What to see in Moscow if time is short: a short guide to interesting places

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

From classic attractions to gastronomic markets and contemporary art museums.

Sometimes people come to Moscow for a short time: they come to a conference, a business meeting, or are waiting for a flight to another part of the world. When time is limited, it is more difficult to choose what to spend it on. In this selection, we advise where to go for a walk, what to see and where to eat.

Parks and nature

The best places to spend time outdoors: various activities are concentrated here, and in some areas exotic plants are grown.

1. Gorky Park and Neskuchny Garden

Address: Krymsky Val street, 9.

Gorky Park is perhaps the most comfortable in the center of Moscow. Here you can ride rollerblades and bicycles in the stream of people, participate in events or just lie on ottomans in the shade of trees. View of the Moskva River from the Frunzenskaya Embankment, dozens of catering establishments, a children's area with fountains and rope ladders, exhibitions, concert venues and a cinema - and all this on a fairly large territory that will not be crowded.

If you go deeper, towards Leninsky Prospekt, you can go to Neskuchny Garden - a park with thickets and stone bridges.

2. Park "Zaryadye"

Address: Varvarka street, 6, building 1.

This is the youngest largest park in Moscow, which opened at the end of 2017. You can get around Zaryadye in less than an hour. There are not so many interesting things inside: a small gastronomic market, several zones with exhibitions and attractions like a cave made of ice, and a bridge over the Moskva River. But on the other hand, in Zaryadye you can look at young birches in the center of Moscow and take pictures against the backdrop of picturesque views of the capital.

3. Botanical garden

Address: Botanicheskaya street, 4.

The main botanical garden of the Russian Academy of Sciences named after N. V. Tsitsin is the largest in Europe. Thousands of species of exotic plants grow on 360 hectares of land, but, as a rule, not researchers come here, but ordinary townspeople and tourists. RAS Botanical Garden is ideal for solo walks and cycling trips. And if you prefer to study the plates with the names of plant species, visit the "Pharmaceutical Garden" of Moscow State University.

4. Museum-reserve "Tsaritsyno"

Address: Dolskaya street, 1.

This palace and park ensemble was built during the reign of Catherine II - at the end of the 18th century. Architecture occupies a special place in Tsaritsyno. The buildings of the museum-reserve are considered the main examples of the so-called Russian Gothic. The architectural ensemble includes palaces, a bread house, cavalry buildings, gates and bridges.

Admiring two-century-old buildings and walking along quiet linden alleys is a great plan if you don't like the noisy city parks and are ready to spend a few hours walking.

5. Museum-reserve "Kolomenskoye"

Address: Andropov Avenue, 39.

Another manor park, to visit which you will have to go further from the center. "Kolomenskoye" will please, first of all, lovers of Old Russian culture. The buildings here are made of wood. The most interesting are the palace of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, where exhibitions are held, a peasant's house showing the life of an ordinary person, and a working smithy where master classes are held.

Also in Kolomenskoye you can stroll along the embankment of the Moskva River and take advantage of all the advantages of a modern city park: the largest music festivals are held here and shops with food operate.

Classic museums and galleries

Going to places like this is not boring at all, especially if you have never been to them before.

1. Tretyakov Gallery

Address: Lavrushinsky lane, 10.

One of the main galleries in the country displays works by Russian artists of the 12th – 20th centuries. It is here that you can see the originals of paintings that are familiar to anyone from childhood: "Morning in a Pine Forest" by Shishkin, "Heroes" by Vasnetsov, "Unknown" by Kramskoy and "The Rooks Have Arrived" by Savrasov. More than 7,000 works are exhibited in the Tretyakov Gallery, so visiting the museum takes a lot of time. It will not be possible to inspect everything in a couple of hours, but this is not necessary. It is definitely worth a visit here.

2. Pushkin Museum

Address: Volkhonka street, 12.

Not everyone knows, but the Pushkin Museum on Volkhonka is not about Pushkin at all. Rather, it is about the history of art: from the culture of the ancient Egyptian state to the works of figures of the late Middle Ages and the Renaissance. There are more than 7,000 exhibits in the museum's funds, but only the most interesting are exhibited, among which you can find both unique artifacts and copies. If you happen to be in Moscow on a weekend, then it is better to choose something else: these days there are long lines at the Pushkin Museum.

3. Moscow Kremlin Museums

Address: Kremlin.

The complex of Kremlin museums includes seven attractions, most of which are cathedrals. Of particular interest for tourists is usually the Armory Chamber and the exposition "Diamond Fund" located in it. In the Armory, you can see the armor and weapons of Russian and European craftsmen. Here are, for example, the chain mail of Peter Shuisky and the ceremonial armament of Mikhail and Alexei Romanov. And in the "Diamond Fund" you can see jewelry of the 18th – 20th centuries, for example, the crown and orb of Catherine II.

4. Moscow planetarium

Address: Sadovaya-Kudrinskaya street, 5, building 1.

Not only Russian tourists or Muscovites come here, for whom seeing the stars is, in principle, a rarity. Foreigners also visit the planetarium, the reason for this is the largest dome in Europe with a diameter of 25 meters. The area under the dome is called the Great Star Hall. They usually show two short films per session.

Also in the planetarium there are expositions "Uranium" with a huge model of the solar system and a collection of meteorites and "Lunarium" with an interactive manipulator arm and the largest Foucault pendulum in Russia. Weather permitting, you can visit the open observatory and watch the stars off the dome screen.

5. Mikhail Bulgakov Museum

Address: Bolshaya Sadovaya street, 10.

This museum is also called a bad apartment, as is the location from "The Master and Margarita", where part of the great ball with Satan took place. The museum is a courtyard, an entrance and an apartment of the house where Mikhail Afanasyevich once lived. At the entrance, guests are greeted with sculptures of Koroviev and the cat Behemoth, the exposition continues in the staircase painted based on the book. In the apartment itself at number 50, the wardrobe, kitchen, living room and study of the writer have been recreated.

This is one of the most atmospheric and intimate museums in Moscow. For fans of The Master and Margarita, we recommend that you add it to your visit list as one of the first points.

Unusual museums and museums of modern art

If you are not very interested in classical painting and biographies of writers, you can find something more interesting.

1. Museum of the History of the GULAG

Address: 1st Samotechny lane, 9, building 1.

The Gulag is a difficult, but at the same time, part of the history of our country that fascinates with its cruelty. This museum contains photographs and documents, thematic sculptures and paintings, journalism and posters of the 1930-1960s, as well as items from prison life. Here, without embellishment, they tell about the fate of the repressed, show how they lived, and cite terrible numbers of victims of Stalin's policy.

2. Darwin Museum

Address: Vavilova street, 57.

One of the largest zoological museums in Europe, clearly demonstrating the life of our planet from the Big Bang to the emergence of the current diversity of terrestrial fauna. On 5,000 square meters, expositions dedicated to the life and everyday life of people and the evolution of living beings were unfolded. The museum amazes with its diversity: more than 400,000 exhibits are presented here. If you decide to drop by here, be prepared to spend a few hours.

3. New Tretyakov Gallery

Address: Krymsky Val street, 10.

The new branch of the Tretyakov Gallery hosts exhibitions of artists of the 20th century. If you are interested in the work of Soviet art workers, for example, suprematists and abstractionists, then the expositions will most likely be presented here. This branch also hosts exhibitions and installations of contemporary art from around the world. It is better to familiarize yourself with the program before visiting the capital.

4. Garage Museum of Contemporary Art

Address: Krymskiy Val street, 9, building 32.

Another museum on Krymsky Val seems to deny everything that is trivial and stereotyped. It hosts exhibitions of contemporary Russian and foreign artists, as well as performances, concerts and film screenings. Visiting unusual exhibitions in the "Garage", you always take a little risk, but this is perhaps the only place that so clearly shows that art is not static: it is in motion and develops.

5. Moscow Museum of Modern Art

Address: Petrovka street, 25; Ermolaevsky lane, 17; Tverskoy Boulevard, 9; Gogolevsky Boulevard, 10; Bolshaya Gruzinskaya street, 15.

This museum is dedicated to the art of Russia and the Soviet Union: the work of avant-garde artists, non-conformists and contemporary artists. The permanent basis of the exposition is made up of works of the 20th century, therefore, the museum can be partially considered as historical, which, however, does not make it less interesting. The museum has several branches, the main of which are within walking distance from each other. You can enter with one ticket.

Gastronomy and bars

In Moscow, you can find dishes of different levels of authenticity from almost anywhere in the world and a lot of interesting alcohol, which, we recall, is harmful to your health.

1. Central market

Address: Rozhdestvensky Boulevard, 1.

Gastronomic markets are large squares with food courts, where dozens of small cafes are concentrated. The chefs here prepare dishes from different cuisines. Perhaps only in such establishments it is possible to include in dinner a successfully cooked tom-yum with real Italian pasta or authentic Chinese baozi pies. The central market on Rozhdestvensky Boulevard (also called the market on Tsvetnoy) is one of the first and largest gastronomic markets in Moscow.

2. Bar "Under the Fly"

Address: Strastnoy Boulevard, 6, building 2.

"Fly Away" is open 24/7, but if you come here on Friday or Saturday after eight in the evening, you may not be allowed in. Simply because there will be no seats. The guests of the institution not only occupy tables, but sometimes sit in several rows near the bar counter: it is more interesting to communicate there and pour faster. The main advantages of the establishment: not very high prices for cocktails, good alcohol, a relaxed atmosphere and specialty noodles with additives according to the guest's taste.

3. Pizzeria Camorra Pizza e Birra

Address: Bolshoi Spasoglinischevsky lane, 9/1, building 10.

It may seem that this is an ordinary, cozy and a bit cramped cafe with pizza and beer, of which there are dozens in Moscow. But it is not so. Firstly, pizza here, according to many Muscovites, can compete with the one that is prepared in Italy. And secondly, the range of beer is presented by the St. Petersburg team AF Brew - one of the most popular craft breweries in the country.

4. Vodka "Zinziver"

Address: Pokrovsky Boulevard, 2/14.

If the word "drink" makes you furrow your brows, let go of your prejudices. This type of institution in the capital is treated in a special way. For example, "Second Wind" on Novokuznetskaya until the very closing was called the last place in which the spirit of old Moscow was preserved. And now one of the most popular wine glasses in the city is Zinziver on Chistye Prudy.

5. Beer Bar Rule Taproom

Address: Starovagankovsky lane, 19.

If you are looking for a noisy beer bar with good music, where Muscovites, not tourists, relax, pass the places on the Arbat and walk to Starovagankovsky Lane. Rule Taproom, or simply "Rul", cannot boast of a record number of types of beer, but it will definitely offer something to your taste. There is no kitchen, but opposite there is the "Ugol" - a vegan cafe that prepares delicious burgers with lentil cutlet.

Standard set for the first visit to the capital

A small list for classics lovers who want to bring home a pack of typical photographs against the background of the Kremlin walls and the high-rise buildings of Moscow City.

1. Red Square

Address: The Red Square.

Several classic sights are concentrated here at once: Execution ground, the monument to Minin and Pozharsky, Lenin's Mausoleum, the necropolis at the Kremlin wall, St. Basil's Cathedral and GUM. A skating rink is open in winter. There is not much to do here, but for classic photographs "for mom" - what you need.

2. Old Arbat

Address: Old Arbat street.

Each building here is equipped with some kind of sign and has its own history, which, however, does not make the Arbat especially interesting. There are always crowds of tourists, there are not many good cafes and there are almost no activities. Endless shop windows and crowds of people are diluted only by street musicians or fakirs. You can walk along the Arbat once: study the tablets, walk to the monument to Bulat Okudzhava, Pushkin's museum-apartment or the wall of memory of Viktor Tsoi.

3. VDNKh

Address: Prospect Mira, 119.

The Exhibition of Achievements of the National Economy has lost its significance: many pavilions are closed here, and the vast territory has turned into an absolutely ordinary park. But you can find something interesting, for example, a museum of cosmonautics, a panoramic cinema or attractions.

4. Moscow City

Address: Presnenskaya embankment.

It is rather strange to rest where the locals are used to working, but the scale of the architectural ambitions of the quarter is still mesmerizing. You can visit "Moscow City" for the sake of observation platforms overlooking the city or "Afimolla" - a six-storey shopping center with 450 shops and cafes.

5. Victory Park

Address: Victory square, 3d.

If you are inspired by the history of the Great Patriotic War, do not forget to visit the Victory Park on Poklonnaya Hill, where the memorial complex, military equipment and thematic monuments are located. You can also ride through the park on a sightseeing train.

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