The ideal way to get in touch with the city, including its historical centre and major monuments. We will stroll along the broad avenues, making our way through the famous Tverskaya Street to the top of Sparrow Hills, under the imposing stare of Lomonosov University, one of the Stalin-era skyscrapers scattered throughout the city. From there we will admire an impressive panorama of the city, followed by a stop at Victory Park and another in front of Novodevichy Convent and its lake, the inspiration for Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake. We will approach the historical centre from the banks of the Moskva River, coming out near the White House, location of the siege of the Russian Government. We will also stop at Arbat Street, a busy pedestrian thoroughfare nicknamed the “Moscow Montmartre” because of the artist that used to live in the area and the painters that nowadays populate the street. We will pass in front of the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, the Parliament Building (Duma), Bolshoi Theatre, and the imposing facade of Lubyanka, headquarters of the KGB. We will continue through the alleyways of the ancient merchant district Kitai-Gorod, which contains numerous small churches, finally arriving at Red Square, undoubtedly one of the most beautiful in the world and designated by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. It was named Red, or “Krasnaya” in Russian, which in Old Russian was a synonym of “beautiful.”
Now the square is surrounded by the famous buildings of the Russian Historical Museum, the Kremlin, and Saint Basil’s Cathedral with its gorgeous onion domes, built by order of Ivan the Terrible. Red Square is also home to Lenin’s Mausoleum and features Russian Army parades on various holidays throughout the year. Opened on May 15, 1935, by the Soviet government as a symbol of the technological and industrial prowess of the political system, the Moscow metro was considered to be the "People’s Palace." The most important artists of the period took part in its decoration, and materials were brought from all corners of the country, representing the union of the Soviet people.
The metro is still the city’s main transportation artery and even one of the most important in the world, with its 200 kilometres of railway lines and 145 stations. We will visit the most important stations decorated with luxurious materials: more than 20 types of marble, granite, and onyx, as well as paintings, majolica, glass, mural paintings, mosaics, etc. The word “Kremlin” in Russian means fortress, and in early Rus every important town had a fortress encircled by a wall where the main buildings, churches, and cathedrals were located and protected. The Moscow fortress, the cradle of the city, is the main fortress in the country and has been designated by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. Built in the 12th century, it took the form we know today in the 15th century. It is an excellent reflection of the different stages of Russian art; a single monumental centre of architecture, painting, and decorative and applied arts. The best craftsmen and artists worked on its churches, cathedrals, and palaces, bequeathing to us their priceless work framing the power and fame of Russia that is concentrated in its unforgettable alleyways and different sections.
We will pass the Parliament Building (Duma), Bolshoi Theatre, and the imposing facade of Lubyanka, headquarters of the KGB. We will continue through the alleyways of the ancient merchant district Kitai-Gorod, which contains numerous small churches, finally arriving at Red Square, undoubtedly one of the most beautiful in the world and designated by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. It was named Red, or “Krasnaya” in Russian, which in Old Russian was a synonym of “beautiful.”
Now the square is surrounded by the famous buildings of the Russian Historical Museum, the Kremlin, and Saint Basil’s Cathedral with its gorgeous onion domes, built by order of Ivan the Terrible. Red Square is also home to Lenin’s Mausoleum and features Russian Army parades on various holidays throughout the year.
We will continue with a visit to the Moscow metro. Opened on May 15, 1935, by the Soviet government as a symbol of the technological and industrial prowess of the political system, the Moscow metro was considered to be the "People’s Palace." The most important artists of the period took part in its decoration, and materials were brought from all corners of the country, representing the union of the Soviet people. The metro is still the city’s main transportation artery and even one of the most important in the world, with 200 kilometres of railway lines and 145 stations. We will visit the most important stations decorated with luxurious materials: more than 20 types of marble, granite, and onyx, as well as paintings, majolica, glass, mural paintings, mosaics, etc. Then it will be time for a quick break for lunch.
In the afternoon we visit the Kremlin and its Cathedrals. The word “Kremlin” in Russian means fortress, and in early Rus every important town had a fortress encircled by a wall where the main buildings, churches and cathedrals were located and protected. The Moscow fortress, the cradle of the city, is the main fortress in the country and has been designated by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. Built in the 12th century, it took the form we know today in the 15th century. It is an excellent reflection of the different stages of Russian art; a single monumental centre of architecture, painting, and decorative and applied arts. The best craftsmen and artists worked on its churches, cathedrals, and palaces, bequeathing us their priceless work framing the power and fame of Russia that is concentrated in its unforgettable alleyways and different sections. The Kremlin is even today the seat of some of the main political and religious government bodies: the President’s Palace, different administrative and military buildings such as the Senate and Armoury, and also numerous churches and cathedrals. Its walls, 19 meters high and 2235 meters long, tower above the Moskva River and Red Square and are made from 8 kilogram bricks.
Visit the fortress, enjoying the view of the world’s biggest "tsar bell", forged in 1733, and the "tsar cannon", one of the biggest guns ever made in the entire world. Forged in 1586 by Andrew Chokhov, its purpose was to defend the gate of the Spasskaya Tower, though it has never been used. The Cathedral Square is an architectural jewel, flanked by the Dormition Cathedral, the Cathedral of the Annunciation, and the Cathedral of the Archangel. < br />
The ancient village of Kolomenskoye, located in southern Moscow, is a unique place to discover and appreciate a piece of Russian history and art set in a beautiful, natural environment.
Its construction started at the beginning of the 14th century, judging by the first written notices we have about it. For several centuries Kolomenskoye was the summer residence of the Moscow princes, followed by the tsars, serving at different points as the residence and favourite hunting grounds for the Grand Prince Vasili III and Ivan the Terrible.
We will visit a museum of wooden architecture, the traditional material used in the construction of civil and religious buildings in ancient Russia. We will also discover the old house of Peter the Great, while the most beautiful building is also the most ancient: the Church of the Ascension, designated by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. It was built in 1532 by order of Vasili III and is a distinctive building with a tent-shaped roof erected in honour of the birth of his heir, Ivan the Terrible.
Visit to the Kremlin Armoury. The Armoury is the oldest and most important museum in the Kremlin. It is supposed to have been built in 1485, though the first record of it dates back to 1508. Its collections include the costumes used in the coronations of the tsars, made of the most expensive materials and encrusted with precious stones; the tsars’ carriages, cars, and harnessing made by the best artisans with the most glamorous materials; thrones encrusted with diamonds; and jewellery, tableware, and weapons belonging to the royal family.
We will also admire the world-renowned Faberge Easter Eggs, as well as the most important item of the museum, the so-called “Crown of Monomachos:” the imperial crown of Russia, legend having it that it was a present from the Byzantine Emperor Constantine Monomachos. It has been used since 1547 during all the coronations of the tsars.
The word “Kremlin” in Russian means fortress, and in early Rus every important town had a fortress encircled by a wall where the main buildings, churches, and cathedrals were located and protected. The Moscow fortress, the cradle of the city, is the main fortress in the country and has been designated by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. Built in the 12th century, it took the form we know today in the 15th century. It is an excellent reflection of the different stages of Russian art; a single monumental centre of architecture, painting, and decorative and applied arts. The best craftsmen and artists worked on its churches, cathedrals, and palaces, bequeathing to us their priceless work framing the power and fame of Russia that is concentrated in its unforgettable alleyways and different sections.
The Kremlin is even today the seat of some of the main political and religious government bodies: the President’s Palace, different administrative and military buildings such as the Senate and Armoury, and also numerous churches and cathedrals. Its walls, 19 meters high and 2235 meters long, tower above the Moskva River and Red Square and are made from eight kilogram bricks. We will visit the fortress, enjoying the view of the world’s biggest "tsar bell", forged in 1733, and the "tsar cannon", one of the biggest guns ever made in the entire world. Forged in 1586 by Andrew Chokhov, its purpose was to defend the gate of the Spasskaya tower, though it has never been used. The Cathedral Square is an architectural jewel, flanked by the Dormition Cathedral, the Cathedral of the Annunciation, and the Cathedral of the Archangel.
The Armoury is the oldest and most important museum in the Kremlin. It is supposed to have been built in 1485, though the first record of it dates back to 1508. Its collections include the costumes used in the coronations of the tsars, made of the most expensive materials and encrusted with precious stones; the tsars’ carriages, cars, and harnessing made by the best artisans with the most glamorous materials; thrones encrusted with diamonds; and jewellery, tableware, and weapons belonging to the royal family. We will also admire the world-renowned Faberge Easter Eggs, as well as the most important item of the museum, the so-called “Crown of Monomachos:” the imperial crown of Russia, legend having it that it was a present from the Byzantine Emperor Constantine Monomachos. It has been used since 1547 during all the coronations of the tsars.
The word “Kremlin” in Russian means fortress, and in early Rus every important town had a fortress encircled by a wall where the main buildings, churches, and cathedrals were located and protected. The Moscow fortress, the cradle of the city, is the main fortress in the country and has been designated by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. Built in the 12th century, it took the form we know today in the 15th century. It is an excellent reflection of the different stages of Russian art; a single monumental centre of architecture, painting, and decorative and applied arts. The best craftsmen and artists worked on its churches, cathedrals, and palaces, bequeathing to us their priceless work framing the power and fame of Russia that is concentrated in its unforgettable alleyways and different sections.
The Kremlin is even today the seat of some of the main political and religious government bodies: the President’s Palace, different administrative and military buildings such as the Senate and Armoury, and also numerous churches and cathedrals. Its walls, 19 meters high and 2235 meters long, tower above the Moskva River and Red Square and are made from eight kilogram bricks. We will visit the fortress, enjoying the view of the world’s biggest "tsar bell", forged in 1733, and the "tsar cannon", one of the biggest guns ever made in the entire world. Forged in 1586 by Andrew Chokhov, its purpose was to defend the gate of the Spasskaya tower, though it has never been used.
The Cathedral Square is an architectural jewel, flanked by the Dormition Cathedral, the Cathedral of the Annunciation, and the Cathedral of the Archangel.
The word “Kremlin” in Russian means fortress, and in early Rus every important town had a fortress encircled by a wall where the main buildings, churches, and cathedrals were located and protected. The Moscow fortress, the cradle of the city, is the main fortress in the country and has been designated by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. Built in the 12th century, it took the form we know today in the 15th century. It is an excellent reflection of the different stages of Russian art; a single monumental centre of architecture, painting, and decorative and applied arts. The best craftsmen and artists worked on its churches, cathedrals, and palaces, bequeathing to us their priceless work framing the power and fame of Russia that is concentrated in its unforgettable alleyways and different sections.
The Kremlin is even today the seat of some of the main political and religious government bodies: the President’s Palace, different administrative and military buildings such as the Senate and Armoury, and also numerous churches and cathedrals. Its walls, 19 meters high and 2235 meters long, tower above the Moskva River and Red Square and are made from eight kilogram bricks. We will visit the fortress, enjoying the view of the world’s biggest "tsar bell", forged in 1733, and the "tsar cannon", one of the biggest guns ever made in the entire world. Forged in 1586 by Andrew Chokhov, its purpose was to defend the gate of the Spasskaya tower, though it has never been used.
The Cathedral Square is an architectural jewel, flanked by the Dormition Cathedral, the Cathedral of the Annunciation, and the Cathedral of the Archangel.
Opened on May 15, 1935, by the Soviet government as a symbol of the technological and industrial prowess of the political system, the Moscow metro was considered to be the "People’s Palace". The most important artists of the period took part in its decoration, and materials were brought from all corners of the country, representing the union of the Soviet people.
The metro is still the city’s main transportation artery and even one of the most important in the world, with its 200 kilometres of railway lines and 145 stations. We will visit the most important stations decorated with luxurious materials: more than 20 types of marble, granite, and onyx, as well as paintings, majolica, glass, mural paintings, mosaics, etc.
Novodevichy Monastery, designated by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, is one of the most beautiful monasteries in all of Russia and is situated in the southwest of the capital on a meadow next to the Moskva River. It was founded as a fortified monastery by Vasili III in 1524 to commemorate a victory over the Polish and Lithuanian armies and the seizure of Smolensk. During the 16th and 17th centuries the great boyar families and even the tsar’s family sent their daughters there.
The monastery is situated next to a small lake which served as the inspiration for Tchaikovsky’s famous Swan Lake ballet, the exteriors of its five-domed cathedral and bell tower being stunningly beautiful. In Novodevichy Cemetery, situated on the Monastery’s grounds, numerous outstanding and famous Russian personalities from the worlds of art, science, and even politics are buried: Boris Yeltsin, Khrushchev, Kropotkin, and Molotov rest here, along with Chekhov, Gogol, Mayakovski, Bulgakov, and also Rostropovich, Shostakovich, Stanislavsky, Rubinstein, Chaliapin, and Eisenstein. The five-domed cathedral dedicated to Our Lady of Smolensk is the oldest building inside the monastery, as it was built in the first half of the 16th century by Italian architects. Its interior is decorated with frescoes of an extraordinary beauty and majestic golden icons.
In Novodevichy Museum we will find valuable collections of icons, jewellery, embroideries, and ancient books.
The State Museum of Fine Arts, named after the famous Russian poet Alexander Pushkin, houses the biggest art collection in Moscow, earning it a global reputation. It was inaugurated in 1912 as an initiative of the Pectoral Senate of the University, mainly funded by the philanthropist Nechaev. The nucleus of the collection came from the Hermitage, brought over when the communists transferred the capital of Russia from St. Petersburg to Moscow in 1918, and from the former Rumyantsev Museum in Moscow. It was also the beneficiary of many pieces taken from German museums at the end of World War II.
It is well-known for its exhibitions of impressionistic and post-impressionistic art (Renoir, Gauguin, etc.), and its collections consist of 14th - 19th century paintings by such artists as Rubens, Rembrandt, and Botticelli, and have grown over time. The Ancient Art section is particularly intriguing, including Egyptian (more than 6000 items), Assyrian, Babylonian, and Pre-Christian art.
The legendary "Treasures of Troy", taken from the Pergamon Museum in Berlin, are displayed in the Museum’s famous room #7.
Located about 70 kilometres to the north from Moscow on the Imperial Road of the Golden Ring, Sergiyev Posad (formerly known as Zagorsk) is one of the most important centres of Russian Orthodoxy. Its construction was begun by St. Sergius, who established a monastery-fortress there in 1340 that would over the course of the centuries become one of the most important spiritual centres in Russia. There you will see the characteristic elements of the military architecture of the 15th-18th centuries, the period of its development.
Nowadays, the Monastery of the Holy Trinity and St. Sergius is still operational and is home to a seminary, the Technological Institute, the Pilgrimage Centre, and the residence of His Holiness the Patriarch of All Russia, thanks to which the city picked up its nickname as the "Russian Vatican." Among its numerous churches and cathedrals, the most notable and significant are the Cathedral of the Assumption with its blue domes and the Cathedral of Dormition. It houses the tomb of Boris Godunov and his family as well as a copy of Andrei Rublev’s famous icon of the Trinity, the original of which is in the Tretiakov Gallery in Moscow. Sergiyev Posad has been designated by the UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.
Then, wending our way through Suzdal on narrow and picturesque roads crisscrossing beautiful landscapes, we will see the historical towns of the Golden Ring: Alexandrov with its Kremlin built under Ivan the Terrible and Yuryev Polsky, founded in the 12th century by Yuri Dolgorukiy.
The range of products and their varied origins are proof that we stand at the crossroads between Europe and Asia. Several workshops offer the opportunity to try one’s hand at traditional jobs such as goldsmithery, pottery, and weaving. You can also admire many imitation buildings representing traditional Russian architecture made from wood and stone.
In order to get to know the history of this well-loved beverage in Russia - it is just as common to drink it during a marriage as it is to do so when celebrating a birth! It was even used as currency at the beginning of the 20th century. The principles of distillation will be detailed in order to understand how to produce this 80 proof alcohol (or at least the commercial version) that was even served to troops during World War II. Moreover, a part of the museum is dedicated to this tragic period.
The visit is followed by a little vodka tasting.
Take your time exploring the capital of Russia with a combined 24-hour, hop-on hop-off bus and boat ticket and discover Moscow from on board a double-decker bus with retractable roof. Learn the history of the city from the audio commentary, available in 8 languages.
Ride the double-decker bus around the city's historic streets, past canals and rivers, and admire the onion domes of Red Square. Then, swap land for water and cruise along the Vodo’otvodny Canal around Golden Island, stopping at Gorky Park to see the Pushkin Museum of Fine Art.
Take a relaxing cruise down Moskva River with an unlimited travel ticket valid for 1 day or one single tour in one day, and see some of Moscow's wonderful sights while relaxing with your loved ones.
Pass the incredible, 98-meter monument to Peter the Great, sculpted by the notorious Georgian sculptor, Zurab Tsereteli. The monument, with sits on an artificial island, can only be seen close-up from the river, making it one of the most exciting attractions of the day. As you cruise down the river, make your way down the Vodootvodny Canal pass the bustling Bolotnaya Square, the beautiful Novospassky Monastery, as well as Gorky Park, each of which has its own pier. Disembark from the river boat at these three locations whenever you feel like exploring a sight or neighborhood by foot, and then hop back on when you are ready to continue on with your cruise.
The famous Red Square in Moscow, probably one of the best known places in the world, is of course the central square of the capital of the biggest country in the world, Russia. This is definitely one of the places you cannot miss if you are visiting Moscow. The Red Square has so many things to see, and so much history behind it, that if you just get there by yourself without the help or knowledge of an expert tour guide, it will be very hard to really appreciate its importance and all it has to offer.
Just northeast of the also popular Kremlin, this square used to be a marketplace many years ago, but it has taken a lot of relevance throughout history and it has been the place of choice for lots of ceremonies, proclamations and even music concerts, among other important events, both planned and unplanned. Its importance goes beyond history or common popularity. It is also considered the center of Russia, because from this point start all the roads of the country, so it is considered to be the ‘Zero Kilometer’. The Red Square, in the opinion of many, the most important and most famous tourist attraction in Moscow.
Your personal tour guide will help you learn that it was originally made of wood, and its red brick was acquired only in the 19th century. So, if you really want to know one of Moscow’s and even Russia’s most important places in history and culture, then you are definitely in the right place. Book now an expert tour guide and enjoy the experience.