Things to Do in Moscow in 2024

Top 30 things to do and explore in Moscow during your visit.

We have compiled a list of the top things to do during your stay in Moscow.

The list features all kinds of activities ranging from museums (State Historical Museum and Tretyakov Gallery) and theaters (The Bolshoi Theater) to various attractions (the Moscow Kremlin, and Red Square) and districts of Moscow (Patriarch Ponds and the modern City Skyscrapers district).

1. Zaryadye Park

Zaryadye Park
4.5(77614)Attractions

Zaryadye Park is one of the most notable attraction points in Moscow located steps away from the Read Square. It is famous for its “flying bridge” hanging over Moscow River. The bridge has become one of the top places to take a “selfie” in the city thanks to its killer views of the Kremlin and Moscow River.

Zaryadye is the only new park that was built in the center of Moscow during the past 200 years. The project was completed in close collaboration with Diller Scofidio + Renfro studio famous for their work on “The High Line”park in Manhattan.

It took 4 years and close to $800mln to construct the park.

In addition to the bridge, Zaryadye features several museums, a souvenirs store and several restaurants. There is a tourist center building where you can buy a ticket to one of their exhibitions or ask a question at the tourist info desk.

2. Sparrow Hills (Vorobyovy Gory)

Sparrow Hills (Vorobyovy Gory)
4.7(35716)Attractions

Sparrow Hills is an area that covers around 15,000 square feet (1,375 square meters) around Moscow State University. It is located 200 meters above sea level and has one of the best observation points of Moscow. Sparrow Hills observation point is remarkable for the fact that you can see 6 out of 7 Stalin era sky scrapers from there (including the building of Moscow State University).

You can use cableway to decent directly to the Luzhniki Park located across Moscow River from here. The cableway has 35 cabins. One way ticket will cost you around 400 Rubles (about $4).

3. Patriarch Ponds

Patriarch Ponds
4.7(19145)Attractions

Patriarch Ponds is referred to as Moscow Soho district that has some of the most expensive real estate prices in the city, high class restaurants and fashion boutiques. The area is famous for its pond that has a nice adjacent walking area.

Patriarch Ponds was mentioned in of the chapters of the well-known novel called “The Master and Margarita” written by Bulgakov. By the way, the writer actually spent his childhood in the neighborhood.

4. Moscow City (skyscrapers district)

Moscow City (skyscrapers district)

Moskva City (translated as Moscow City) is a modern business district also known as Moscow International Business Center famous for its sky scrapers. Here you’ll find the tallest building in Europe called The Federation Tower.

The district has lots of restaurants, several hotels and observation points located on the 89th floor of "Federation Tower" and 58th floor of "Imperia Tower". If you are looking for some great views of the city - also checkout the restaurant called Sixty located on the 60th floor of "Federation Tower".

Moscow City is located at the “Delovoy Tsentr” (or Mezhdunarodnaya) metro station. It takes around 10 minutes and 5 stations to get there from the “Aleksandrovsky Sad” metro station located steps away The Red Square.

5. Ostozhenka District

Ostozhenka District

Ostozhenka is considered to be the golden mile of Moscow with the highest real estate prices. This modern district stands out from other parts of the city with its modern architecture not typical for the rest of Moscow.

As stated by one of the leading real estate companies on the local market, in 2018 average apartment purchase amount value in Ostozhenka area was around $3mln. The most expensive apartment for rent was available for close to $50k per month.

6. Frunzenskaya neighborhood

Frunzenskaya neighborhood

Frunzenskaya is one of the most prestigious neighbourhoods in Moscow. It is located right across the river from the Gorky Park and just minutes away from the famous Luzhniki Stadium.

The area is full of green in summer and it's a great place for various outdoor activities like walking or jogging.

Here you can rent an e-scooter at one of numerous rental points spread along Moscow River embankment. You can walk or ride towards Kremlin along the river and enjoy the city.

7. Moscow aquarium

Moscow aquarium
4.6(42901)Attractions

Moscow aquarium located at the premises of VDNKH Park called “Mosquarium” features 80 tanks with more than 12,000 sea animals. Lots of rare tropical fishes include arapaima from the Amazon River, clown fishes and cowfishes. Their neighbors include star fishes, caimans, sharks, piranhas, several kinds of octopus and jellyfish.

There are several pools at “Mosquarium” where they offer swimming sessions with dolphins. Check the aquarium’s website to get the latest schedule of their shows and pricing.

8. Luzhniki Stadium

Luzhniki Stadium
4.7(22349)Attractions

Luzhniki is the biggest sports park in the central part of Moscow. The park was completely renovated to host FIFA World Cup 2018. The renovation included Moscow River embankment adjacent to the park, the main stadium, sports fields, restaurants, swimming pools and shops.

New landscape design made Luznhiki Park much greener by planting more than 50,000 new bushes and more than 1,000 trees. Luzhniki is a great place for rollerblading, jogging or just taking a walk along Moscow River. The area has many open air street workout facilities and a large playground for the kids.

There is a cableway that you can use to cross Moscow River and get directly to Sparrow Hills, the area adjacent to Moscow State University.

9. GUM Department Store

GUM Department Store
4.6(47263)Attractions

GUM constructed in the early 1800s was the biggest and most famous department store in USSR. Today it remains one of the oldest department stores in Europe. GUM is famous for its skating rink that opens every winter and attracts both locals and tourists.

10. The Novodevichy Convent

The Novodevichy Convent
4.6(7007)Attractions

Novodevichy Convent is one of the most beautiful monasteries in Moscow that is part of the State Historic Museum. The convent was originally constructed in 1524 and today consists of a museum, cathedral and cemetery.

The convent’s museum holds unique collection of church icons, ancient Russian paintings and jewelry. Older part of the cemetery is the final resting place for many famous Russian people like Chekhov, Gogol and Khrushchev.

11. Cathedral of Christ the Savior

Cathedral of Christ the Savior
4.7(23911)Attractions

Christ the Savior Cathedral in Moscow is considered the main cathedral of Russia. The original cathedral was built in the 19th century as a memory to those who died during French invasion of Russia in 1812. It took 41 years to construct the building.

The cathedral was fully demolished and replaced by a public pool called “Moscow” during Soviet times following the order of Joseph Stalin.

The pool was closed in 1994 and the new version of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior with its own museum has been fully constructed by 1999.

12. State Historical Museum

State Historical Museum
4.6(2046)Attractions

State Historic Museum is one of the best places to explore Russian history. It is located on the southern side of Red Square and has over 4 million works. The museum employs almost 900 people and its visited by almost 1.4 million tourists annually.

The museum is famous for its sixth century manuscripts, ancient gold artifacts, artworks owned by the Romanov dynasty members and millions of ancient coins.

Entrance tickets cost 1200 Rub (about $20) if you decide to purchase them online and include a personal audio guide in English, French, Chines, Spanish and Russian.

13. The State Tretyakov Gallery

The State Tretyakov Gallery
4.8(30405)Attractions

Tretyakov Gallery has the most comprehensive collection of Russian painting, sculpture and graphics art works. The famous arts museum was founded in 1856 by the Tretyakov brothers - Pavel and Sergy. Pavel started to collect his paintings in 1856 an initially kept them at his house in Lavrushin Lane that has later turned into the main museum building.

Today Tretyakov Gallery has about 180,000 works available to general public.

14. The Moscow Kremlin

The Moscow Kremlin
4.8(54809)Attractions

The Moscow Kremlin occupies around 69 acres (about 28 hectares) in the center of Moscow surrounded by walls that are more than 1.4 miles long (about 2.3 kilometers). Inside you’ll find 5 squares, lots of ancient buildings like churches and palaces as well as 20 towers.

Most of the towers were constructed by Italian workers that were invited to Moscow by Ivan the Great who ruled the country for almost 43 years. The most famous tower is called “Spasskaya” (Savior) Tower.

The official residence of the President of Russia is located inside the Senate building at the premises of Kremlin as well.

15. Danilovsky Market

Danilovsky Market
4.5(15659)Attractions

Danilovsky is one the oldest and most popular modern markets in Moscow. Inside you'll find lots of farmers selling all kinds of products. The market is also famous for its restaurants serving various streetfood as well as dishes from around the world.

16. Garage Museum of Contemporary Art

Garage Museum of Contemporary Art
4.4(4919)Attractions

Garage Museum of Contemporary Art is situated in the heart of Moscow's Gorky Park, one of the capital's most vibrant and popular public spaces.

The museum's location within Gorky Park adds to the museum's allure, as visitors can enjoy a day of art immersion followed by a leisurely stroll in the scenic surroundings, which offer a plethora of other recreational activities.

17. Depo Food Mall

Depo Food Mall

Depo is one of the biggest food malls in Europe opened at the premises of the reconstructed Soviet tram depot. The food court located at Depo features dousens of restaurants with various cuisines.

Since its opening, Depo has drawn food lovers from Moscow and beyond, solidifying its reputation as a premier destination for culinary exploration and socialization.

18. The Central Market

The Central Market
4.6(8759)Attractions

Central Market takes 3 floors of a building located in one of the central parts of Moscow steps away from Trubnaya metro station. Two upper floors of the building are dedicated to restaurants and a food court area. The market area where you can by fruits, vegetables and other groceries is located at the ground level.

19. Flotilla Radisson Royal Cruises

Flotilla Radisson Royal Cruises
4.5(111)Attractions

Radisson Royal Fleet offers daily all year round Moscow River cruises on one of their comfortable yachts. The cruises allow tourists to see all the key Moscow attractions like the Kremlin, Novodevichy Convent and St. Basil's Cathedral from the water.

Guests can pick their tickets depending on the level of comfort and privacy.

20. Catholic Cathedral of The Immaculate Conception of The Blessed Virgin Mary

Catholic Cathedral of The Immaculate Conception of The Blessed Virgin Mary
4.9(5042)Attractions

The Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception of the Holy Virgin Mary located in the center of Moscow is the biggest catholic cathedral in Russia. There are just two catholic cathedrals in Moscow including this one. The second one is the Church of St. Louis of the French located on Malaya Lubyanka 12/7.

The cathedral is famous for its neo-gothic architecture and offers Mass in different languages that include Russian, Korean, English, Polish, French and Spanish.

21. Red Square

Red Square
4.8(168068)Attractions

Red Square covers an area of around 1300 feet by 490 feet (330 by 70 meters) in the center of the Moscow located right outside Kremlin walls. In Russian the square is called “Krasnaya Ploshad”. The first word is translated as “red” which also means “beautiful” in Old Russian.

Lenin’s Mausoleum and the most notable department store of USSR called GUM are just some of the additional attraction points you’ll find here.

22. The Grand Kremlin Palace

The Grand Kremlin Palace

Explore The Grand Kremlin Palace that was constructed as permanent Moscow residence for the emperor’s family when the capital of Russia was located in Saint Petersburg. You can often see its magnificent reception halls on TV during major official events including the president’s inauguration.

23. New Arbat

New Arbat

New Arbat is a modern avenue located in the heart of the city parallel to another famous street called Old Arbat. New Arbat has been fully reconstructed and now has a comfortable pedestrian area full of cafes and restaurants. It takes around 10 minutes to get here from the Kremlin area by foot.

24. Gorky Park

Gorky Park
4.7(84470)Attractions

Gorky Park has become one of the city’s main recreational areas after going through over $500 million reconstruction. Located at the embankment of Moscow River the park features restaurants, a museum of contemporary art called Garage, beach volley ball area, open air sculptures museum called Muzeon and an excellent pedestrian area.

25. The Bolshoi Theater

The Bolshoi Theater
4.8(22713)Attractions

Bolshoi Theater is located at the Theater Square along with other two famous theaters: Russian Academic Youth Theater and Mali Theater. Bolshoi was opened in 1856 and remains one of the main symbols of Russia. It’s a great place to spend an evening enjoying one of its high class ballet and opera performances.

Some of ballet performances at Bolshoi Theater scheduled to take place in 2024 include Nutcracker and Ivan the Terrible.

26. Saint Basils Cathedral

Saint Basils Cathedral
4.8(10831)Attractions

During Soviet times communist party had a plan to clear the Red Square from “unnecessary” buildings. This would allow to free additional space in the heart of Moscow required to hold parades.

One of Stalin’s close associates Lazar Kaganovich decided to deconstruct and remove Saint Basil’s Cathedral. He ordered to create the Red Square model without the cathedral in order to persuade Stalin to support his idea.

After exploring the area model without Saint Basil’s Cathedral, Stalin made a very strict remark: “Lazar, get the cathedral back!” This historic remark saved one of the symbols of Russia.

27. The Moscow Metro

The Moscow Metro

The Moscow Metro is the backbone of the city's public transportation network. It handles over 6 million passengers daily and provides frequent train services with minimal wait times, all year round.

28. All-Russian Exhibition Center (VDNKH)

All-Russian Exhibition Center (VDNKH)
4.7(130293)Attractions

All-Russian Exhibition Center was originally opened as the All-Union Agricultural Exhibition (VSKhV) to showcase the achievements of the national economy of the USSR.

The exhibition covers an area of more than 2 square kilometers and includes more than 400 buildings, each with its own unique architectural style and purpose.

29. Ostankino Television Tower

Ostankino Television Tower
4.7(13502)Attractions

With a staggering height of 540.1 meters (1,772 ft), Ostankino Television Tower was the tallest free-standing structure in the world at the time of its completion in 1967, a title it held until the completion of the CN Tower in Toronto, Canada, in 1976.

30. Tsaritsyno Museum-Reserve

Tsaritsyno Museum-Reserve
4.8(59115)Attractions

Tsaritsyno Museum-Reserve is located about 30 minutes away from the center of Moscow by car. It comprises a magnificent palace complex, lush gardens, scenic ponds, and a vast array of decorative bridges, all designed in a captivating blend of Russian and Gothic architecture.