Russia · Moscow

Plan your Moscow trip

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Places on the map The Moscow Metro itself Not a way to reach the sights — one of the sights, and arguably the best one. The 1930s-50s stations of the Ring line and the central radials are marble, mosaic, bronze and chandelier-lit halls built as deliberate public palaces. Komsomolskaya is a Baroque ballroom with a yellow vaulted ceiling; Mayakovskaya's stainless-steel arches frame ceiling mosaics of the sky you have to lie back to see properly; Novoslobodskaya is lit through thirty-two stained-glass panels; Ploshchad Revolyutsii has seventy-six bronze figures, one of which, a border guard's dog, has a nose polished gold by decades of students rubbing it for luck. Red Square and St Basil's Cathedral The obligatory one, and genuinely striking at the right hour — the square is much larger than photographs suggest, and St Basil's, built in the 1550s, is stranger up close than its postcard version, a cluster of nine separate chapels each with its own wildly different painted dome. Lenin's Mausoleum sits along the Kremlin wall, GUM's glass-roofed arcade runs the length of the opposite side. The Kremlin and the Armoury Chamber The fortified heart of the city and still the working seat of government, containing four cathedrals inside the walls plus the Armoury Chamber — a treasury of Faberge eggs, coronation regalia, carriages and centuries of state gifts that is the single richest museum room in the country. Tretyakov Gallery, Zamoskvorechye The definitive collection of Russian art from icons to the early twentieth century, in a fairytale-facaded building in Lavrushinsky Lane. Rublev's Trinity, Ivanov's enormous Appearance of Christ, the Peredvizhniki realists, and Vrubel's Demon Seated. The separate New Tretyakov on Krymsky Val holds the twentieth-century collection, including the Malevich and Kandinsky avant-garde. VDNKh A 2.4 square kilometre Stalin-era exhibition park north of the centre, built to showcase Soviet achievement and now a surreal, half-restored campus of grandiose national pavilions, gilded fountains, and a genuine Vostok rocket standing outdoors. The Cosmonautics Museum sits at its entrance under the titanium Conquerors of Space monument, holding Gagarin memorabilia, Luna landers and the stuffed remains of the dogs Belka and Strelka. Gorky Park and the Muzeon The park that was rebuilt in 2011 from a decaying Soviet funfair into one of Europe's better public parks — riverside promenades, an enormous winter skating rink, the Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, and lawns full of Muscovites in summer. Muzeon, adjacent, is the sculpture park where deposed Soviet monuments were relocated, including the toppled Dzerzhinsky statue from Lubyanka Square. Novodevichy Convent and Cemetery A sixteenth-century walled convent on a lake southwest of the centre, on the UNESCO list, with the red-and-white Moscow Baroque architecture that gives the style its name. The adjacent cemetery is the most prestigious burial ground in the country after the Kremlin wall — Chekhov, Gogol, Bulgakov, Shostakovich, Prokofiev, Yeltsin. The Bolshoi Theatre The 1825 house on Teatralnaya Square, restored in 2011, with the historic stage and the smaller New Stage running ballet and opera at a standard that is the reason people fly here. Prices for ordinary seats are a fraction of what comparable houses charge in Western Europe.

01Your itinerary

02Where to stay

Kitay-Gorod and the Boulevard Ring

Best for first-timers who want to walk everywhere

The old merchant quarter east of Red Square: narrow lanes, small churches, courtyards, and the highest density of good bars and cafés in the centre along Maroseyka and Pokrovka. Historic without being a stage set, and walkable to almost every major sight.

Pokrovka 6 Hotel

Ten minutes on foot to Red Square, and a street full of places that are still serving at midnight when you come back from the theatre.

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A serviced apartment near Chistye Prudy

The pond and its boulevard are the pleasantest stretch of the Boulevard Ring, and the Metro station puts you two stops from anywhere in the core.

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Zamoskvorechye

Best for second visits and anyone who wants a neighbourhood rather than a district

Directly across the river south of the Kremlin, and the most underrated central base in the city. Low-rise merchant streets, coloured church domes, the Tretyakov on your doorstep, and a residential quiet you do not get anywhere else this close in.

A boutique hotel near Pyatnitskaya Street

Pyatnitskaya's pedestrianised stretch is the neighbourhood's spine, and Novokuznetskaya station connects straight into the Ring line.

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An apartment near Tretyakovskaya

You can walk over the bridge to Red Square in twenty minutes and come home to a street where nothing is happening, which is the whole point.

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Patriarch's Ponds and Presnensky

Best for eating and drinking well, at the highest prices in town

Moscow's most fashionable few streets, arranged around one small pond made famous by Bulgakov. Restaurants, wine bars and specialty coffee at a density that no other part of the city matches, in handsome pre-revolutionary blocks.

A design hotel in the streets around the pond

You are paying for the address and the fifteen restaurants within a three-minute walk, and in this neighbourhood that is a defensible trade.

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An apartment near Mayakovskaya

Slightly cheaper, on the Garden Ring rather than inside it, and directly above the most beautiful Metro station in the network.

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Khamovniki and the Arbat lanes

Best for families, longer stays and museum-heavy trips

Southwest of the centre where the city turns green: Gorky Park, the Pushkin Museum, Christ the Saviour Cathedral and the quiet residential lanes behind Stary Arbat. Slower, leafier, and closer to the river.

Mercure Arbat Moscow

Stay off the pedestrian street itself; the pereulki behind it are quiet, handsome and two minutes from a Metro station.

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An apartment near Park Kultury

Puts Gorky Park, the Muzeon and the pedestrian embankment on your doorstep, which in summer is worth more than being nearer the Kremlin.

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03Tickets & tours

The Moscow Metro itself

Not a way to reach the sights — one of the sights, and arguably the best one.

Tip Do this as a dedicated two-hour trip, not incidentally. Ride the brown Ring line all the way round, getting off at every station, then branch to Mayakovskaya and…

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Red Square and St Basil's Cathedral

The obligatory one, and genuinely striking at the right hour — the square is much larger than photographs suggest, and St Basil's, built in the…

Tip Come at 7am for the square almost to yourself, and again after dark when the whole thing is floodlit.

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The Kremlin and the Armoury Chamber

The fortified heart of the city and still the working seat of government, containing four cathedrals inside the walls plus the Armoury Chamber — a…

Tip The Armoury runs on timed entry sessions with limited capacity and sells out; book ahead. Grounds tickets and Armoury tickets are separate.

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Tretyakov Gallery, Zamoskvorechye

The definitive collection of Russian art from icons to the early twentieth century, in a fairytale-facaded building in Lavrushinsky Lane.

Tip The two buildings are a twenty-minute walk apart and are effectively different museums.

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VDNKh

A 2.4 square kilometre Stalin-era exhibition park north of the centre, built to showcase Soviet achievement and now a surreal, half-restored campus…

Tip Allow half a day and wear proper shoes — the distances inside are much larger than the map suggests.

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Gorky Park and the Muzeon

The park that was rebuilt in 2011 from a decaying Soviet funfair into one of Europe's better public parks — riverside promenades, an enormous winter…

Tip Walk it north from Muzeon along the embankment and cross the river on the Patriarshy Bridge for the classic view back at Christ the Saviour Cathedral.

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Novodevichy Convent and Cemetery

A sixteenth-century walled convent on a lake southwest of the centre, on the UNESCO list, with the red-and-white Moscow Baroque architecture that…

Tip The lake and park outside the walls are free and are the view that reportedly gave Tchaikovsky the setting for Swan Lake.

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The Bolshoi Theatre

The 1825 house on Teatralnaya Square, restored in 2011, with the historic stage and the smaller New Stage running ballet and opera at a standard that…

Tip Tickets go on sale months ahead and the good ones vanish; buy as early as you can and buy from the official box office channel, since the Bolshoi is heavily targeted by…

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Day trips from Moscow

Sergiyev Posad

About ninety minutes north by suburban train from Yaroslavsky station, and the single best day trip from Moscow.

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Kolomenskoye

Technically inside the city and reachable on the Metro, which makes it the easiest escape on this list.

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Suzdal and Vladimir

The Golden Ring proper, three to four hours east and better as an overnight than a day trip.

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Arkhangelskoye

An eighteenth-century Yusupov family estate about half an hour west of the city, with formal terraced gardens above the river and a neoclassical…

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Everything to do in Moscow

Skip-the-line tickets, guided tours and day trips, all in one place on Booking.com.

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04Getting there & around

Getting around

The Metro is the answer to almost every transport question in Moscow, and it is very good: trains every ninety seconds to two minutes at peak on the busiest lines, stations deep and warm, service from roughly 5:30am to 1:00am.

Flights

Compare fares into Moscow and pick dates that suit the days you planned.

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Airport transfers

Book a private or shared ride from the airport so the first evening starts at your door, not at a ticket queue.

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Car hire from Moscow

Only worth it for day trips beyond the city — in town, the plan above works on foot and public transport.

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