Moscow

Region info

White-stoned, Third Rome, New Jerusalem – these a few names which were given to Moscow over the centuries.   It lost its significance giving its place to a newly-built city of St. Petersburg, and became the capital again in 1918 in Soviet days. Nowadays, Moscow is the capital of the Russian Federation, with a population of over 12 million people. Moscow is the center of politics, business, and culture. There are over 230 museums and galleries in Moscow, thousands of hotels and restaurants, beautiful parks, classic and modern theatres, the most beautiful metro system.

Moscow is often associated with St. Basil’s cathedral, which stands on Red Square, the heart of Russia. Krasnaya is an Old Russian word meaning both red and beautiful. Another remarkable place is the Kremlin, which is the center of politics and the residence of the Russian president and the museum within the fortification wall. It includes golden-dome century-old churches and palaces which you can visit during your stay in Moscow.

Moscow is a fast-growing and fast-changing city. You can hardly recognize it if you were here 20 or 10 years ago. Even Muscovites who have been living here the whole life quite often can not keep up with its pace.

Moscow is the city which is good to start your acquaintance with Russia. You can easily reach St. Petersburg from Moscow or see more rural Russia visiting one of the Golden Ring towns.

When to go?

 Moscow is a city which you can visit every season and enjoy the ambiance and the variety of options it can offer.

Summer

Summer is considered the best time by travelers who prefer the warm time of the year.  You can take advantage of big and cozy parks in Moscow or take some side trips to see the Russian countryside. This might be a trip to Golden Ring towns or a trip to datcha etc.

Autumn

Autumn turns all the leaves into bright colors. It might be cold and rainy or warm and sunny if Indian summer happens to come.  There are fewer people if museums and galleries and hotel prices get lower. You can still catch some warm days and enjoy the Russian countryside with all its colors.

Winter

Winter is definitely for those who are not afraid of below zero temperatures. Russians say there is no bad weather but there is bad clothing. If you wear multi-layered clothing and plan your sightseeing wisely, that won’t be a problem.  Christmas is a great time to visit Moscow since it does not coincide with Russian Christmas. You will enjoy Christmas bazaars and the beautiful illumination and décor of the city.  Museums, restaurants will be working over these days. You can also take advantage of the snow and think of some of the fun winter activities like Troika rides, Husky dog-sledding, skating on Red Square, or cross-country-skiing in one of the Moscow parks.  

Plan your holiday in advance if you happen to come over New Year time. New Year is o the main holiday for Russians, that is why a lot of places will be closed on January, 1.  Most restaurants will charge extra for New Year dinner night.  You can consider an early dinner and a might walk to see the New Year fireworks.

Spring

Early spring is the time when there are still few tourists in Moscow so you can visit the main Moscow museums and galleries without crowds.  It can be still cold in March and a lot of snow in the countryside so if you would like to try some winter activities, this might be a good month as well.

There are a few holidays which fall for Spring. 8th of March is International Women's day when you can see thousands of flowers this day and the day before. Men tend to give flowers as gifts to women. Maslenitsa or Butters week is the week before Lent. Everyone eats bliny ( Russian pancakes) and the effigy of winter is burnt on Sunday. There are a lot of celebrations in parks and outdoor bazaars where you can eat all sorts of bliny.

At Easter, you can hear bells ringing at churches and monasteries and even ring the bells yourself.

 In early May everything starts to bloom so do not forget to include a walk in one of the Moscow parks to enjoy the blossom.

How to reach?

Moscow has 3 international airports (SVO, DME, and VKH), all of them are located outside the city and it takes about 1-1,5 h to reach your centrally located hotel depending on the traffic situation.  You can take a taxi,  use our driver’s services or take aeroexpress to reach the city center and then take the metro or taxi to your hotel.

If you are planning to have a stopover in Moscow,  make sure you have enough time  ( more than 7 hours) to reach the city center to walk through  Red Square, see the Moscow metro and taste some Russian food. You will need to have a tourist visa for that unless you are a passport holder of Israel, Brazil. Montenegro etc

Moscow is a real transportation hub. It has 9 railway stations from where you can reach every corner of Russia. It is also a good destination to start your Trans-Siberian journey. Every  year more and more high-speed trains are being launched so that it became quite comfortable to reach some Golden  Ring towns by train (  Vladimir, Yaroslavl, Rostov the Great).

You can also take a fast Sapsan train  ( about 4 hours) to St. Petersburg to explore the second capital of Russia

Getting around

Moscow can boast of one of the most beautiful and efficient underground systems. Moscow metro can take you practically to everywhere. It is open from early morning ( 5 am) till late at night ( 1-1.30 am). It is also rather cheap if you buy a Troika card which you can top up and use for any means of transportation like metro, busses, and trams.  You can also download Yandex or Uber application to use taxi which is also rather cheap in comparison with other European cities. There are also a lot of pedestrian zones in the city center which is nice to walk ad explore the city.