Alexandria Park is one part of the great Peterhof estate that most visitors skip, which is a good reason to visit it. Peterhof is known for its Grand Cascade and golden statues, the fountains that Peter the Great designed to rival Versailles, and for the crowds that pack the Lower Park in summer. Alexandria, on the other side of the road, is quieter, with winding paths, ponds, old oaks and a collection of small romantic buildings set among the trees.
It was created in the 1820s as a gift from Emperor Nicholas I to his wife Alexandra Feodorovna, a Prussian princess who loved Gothic fantasies, and the name is hers. The centrepiece is the Gothic Chapel, a miniature cathedral of white stone designed in a German Gothic style and standing on a rise in the park. The Cottage Palace, built as a summer home for the imperial couple, is a rambling, asymmetrical house in an English cottage style, far from the grandeur of the formal palaces. The royal family loved it for its informality, and it was the favourite summer retreat of Nicholas.
The park is also a place of rest after the formal fountains. Visitors wander through avenues of lime and oak, along an artificial lake and past pavilions, many of them being restored. It lies along the Kronstadtskoe Highway, the road that leads from Peterhof toward the coast and the Dam, so it is an easy place to stop on a longer ride.
Riding to Peterhof from Saint Petersburg means about thirty kilometres of busy road along the south shore of the gulf, with traffic jams in summer, but the road itself is wide and decent. The gulf is just out of sight to the north. A quieter ride is early morning or evening, when the light is low and there are fewer cars. In winter snow and ice can make the road difficult.
Peterhof, with seventy-three thousand people, has fuel, cafés and supermarkets, only two and a half kilometres from the park. There is a modest entry charge, and opening hours change by season, so check ahead.