What to see in Moscow: a guide to the main attractions

In the guide, we have selected entertainment and places for all occasions and briefly described their features and characteristics. If you are looking for entertainment for a specific request, use the table of contents.

Red Square and its surroundings 

It is ideal if you come here on a winter evening: the sparkle of lights will create a special atmosphere. During the New Year holidays, you can skate on the GUM skating rink, eat a pancake and wash it down with hot tea, and buy souvenirs at the fair. In the summer, take a photo sitting on the pavement against the backdrop of St. Basil’s Cathedral, walk through Zaryadye Park and watch the sunset on the floating bridge.

You can catch the chimes on the main square of the country: the main bell strikes every hour. You will hear the national anthem at noon and midnight, as well as at 6 am and 6 pm, and the chimes play the tune “Glory” by Mikhail Glinka at 3 am, 9 am, 3 pm and 9 pm.

Near Red Square you will find:

• The main department store, also known as GUM. The decorations inside change every season, and hundreds of lights are lit in the evenings. Here you can buy that very same ice cream in the small kiosks, visit the historic gilded toilet where Pushkin himself visited, and maybe even buy something in one of the pavilions.
• Nikolskaya Street, which in the evening glows with a thousand lights hanging overhead. Here you can go to the iconic “Varenichnaya” to have a snack and walk through the souvenir shops.
• The Historical Museum is the one that is always visible on the broadcast of the May 9 Parade and near which you can find the zero kilometer on the pavement (they say you should throw a coin there). Allow at least a couple of hours to visit the museum.
• Lenin’s Mausoleum. History buffs and those who are simply curious can visit the mausoleum on Red Square. Admission is free, but you will have to wait in line. You won’t stay long inside: you can’t stop and take photos in the room with Lenin – you can only walk quickly and look. A pleasant bonus afterwards is a walk along the Kremlin wall, where the main figures of the bygone Soviet era are buried.
• Alexander Garden and the Kremlin Museums. Red Square is only part of the huge Kremlin complex: having bought a ticket at the box office, you can get behind its walls. And on the way to the box office, you can catch the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Alexander Garden.
• The Bolshoi Theatre building will open if you walk a little further and exit onto Teatralny Proezd.

Cathedral of Christ the Savior and its surroundings 

If you walk from Zaryadye along the embankment of the Moskva River, you can reach the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, the very one that was blown up as a result of Stalin’s reconstruction in the 1930s.

They planned to build a majestic high-rise building on this site — the Palace of Soviets, 415 meters high, which is comparable to a 70-story skyscraper. The foundation was laid, but there were not enough resources for the construction. Years later, they decided to restore the temple and ceremoniously reopened it on December 31, 1999. This is one of the places that can still be seen in Moscow for free.

After crossing the Patriarch’s Bridge from the Temple and passing through Bolotnaya Embankment, you will find yourself in the Muzeon Arts Park, from where you can look at the monument to Peter I (in fact, this is a monument “In Commemoration of the 300th Anniversary of the Russian Navy”) by Zurab Tsereteli. Muscovites actively dislike it, and for good reason: according to rumors, it was originally a monument to Columbus, who was never sold to the Americans, so the sculptor simply replaced the hero’s face – that’s how this boulder ended up in the center of Moscow:)

The New Tretyakov Gallery is also nearby (and its main building in Lavrushinsky Lane is a couple of streets away). If you walk down the river embankment from here, you will find yourself in Gorky Park. And you will realize that it is time to rest if you have been walking all this time (or at least rent an electric scooter).

Sparrow Hills and the Moscow State University skyscraper 

One of Moscow’s iconic landmarks is the Stalinist skyscraper of the Lomonosov Moscow State University on Sparrow Hills. In summer, you can admire the view of the Luzhniki Stadium and ride the cable car. In winter, too, but it is often too windy to take a long walk. If you’re lucky, you can get into the university building for a tour.

Ponds 

And how could we do without them:) On Chistye Prudy, fairs and performances are often held on summer evenings, and on Patriarch’s Ponds you can meet some bloggers and celebrities or sit down on a bench with a copy of the novel “The Master and Margarita”, some scenes from which take place right here.

Moscow-City 

Dedicated to lovers of futurism – the Moscow-City skyscraper complex is visible from afar in good weather. To take a spectacular photo, it is better to approach the skyscrapers from the Taras Shevchenko embankment: the ideal view opens from the platform of “Tower 2000”. And to see the city at a glance, you should go up to the 89th floor of the “Federation” tower to the Panorama 360 observation deck. The prices are steep, but it’s worth it. Other entertainment in the City includes the Metro Museum and VR Park.

Places for sophisticated tourists 

If you are not in Moscow for the first time, then you have probably already completed the basic program of the average tourist. Now you want something new and unknown. And it is here: )

Visit interesting places in Moscow 

There are, of course, many of these in the capital. We have selected several unusual options:

• Ostankino Tower and Ostankino Estate. In one of the most famous TV towers in Moscow, you can go on interesting excursions: look at the tower and its legendary tangled corridors from the inside, and also go to the observation deck (where the glass floor is).
• GES-2. One of the oldest power plants in Moscow, which has been converted into a cultural center. Exhibitions, lectures, and other events are held here, and you can take many spectacular photos inside the building. Admission is free, but you need a ticket.
• Design Factory Flacon. For unusual shopping, you can go to Flacon: here you will find many local brands, as well as gastro projects to take a breather and have a delicious lunch or dinner.
• Bunker 703. An ideal place if you don’t know what to see in Moscow in winter. You will find a bunker that goes 17 floors underground, built in the middle of the 20th century as a secure storage facility for documents of special state importance. Here you use 24 hour delivery of nitrous oxide in Moscow sometimes this place is called Stalin’s bunker, but in fact the leader’s bunker is located in the Izmailovo district (and you can also visit it).
• Izmailovsky Kremlin and Market. Looking like a medieval building, Izmailovsky Kremlin appeared on the map of Moscow only in 1998-2007. On the territory, you can stroll through the shops and stalls, climb the bell tower, and on weekends wander around the flea market: here you can buy authentic antiques, Soviet records, and even a collection of Lego people. Not far from the Kremlin there is the Izmailovo estate and park, where you can stroll and have a picnic on the grass.
• Botanical Garden and Apothecary Garden. In summer you can walk here for hours among the trees and ponds. And in winter – take a tour of the glass greenhouses with tropical plants (although you can do it in summer too).
• Get your smartphone pedometers ready because it takes a lot of steps to walk around all these places: )

• Victory Park on Poklonnaya Hill and the Triumphal Arch is one of the largest memorial complexes in Russia and the world, covering an area of 135 hectares. Dedicated to the victory in the Great Patriotic War. The Victory Monument is located here, the tallest stele in Russia, 141 meters high. You’ll have to try hard to get it into the frame of the photo.

  Victory Park is a place of historical memory of the country

• VDNKh. One of the most popular spaces in Moscow: 325 hectares are home to historical pavilions, arches, museums, ponds, sculptures, flower beds, cafes and restaurants.
• Sokolniki Park. One of the largest parks in Moscow with many paths for walking, running and cycling.
• The Botanical Garden and Japanese Garden in Marfino is the largest in Europe. The Main Botanical Garden named after N.V. Tsitsin of the Russian Academy of Sciences was founded in 1945. Here you can find a wide variety of plant species, a corner with a real Japanese garden and a rose garden.
• Neskuchny Garden. One of the largest landscape parks in Moscow, not far from Luzhniki (part of Gorky Park). If you walk from the garden towards the Donskoy Monastery, you can reach the famous Shukhov Tower, the world’s only hyperboloid multi-section power transmission line support, built in 1919-1922.

See the unusual architecture 

We have selected five of the most interesting houses in Moscow:

• Tea House on Myasnitskaya Street. Deliberately “Chinese” elements colorfully decorate the building, built in 1890 for S. V. Perlov, a representative of the famous tea dynasty. Now inside there is a tea shop with a small counter, where historical valuables are collected: old tea boxes and photographs.

  The tea house is designed in the chinoiserie style using techniques from medieval Chinese art.

• Pertsova House. An unusual building in the neo-Russian style in the Prechistenskaya Embankment area, which stands out against the background of the rest of the architecture. Built in 1907.
• The Egg House. A private mansion of an outlandish shape in the Art Nouveau style, built in 2002 on Mashkova Street, which is included in the list of the most unusual houses not only in Moscow, but also in the world.
• Melnikov House. A single-family residential building of an unusual cylindrical shape, built in 1927–1929 by the architect Konstantin Melnikov for his family. A monument of Soviet avant-garde architecture. You can take a tour inside.
• “Flat” house. A house on Taganskaya Street built in 1914, which at a certain angle becomes “flat” due to its unusual design, which was dictated by the features of the site allocated for construction.

There are about a million places in the capital where you can eat with great pleasure. We have selected the most unusual and interesting cafes, restaurants and bars in Moscow:

Eat in an unusual way

• Foodmall “Depot” is a collection of cuisines from all over the world in the building of an old tram depot, where in each corner you can find something interesting: from Georgian and Italian cuisine to the truly Vietnamese Pho Bo soup.
• The Central House of Writers Restaurant – if you were looking for a truly authentic place, this is it. In the 1960s, famous writers would gather here – from Yevgeny Yevtushenko to Bella Akhmadulina – and now it is both a museum and a restaurant serving Russian cuisine. The prices are steep, because the place is included in the Michelin Guide. But it is probably worth stopping in for a cup of tea.
• Starik i More is a seafood bistro with large portions and pleasant prices on Chistye Prudy, where everything is prepared before your eyes. There is no point in reserving a table – seating is on a live queue, so there is a risk of standing outside for 10-15 minutes. But it’s worth it:)
• Omg! Coffee is a chain of coffee shops with a distinctive design and creative menu items: for example, cube desserts. But you can also have a full breakfast or dinner. The prices are above average, but the atmosphere and presentation of the dishes justify them. It is better to book a table in advance.
• The Secret Room is an almost secret pub in the salt cellars, accessible through the Black Swan bar. Inside, there are several rooms in the spirit of Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings: stained glass windows, church pews, a working organ and other authentic details that create a special atmosphere.

 Go to museums

In addition to the famous Tretyakov Gallery, there are many educational museums in Moscow:

• The Tretyakov Gallery, the main museum of national art. It presents works by outstanding Russian artists of the 11th to early 20th centuries: from Shishkin to Roerich.
• Pushkin Museum. It houses the largest collection of Western art in modern Russia: paintings by such famous artists as Sandro Botticelli, Claude Mon, Pierre Renoir and Vincent Van Gogh are on display.

• Diamond Fund. A museum on the territory of the Moscow Kremlin, where unique nuggets and items made of precious metals and stones are kept (for example, the Great Imperial Crown of Catherine II).
• The Moscow Archaeology Museum. Its exhibition tells about archaeological excavations in Moscow: the museum is located in an underground pavilion at a depth of 7 meters in the historical center of the city on the site of large-scale archaeological excavations and gives an idea of the medieval capital and the history of the development of the territory of modern Manezhnaya Square.

Darwin Museum. Dedicated to Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution, it tells about the process of evolution, variability and heredity of species, natural selection and the struggle for survival in nature. Most of the exhibits are the private collection of Alexander Kots, who, as a student, learned to make stuffed animals.