Peterhof is located 29 km west of St Petersburg. It was built by Peter the Great, Russian tsar. Peter the Great first mentions the Peterhof site in his journal in 1705, during the Great Northern War, as a good place to construct a landing for use in traveling to and from the island fortress of Kronshtadt. In 1714, Peter began construction of the Monplaisir ("my pleasure") Palace based on his own sketches of the palace that he wanted close to the shoreline.

Tsarskoye Selo is the town containing a former Russian residence of the imperial family and visiting nobility, located 24 kilometres (15 mi) south from the center of St. Petersburg. It is now part of the town of Pushkin and of the World Heritage Site Saint Petersburg and Related Groups of Monuments.

A country residence of the Russian imperial family, it was created by a succession of outstanding architects, painters and sculptors within a relatively short span of time: begun around 1780, it was virtually completed by 1825. Construction was started and the first variant realized by the architect Charles Cameron, after whom his ideas and general design were developed and carried out by Vincenzo Brenna, Giacomo Quarenghi, Andrey Voronikhin, Thomas Jean Thomas de Thomon, Carlo Rossi, Pietro Gonzaga and others.

The palace and park complex of Gatchina, a town located 45 km south-west of St. Petersburg, is an outstanding example of eighteenth-century landscape architecture. The palace, built in the Early Classical Style to a design by Antonio Rinaldi between 1766 and 1781, was enlarged by Vincenzo Brenna in 1796 - 1798, and reconstructed by Roman Kuzmin between 1845 and 1860.

The architectural and landscape complex of Oranienbaum is a unique palace and park ensemble of the 18th-early 20th century, which survived World War II in its historic condition. It is situated in the distance of 40 km from St Petersburg, and being on the way after Strelna and Peterhof, it finishes the sequence of maritime residences of the Peterhof road.

In 1718, a temporary wooden palace was constructed in Strelna. It had been used by the Russian royalty as a sort of hunting lodge, and has been faithfully preserved to this day. After Le Blond's death, the commission to build the grand palace passed to Nicholo Michetti, a disciple of the great Carlo Fontana. A cornerstone was laid in June 1720, but next year it became apparent that the place was ill-adapted for installation of fountains, so Peter decided to concentrate his attention on the nearby Peterhof. Disappointed Michetti left Russia, and all works in Strelna were suspended.