State Hermitage Museum

• The biggest crowds of tourists gather in June and at the beginning of July for the legendary «White Nights».

• The Museum is closed on Monday. If you come during high season, try to arrange the Hermitage visit for Wednesday afternoon and avoid the busiest day – Tuesday. There are less people during lunchtime and in the evenings (but keep in mind that you’ll need about 3-4 hours to see the most important Hermitage collections).

• Ticket offices close an hour earlier, than the museum itself.

• If you want to visit the Treasure Gallery in high season – you should arrive a little bit before the museum opening : your admittance is only permitted with a guide in small groups. There are several time slots for guided tours, with different language options. It often happens in high season that all the tickets for the Rooms tour for the day are sold out half an hour after the museum’s opening, so keep that in mind if you’re interested in doing the tour!

• In order to plan your visit better we advise you to download the official Hermitage app. It exists for iPhone only.

You can book your tickets online (in English). Online tickets cost more than the ones on place, but let you skip the queue, which can be really long, so up to you to decide if it’s worth paying some extra!

Online tickets prices:

• One-day admission to the main museum complex and General Staff Building: $17.95
• Two-day entrance ticket to the Hermitage Museum and its branches (Museum, General Staff Building, the Winter Palace of Peter the Great, the Porcelain Museum, the Menshikov Palace): $22.95

There are ticket terminals at the entrance, where you can buy your tickets in order not to queue to the ticket office. Prepare small money as the machine doesn’t give change.

From May until August, try to avoid all Tuesdays, which are expected to have the highest visitors’ numbers.

Try to choose another day for your visit, if you don’t want spend hours queuing!

Hermitage ticket prices

• Adult - admission to the museum and its branches : 600 RUB.

• Entry ticket to the Main Museum Complex and the branches for Russian and Belarusian citizens : 400 RUB.

• Children, schoolboys, students : free.

• Free entry tickets (except those for children of preschool and school age) are provided only with the presentation of the appropriate documents confirming one’s right to free entrance. Even if you have the right to free entrance - you’ll have to queue for the museum’s ticket office to get it for free. Some people decide to buy it anyway at ticket terminals just in order to avoid waiting in line.

Ticket prices for other Hermitage sites and buildings:

• Menshikov Palace, Porcelain Museum, Peter the Great’s Winter Palace, General Staff Building : 300 RUR each.

• The Treasure Gallery - Diamond room : 300 RUB.

• The Treasure Gallery - Gold room : 300 RUB.

• The best way to avoid waiting is to come either 10 minutes before opening time or after 15:00-16:00.

• Wednesday, Thursday, Friday are the least crowded days.

• During school holidays crowds grow significantly (end of December - first week or two of January).

• In winter there’s often a waiting line for the cloakroom so even with a ticket you’ll probably have to wait a little bit.

• Try to avoid Tuesday even during low season.

Photo credits to Leon Yakkov via Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

The first Thursday of every month you can visit the museum for free. Try not to go, as you’ll have to be in a very long line for free tickets and Hermitage is always overcrowded on this day.