This was my second visit to this incredible museum, the first during the USSR regime. The museum is in better shape now although you could see it much better before, now the crowds are so huge that it is not worth the time unless you pay extra for a private visit before the museum opens to the public. I can not recommend any other way to visit it. We were a group of four with a guide and we could walk through the place at our own speed without worrying about crowds, there were justa few of us. When we were going out, we collided with hundreds of people getting in and we hd trouble exiting the place. Since the place is huge a mere 2 hour visit only gives you an idea of the place, go several times if you can... I highly advise to visit it in the cold months of winter or if you go during the summer to get a private visit.

As everyone else has said, the exhibits at the Hermitage are truly mind blowing and world class. We planned our visit with our excellent guide Nina (from Tzarina Tours, who organised the tickets so we basically just went straight in) for Wednesday afternoon so we could see the Peacock Clock. I wanted to do a review just for the peacock clock but it doesn’t appear to be separated out on TA. Would have only given it 2 stars. After several hours with Nina covering the main exhibits, we went back at about 6.15pm to try to secure a good spot to see the peacock clock, considering that it was peak season in mid-June. There was already a small crowd but we were able to secure a fairly close spot and then as time went on others got fed up and left and so we actually ended up in a prime spot right in front of the clock. I had thought the clock was at 7.30pm but it turned out that it was not until 8pm, so it was a long wait for a large crowd. But then when the time finally came and the man entered the enclosure to wind the clock and start the performance (which lasts about one minute), he crouched down to wind the clock but then stood up about ten seconds into the show, almost obliterating the view for anyone directly in front and ruining any photo opportunities. Those on the side would have had a better view though. Don’t know whether we just got a bad day or if this is normal. But a nice touch was that they did allow small children to come and sit inside the ropes, so long as they didn’t touch the glass enclosure. So a long wait to have the view obscured – we would have been much better off using the time to view other exhibits in the museum. If you want to see the clock in action, just get there 5 or 10 minutes early and you will probably see as much over the crowd as we did from right in front.

At first I expected it to be like any typical museum but when I went in, I saw they had everything and it took way longer to explore than I expected. I was there about 4-5 hours total and I only saw a fraction of the artwork there. I recommend you spend 4-8 hours there over 2-5 days (I only went there twice over 2 days).