Photo: Wikimedia Commons

The Apothecary Garden

The island takes its name from the garden Peter established to grow medicinal herbs for pharmacies and hospitals. According to the garden, in the nineteenth century it became the Imperial Botanical Garden with expeditions across the empire; greenhouses were built from the 1820s, and most of the present complex dates from the late nineteenth century. The garden survived the siege of Leningrad: most plants were lost, but staff saved part of the collection, and some of the "siege plants" open the tour.

Greenhouses and routes

The greenhouses are visited only with a guide, by route. The main ones: tropical (palms, lianas, bananas, the Great Palm House with its 23-metre dome), subtropical (citrus, camellias, azaleas), aquatic (water lilies, the giant Victoria in summer) and cacti and succulents. Each route takes about an hour; two in a day is realistic. Timetables are on the website; at weekends there are queues at the ticket office.

The Great Palm House, its dome as high as a six-storey building. Photo: Wikimedia Commons

The tropical route: lianas, bananas, orchids. Photo: Wikimedia Commons

The most popular events are the cherry blossom in April–May and the night-time flowering of the "queen of the night" cactus in summer, when the garden opens at night and the queue for tickets stretches down the street.

The aquatic greenhouse with water lilies. Photo: Wikimedia Commons

The arboretum

The park around the greenhouses is an arboretum of century-old trees: oaks, larches, Manchurian walnut, Siberian pine. You walk it on your own with a ticket. Spring brings the primrose garden and the cherry blossom, summer the rose garden, autumn one of the best autumn walks on the Petrograd Side. There is a pond and a rock garden.

The arboretum in autumn. Photo: Wikimedia Commons

The museum

The historic building by the entrance houses the Botanical Museum with herbaria, wood sections and a display on the expeditions, open on its own timetable, usually at weekends.

The Botanical Museum building. Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Planning

Come at opening: the first greenhouse tours are the emptiest. One route plus the park is two hours; two routes plus park and museum, half a day. In strong rain or wind the garden closes because of the old trees — check the website.

Getting there

Petrogradskaya metro, ten minutes along Professora Popova Street. With children, and after two greenhouse routes — especially in winter, stepping from plus 25 into minus 15 — a transfer home via RideClu is kinder than the metro; the car comes to the entrance on Popova.

The way from the metro along Professora Popova Street. Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Where to stay

Aptekarsky Island and the Petrograd Side are a quiet district of parks: the Botanical Garden, the Lopukhinsky Garden, the Karpovka embankment. For a family on a winter trip it is a convenient base, with greenhouses and warmth ten minutes away. Apartments on the Petrograd Side can be booked on Tutkakdoma.

The cactus and succulent house. Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Not for you if you want to wander the greenhouses at your own pace — it is groups and guides only. But in winter it is the warmest, greenest place in the city.

Checked on 22 October 2026 against the garden's website.

Cover photo: Фото: Aleksandra Marova, CC BY-SA 4.0, Викисклад