Tag Archives: Moscow

What to see in Moscow and the best things to do in Moscow.

Red Square

10 Things to Do in Moscow

Moscow is easily one of my all-time favourite cities in Europe – a place I grew up thinking I’d never be able to visit but now a city where I’ve spent two fascinating holidays. The mix of Soviet-era Moscow with old historical buildings and the modern day flare of a world city is very intriguing. Somehow, I’ve narrowed down my favourites to ten things to do in Moscow, so I hope this list inspires more of you to add Moscow to your must-visit list.

Famous Landmarks of Moscow

If someone mentions Moscow, there are a number of extremely well-known landmarks that come to mind. For me, the most famous place in Moscow is quite simply Red Square. The first time I visited Moscow, Red Square was closed for security reasons, although I could take a few steps on it to visit Lenin’s Mausoleum. The second time, I could walk across it whenever I wanted, along with thousands of Muscovites and tourists. It’s vast, and not very fancy, but home to so much history that it’s still easy to love.

10 Things to Do in Moscow
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Cosmonautics museum landmark

Moscow’s Memorial Museum of Astronautics

Even if you’ve got just a passing interest in space travel, Moscow’s Memorial Museum of Astronautics – it’s often called the Museum of Cosmonautics too, but it’s the same place – is a museum you just have to visit. I was there a few years ago shortly before it closed for renovations, and last year it reopened and has tripled in size. Even the original version was fascinating for me so I have no hesitation in recommending the current one!

Moscows Memorial Museum of Astronautics
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The original exhibitions featured displays and information about the Soviet space programme, and the new sections also look at the space travel carried out by other countries. They have managed to gather numerous pieces of truly historic space travel paraphernalia, including space suits, parts of ships, rocket units and even a moonrover. They’ve also got a large collection of the promotional posters used for the Soviet space programme (presumably it was necessary to justify the expense of space exploration to less-than-happy citizens), and that’s an interesting display.

Moscows Memorial Museum of Astronautics
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As usual with Russia, it’s difficult to get some accurate tourist information on the museum – the official website looks like it promises an English version but hasn’t yet delivered. It appears that the current daily opening hours are 11am to 7pm and that an adult entry ticket costs 100 rubles.

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St Basils Cathedral Moscow

Places to stay near Red Square in Moscow

At the heart of Moscow, this famous square is surrounded by top Moscow attractions. You may wish to look at places to stay near Red Square, especially if you’re only in Moscow for a short time.

Places to stay near Red Square in Moscow
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Starting at one end of Red Square is the fascinating St Basil’s Cathedral (pictured), a place you’ll want to photograph heavily from both inside and out. Standing on Red Square, if you turn to the right you’ll be staring straight at the jagged red walls of the Kremlin, a place that so often ends up on the nightly news. Visiting the Kremlin and its many cathedrals and other buildings is well worth it.

Lenin’s Mausoleum is in front of the Kremlin wall, and there are long queues on the days when it opens up to let people solemnly walk (quite quickly) past the embalmed body of Lenin – it’s an interesting experience but probably not a must. Keep turning and you’ll see the State History Museum which is another really interesting place to visit.

And finally, with one more turn to the right, you’ll be looking straight at the GUM department store. These days it is full of very expensive shops so the sightseeing is quite different to the communist era, but it’s worth a walk through and there are usually cheap ice creams to be had in the mall!

Places to stay near Red Square

Moscow is renowned as having pretty expensive accommodation. I researched hotels close to Red Square that had good customer satisfaction ratings.  One of the cheapest places is the Bascilica Hostel, renovated in June 2010.  There are beds in dorms or twin and double rooms with shared bathroom and kitchen facilities.  The three star D Hotel, built in 2009, is a good mid range choice.  If you’re looking for high end accommodation the five star Savoy Moscow Hotel gets high guest ratings but doesn’t look as pricey as some other five star options.

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Dostoevskaya metro

Moscow Sightseeing: New Dostoevskaya metro station in Moscow

Sightseeing in Moscow – one of the best places to visit in Europe, in my opinion – certainly doesn’t have to be expensive. Simply riding the metro lets you see countless artworks. Recently, a new underground station with artwork worth seeing has opened up – the Dostoevskaya station, which has large murals showing scenes from some of Fyodor Dostoevesky’s famous novels.

Moscow Sightseeing: New Dostoevskaya metro station in Moscow
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[Photo via Wikimedia]

If you’ve read a bit of Dostoevsky (or better yet, visited the St Petersburg museum dedicated to him), you’ll know that he didn’t exactly write about merry, joyous events, so it’s not a surprise that the station artwork is being criticised by some who say it’s too dark and depressing and could encourage people to commit suicide at the station. This might seem a bit extreme but apparently 80 Muscovites do so a year at various stations so it’s not out of the question.

Personally, I think the artwork looks great, and I love the fact that they are celebrating the great novels of Dostoevsky, who used to live around the corner from the new station. I’ll be sure to check it out on my next metro ride in Moscow, whenever that may be, but I can assure you there won’t be any suicidal thoughts!

Remember that the Moscow underground is also home to the longest escalators in the world.

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Map of Gorky Park

Down to Gorky Park in Moscow

In any Moscow touristy spot – I think for me it was on a Moskva River cruise – you’re bound to hear the Scorpions song “Winds of Change”. Once I’d heard that famous line “Follow the Moskva/Down to Gorky Park” I realised I had to visit Gorky Park before I left Moscow.

Down to Gorky Park in Moscow
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You can easily reach Gorky Park from the Park Kultury metro station and I was there in summer, with heaps of families and kids, but not too many foreign tourists. Apart from being so famous in popular culture (think of stuff like the novel “Gorky Park”, for a start), the actual Gorky Park amusement park is not one of the most especially spectacular Moscow attractions, but it’s still a good place to spend a Moscow afternoon, in my opinion.

My most memorable Gorky Park moment was buying fairy floss (or cotton candy) – the serving was almost as large as me but cost nearly nothing. Riding the paddle boats was fun, but the ferris wheel was better, as I had views back over the river and to the centre of Moscow. Space travel fans will also like the Buran space shuttle test unit because you can go right inside. You have to pay for each attraction you want to use, but the prices are more than reasonable.

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Dostoyevsky statue

Finding Writers’ Museums in Moscow

On my first trip to Russia, I got there via a three-week Trans-Siberian rail trip, which gave me a lot of reading time – and I’d carefully picked some Russian literature to occupy my time, in particular Dostoyevsky, which led me to visit the Dostoyevsky Memorial Flat in St Petersburg.

Finding Writers’ Museums in Moscow
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Russian literary history is liberally sprinkled with famous writers and if you’re a book lover like me, some of the many Moscow museums dedicated to these writers are bound to interest you. Unfortunately, given the state of tourist information in Russia they’re not always easy to find, but here’s a useful list from a Moscow map giving the locations of museums for some of the most famous Russian writers, plus a couple of general literary sites:

  • Museum and Flat of A M Gorky – 6/2 M Nikitskaya Ul
  • House and Museum of B L Pasternak – 3 Pavlenko Ul, Peredelkino Pos
  • Museum of L N Tolstoy – 12 Pytnitskaya Ul
  • Museum of Books – 3 vozdvizhenka Ul
  • State Museum of L N Tolstoy – 11 Prechistenka Ul
  • Pushkin Memorial Museum – 12/2 Prechistenka Ul
  • State Literary Museum – 28 Petrovka

While not all of these museums have all the exhibits accompanied by English translations, many offer audio guides or English language brochures so you can pick your way through the memorabilia related to each writer’s life. I find it fascinating to see what kind of lives these writers led, and especially to compare that to what I’ve gathered about them from reading their novels. If you’re planning a trip to Russia, my Europe travel tip is to brush up on some of the Russian classics first and you’ll be even more enthralled with what you find. I’ve just finished reading Anna Karenina and now I’m dying to get back to check out the Tolstoy museum.

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Day-tripping from Moscow to Sergiev Posad’s monastery

On my second trip to Moscow, I wanted to get outside of the city and see at least one of the famed Golden Ring towns, and since my time was a bit limited, the best choice seemed to be a day trip to the closest one, Sergiev Posad.

Day tripping from Moscow to Sergiev Posad’s monastery
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This is a small place about an hour’s bus ride north-east of Moscow and a trip there is worth it for the incredible monastery alone – the blue and gold domes and gold stars are classic architecture – and then the bonus is that you get to experience a bit of Russia outside of the bustling cities without having to go too far.

Everything in Sergiev Posad is within walking distance whether you arrive by bus or train, and you spot the famous Trinity Monastery of St Sergius easily with its domes. I did a lot of my souvenir shopping at the markets set up outside the monastery – it was a lot cheaper than Moscow and struck me as at least a little more authentic. I’ve yet to get to some of the other Golden Ring towns but as an introduction, Sergiev Posad was very enticing.

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Crazy domes: St Basil’s Cathedral in Moscow

Perhaps my favourite place in Moscow – and it’s a city I really love – is St Basil’s Cathedral, mostly because the quirky, colourful towers don’t seem like they could be real – yet there they stand, just at the end of Red Square and close to the Kremlin. They make Moscow a bit more magical and mystical and I think that’s a good thing.

St Basil’s Cathedral, which is known locally as Pokrovsky Sobor, was built on the orders of Ivan the Terrible in the mid-sixteenth century; the urban legend is that he then demanded that the architect responsible be blinded so he could never build anything similar, but there are actually no facts to back this story up.

Crazy domes: St Basil’s Cathedral in Moscow
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The first time I went to Moscow, I didn’t go inside St Basil’s – I was on such a budget that I just took pictures from the outside. On my second trip I toured the inside and it really was interesting, but a big part of the magic comes from staring at it from the outside.

Like most parts of Russia, the whole tourist information thing is a bit underdeveloped; if you can read a bit of Russian there’s a website with some basic details – for example, that it’s open between 11am and 6pm and it looks like current entry fees are 100 rubles. You can also try this webcam site – at the moment, it’s looking quite subdued with a snowy dusting.

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Moscow Metro Mosaic

Cheap sightseeing on Moscow’s Metro

You often hear these horror stories of Moscow being one of the most expensive cities in the world these days – and while that’s probably true if you have to live there, I still believe that as a traveler you can enjoy a stay in Moscow without destroying your budget. Choosing a homestay over a hotel is one way – more on that in a future post – but there are also many great sights to see that are cheap or even free.

Cheap sightseeing on Moscow’s Metro
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And one of my favourite things to do in Moscow is to check out the incredible underground train stations. The Moscow Metro system has been around since the 1930s and a number of the inner city stations are decorated in such a way that they’re even more interesting than an art gallery. It’s said that the Soviet government wanted to prove the advantages of socialism to the people by investing vast amounts of money in these artistic metro stations – I’m not sure I would have been convinced, but the legacy for today is fascinating.

You can ride all over the Moscow metro system for as long as you like on one ticket, so touring around to see all the best stations is easy – although it might take you at least half a day, so it depends whether you like spending so long underground! Some stations have mosaics, others bronze sculptures, and others are decorated with stained glass windows, and the most common themes are socialist ones. I’ve explored the system on two different trips to Moscow and always liked to try to count how many tractors I saw!

Most good guide books give a good list of the stations that are worth stopping at, and some of my favourites include:

  • Kievskaya: full of mosaics
  • Revolution Square: bronze statues of soldiers
  • Arbatskaya: look for the chandeliers
  • Mayakovskaya: hammer and sickle motifs as well as mosaics
  • Novoslobodskaya: stained glass windows of composers and artists

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