World Cup city guides: what to see in Moscow?

It would seem that everyone and everything knows about the capital: the ever-growing and renewing city offers opportunities and perspectives, never believes in tears and never gets tired of surprising! In any season, crowds of tourists flock here, and the locals prefer to spend their time outside – with a cup of aromatic cappuccino on the summer veranda or during a bike ride in the park. You can explore the city for a long time, but for the World Cup guests we have collected a short checklist of the coolest things to do in Moscow this summer.

How to get from airports and train stations in Moscow?

The permanent population of Moscow is more than 12.4 million people (according to Rosstat as of 2017), and people arrive in the city every day – some for a short while, and some for good. To cope with the large passenger flow, the capital has 3 airports and 9 train stations, so check carefully where you are coming from and plan your route in advance.

Lifehack from the locals: buy a ticket for Aeroexpress in advance through the app or on the official website. In this case, it will cost you 420 rubles. For a ticket on the spot you will give 500 rubles. A trifle, of course, but a nice saving.

If all the airports are outside the city, then, fortunately for those who come, the train stations are located in Moscow itself and at the metro stations, so it will be difficult to get lost. In addition, near the stations there are always stops of ground transportation, which will take you almost anywhere in the capital.

• Belorussky station – “Belorusskaya” metro station (Ring line), “Belorusskaya” metro station (radial – Zamoskvoretskaya line);
• Kazansky, Leningradsky and Yaroslavsky stations – “Komsomolskaya” metrostation (Circle line), “Komsomolskaya” metro station (radial – Sokolnicheskaya line);
• Kievsky vokzal – metro stations “Kievskaya” (Koltsevaya line), “Kievskaya” (Arbatsko-Pokrovskaya line) and “Kievskaya” (Filevskaya line);
• Kursk station – Kurskaya station (Koltsevaya line), Kurskaya station (Arbatsko-Pokrovskaya line) and Chkalovskaya station (Lublinsko-Dmitrovskaya line);
• Paveletskaya station – “Paveletskaya” metro station (Koltsevaya line), “Paveletskaya” metro station (Zamoskvoretskaya line);
• Rigastation – metrostation “Rizhskaya” (Kaluzhsko-Rizhskaya line);
• Savelovsky station – “Savelovskaya” metrostation (Serpukhovsko-Timiryazevskaya line).

Transport network

Transportation is well developed in the city, including night routes. Muscovites often use public transportation to move around the city, because of traffic jams, many move by private car only outside the city, and at the entrance – leave it in an intercepting parking lot and continue their journey by metro, bus, streetcar, trolleybus, MCC (ring route of the city electric train), monorail (more often used for sightseeing trips), shuttle buses.

For all of the above transportation (except for some shuttle buses, where you have to pay in cash) there are unified tariffs. Single tickets and “90 minutes” tickets can be purchased in buses, streetcars, trolleybuses and ticket offices of metro and MCC. Fare subscriptions and Troika cards are also available at ticket offices and ticket terminals. In most terminals you can pay with a card.

The price of the question. Ticket “Unified”.

Lifehack from the locals: the “Troika” card is refillable (up to 3000 rubles) – it is a good option to save money if: a) you come to the capital for a long time, b) you plan to travel a lot and make connections. You can buy a card at the subway window, the deposit cost of 50 rubles, when you leave you can return it and get 50 rubles back.

Price of the question. Travel on the card “Troika”.

• A trip on the subway and monorail – 36 rubles.
• A trip on ground transportation – 36 rubles.
• A trip on the subway and ground transportation at a rate of “90 minutes” with transfers – 56 rubles.
• Pass for 30 days for any type of transportation – 2075 rubles.

It is convenient to make a route using all types of transport on the websites and applications 2GIS and Yandex.Transport (displays buses, trolleybuses, streetcars and some route cabs in real time on the city map).

How to get to the stadium?

In Moscow, the World Cup will be hosted by two stadiums – Luzhniki and Spartak.

There are several convenient routes to the stadiums: see siin how to get to the match in Luzhniki and siin to Spartak Stadium.

Where to live in Moscow?

We recommend looking for accommodation as close to metro stations as possible – this is the most convenient and fastest option for traveling around the capital, which covers almost all corners of the city.

You can leave a request on the website of the Fan Accommodation and Service Center to be answered within 1-3 days and offered from 5 to 20 accommodation options for the specified number of guests at the desired cost. Or you can search for accommodation yourself via FIFA’s website, Booking.com or Airbnb. FIFA offers only 18 accommodation options in Moscow, 11 of them are located in and around the center, but only 3 hotels are free for the dates of the finals.

Veebilehel Airbnb, Muscovites are welcome to stay with them – more than 300 accommodation options in the center and nearby areas:

Broneerimine offers 3000 accommodation options, of which 1048 are in the Central Administrative District:

Recommended for visiting

Moscow is immense, and it is pointless to try to compile a top of the most beautiful/interesting/popular places, because everyone loves the capital in his own way and finds in these streets something close and understandable to him alone.

If it’s your first time in the city, start with the classic sightseeing: the Moscow Kremlin of the XV century, the Bolshoi Theater, the Old Arbat pedestrian street, Zaryadye Park, Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow City, Patriarch’s Ponds, Kolomenskoye and Tsaritsyno estates, VDNKh, Izmailovo Kremlin, Poklonnaya Gora, Gorky Park, etc. For convenience, you can buy a hop-on/hop-off bus ticket and see the main sights with the ability to get off at stops and continue exploring the city on foot. And don’t forget to take a boat ride on the Moskva River! The view from the water is radically different from what you’ll see before.

If you’re more interested in art venues, start with the Garage Museum of Contemporary Art and continue with walks along Krymskaya Embankment, Museon Park, the former Krasny Oktyabr factory, Winzavod Contemporary Art Center, Flacon Design Factory, and Artplay.

Moscow may seem too urbanized city: everywhere there are houses, office buildings, asphalt, tiles, a lot of cars… But, in fact, in the capital there are a lot of parks and places where you can get acquainted with nature closer. The Oceanarium, the Moscow Zoo and the botanical garden “Aptekarsky Ogorod” are perfect for a vacation with children. And if you want to get free access to green trees and silence, go to the park “Fili”, “Neskuchny Garden”, “Krylatskie Hills”, “Izmailovo”, national park “Losiny Ostrov”.

What to try in Moscow?

• Traditional Russian cuisine: borsch, solyanka, soup, fried cutlets, pickled salmon, herring, okroshka, olivier, kulebyaki, kvass… Feast on the mountain, the tables are bursting with the variety of dishes! If you haven’t tried something, the capital is the right place to correct yourself and try Russian cuisine.
• Soviet chebureks. The Muscovites’ love for this dish is inexplicable, and they are popular in spite of the fact that many citizens follow nutrition and try to lead a healthy lifestyle.
• Cake “Moscow”. On the 850th anniversary of Moscow residents voted for the cake-symbol of the city. More than 200 thousand votes were received by the cake “Nut cake with condensed milk” – it is the cake that people associate with the capital – curious to try it!
• Craft beer. This completely breaks the stereotype about Russians, vodka, balalaika and ushanka, but strangely enough, in Moscow beer, and craft beer is more popular. Go out in the evening for a walk along Tverskoy Boulevard and the surrounding area and you will find the best bars in the city with a very pleasant price tag.
• Jäätis. Every year in the capital there is a festival of this delicacy, but in addition to the festival days, Muscovites enjoy eating ice cream to cool down in the hot summer or just to please themselves with a pleasant taste. Very good ice cream in GUM and Gorky Park – I recommend you to try it.
• Shawarma. Generally does not belong to the Russian cuisine and in general a new product in the market of public catering, but took root quickly enough and gained popularity among all ages, because available, cheap, fast, fresh and tasty product.

Where to eat in Moscow?

From the options of tasty and inexpensive fit “Teremok” with their pancakes, borscht and dumplings (menu here). But if “Teremok” is usually located in shopping centers and food is served in plastic dishes, then “Mu-mu”, “Rake “ või “Obed-Bufet ” are full-fledged cafes with plant decor and a large number of seats. All dishes here are presented on the counters, you just need to ask and you will get a portion or several.

If you do not want to be limited in the choice of cuisine, make a choice in favor of modern Moscow markets with their food courts, where there are different cafes and stores with products, you can drink coffee on the veranda and enjoy a pleasant relaxing atmosphere. For example, Usachevsky (Sportivnaya metro station) and Danilovsky (Tulskaya metro station) markets are also located near Luzhniki.

To escape from the atmosphere of a canteen and get comfortable in a cafe, we recommend you to look into “Odessa-mama” või “Moskovskoe Nebo” at VDNKh.

For gourmets we recommend to visit the restaurant of pan-Asian cuisine “Bamboo.Bar” and Chicago Grill & Bar – exquisite dishes from the chef and the design of these establishments will not leave anyone indifferent, but it is not an option for a cheap snack. A special set from “Championship” is available.

For whom the words “detox”, “pp” and “smoothie” are more than just a sound, Fresh restaurant is a must-visit .

If you lack vigor, take a look at new-fashioned Moscow coffee houses, where in addition to standard lattes and cappuccinos you will be offered nitro coffee, air latte and coffee kombucha in a glass bottle: SkuratovSoffee, LES Coffee House, Black Cooperative.

Souvenirs: what to bring from Moscow?

In souvenir shops you can find anything you want: T-shirts and mugs with photos of the capital, matryoshka dolls, mugs and boxes with Khokhloma painting, ushanka hats, etc. But if it is more important for you that the souvenir “work”, and not just dust on the shelf, here are some options for gifts for yourself and loved ones from the capital of Russia.

• Pavloposadskiy shawl.
• Belyovo marshmallow.
• Tula gingerbread.
• Perfume from the Novaya Zarya factory. Where to buy: on the website or in a retail store – addresses. The classic flavor “Red Moscow” may seem harsh, try the flavors “Honey” and “Kuznetsky Most”.
• Candy from the Red October, RothFront, and Babaevsky factories. Where to buy: in any supermarket, but if you are interested in beautiful gift sets, then look in a retail store – addresses, or buy on the site. A special demand among tourists is a set of sweets “Kremlin” from “RotFront”.
• Porcelain tableware from the Dulevsky Porcelain Factory, including cups, saucers with World Cup 2018 symbols and porcelain sculptures of the mascot Zabivaki. Where to buy: on the website or in retail stores in the Moscow region – addresses.

Moscow is always ready for the arrival of guests and offers a lot of entertainment and places for leisure. And if you get bored of the city, you can go to the region, for example, to Sergiev Posad or Kolomna – cities of the Golden Ring of Russia with ancient architecture and a quiet flow of life. In the northwest of Moscow, you can relax on the river. Or go shopping in one of the Mega malls located outside the Moscow Ring Road. Everyone will find something to keep themselves busy!